OS X El Capitan Sep. 25, 2017, release shows up as a necessary update in the App Store, but when I try to download, says it cannot be installed on my computer. I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011). Clicking on "Learn More" does nothing.
El Capitan is not available for new purchase/downloads UNLESS you are using Snow Leopard, OR your Mac cannot run Sierra/High Sierra, OR you had previous downloaded it while it was available.
Your Mac is capable of running High Sierra, so that is the ONLY new download you can perform.
El Capitan is not available for new purchase/downloads UNLESS you are using Snow Leopard, OR your Mac cannot run Sierra/High Sierra, OR you had previous downloaded it while it was available.
Your Mac is capable of running High Sierra, so that is the ONLY new download you can perform.
On this other thread: trying to download OS X El Capitan but keeps saying busy try again
I found this link: macos - Force Re-Download of El Capitan from the App Store? - Ask Different
This part, and what follows, about moving the Installer may be relevant:
Check your main Applications folder or - if you have moved an older OS X El Capitan installer.app to a different folder - this second folder for the app. I have a "Installer" folder in my user folder dedicated to OS X Installer apps (the latest but also older OS X versions) and the single installer.apps will be downloaded (or "updated" to the latest version) there.
I had moved the original installer to Downloads so when I tried to install the new update App Store downloaded a new installer which installed the older version.
I moved the original installer back to Applications and now when I go to the El Capitan page (clicking on the El Capitan link in the update window) it now gives me the option to "open" rather than "install". Clicking on that opens the old installer rather than downloading a new one as it did before.
I've now taken the old installer out of Applications and into the Trash, without emptying the Trash, and the phantom update has now disappeared.
Out of interest I tried putting the installer back in Applications to see what happens. The "update" has reappeared!
It seems the fix is to put the original installer in the Trash.
But is that OK?
Should the installer be deleted after an install?
I think the 2017-09-25 El Capitan was a mistake and withdrawn by Apple. I installed it (Install OS X El Capitan.app version 1.7.55) and it took my El Capitan back from 15G1611 to 15G1011 and Safari from 11 to 9. After that, no updates would show for OS X or Safari.
I downloaded the previous El Capitan (2016-05-18) from the Mac App Store (Install OS X El Capitan.app Version 1.7.50) and it installed 15G1611. The Mac App Store then showed the Safari and security updates to get my system back to its original state.
The 2017-09-25 El Capitan update never showed again.
I think you were just lucky that it was gone by the time you tried to install it.
It does seem to be a mistake, but it hasn't been withdrawn yet. I installed it and the same happened to me; back from 15G1611 to 15G1510 and Safari from 11 to 9.
"Luckily" I have a Time Capsule backup made some hours before installing the "update" and so have just wasted a full day installing an update that was older than my current OS, and then restoring my system to its previous state.
A full working day I'll never get back. Thanks for nothing Apple.
The App Store still tells me there's an update available for me.
Apple please sort it out!
Interesting investigative work. I, indeed, have an older Install OS X El Capitan (1.7.54) in Applications for installing on some older Macs. It triggers the phantom update. Doubt if Apple tested with this configuration. Good going!
Did you sign on the App Store using the same AppleID that the target Mac is registered under?
It shows up as an update just as the previous updates 15G1004, 15G1008, 15G1212, 15G1217, 15G1421, 15G1510, 15G1611. I'm currently running 15G1611. Not sure--if it isn't a real update for my machine--why it I get an alert as such.
I have a couple of questions now:
After an install should the installer be automatically deleted? The copy I had was "locked". The problem seems to be if you have an installer anywhere on your drive App Store wants to give you a new (older) one.
Did the 2017-09-25 El Capitan update also overwrite the Recovery HD partition?
If I boot from Recovery (Cmd-R) and reinstall the system will it install 15G1611 (the latest) or will it take the OS back to 15G1011, the one installed by the 2017-09-25 El Capitan update?
Although I did a full restore from my Time Capsule backup I'm not sure if that restored the Recovery HD partition.
Yes, I did.
I, as with Zarvox, cannot get the update to disappear. It still shows under > App Store...; as a red badge number in the dock; and in the App Store application Updates tab. I have trashed com.apple.appstore caches; storeaccount, storeasset, storedownload caches; and associated plist files but it makes no difference. The 2017-09-25 El Capitan update has become permanent.
OS X El Capitan Sep. 25, 2017 release cannot be installed.
