Q: El Capitan installation failed (error related to essentials.pkg)

Hello,

I have few Macs, and on on there was no problem, but on older one, lovelly MacBook I got extracting essentials.pkg error.

I have tried Cmd+Option+P+R during poweron - reset PROM, and Cmd+R resinstall recovery, but it didnt help.

Ony think I know that I upgraded this Mac to 8GB RAM, 2x4, and one module is not OEM. Then I removed 8 screws, and bottom, and after removing

second memory module after one hour system upgraded!

NOTE: with this RAM modus system works without ANY glitches.

Ok, I have had the same problem. I even tried to reinstall Yosemite and it gave me the same error that everyone is reporting.

I finally found the culprit. It was a date error on my Macbook.

I found this site. Though it is talking about Mavericks, the solution worked for me and I am now installing El Capitan.

It's simple:

Here is the link. http://aaronkondziela.com/2013/11/this-copy-of-the-install-os-x-mavericks-applic ation-cant-be-verified-it-may-have-been-corrupted-or-tampered-with-during-downlo ading/comment-page-1/

1. From Utilities menu, pick Terminal
2. Simply type in date to see what date is on your mac (mine was set to 2001)
3. Get the current date by typing the following command: date +%m%d%H%M%Y.%S
4. Set the date using the command: date 110216472013.53 (should look like this)
5. Then type exit to exit the terminal, or command-Q. The installer comes back up, and all is well.

It should install.

Thanks for the help,but unfortunately I tried it and still nothing.  I was really hoping it would of worked to avoid having to take it to the Genius Bar in a couple hours.   its been extremely frustrating and just hope my computer can go back to the way it was. 

I am trying this now, the date was indeed goofy. The Installer is working and I only have "24 minutes" to go. I am hopeful that this round will work. I am installing on a 2009 MacBook Pro with no non-oem RAM installed and I have had the same issue.

Success! This worked for me. I made sure to provide a date and time that corresponded with PDT (I'm on the east coast) but it worked. I am now signing into iCloud with a picture of El Capitan in the background so huzzah! Thanks.

I have the same problem and restoring to Yosemite as we speak (6 hours remaining :-( ) . To me, if it is related to the 3rd party RAM then:

1 - Apple should check this before installation and present a warning.

2 - Apple should not limit people using 3rd party RAM. Overpricing "their" RAM leads to people looking for equal alternatives.

3 - Why is this even a problem? An OS installation failed because of RAM... Come on!!!

I honestly was a loyal Apple user but these last years my trust in their products is not that good anymore. In 2010 when I bought my MBP17", I bought quality. These days, Apple has lost their touch for that quality and user friendly experiance

I got the same issue, but I've not installed any 3rd party RAM.. Mine is a macbook pro 2014 13", and haven't opened it for any RAM upgrade etc...

Will try the recovery option... But why am I getting this error?

An update from me: I removed my third party RAM and the installer worked correctly this time, although it did take a lot longer than the initial 30 minutes that it said on screen. Once the installer had finished, my iMac (27" late 2012) kept turning itself off when it got to the very last few millimetres on the progress and this kept going in a loop until I pressed 'CMD R' and restored the OS again! I had to do this twice before everything ran smoothly. Third party RAM is back in and all going OK.

A note to myself, not matter how eager, DON'T install an update until things settle down and any bugs are ironed out. I didn't install El Capitan on a production machine, just my home one so nothing lost really, other than some patience.

I change my third party rams (16gb) back to Apple rams (4gb) too and it works great!! Thanks and hope this helps too!!

I'm using late 2011 MacBook Pro 13 inch!

I had the same problem on my parents 2011 MacBook Pro. I had upgraded the memory sometime ago. Thankfully I had some RAM that came from another MacBook. I popped it in and success! After El Capitan installed, I was able to put the third-party RAM back in. Everything works great now.

Ok, I just re-tried, and it got installed fine. Dunno why did it fail in the first instance

did you reboot?

my 10.11 install on my laptop went like this

No you can't install on this hard drive

quit installer, start installer

yes you can install on this hard drive.

While I'm happy it worked it does not explain what the ^^^^ just happened.

It happened to me and i fixed it. Steps:

1. Don't panic.

2. Connect an external hard drive which is at least the size of your HD.

3. In terminal - run 'diskutil

I had the same essentials.pkg problem and ended up in the endless reboot - with third-party RAM modules.

A lengthy restore only got me to a gray "forbidden" sign - and the message "still waiting for root device" when I booted in verbose mode.

Holding down alt when booting, it turned out I now had two "Macintosh HD" drives - I selected the other one, and now I'm back in good old Yosemite!

I will try the El Capitan upgrade again with the original RAM in few weeks when my blood pressure is back to normal.

edit: oops, ignore this