Reinstalling El Capitan, getting the "This item is temporarily unavailable" alert

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Reinstalling El Capitan, getting the "This item is temporarily unavailable" alert

Hi, I'm in the middle of reverting my late 2012 Mac Mini to its initial factory settings in order to sell it. However, after wiping the HD, when I'm trying to reinstall the OS X, after I hit install, I get the sign in to install from the App Store. However, every time I try, it says "This item is temporarily unavailable, try again later" and its still doing so. This Mac Mini was also part of the Beta Seed Program, so I don't know if that affects anything. Anyone out there have any solutions? Please, I'm a little desperate at the moment.

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Nov 13, 2015 8:52 PM

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Answer 1

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Nov 15, 2015 8:11 AM in response to DaveJC76

Hi DaveJC76,

I understand that you're trying to reinstall Mac OS X on your Mac Mini in order to sell it. In such a situation it can be beneficial to perform the reinstallation from Internet Recovery. This will reinstall the operating system that shipped with the Mac Mini, and shouldn't require logging into the App Store. You can start your Mac to Internet Recovery by holding the command, option, and R keys on your keyboard while your mac starts up.

Command-Option-R Start up from OS X Recovery over the Internet.

Startup key combinations for Mac
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer. After installation is finished, use the Mac App Store to install related updates or later versions of OS X that you have previously purchased.

OS X: About OS X Recovery
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2015 9:30 PM in response to CarlAVII

>If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer.

That is untrue.

I'm getting the same error on my 2015 Macbook Pro. It came with Yosemite, I applied for the El Capitan beta program, installed El Cap, now when I do a restore, I've unmounted and erased the hard drive and when it says "Choose which OS to install" ONLY EL CAPITAN IS LISTED.

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