Os X El Capitan Installer Usb

Summary

How to make a bootable USB drive on Linux Mint (19.3) to allow you to install Mac OS X El Capitan on a MacBook with broken or corrupted recovery mode.

Background

I was recently given a 2011 MacBook Pro that had been “well-loved” and was therefore a mess of missing applications, ghost files and generally slow-as-hell. Since there wasn’t much worth saving I wiped it and initiated recovery mode in order to re-install OS X (El Capitan).

Having recently fixed a busted MacBook Air I had learned a bit about Recovery Mode (hold Command+R whilst pushing the Power button and release a few seconds after the machine wakes up). I tried that with this machine, and upon hitting “Reinstall MacOS X” was greeted with a prompt telling me it would take -2,148,456,222 days and 8 hours (an uncaught buffer overflow, me thinks). After about 30 seconds, a window pops up saying “Can’t download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X” and the installation gives up. The detailed error log says “Chunk validation failed, retrying” about 1000 times and eventually gives up altogether.

Apr 26, 2021 You need a copy of the El Capitan installer to make a bootable USB. The El Capitan installer is downloaded to the /Applications folder, with the file name 'Install OS X El Capitan.' If you've installed El Capitan and want to create a bootable installer, re-download the installer from Apple.

The installer you create can be used to install OS X El Capitan 10.11 on any eligible Mac computer. This is a more convent and less time consuming way to install OS X El Capitan on multiple machines, gives you a handy emergency disk, and enables a fresh OS X install.
Apr 06, 2021 For an OS X El Capitan installation, the file gets saved as a disk image named 'InstallMacOSX.dmg'. To install, open the disk image and run the installer named 'InstallMacOSX.pkg'.

Further investigation suggests this may be something to do with security certificates having expired and hence the machine not being able to download the necessary files from Apple’s servers, but it seems the error can appear for all sorts of reasons. I also tried Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R) but that gave exactly the same error (and would also only have installed OS X Mountain Lion).

I then turned to attempting to make a bootable USB stick of OS X El Capitan from an image downloaded from Apple. I use Linux Mint on my main laptop and that was all I had available. Apple seem to assume everybody has a spare MacBook from which to create a bootable USB so they provide absolutely no documentation to help with this. I also couldn’t find a single guide online that worked from start to finish, so here I summarise what needs to be done.

Steps

As usual, this is all at your own risk 🙂

First you need to go to Apple’s OS Download Page and (step 4) get ahold of “InstallMacOSX.dmg” for El-Capitan. It’s a 6GB file so it might take a ‘lil while. You will also need to find a USB drive with at least 8GB capacity, and make sure it’s blank. The format doesn’t matter, because this procedure will format it correctly.

(In total you will need to use about 15-18GB of disk space by the time you’ve done all the extracting necessary, which shouldn’t be a problem for most computers but it was a challenge for my laptop with it’s 128GB SSD and dual boot Windows/Linux!)

Then you need to get a program called ‘dmg2img’

You can then extract the DMG

Now double click the .img file to mount it. In there is a InstallMaxOSX.pkg file. This requires a utility called “xar” to extract, which can be installed with these instructions (from https://www.oueta.com/linux/extract-pkg-and-mpkg-files-with-xar-on-linux/)

Then build and install with

Now you can extract the .pkg file. It will extract to the current working directory

Now, within the extracted files you will find something called InstallESD.dmg. This actually contains all the interesting boot files, but it isn’t a pristine image, so we can’t just burn it to a USB. Thankfully, a script exists to convert this DMG to a bootable usb, and it’s available here. It takes the DMG and writes everything directly to the USB in the right place.

ONE CAVEAT: When I ran this script on my InstallESD.dmg, it crashed because it didn’t recognise the checksum. I think this is because Apple updates the dmg’s anytime there is a security update for El Capitan so the checksum list isn’t updated. All I did was delete the checksum check from the script above. Essentially, just open the script and delete this section

Once I had done this, I ran the script with my USB connected (/dev/sdb for me, but CHECK YOURSELF with fdisk or similar) and after quite a while it finished copying.

I plugged the USB into the MacBook, and opened the startup menu by holding down Option whilst pushing the power button. This gave me the choice of booting from EFI, or choosing a WiFi network. Click on the EFI, and then follow the prompts to install OS X from the USB drive!

When you’re done, you may need to use Parted or a similar utility to re-format your USB as a normal drive again.

Mac operating system’s twelfth major version is the El Capitan Installer (version 10.11). All the Mac computers which don’t have the privilege to upgrade to MacOS High Sierra or the computers that need to upgrade to El Capitan first, can download this twelfth version on the computer. This is the very last version of the Mac operating system which comes under the name OS X. And it is named as ‘El Capitan’ after the formation of a rock in the Yosemite National Park. El Capitan Installer is the post version to the Yosemite, and it was built by adding up more improvements to the Yosemite. In this version of the Mac operating system, the Apple Inc. has focused on the performance, stability, and security of the computer. Anyone who is interested can download it on the Mac PC.

How to download El Capitan Installer?

If you want to upgrade to OS X El Capitan, first you have to collect gather your Mac PC and then download the El Capitan Installer. That’s what we are going to do now.

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. All you have to do next is click on the ‘Continue’ button and follow the onscreen instructions.

Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007 as the successor of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and is available in two editions: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a server version, Mac OS X Server. Confirm that the USB drive will lose it’s data and enter the Admin password when asked; Disk Utility will now create a bootable OS X Mountain Lion installer drive out of USB drive using the disk image, this can take a little while depending on how fast the drive and Mac are but 20-30 minutes isn’t unusual. El Capitan Installer. Mac operating system’s twelfth major version is the El Capitan Installer (version 10.11). All the Mac computers which don’t have the privilege to upgrade to MacOS High Sierra or the computers that need to upgrade to El Capitan first, can download this twelfth version on the computer.

Upgrade Mac OS Version with El Capitan Installer while Protecting your Data

Before executing the Upgrade, you must prepare the Mac PC for the El Capitan Update. For that, gather these requirements first.

The Mac PC must have at least 2GB of memory and 8.8GB of storage space.
The PC must have at least 45% of battery life.
Connect the Mac PC to Wi-Fi or any other internet connection.
The Mac Apps must be up to date with the latest versions.
Take backups of all your personal data and present OS of the Mac PC.

Important! It is very important to backup your important data on the Mac PC to an external storage device because it will help you to avoid the data loss issues. Acapella app for macbook pro. If any case, you forgot to backup the data, your data may be lost while executing the El Capitan Installer update. So make sure you make a backup of the device data.

How to use El Capitan Installer for a Clean Install?

01. El Capitan Clean Install on Empty Volume with El Capitan Installer

This is the easiest method for the clean install. Here, you can install the OS X El Capitan Installer onto an empty volume, or you can use a storage space that has the content which no longer needed and don’t mind removing. What it matters here is that you don’t use the current startup volume as the destination here. What makes this method easier is the fact that it is possible to perform this clean install while booted from the current startup drive. You don’t need a special, custom-made startup environment for the empty volume clean install. All you have to do is, start up the installer and go.

02. El Capitan Clean Install on Startup Volume with El Capitan Installer

Create El Capitan Usb Installer

This is the most common method of the two. Usually, the clean install process deletes the contents of the destination drive. Therefore, if you choose the startup drive method to perform the clean install of El Capitan Installer, you have to follow some extra steps as well.

First, you have to create a bootable USB flash drive that has the Installer of OS X El Capitan.
Then erase the startup drive.
After then, start the clean install process.

How to Create El Capitan Installer with USB?

Requirements

The USB flash drive must be at least 8GB
El Capitan Installer must be on the Mac PC’s Applications folder.

Process

Plug the USB drive into the Mac PC with the Installer of the El Capitan on it.
Rename the USB driver using an easy to remember and use name. (For the ease of the steps ahead, I will rename it as ‘ElCaptIns’)
Be sure that the Installer of the El Capitan named ‘Install OS X El Capitan.app’ is in its default location (Applications folder).
Select and copy the text of the below-mentioned terminal command.

sudo/Applications/InstallOSXElCapitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/ElCaptIns --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app

Now you can launch the terminal in the Applications/Utilities/
In this step, it deletes the data in the destination drive. So make sure it doesn’t contain any valuable data and paste the copied command into the terminal, then press ‘Return’.
When the windows prompted, enter the admin level account password of yours and press to Return.
Then a message telling “To continue we need to erase the disk at /Volumes/ElCaptIns. If you wish to continue, type (Y) then press return:” will emerge. You can type ‘Y’ and press to return to continue. You are already set if you don’t see this message.

USB installer and El Capitan Installer in Apple Store

El Capitan Installer is only available in the Mac App Store. So you can only download it from the App Store. By the way, having a USB installer to perform the El Capitan is a good idea. Because having a copy of the OS version in a separate device ensures that you always have a backup plan to install it or re-install it on the PC. When you have the USB installer with the El Capitan Installer in it, you no longer need the internet connection or the access to the Mac App Store to perform the upgrade.

What is createinstallmedia?

“createinstallmedia” is a unix program hidden inside the OS X Installer which is provided by the Apple Inc. to create a bootable installer drive. createinstallmedia is the ideal and the easier to use tool if you are comfortable to use the terminal. This is only available for the OS versions of Lion (OS X 10.7) and above.

Make Os X El Capitan Bootable Usb Drive

System and Hardware Requirements for El Capitan Installer

System Requirements

iMac models from mid 2007 or later
MacBook models from late 2008 or later
MacBook Pro models from mid 2007 or later
MacBook Air models from late 2008 or later
Mac mini models from early 2009 or later
Mac Pro models from early 2008 or later
Xserve models from early 2009

Hardware Requirements

Mac Os X El Capitan Installer Usb

OS X v10.6.8 or later
2GB of memory
8.8GB of available storage
Some features require an Apple ID (terms apply)
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider (fees may apply)

FAQs:-

01. What is the best method to install El Capitan?

You can either use the default method to upgrade install or clean install methods to get El Capitan Installer but, without any doubt, Clean Install is the best method to upgrade your Mac OS. I hope all the above facts prove that.

02. How to save previous data when upgrading the OS X?

Simply, take a backup by using the Time Machine.

Open the Time Machine app.
Click on the ‘Select Backup Disk’.
Select the external drive or internal location where you want to save the files.
Click on the ‘On’ to turn on the Time Machine.
Click on the Arrow Clock icon in the Finder Bar at the top of your screen and select ‘Backup Now’.

03. Is it secure to install El Capitan without Apple Store?

Os X El Capitan Update

Make Os X El Capitan Bootable Usb Reader

Create Os X El Capitan Usb Installer

No, it is not safe to get El Capitan Installer outsider of the Apple Store. It is only safe to get this OS upgrade from the Mac App Store. Besides, there is no such external place to get this OS upgrade. I have provided the steps to install El Capitan in the above of this site. Just follow those steps and upgrade your Mac PC to the El Capitan.