Install El Capitan From Usb

After successfully created a macOS bootable USB, the next step is how to use it to install macOS from external USB drive. This is not normal case because macOS is very stable and have less bugs/virus than Windows PC. So many Mac users don't know how to perform a clean install of macOS on their Mac when the device was broken or could not boot into desktop.

Please don't worry. We will share detailed steps on how to install macOS/Mac OS X from an USB drive. Even you had issues during this process, it is not thing to be afriad as we have offered the troubleshooting guide as well.

Mar 04, 2021 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. I have decided to go with a fresh and clean install of OS X 10.11 El Capitan this time. As I've done a thousand times before I created an install-USB by downloading El Capitan from the App Store and compiled it on to the USB-drive by using Apples own terminal command.

How to Install macOS on Mac from USB Drive (Normal Way)

If the target Mac computer already had a macOS or OS X on it, then installing macOS from USB is straightforward and this is called the normal way.

Step 1: Insert the macOS bootable USB drive on a USB port of Mac computer.

Step 2: Shut down the Mac and wait for 1-2 minutes. This will make sure the Mac is powered off.

Step 3: Hold the Power and Option key simultaneously for 15 seconds. This will bring up the Startup Manager on Mac.

Step 4: You will see all bootable devices attached to this Mac, including Macintosh HD and external USB or DVD. Click the drive name of your macOS bootable USB to start the installation process.

Step 5: Agree the terms and conditions and wait for the installation process to be done.

How to Install macOS on Mac from USB Drive (Advanced)

If the drive was not partitioned or the partition table was corrupted, then you can not install macOS on Mac with the normal way. You have to boot Mac into Recovery mode and format the hard drive or SSD to Apple file system first.

Step 1: Shut down your Mac and press the Power key to turn on the Mac; then immediately press Command and R keys.

Step 2: You will be directed to the macOS utility section and here you need to select 'Disk Utility' to format the USB drive. From the Disk Utility app, select Mac drive name under Internal section and then click on the 'Erase' button.

Step 3: You will get a couple of options from the Format. Pleasec choose APFS (macOS) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for old version Mac OS X.

Step 4: After the completion of the formatting process, go back to the macOS utility section and this time, select 'Reinstall macOS'.

Step 5: Further, go to the Startup Manager, move to the External drive section, and select your bootable macOS USB drive.

Step 6: Now, the configuration of MacOS will start. As soon as the process starts, it will provide Terms and Agreement page and your job is to agree with the same and then click on the continue button.

Step 7: After that, click on the 'Continue' button to start the installation process. This will take 30-45 minutes and once it gets completed, restart Mac.

Step 8: As you are using the fresh copy of MacOS on Mac machine, so you need to set up the OS and for that connect the Mac with the Wi-Fi and then sign in with the Apple account.

Step 9: After signing in, you can access the several products of Apple such as iCloud, DropBox and many more.

Quick Troubleshooting Tips if You Got Stuck during MacOS Installation

Could not write installation information to disk

If you see the message like 'Could Not Write Installation Information to Disk' when you are trying to install the OS, it means, some important files are missing from the bootable USB device. Mostly, this error happens when you download Mac OS file from an unauthorized site.

You can fix this issue just by downloading the original OS file from the Apple store and then create a fresh bootable USB using the same.

Compatibility error

If you are upgrading the OS X after having an older version, you can get the compatibility error message. In such case, just cross-check the system requirement for the OS you want to install on your Mac system.

You can fix this issue just by downloading the original OS file from the Apple store and then create a fresh bootable USB using the same.

macOS could not be installed on your Computer

If you see the error message similar to 'macOS Could Not Be Installed on Your Computer' that means, either your system is not compatible or the Date and Time settings in your system is not up to date..

To resolve the problem, first, check the system combability for the OS X. If it's fine and still you are facing the error, then just update the system Time & Date with the option of 'Local Apple time server'.

Application is damaged, can't be used to install macOS

You the message 'application is damaged, can't be used to install macOS' appear on your screen, it means the OS certificated has been expired. And so, you won't be able to proceed further for installation.

The simple solution is; you need to create a fresh bootable USB by downloading the MacOS file from its official website.

MacOS couldn't install on this computer

Sometimes, the thirty-party tool which you use to create a bootable USB is the culprit. If the OS files will not be copied successfully using the bootable tool, then you may see the message like 'MacOS couldn't install on this computer'.

In this case, you should avoid using a third party bootable tool despite you should create a bootable USB with the help of command.

Conclusion

How To Install El Capitan From Usb

The above tutorial covers most of the issues you could come across during the installation process. If you had other issues not mentioned in this article, please contact us and our technical team will help you fix it.

Install OSX El Capitan on a PC (MBR)

Prerequisites

A real Mac or Hackintosh
A spare disk drive – at least 8Gb, preferably USB
An 8Gb or larger USB stick
The Install OSX El Capitan.app from the App Store
A disk partition to install in

Install El Capitan From Usb On Mac

Install on spare disk drive

Connect your spare drive to your PC. Use the method described here to build the El Capitan install USB stick and install OSX using the GPT partition scheme on your spare disk drive. Check it boots up OK and works OK.

Copy to your MBR partition

Use the Disk Utility to either copy the El Capitan partition to your MBR partition, or create a disk image and restore it to your MBR partition. Install Clover on your new El Capitan partition using the MBR options.

Copy the kexts you used to build the USB stick to the new El Capitan partition in EFI>CLOVER>kexts>10.11. I needed FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext and a ethernet driver AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext. Disconnect the spare disk and reboot to check the El Capitan installation boots OK and works OK. If it worked on your GPT disk then it should be OK on MBR with the same drivers.

The problem with creating a GPT partitioned disk and installing on it is that you end up with a bios boot menu item ‘Mac OSX’ which you can’t delete, even using the Clover EFI shell or the linux utility efibootmgr. I’ve got two flavours of linux and efibootmgr refuses to work on both of them. It may be possible to get around this by installing on a USB drive.

I have since found you need to run the Clover EFI shell while doing a UEFI boot to get access to the bios boot menu items.

Later releases

Install El Capitan From Usb Bootable Drive

I couldn’t get this to work on Sierra and High Sierra because the installer automagically creates a recovery partition which doesn’t get transferred. So I have converted to UEFI, which works fine using the USB stick method.

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