El Capitan Installation

  

Select the text of the following Terminal command and copy it. Sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume. /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app -nointeraction. Launch Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities). How to Perform a Clean Install of OS X El Capitan. OS X El Capitan (OS X 10.11) offers two installation methods. This guide focuses on the 'clean install' method. When you install El Capitan on your current startup drive with the clean install method, you erase everything on the drive. That includes OS X, your user data, and personal files.

  • User Reviews of this Guide
    • Fair Logic’s video demonstration on YouTube – September 3, 2016
    • Pyroisonfireee’s review on Reddit – June 24, 2016
    • imtony’s video demonstration on YouTube – March 15, 2016
  • General Suggestions
    • Do not encrypt your boot drive with FileVault. Doing so will prevent the system from booting correctly.
    • Keep your El Capitan installation USB on hand. After installing OS X system updates it is sometimes necessary to boot the system with the USB and re-install kexts to get everything working properly again.
    • Use Clover Configurator if you need to mount the EFI partition
    • Using Clover Configurator to edit the default config.plist is not recommended. This program will automatically and without warning makes changes to the default settings in the <key>ACPI</key> section that will prevent the system from booting. If edits are needed, open config.plist with TextEdit and follow the format explained here.
    • If a kernel panic occurs, boot from the installation USB, select the installation drive, hit the space bar and select Boot Mac OS X in safe mode to successfully boot and make necessary changes.
  • Touchpad, TrackPoint and Tablet Input
    • Touchpad and TrackPoint use RehabMan’s VoodooPS2Controller.kext found here.
    • Turn off the touchpad with the <PrtSc> key if you will only be using the TrackPoint – this will prevent an issue with unintentional double-clicks with the TrackPoint buttons.
    • Touchpad supports three-finger swipe right and left (forward and back) in Finder, Safari and other browsers
    • For X220 Tablet models, pen input should already work properly. For touch input, install ControllerMate and use the script written by user jakibaki available here. Jakibaki’s script also adds some gestures including swipe from top to get Mission Control, swipe from bottom for Launchpad and swipe from left/right to switch workspaces.
  • Special Keys
    • The <PrtSc> key toggles the touchpad on and off
    • The <ScrLk> and <Pause> keys adjust screen brightness as do the standard <Fn>+<Home> and <Fn>+<End> keys
    • The <Insert> key will eject the CD/DVD drive (attached by USB or docking station)
    • The blue ThinkVantage button will toggle between normal fan speeds and the maximum fan speed
  • Fan Speed and Noise
    • Fan speeds can be reduced by installing the alternate dsdt.aml and ACPIPoller.kext available here
    • Fan noise can also be regulated by changing the BIOS setting under Config > Power > Adaptive Thermal Management to Balanced
  • Video / External Displays
    • To enable scaled resolutions of 1536 x 864 and 1920 x 1080 on the stock LCD panel, follow the steps here
    • Video output through VGA, DisplayPort and docking stations works normally for single external monitor configurations (internal LCD + one external monitor)
    • If an external monitor is not automatically detected, open System Preferences > Displays and press the Option key (the Windows key on the X220 keyboard). This will show a Detect Displays button which should make the external monitor show up immediately.
    • If DisplayPort or VGA connections on Core i7 systems do not function properly:
      • Launch Clover Configurator and mount the EFI partition of your installation drive
      • Click File > Open… then select EFI > EFI > CLOVER > config.plist
      • Select SMBIOS in the left panel and click the “magic wand” button on the right
      • Select the MacBook Pro image (second image from the left) and then select MacBook Pro (8,1) – Core i5/i7 (Sandy Bridge) from the pulldown menu at the top
      • Click the OK button and then File > Save to write the changes to your config.plist
      • Restart the computer
  • Miscellaneous
    • To enable docking station headphone and microphone ports, use the alternate AppleHDA_20672.kext available here. Simply place this alternate version in Utility and Kext Pack > EFI > CLOVER > kexts > Other and repeat steps 28-30 above.
    • DW1510 wireless cards can be rebranded to identify as native Apple AirPort Extreme cards by following the steps here
    • SuperDuper is an excellent free utility to create a full, bootable backup of your drive that can be restored later if necessary. Follow the steps here to make your backup bootable.
    • HWSensors provides a convenient way to monitor the status of your system from the menu bar
    • Smart Scroll can be installed to enable middle-button TrackPoint scrolling even when the touchpad is disabled
    • Ukelele can be installed to create customized keyboard layouts
    • If the Bluetooth radio is turned off in Windows or Linux it may no longer show up when booting into OS X. Boot back into Windows or Linux to turn the Bluetooth radio back on.
    • If FaceTime or Messages (iMessage) does not work correctly, follow the steps in the guide here
    • Custom “OS X220” desktop wallpaper by user Will is available here
  • Sources / Credits
    • Original source of modified BIOS 1.46 is here
    • Included dsdt.aml,config.plist and kext installation script are from the ThinkPad T420 guide found here
    • Guide to editing dsdt.aml with MaciASL can be found here
    • Custom ssdt.aml script source is here
  • Not functioning
    • SD Card reader
    • Fingerprint reader
    • Microphone mute button
El capitan installer download

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.

Check compatibility

The version of macOS that came with your Mac is the earliest version it can use. Shortcut for footnotes in word. 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:

  • 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.

  • 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

El Capitan Installer Usb

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]. Adobe acrobat pro dc. for. (2015).dmg. Open that app from your Applications folder to begin installing the operating system.

El Capitan Installation Usb

  • 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