El Capitan Public Beta Installation Failing

App & System Services Core OS Beta macOS

Created Jul ’15

Replies 99

Boosts 0

Views 18k

Participants 6

I am trying to install the Public Beta version of El Capitan and after about 10-15 mins of trying to install, a message pops up that says "no packages were eligible for install" and the installation fails. Here's what I've tried so far:

Rebooting with CMD + R:

I do not have a Time Machine backup.
Disk Utility: I have my internal Mac HD listed, "Apple disk image" with "OS X Base System", and then about 10 or so "untitled" disk images. I ran First Aid and everything checks out.
Reinstall OS X: my only option here is to proceed with the installation of El Capitan. When I try from this screen a message pops up saying it needs to verify my computer's eligibility. When I click Continue an error occurs: "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."

I'm on a mid (or late) 2009 MacBook Pro 15". I don't think Internet Recovery is available in my model—CMD + ALT + R brings up the same OS X Disk Utilities app that CMD + R brings up.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Is there a correlation between the "no packages were eligible for install" error and the error that occurs when it's trying to verify my computer's eligibility? If so, is this something on Apple's end that could be fixed?
If the above is a 'no' and there's no way to move forward with the El Capitan install...
1. Could I insert an OS install disk that comes with Macs and install that OS and still keep all of my files? (Or will this be a clean install?)
2. If not, is there a way to revert back to Yosemite while still keeping my files?
3. If not, is there a way to backup my files to an external HD from Terminal, then do a clean install of an OS?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Boost

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

No need to type the output into your phone of course; just tell me if you recognise your apps in there.

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

My apps aren't in there. There are only about 20 files in there, none of which I really recognize. On second thought, I don't have any special apps that can't be redownloaded when I get the OS installed, so I don't know if it's absolutely necessary to transfer the apps. I mainly use the preinstalled Mac apps.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

Fair enough. Because the only OS X you have access to at the moment is your original installation disks (right?), you're going to have to install OS X from there, but first you need to reformat the partition. So next you need to put in Disk 1 (there should be 2), shut down from Recovery Mode, remove your external drive, and boot into the DVD (holding alt/option etc.)

From there you'll need to erase your internal drive, and then proceed with the installation.

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

I'm going to need to track one down. Is there anything we could try now? Or is the disc the only next step?

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

Does your friend have a Mac? Is the wifi working again?

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

No, for some reason when I try to join any network it says to move closer to the router (I'm right next to it). But yes, my friend has a Mac but no install discs.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

If you have a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable to connect your two Macs you could have put yours into Target Mode (boot holding T) and your hard drive would have appeared as an external drive on his Mac.

But that's been done via command line now so not much point 🙂

I suggest you use his Mac to make a Yosemite (unless you're still game for El Capitan) installer on a partition of your My Passport drive.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

First step, open the App Store on your friends Mac and look for the Yosemite Installer in his Purchases. Let me know if you find it.

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

I think I'm going to try and track down an install disc. I'll respond back when I find one. Thanks a ton for your help so far. I feel like I owe you a beer or something.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

No debt incurred 🙂

And that suits me too; it's 2:30am for me and high time I went to bed.

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

What do you think the chances are that I could put the El Capitan installer on my external HD, wipe everything out, then do a "clean" install of EC? If the chances are low that it'll work, I can still try and track down an install disc or move forward with making a Yosemite installer from another friend's machine.

EDIT: Actually, never mind. I decided I'm going to put Yosemite on a bootable flash drive from my friend's machine.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

Fairly good chances I'd say. The safest way would be to use a seperate USB stick (8GB+). If you're going to use the My Passport, be sure to backup/copy your data (including the precious user data) to your friend's computer temporarily because there is a chance that the createinstallmedia command below could also delete partitions it doesn't need to - it shouldn't, but I'd strongly advise a backup nonetheless.

You'll need to log into the App Store on his/her computer with your Developer AppleID and open the App Store again.

Then hold alt/option while you click on your purchases tab. You should see the El Capitan Installer there.

Once it's downloaded:

Connect My Passport to the Mac and launch Disk Utility, then select it from the left side menu and add a new partition of 8GB.

Format the new partition as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and choose Erase to confirm the process.

Now go to the “Partition” tab and change the name of the partition to “ElCapInstaller” or another name of your choosing.

Click on “Options” and select “GUID Partition Table”, and click “OK”, followed by “Apply”, then quit out of Disk Utility

Launch the Terminal application and paste the following string into the command line:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ 10.11\ Developer\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/ElCapInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ 10.11\ Developer\ Beta.app --nointeraction

Press the Return key and enter the admin password when requested (this is necessary to use sudo), you’ll then see numerous progress indicators as the process completes, it will be finished when the last messages is “Done.”

“Erasing Disk: 0%… 10%… 20%… 30%…100%…
Copying installer files to disk…
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable…
Copying boot files…
Copy complete.
Done.”

When completed, exit out of Terminal and you’re ready to go.

You can boot from the drive by holding down the Option key and selecting “Install OS X El Capitan” from the boot volume menu.

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

Thanks. I'm actually going to put Yosemite on a bootable USB drive instead of messing with El Capitan/my ext HD.

Max108 OP

Jul ’15

That sounds like a more sensible plan under the circumstances. Do you need a guide for Yosemite installer or have you found one?

christhomp OP

Jul ’15

Here are some instructions I found. Do they look ok?

How to Create Bootable USB Flash Drive

First, create bootable USB flash drive. Here is how you do it:

Plug in your USB drive into the computer and open Disk Utility (in Applications).
Select the USB drive from the left sidebar and click on Erase tab.
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the format box and let the name be Untitled (default).
Now click on Erase button and wait until the format process completes.
Then choose Partition tab and select 1 Partition from Partition Layout dropdown menu. Click on Option and ensure GUID Partition Table is selected as the partition scheme, with its name set to Untitled.
After downloading the OS X 10.10 Yosemite installer from the Mac App Store, just quit the installer and set the downloaded file's name to Install OS X Yosemite.app.
Launch the Terminal app (in Applications/Utilities) and type or paste the following command in, and then hit Enter:
sudo /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app --nointeraction
This will create the bootable USB flash drive. This takes between 10-20 minutes. Do not interrupt the Terminal or eject the flash drive during the process. Once the process completes, you will see the message "Copy Complete. Done."

The OS X Yosemite bootable USB flash drive will be ready for use and you can start the clean installation process.

How to Clean Install OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

Step 1: Ensure the bootable USB flash drive is plugged into your Mac and restart the computer. As soon as the start-up chime plays, press the Option key (Alt).

Step 2: Choose the USB drive on the start-up drive selection screen and hit Enter/Return on the keyboard.

Step 3: Wait until the Yosemite installer appears on screen. This could take a few seconds or minutes.

Step 4: Click on Disk Utility and then hit Continue.

Step 5: Click on Macintosh HD from the left hand-side pane and then hit Erase tab on the top-right portion of the window. Leave all the settings at their default values and then hit Erase button at the bottom right. This will wipe all files stored on your startup hard drive.

Step 6: When the erasing process is complete, return to the first screen where you selected Disk Utility. Now click on Install OS X and then hit Continue.

Step 7: Choose the Macintosh HD partition you erased in step 5 and then click Install.