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User profile for user: jaauu
jaauu Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Clean install error - no package can be found

Just attempted to do clean install of El Capitan. I keep getting the error message saying no "package" can be found for this computer.


  • Same error from both an USB bootable drive (that I successfully used multiple times previously) and from the recovery partition (which the error appeared after 11 hours of download)
  • Same error when trying to install to my 2007 iMac and 2009 MacBook. Both previously running El Capitan.


Fortunatedly, I was able to recover from Time Machine.


Did Apple stop making El Capitan available for clean install?


iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Nov 3, 2019 11:22 AM

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User profile for user: Eau Rouge
Eau Rouge
User level: Level 8
42,602 points

Posted on Nov 4, 2019 8:25 PM

Apple have released a 'new' version of El Capitan for download, the previous versions certificates expired

a few weeks ago, the is why your older copies will not install, and the date regression workaround mentioned earlier.

If you click on this link, How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support

Go to Section 4 and click on Download Mac OS X El Capitan.

In a change this will download a file called InstallMacOSX.dmg (6GBs)

Double clicking on that will mount a volume on your Desktop and inside is InstallMacOSX.pkg.

Again double-click on that, an installation window will open, follow the prompts.

Once that has completed look in your Applications folder for Install Mac OS X El Capitan.app.

Make a copy of it and keep it safe or make a bootable USB from it.

To start the full installation procedure double-click on the Install Mac OS X El Capitan.app.

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User profile for user: Eau Rouge
Eau Rouge
User level: Level 8
42,602 points

Nov 4, 2019 8:25 PM in response to jaauu

Apple have released a 'new' version of El Capitan for download, the previous versions certificates expired

a few weeks ago, the is why your older copies will not install, and the date regression workaround mentioned earlier.

If you click on this link, How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support

Go to Section 4 and click on Download Mac OS X El Capitan.

In a change this will download a file called InstallMacOSX.dmg (6GBs)

Double clicking on that will mount a volume on your Desktop and inside is InstallMacOSX.pkg.

Again double-click on that, an installation window will open, follow the prompts.

Once that has completed look in your Applications folder for Install Mac OS X El Capitan.app.

Make a copy of it and keep it safe or make a bootable USB from it.

To start the full installation procedure double-click on the Install Mac OS X El Capitan.app.

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Clean install error - no package can be found

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