Apple makes it fairly difficult to do a clean installation of OS X on a Macbook, primarily by providing misleading completely false instructions in their help.
If you make a new account (e.g. for a work laptop), you should try to sign into it in iCloud and the App Store on the laptop, if possible, before reinstalling the OS. Apple seems to require a credit card attached to the account.
Make sure you have time + power available to repeatedly download several multi-gigabyte installers. These instructions will allow you to install the OS clean – you cannot do a factory reset without these, as it will keep all the files and applications currently present on the device.
I created a USB disk with a bootable El Capitan as per this documentation. Plug-in your USB key on a turned-off computer. Start your Mac, press immediately OPTION (aka ALT) Select the Orange icon (aka a USB stick) labelled El Capitan. If it does not detect it after 10 sec and you only see your hard-drive. Try another USB port and wait 10 sec again.
The general process for doing a clean install of the OS is as such:
- Update the OS to the latest version1. This attaches the latest version of the OS to your account, without which you cannot reinstall. You cannot follow this process without updating the OS to the latest version, because there is no way to download the installers for non-current versions.
- Re-download the OS from the “Purchased” tab of the app store. This downloads the installer for the OS (normally this is discarded)
- Get an 8 GB USB drive, and reformat it through the OS.
- Use Diskmaker2 to write the OS installer onto your USB drive.
- Reboot the machine. While it restarts, press CMD-R.
- This takes you into the OS install screen. Do not reinstall here – this forces you to redownload the OS, and it provides no option to format the disk.
- From the menu in the upper right, select to reboot from a startup disk, and select your thumb drive.
- When this boots into the USB mode, it looks exactly the same, except it is possible to install the OS without connecting to the internet. DO NOT INSTALL YET.
- From this screen, select disk management, and format the disk as you desire (e.g. encrypted or not)
- Now, once the disk is formatted, you can re-install the OS without issue. Note that you will need a phone handy to receive text messages, to verify your access.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1018109117?mt=12 [↩]
- http://diskmakerx.com/ [↩]
To get the latest features and maintain the security, stability, compatibility, and performance of your Mac, it's important to keep your software up to date. Apple recommends that you always use the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
Learn how to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, the latest version of macOS.
- Jul 25, 2021 Go to the App Store and open the El Capitan page there. Then you must click on the ‘Download; button on the El Capitan Page. If your Mac PC is compatible to perform this upgrade, a file named ‘Install OS X El Capitan’ will download to your Applications folder. The installer will open automatically after finishing the download process.
- Open the disk image, then open the.pkg installer inside the disk image. It installs an app named Install Version Name. Open that app from your Applications folder to begin installing the operating system. MacOS Sierra 10.12 can upgrade El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, or Lion.
Check compatibility
The version of macOS that came with your Mac is the earliest version it can use. For example, if your Mac came with macOS Big Sur, it will not accept installation of macOS Catalina or earlier.
If a macOS can't be used on your Mac, the App Store or installer will let you know. For example, it might say that it's not compatible with this device or is too old to be opened on this version of macOS. To confirm compatibility before downloading, check the minimum hardware requirements:
Install El Capitan Without Apple Id Download
- macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements
- macOS Mojave 10.14 hardware requirements
- macOS High Sierra 10.13 hardware requirements
- macOS Sierra 10.12 hardware requirements
- OS X El Capitan 10.11 hardware requirements
- OS X Yosemite 10.10 hardware requirements
Download macOS using Safari on your Mac
Safari uses these links to find the old installers in the App Store. After downloading from the App Store, the installer opens automatically.
El Capitan Install Dvd
- macOS Catalina 10.15 can upgrade Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks
- macOS Mojave 10.14 can upgrade High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion
- macOS High Sierra 10.13 can upgrade Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion
Safari downloads the following older installers as a disk image named InstallOS.dmg or InstallMacOSX.dmg. Open the disk image, then open the .pkg installer inside the disk image. It installs an app named Install [Version Name]. Open that app from your Applications folder to begin installing the operating system.
- macOS Sierra 10.12 can upgrade El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, or Lion
- OS X El Capitan 10.11 can upgrade Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard
- OS X Yosemite 10.10can upgrade Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard