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hi People,
I did a clean install of High Sierra on a new SSD drive a couple months back.
Why is the app store giving me an "update" notification for El Capitan (my last OS)...?
The odd thing is, when I was running El Capitan, I would often get inappropriate notices to "upgrade" to the latest version of El Capitan, which I had already done, long ago.
Something is stuck and dysfunctional in this process.
Thanks for any ideas or hints!
If that is the case, then the only other possibilities I can think of would be an issue with your AppleID if you are using it, or perhaps this laptop is being managed by a school or business. Did you check out if the issue still persisted when you first logged into the clean install? Did you try testing the laptop by just creating just a local user account which was not tied to your AppleID?
How did you acquire the High Sierra installer? Did you use Recovery Mode (Command + R) or use an old version of the installer? If you used either of these methods, then it may be using a corrupted or damaged installer, or an installer that is tied to your AppleID. In theory installing macOS using Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) or from a bootable macOS USB installer should install an OS that is not associated with your AppleID as long as the whole physical drive was erased.
Did you use Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) or download & create a bootable macOS High Sierra installer from the most recent version of the installer available? This should be the best option and should not cause any problems.
Maybe you would have to disassociate your AppleID and accounts from this Mac like when you are preparing the Mac for sale as described in this Apple article:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
This is the best I can suggest. Unfortunately some things may only be fixable with yet another clean install since once something has been activated it may not be possible (or at least not easy) to resolve. Hopefully another contributor will have some better ideas or insights for you.
If that is the case, then the only other possibilities I can think of would be an issue with your AppleID if you are using it, or perhaps this laptop is being managed by a school or business. Did you check out if the issue still persisted when you first logged into the clean install? Did you try testing the laptop by just creating just a local user account which was not tied to your AppleID?
How did you acquire the High Sierra installer? Did you use Recovery Mode (Command + R) or use an old version of the installer? If you used either of these methods, then it may be using a corrupted or damaged installer, or an installer that is tied to your AppleID. In theory installing macOS using Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) or from a bootable macOS USB installer should install an OS that is not associated with your AppleID as long as the whole physical drive was erased.
Did you use Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) or download & create a bootable macOS High Sierra installer from the most recent version of the installer available? This should be the best option and should not cause any problems.
Maybe you would have to disassociate your AppleID and accounts from this Mac like when you are preparing the Mac for sale as described in this Apple article:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
This is the best I can suggest. Unfortunately some things may only be fixable with yet another clean install since once something has been activated it may not be possible (or at least not easy) to resolve. Hopefully another contributor will have some better ideas or insights for you.
Startup in Safe Mode followed by a normal Restart and check for an update.
How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support
If Safe Mode doesn't help? Make sure that you have a good backup, then download and reinstall macOS High Sierra over the top of the current 10.13 version.
Did you migrate or restore from a backup? If so, then your clean install is no longer clean as the problem was pulled from the backup. Perhaps there is a .plist preference file that can be deleted, but I have no idea which one or where it would be located. Maybe another more knowledgeable contributor will have an idea. Otherwise you may need to perform another clean install, but this time manually transfer your data and reinstall your third party apps.
Are you using any anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, or third party security software that may be interfering with the normal operation of macOS?
thanks for your response...
no, no migration or restoration from backup. all apps installed clean and new.
I won't be doing another install. this one's working fine, except for this odd update nag.
No anti-virus. No cleaners. No security apps.
If the issue persists, I'll try to get a help session with an apple rep.
High Sierra still gets update prompts for El Capitan
