10.11 Installer Location?

[Val-kyrie]

I want to create a USB installer for 10.11.6. I downloaded the .dmg from Apple through the App Store and after it downloaded I quit the installer. The installer displays (an alias?) when I launch Launch Pad, but the installer file is not in the Applications folder. Does anyone know where it is or how to find it so I can place it in the Applications folder?

PS--Finder did not find the installer.
Currently running 10.9.

 

[CoastalOR]

Look for "Install OS X El Capitan.app" in the Applications folder. It should be about 6.2 Gb in size.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Look for "Install OS X El Capitan.app" in the Applications folder. It should be about 6.2 Gb in size.

That's why I'm puzzled--it's not there. I made an installer for 10.11.5 but I wanted one for the last release.

 

[NoBoMac]

Do you have "Show in Finder" when you right click the alias?

Hacky way to get the location (or at least close to it):

• Start the installer.
• Bring up a Terminal and:

ps -ef | grep Install

On the right-most column, will have the pathname to the installer. Or depending on where it really is, a good chunk of the path.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Thanks for the reply. I will give it a try tomorrow.

Do you have "Show in Finder" when you right click the alias?

Hacky way to get the location (or at least close to it):

• Start the installer.
• Bring up a Terminal and:

ps -ef | grep Install

On the right-most column, will have the pathname to the installer. Or depending on where it really is, a good chunk of the path.

 

[CoastalOR]

I downloaded the .dmg from Apple through the App Store

OP: Are you sure you picked to download the full installer from the Purchased tab on the App Store? A .dmg file is not the full installer. The full installer from the App Store would be "Install OS X El Capitan.app" (it is not deployed in the .dmg form from the App Store). It sounds more like a El Capitan updater instead of the full installer. The updater is selected from the App Store Updates tab which would NOT be what you want for making a USB installer.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Do you have "Show in Finder" when you right click the alias?

Hacky way to get the location (or at least close to it):

• Start the installer.
• Bring up a Terminal and:

ps -ef | grep Install

On the right-most column, will have the pathname to the installer. Or depending on where it really is, a good chunk of the path.

There is no context menu when I right click on it. I think the download got corrupted. I am redownloading.

OP: Are you sure you picked to download the full installer from the Purchased tab on the App Store? A .dmg file is not the full installer. The full installer from the App Store would be "Install OS X El Capitan.app" (it is not deployed in the .dmg form from the App Store). It sounds more like a El Capitan updater instead of the full installer. The updater is selected from the App Store Updates tab which would NOT be what you want for making a USB installer.

Sorry, you are correct. I did download the app file. I misstated the file type. I am downloading from the Purchased tab in the App Store.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Thanks to all who offered helpful suggestions. Here is what happened:

I had previously downloaded and saved 10.11.5 installer to an external drive. When I redownloaded 10.11.6, it located and overwrote the 10.11.5 file on my external drive--weird. Anyway, I was able to figure this out by keeping the installer open and right-clicking on the dock icon to "show in Finder." (I had previously tried right-clicking on the launchpad icon, which didn't work.) Problem solved. Thanks again.