Pauleduc
Level 1 (10 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Download el capitan

I had to reformat and reload my OS.  I managed to download and reinstall Yosemite which I had previously purchased from the app store, but now I am stuck trying to find El Capitan.  This has been removed from the app store two days ago when they made Sierra available.  I used to have El Capitan installed, which I believe was a free upgrade from Yosemite, so I know it worked on my system.  I cannot upgrade to Sierra because my iMac is 2007 and Sierra is not supported on systems older than 2009.

 

I did find several El Capitan updates on the net, but they will not install unless I have the base El Capitan OS installed first.  So, is there any place I can get either a fresh copy of El Capitan,  or an upgrade package from Yosemite to El Capitan?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5), mid-2007, 24-inch

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 6:58 AM

by Kurt Lang,Solvedanswer
Kurt Lang Kurt Lang
Level 8 (38,024 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support

 

Scroll down to How to get El Capitan

 

The link in the first bullet point will take to you to the App Store download.

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 8:20 AM

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Pauleduc

Q: Download el capitan

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Kurt Lang,Solvedanswer

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 22, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Pauleduc
    Level 8 (38,024 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Pauleduc

    Upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support

     

    Scroll down to How to get El Capitan

     

    The link in the first bullet point will take to you to the App Store download.

  • by Pauleduc,

    Pauleduc Pauleduc Sep 22, 2016 8:21 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 8:21 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    Many thanks!  Downloading it now..

  • by pcbjr,

    pcbjr pcbjr Sep 22, 2016 9:03 AM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 2 (282 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 9:03 AM in response to Kurt Lang

    The App Store page that opens up says that this version of El Cap is for folks with Snow Leopard. Will it install and work for someone with Mountain Lion?

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Sep 22, 2016 9:47 AM in response to pcbjr
    Level 8 (38,024 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 9:47 AM in response to pcbjr

    Yes, it's really just the same, last point release of El Capitan.

     

    There's an area of these forums called the Lounge, and is accessible to anyone level 6 or higher. We had a discussion about whether or not El Capitan would disappear entirely upon Sierra's release, as Yosemite and Mavericks did with each newer OS release.

     

    One of our members thought, no. The reasoning being that El Capitan, Yosemite and Mavericks all ran on the same Macs supported by Mountain Lion. So there was no reason to keep Yosemite or Mavericks since Apple considers them just older, unnecessary versions.

     

    Sierra was different that it was the first release since Mountain Lion that cut off some older models. If you removed El Capitan completely, that would leave users who's Macs weren't supported in Sierra to have no way to upgrade past Mountain Lion, but could have otherwise installed El Capitan.

     

    It's actually noted at the top of the linked page that it's for either:

     

    OS X El Capitan remains available for Mac computers that can't upgrade to macOS Sierra, or that need to upgrade to El Capitan first.