how do i install os x el capitan over 10.6.8

Reinstalling OS X System Software on a Mac with Recovery Mode You’ll also want to set aside at least an hour or two to complete this process, the exact time it takes depends on the speed of the internet connection in use, and the speed of the Mac. Trying to reinstall OS X through a flakey or slow internet connection is not recommended, unless you were to use a bootable install drive or something similar where downloading reinstallation components is not necessary. This is also completely different from a clean install of OS X, which is performed by erasing a Mac drive and then starting fresh with a new clean installation of the Mac OS X system software.īefore getting started, you’ll want to be sure you have a fast and stable internet connection available for the Mac, this is because the installer files for OS X download from Apple. Note how this is different from re-installing OS X with Internet Recovery, which loads entirely from the internet, and then reinstalls the original version of OS X which came with the Mac instead, that method is sometimes necessary if the standard recovery option doesn’t load, or if you want to reinstall the original version of OS X for the computer in question. The premise is mostly the same booting into Recovery mode to reinstall the system software. If interested you can read how for macOS Mojave and High Sierra and Sierra. Newer MacOS releases also support the ability to re-install only macOS while leaving user files alone, however.

Update: this article pertains specifically to reinstalling OS X on Macs, including El Capitan, Yosemite, and Mavericks. If performed correctly as described, applications and user data will be preserved and not be modified at all, since this approach only reinstalls the operating system and system files. We’ll cover how to reinstall Mac OS X system software only with Recovery Mode, this reinstalls the most recently available version of OS X that is (or was) actively running on the Mac.

How do i install os x el capitan over 10.6.8