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Unable to reinstall OS X El Capitan

I’m trading in my MacBook and I’m trying to reset it and reinstall but it’s not happening

MacBook Air

Posted on Jun 24, 2021 2:26 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 24, 2021 5:44 PM

The age of your MacBook affects what you can install.


September 20, 2016 and later machines can't run El Capitan.

September 30, 2015 to September 19, 2016 internet restore with command-option-shift-R can install El Capitan after wiping the hard drive with Disk Utility HFS Extended. APFS does not support El Capitan

July 20th 2011 to September 29, 2015 can do the same thing, but you need to follow these steps to upgrade back to El Capitan:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8811

Older Macs gets a little more complicated, as this tip explains:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003506

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 24, 2021 5:44 PM in response to ambika258

The age of your MacBook affects what you can install.


September 20, 2016 and later machines can't run El Capitan.

September 30, 2015 to September 19, 2016 internet restore with command-option-shift-R can install El Capitan after wiping the hard drive with Disk Utility HFS Extended. APFS does not support El Capitan

July 20th 2011 to September 29, 2015 can do the same thing, but you need to follow these steps to upgrade back to El Capitan:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8811

Older Macs gets a little more complicated, as this tip explains:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003506

Unable to reinstall OS X El Capitan

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