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I downloaded El Capitan 10.11 and my hardware requirements are compatible for my mid-2009 Mackbook Pro as stated above, but all I received was OS X installer for Yosemite. How do I get El Capitan?

I downloaded El Capitan 10.11 and my hardware requirements are compatible for my mid-2009 Mackbook Pro as stated above, but all I received was OS X installer for Yosemite. How do I get El Capitan?

Posted on Oct 23, 2021 10:42 AM

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Posted on Oct 23, 2021 11:38 AM

You double-click the downloaded installer for El Capitan and it will then install the Install OS X El Capitan.app installer in your /Applications folder. That is spelled out for you in the How to get old versions of macOS for the El Capitan selection.

4 replies

Oct 23, 2021 1:09 PM in response to quincy271

If you do have an operating system on your mac and it is functioning then you can download

El Capitan using this method.


Open your Safari browser and click on the link below,

How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support


Go to Download OS and click on OS X El Capitan 10.11

this downloads InstallMacOSX.dmg to your Downloads folder.


The next section can only be done on a mac that is capable of running El Capitan.

This includes macs that have the potential to run El Capitan but have been upgraded to a newer OS.

A mac that came preinstalled with an OS later than El Capitan will refuse to do the next bit.


When downloaded open to InstallMacOSX.pkg, double-click on

that and an installation window will open, this does not install El Capitan

but converts the InstallMacOSX.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app which 

you will find in your Applications folder, it should be 6.2GBs in size.


(If the installation window asks which disk you want to install to, you must pick 

the disk that you are booted to at the time. Not any internal or external disk that 

you want to eventually install El Capitan on, that is for later.)


To start the installation of El Capitan double click on the Install OS X El Capitan.app.


The copy of the install app self deletes after installing El Capitan, so make sure you keep a copy of the 

InstallMacOSX.dmg if you need it in future, or you could just make a copy of the Install OS X El Capitan.app 

prior to installing and moving it to an external drive for safe keeping. 

It is also possible to create a bootable USB installer disk using the Install OS X El Capitan.app in the Applications 

folder and the createinstallmedia command in the Terminal app. 


Read the instructions here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support

I downloaded El Capitan 10.11 and my hardware requirements are compatible for my mid-2009 Mackbook Pro as stated above, but all I received was OS X installer for Yosemite. How do I get El Capitan?

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