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How can I create a fresh El Capitan Bootable System Drive?

I've carefully followed the instructions for downloading El Cap 10.11.6. Created a USB Bootable Installer using the Terminal commands. The process starts well, looking like the OS is being installed on the drive. The machine restarts and then gives me this message: "OSX could not be installed on your computer

No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.

Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again."

I've tried this a variety of ways, but the end result seems always to be the same. I'm trying desperately to get a bit more life out of my early 2009 MacPro... there's still no real viable, affordable replacement from Apple that includes PCIe slots.

Any help or hints would be very much appreciated!

Cheers,

Tom

Posted on Nov 3, 2021 12:16 PM

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Posted on Nov 3, 2021 2:48 PM

also There are newer instructions and steps available in Apple installer page for use.

• How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

There is a newer installer in the above; this also upgrades firmware.

newer installosxinstaller.pkg package within download site link

(this site content + link was recently updated 24 Oct 2019)

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Top-ranking reply

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Nov 3, 2021 2:48 PM in response to ummm3757

also There are newer instructions and steps available in Apple installer page for use.

• How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

There is a newer installer in the above; this also upgrades firmware.

newer installosxinstaller.pkg package within download site link

(this site content + link was recently updated 24 Oct 2019)

Reply

Nov 3, 2021 9:53 PM in response to ummm3757

Eureka!

This turned out to be the working solution! I've made clean bootable OS drives before, but this one gave me fits. I probably tried it more than 10 times in the last two weeks. This download finally made a complete and working drive. Thank you SO much for the help. I was beginning to think I'd lost my computer mojo!

Cheers,

Tom

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Nov 3, 2021 2:23 PM in response to thomasfromkirkland

Hello, thomasfromkirkland.

just set the date back to when the certificate was valid. Sometime mid-2017 should be safe. Try that & tell us what happens.

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How can I create a fresh El Capitan Bootable System Drive?

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