"An error has occurred" displayed while trying to download El Capitan

this worked for me... thanks!

This worked, although I cannot say it is the intuitive Mac solution. Seems like Apple took a MS step backwards on this. Thank you. I was befuddled, and I've used Macs since the Lisa.

Hello everybody, thank you for providing your ways of fixing this issue. However, having attempted he options given I am either unable to do that method or it hasn't worked. I have tried the option of creating a new user but 'Users and Groups' will not open on my Mac. I have tried it on a guest user and that is the closest I have got to installing El Capitan.

When I try on the two proper users they cannot even complete the download, let alone start the install. They get part way downloading then fail. I then click download again and all that happens is it'll go to 'waiting' for a while and then display the error message.

I have also tried reinstallinf OS X via recovery but that doesn't appear to have done anything.

I really need to install El Capitan as I could do with its supposed performance improvements.

Are there any options available that won't require me to either possibly wipe my Mac or take it to apple?

Just fixed it myself after struggling. First, go to Finder > Application Folder. Find "Install El Capitan" and double-click. It takes about an hour to install. After that, you might be sluggish. App Store and Safari are in molasses or don't work. Go to Keychain, login, and after hitting the unlock on the padlock on the upper left of the window, delete all of the certificates. I ignored the warnings. Do so at your peril. But then everything started working fine. Good luck.

I can't get the 'Install El Capitan'... 😟

Thanks... Found the "Install OS X El Capitan" file inside my Applications folder.

Worked a treat!

Perfect, thank you.

Can someone verify what size the file is in the Applications folder, when it does work correctly? I don't want to launch an installation of a partial download by mistake.

Helped me 2! Thanx

Another option that worked for me is that I removed the OSX El Capitan install file that was downloaded and inside the "Applications" folder (a previous bad download). The source of my problem was that the downloaded file was corrupted. You could not run it, and you could not download from the Apple Store (with the aforementioned error string).

Removing the file and throwing it in the trash allows you to do a fresh download of El Cap and upgrade.

Best,

R

worked great so far thanks !!!!

This worked for me today. Thank you.