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MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
When you get done with downloading phase it launches the installer.

At this point (before you start install) the "Install OS X El Capitan.app" is in your Applications folder. Copy it elsewhere.
 

simon lefisch

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2014
1,006
253
Is there a stand alone 10.11 install or must one always go thru iTunes?
Download El Capitan to your computer. Quit the installer. Make a bootable USB installer using terminal commands. You'll then have a standalone installer.
 

qtrim

macrumors 6502
Oct 7, 2011
314
44
Does the same installer work for all hardware? I'm downloading on a Macbook Air but also want to install it on my Mac Mini.
 

shoehornhands

macrumors regular
Oct 9, 2014
192
95
Does the same installer work for all hardware? I'm downloading on a Macbook Air but also want to install it on my Mac Mini.

Yep, the El Capitan installer from the App Store will work with any machine. Apple usually only releases one installer for each OS / version and it contains drivers for all Apple hardware. The installer will automatically check your particular hardware configuration and install only what you need.

You should be able to create an install USB in terminal as you would with Yosemite.

e.g. after downloading the El Capitan installer, re-name the flash drive to "USB" and then paste the following in terminal:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app --nointeraction
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,951
17,445
Does the same installer work for all hardware? I'm downloading on a Macbook Air but also want to install it on my Mac Mini.

It will, but keep in mind that while you're looking at a much faster transfer of the application between two computers on your network, you'll still be going over WiFi (unless you have a Ethernet to USB adapter, which the speeds will be slow anyway) to your Mac Mini, because the bottleneck would be your MBA and it going at at least 54Mbps, and that's about as bad as what you're getting for downloading it from Apple, with the installer being 6GB.

You could create the boot disk on the USB stick and start the installer in the time it would take to copy the app over your network.

BL.
 

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
Sneakernet

Copy the installer to a drive and move drive to other machine(s)

I have downloaded it once, will install on 6-8 Macs with that same drive.
 

HDJulie

macrumors demi-goddess
Jun 13, 2008
930
431
Little Rock, AR
Is there any way to download the update without using the Mac? I have a 27" iMac & want to do the update but where I live we don't have broadband access & we use a Mobile Share plan. The 6GB update is too much for me to download at home & I don't want to haul the iMac someplace else to do it. I'd rather download to a flash drive at work
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,951
17,445
Is there any way to download the update without using the Mac? I have a 27" iMac & want to do the update but where I live we don't have broadband access & we use a Mobile Share plan. The 6GB update is too much for me to download at home & I don't want to haul the iMac someplace else to do it. I'd rather download to a flash drive at work


You'd still need a Mac somewhere to do it, as it is only available in the Mac App Store. After that, you could create a USB boot stick and take that everywhere. Or, you could take that empty stick into the Apple Store, and they should be able to help create the installer for you there.

BL.
 

HDJulie

macrumors demi-goddess
Jun 13, 2008
930
431
Little Rock, AR
You'd still need a Mac somewhere to do it, as it is only available in the Mac App Store. After that, you could create a USB boot stick and take that everywhere. Or, you could take that empty stick into the Apple Store, and they should be able to help create the installer for you there.

BL.
Thanks - I went to the Apple store & asked them the same thing -- could they download it to a thumb drive for me. They said no but I am welcome to bring the iMac there & use their wireless. You can't even buy it on disk.
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,951
17,445
Thanks - I went to the Apple store & asked them the same thing -- could they download it to a thumb drive for me. They said no but I am welcome to bring the iMac there & use their wireless. You can't even buy it on disk.

They stopped selling it on media back in the days of Lion. However, if you brought your own media there, they should be able to help you create the installer on your USB stick. That has been something they were able to do. Did you ask the reps on the floor that, or the Genius Bar?

BL.
 

yukyuklee

macrumors 6502
Jan 4, 2011
368
40
Boston, MA
is anyone having a glitch in the app store after installing el capitan 10.11 its showing a update which is el capitan beta 1 10.11.1
 

HDJulie

macrumors demi-goddess
Jun 13, 2008
930
431
Little Rock, AR
They stopped selling it on media back in the days of Lion. However, if you brought your own media there, they should be able to help you create the installer on your USB stick. That has been something they were able to do. Did you ask the reps on the floor that, or the Genius Bar?

BL.
Reps on the floor who then asked the manager.
 

br0adband

macrumors 6502a
Aug 29, 2006
933
69
Thanks - I went to the Apple store & asked them the same thing -- could they download it to a thumb drive for me. They said no but I am welcome to bring the iMac there & use their wireless. You can't even buy it on disk.

The reason they can't do it for you in that respect (off their own machines) is that it requires an iTunes/App Store account to do it so - in my experience with Mavericks and Yosemite, if you were to copy the install.app from someone else's machine to yours when you attempt to install from that it will ask you to log in but it'll crap out on you when it comes up and tells you the installer was tied to someone else's account. Again, that's been my experience and I've seen that happen a few times where friends are like "here's a copy of my <whatever version> installer.app, just copy it from the USB stick (meaning the stick isn't the installer, it's just got a full copy of the installer.app) and then run it..." only to find out it's tied to the other owner's account.

While creating a USB stick from the installer is relatively easy, I haven't been able to create a bootable ISO so far. The instructions I used for Yosemite which created such a thing don't appear to work the same for EC and I'm not sure why at the moment, will have to continue to do some research to find out what exactly has changed. The Yosemite instructions will create the ISO but it won't boot, odd but I suppose I'll figure it out at some point.

So far so good with the final version, however, no complaints here but I had none with the GM candidate either in the time I used that.
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,951
17,445
The reason they can't do it for you in that respect (off their own machines) is that it requires an iTunes/App Store account to do it so - in my experience with Mavericks and Yosemite, if you were to copy the install.app from someone else's machine to yours when you attempt to install from that it will ask you to log in but it'll crap out on you when it comes up and tells you the installer was tied to someone else's account. Again, that's been my experience and I've seen that happen a few times where friends are like "here's a copy of my <whatever version> installer.app, just copy it from the USB stick (meaning the stick isn't the installer, it's just got a full copy of the installer.app) and then run it..." only to find out it's tied to the other owner's account.

If the people at the Apple Store looked at it, since they would already have the app downloaded, when the USB stick is created, it is portable, and not by nature of it being USB. I've used the Yosemite installer on my MBA, my wife's rMB, her old 2008 MBP, and a Hackintosh I built back in the Mountain Lion days, which all worked successfully. Soo that the Apple Store/Genius bar would need is a Mac that has the installer app downloaded. From there, they create the stick, and it can be used on any Apple supported hardware.

BL.
 
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