If OS X El Capitan came preinstalled on your new Mac, you’ll probably never need this article until you decide to sell it. At that time, it’s a good idea to erase the disk and install a fresh copy of OS X for the next owner.
If you’re thinking about reinstalling because something has gone wrong with your Mac, know that an OS X reinstallation should be your last resort. If nothing else fixes your Mac, reinstalling OS X could well be your final option before invasive surgery (that is, trundling your Mac to a repair shop). You don’t want to reinstall OS X if something easier can correct the problem. So if you have to do a reinstallation, realize that this is more or less your last hope (this side of the dreaded screwdriver, anyway).
In this article, you discover all you need to know to install or reinstall OS X, if you should have to.Reinstalling is a hassle because although you won’t lose the contents of your Home folder, applications you’ve installed, or the stuff in your Documents folder (unless something goes horribly wrong or you have to reformat your hard drive), you might lose the settings for some System Preferences, which means you’ll have to manually reconfigure those panes after you reinstall.
And you might have to reinstall drivers for third-party hardware such as mice, keyboards, printers, tablets, and the like. Finally, you might have to reregister or reinstall some of your software.
For the strongest security and latest features, find out whether you can upgrade to macOS Catalina, the latest version of macOS. If you still need OS X El Capitan, use this link: Download OS X El Capitan. A file named InstallMacOSX.dmg will download to your Mac.
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s almost always inconvenient. That said, reinstalling OS X almost always corrects all but the most horrifying and malignant of problems. The process in El Capitan is (compared with root-canal work, income taxes, or previous versions of OS X) relatively painless.
How to install (or reinstall) OS X
In theory, you should have to install El Capitan only once, or never if your Mac came with El Capitan preinstalled. And in a perfect world, that would be the case. But you might find occasion to install, reinstall, or use it to upgrade, such as
If your Mac is currently running any version of OS X except El Capitan
If you have a catastrophic hard-drive crash that requires you to initialize (format) or replace your boot drive
If you buy an external hard drive and want it to be capable of being your Mac’s startup disk (that is, a bootable disk)
If you replace your internal hard drive with a larger, faster, or solid state drive
If any essential OS X files become damaged or corrupted or are deleted or renamed
If you sell or give away your Mac
The following instructions do triple duty: Of course they’re what you do to install OS X for the first time on a Mac or a freshly formatted hard or solid-state disk. But they’re also what you do if something really bad happens to the copy of OS X that you boot your Mac from, or if the version of OS X on your Mac is earlier than 10.10 El Capitan. In other words, these instructions describe the process for installing, reinstalling, or upgrading OS X El Capitan.
You must have Internet access to complete this procedure.
If you’ve never had El Capitan on this Mac, the first thing to do is visit the Mac App Store, download El Capitan (it’s free), and install it. Once you’ve done that, here’s how to install, reinstall, or upgrade to El Capitan, step by step:
Boot from your Recovery HD partition by restarting your Mac while holding down the Command+R keys.
The OS X Utilities window appears.
Select Reinstall OS X, and click Continue.
The OS X El Capitan splash screen appears.
Click Continue.
A sheet informing you that your computer’s eligibility needs to be verified by Apple appears.
Click Continue to begin the process of installing or reinstalling OS X.
If you’re not connected to the Internet, you’ll be asked to choose a Wi-Fi network from the AirPort menu in the top-right corner.
The El Capitan software license agreement screen appears.
Read the license agreement and click Agree.
A sheet drops down, asking whether you agree to the terms of the license agreement.
Click Agree again.
Yes, you did just click Agree; this time you’re being asked to confirm that you indeed clicked the Agree button. If you don’t click Agree, you can’t go any farther, so I advise you to click Agree now.
Choose the disk on which you want to reinstall OS X by clicking its icon once in the pane where you select a disk.
If only one suitable disk is available, you won’t have to choose; it will be selected for you automatically.
Click the Install button.
A sheet asks for your Apple ID and password.
Type your Apple ID and password in the appropriate fields, and click Sign In.
Your El Capitan installation (or reinstallation) begins. The operating system takes 30 to 60 minutes to install, so now might be a good time to take a coffee break. When the install is finished, your Mac restarts itself.
If you were reinstalling El Capitan on the hard disk that it was originally installed on, or upgrading from Mavericks, you’re done now. Your Mac will reboot, and in a few moments you can begin using your new, freshly installed (and ideally trouble-free) copy of OS X El Capitan.
New Version Of Iphoto For El Capitan Mac
If, on the other hand, you’re installing El Capitan on a hard disk for the first time, you still have one last step to complete. After your Mac reboots, the Setup Assistant window appears.
Getting set up with the Setup Assistant
Assuming that your installation process goes well and your Mac restarts itself, the next thing you should see (and hear) is a short, colorful movie that ends by transforming into the first Setup Assistant screen (Apple Assistants such as this are like wizards in Windows, only smarter), fetchingly named Welcome.
New Version Of Iphoto For El Capitan Mac
To tiptoe through the Setup Assistant, follow these steps:
When the Welcome screen appears, choose your country from the list by clicking it once, and then click the Continue button.
If your country doesn’t appear in the list, select the Show All check box, which causes a bunch of additional countries to appear.
After you click Continue, the Select Your Keyboard screen appears.
Choose a keyboard layout from the list by clicking it once, and then click Continue.
If you want to use a U.S. keyboard setup, click the U.S. listing. If you prefer a different country’s keyboard layout, select the Show All check box; a bunch of additional countries’ keyboards (as well as a pair of Dvorak keyboard layouts) appear in the list. Choose the one you prefer by clicking it — and then click Continue.
The Select Your Wi-Fi Network screen appears.
Click the name of the wireless network you use to connect to the Internet, type its password, and then click Continue.
If you don’t see the network you want to use, click Rescan.
If you don’t use a wireless network, click Other Network Setup, and then choose one of the available options, or choose My Computer Does Not Connect to the Internet. Click Continue.
The Migration Assistant (also known as the Transfer Information to This Mac) screen appears.
Do one of the following:
Choose to transfer data, and then click Continue.
If this is a brand-new Mac or you’re installing OS X El Capitan on a Mac and have another Mac or Time Machine backup disk nearby, you can transfer all of your important files and settings by following the onscreen instructions and connecting the new and old Macs via FireWire or Ethernet cable.
Transferring data can take hours — that’s the bad news.
The good news is that once the data transfer finishes, you’re finished, too. In other words, you can ignore the steps that follow (which are only for brand new installations with no data to transfer).
Goodbye and good luck.
Choose not to transfer data, and then click Continue.
The Enable Location Services screen appears. Location Services allows apps such as Maps and services such as Spotlight Suggestions to gather and use data including your approximate location.
Select (or don’t select) the Enable Location Services on this Mac check box, and then click Continue.
The Sign In with Your Apple ID screen appears.
Do one of the following:
If you want to use your Apple ID with this Mac, type your ID (such as tcook@me.com) and password in the appropriate fields, and then click Continue.
If you don’t have an Apple ID or prefer not to use one with this Mac, click Don’t Sign In, and then click Continue.
To learn more about getting an Apple ID, click the blue Learn More link. In a nutshell, an Apple ID lets you make one-click purchases at the iTunes Store, iPhoto, or the Apple Store, and includes free iCloud membership.
The Terms and Conditions screen appears.
Read the Terms and Conditions and click Agree.
A sheet drops down to confirm your agreement.
Click Agree again.
The Create a Computer Account screen appears.
Do one of the following:
If you provided your Apple ID (in Step 6), select the Use My iCloud Account to Log In check box. Then fill in the Account Name (sometimes called Short Name).
Fill in the Full Name, Account Name (sometimes called Short Name), Password, Verify Password, and Hint fields.
This first account that you create will automatically have administrator privileges for this Mac. You can’t easily delete or change the name you choose for this account, so think it through.
You can’t click the Continue button until you’ve filled in the first two fields. Because a password is optional, you can choose to leave both password fields blank if you like. If you do, your Mac warns you that without a password, your Mac won’t be secure. If that’s okay, click OK. If you change your mind and want to have a password, click Cancel.
If you want a different picture, click the little picture to the right of your name (labeled “edit”) and do one of the following:
To take a picture of yourself with your Mac’s built-in camera, click the Take Photo Snapshot button. Then click Continue.
When the picture appears, you can change its size by using the slider control directly below the image and move it around in the frame by clicking your face and dragging. If you’re not happy with this snapshot, click Retake a Video Snapshot.
To select a picture from the Picture library, click the picture you want to represent you — the butterfly, dog, parrot, flower, or whatever — and then click Continue.
Click Continue to exit the Create a Computer Account screen. If you didn’t provide an Apple ID, skip to Step 13.
If you provided your Apple ID in Step 6, the Set Up iCloud Keychain screen appears.
Do one of the following:
Click Set Up iCloud Keychain. When the screen requesting your passcode appears, type your four-digit passcode, and click Continue.
If you’ve forgotten your passcode or don’t have one, click Forgot Code to Reset iCloud Keychain.
A verification code is sent to your iPhone or other Apple device.
Click Set Up Later.
If you choose this option, skip to Step 14.
Type the code in the verification field and then click Continue.
Wait a few minutes while your user account is created and El Capitan is configured for you.
The OS X Finder’s Desktop appears.
And that’s all there is to it. You’re done.
OS X El Capitan gives you simpler, smarter ways to do the things you do most with your Mac. Like working in multiple apps at the same time using Split View. Searching for information with an even more helpful Spotlight. Keeping your favorite websites handy with Pinned Sites. Managing your email with full-screen view and swipe gestures. And turning notes into useful checklists. Improvements under the hood make your Mac snappier and more efficient for all kinds of everyday tasks — from opening PDFs to loading your email. And with Metal for Mac, you get faster and more fluid graphics performance in games and high-performance apps.
Split View
Give two apps your undivided attention.
Running lots of apps at the same time is one of the great things about using a Mac. Focusing on just one app in full-screen view is another. With Split View, you get the best of both. It automatically fills your screen with the two apps you choose. So you can make dinner plans with a friend in Messages while finding the restaurant in Maps. Or work on a document in Pages while doing your research in Safari. All without the distraction of your other open apps, and without having to manually resize and drag windows around. And your desktop is always just a swipe away, so it’s easy to get back to everything else you were doing.
Mission Control
You’ve never been so good atspace management.
A streamlined Mission Control makes it easier to see and organize everything you have open on your Mac. With a single swipe, all the windows on your desktop arrange themselves in a single layer, with nothing stacked or hidden. Mission Control places your windows in the same relative location, so you can spot the one you’re looking for more quickly. And when you have lots of windows competing for screen space, it’s even easier to make more room for them. Just drag any window to the top of your screen and drop it into a new desktop space. It’s never been this easy to spread out your work.
Call out your cursor.
Lost your cursor on your crowded desktop? Just shake your finger back and forth on the trackpad or give your mouse a shake, and the pointer gets bigger so it’s easy to spot.
Spotlight
Even more versatile. And helpful.
Spotlight gets even smarter in El Capitan, delivering results for weather, sports, stocks, web video, and transit information. And now you can ask Spotlight to find a file using natural language — so when you’re looking for the presentation you created last Friday, just type “presentation I made on Friday.”1 Spotlight is also more flexible: You can resize its window to see more results and move it anywhere on your desktop.
Ask in your own words.
Searching for files has never been easier now that Spotlight understands natural language.1 For example, type “email from Harrison in April” and Spotlight shows you email messages that match. You can also use more complex searches, like “spreadsheet I worked on yesterday that contains budget,” and you’ll get just what you’re looking for. You can search with your own words in Mail and the Finder, too.
Look what just landed in your inbox.
Improved full-screen support and swipe gestures in Mail let you make quick work of your correspondence. OS X also helps you manage your calendar right from your inbox.
Work more easily in full screen.
The enhanced full-screen view in Mail lets you juggle all your email conversations at the same time. The email message you’re composing slides to the bottom of the screen, so you can access your inbox — perfect for copying text or attachments between messages. And if you’re managing multiple email threads, you can switch between them with easy-to-use tabs.
Add suggested events.
When you receive an email containing details for an event like a flight or a dinner reservation, you can add it to Calendar with just a click.1
Swipe to manage your inbox.
Now you can take care of your email with a swipe, just like on your iOS devices. Need to triage your inbox? Swipe right to mark an email as read or unread, or swipe left to delete. You’ll be focused on what’s important in no time.
Notes
Collect more than just your thoughts.
The powerful new Notes app is more than a great way to jot down a quick thought and keep track of it for later. Now you can turn a list into a checklist in a snap. Or easily add a photo, video, web link or map location to a note. And thanks to iCloud, all your notes and everything in them are kept up to date across all your devices. So you can create a note on your Mac and look at it on your iPhone when you’re out and about.
Add all kinds of content.
Notes easily handles almost any type of file you’d like to include. Save documents, web links, photos, map locations, PDFs, videos and more to a note with a simple drag and drop.
Save content from other apps.
Planning a trip? Save a hotel website to a note right from Safari, or a restaurant address from Maps. You can save content to Notes from many other apps as well. Just click the Share button in an app to save items to existing notes or create new ones.
Create useful checklists with a click.
Now it’s easy to create checklists in Notes. With a single click, you can create an interactive to-do list, grocery list or wish list. Then check off items as you complete them.
Use the Attachments Browser to see everything in one place.
All the attachments you’ve added to your notes are organized in one simple view: the new Attachments Browser. You can sort through photos, videos, map locations and web links without having to remember which note you put them in.
Your notes. On all your devices.
Notes works with iCloud, so your notes are up to date and with you no matter what device you’re using. Make a checklist on your Mac, and you’ll have it on your iPhone when you’re out on the go. Check an item off the list on your iPhone, and it’s checked off on your Mac. Take a picture on your iPhone, add it to a note, and it will be synced to all your devices. Any changes you make to a note on one device instantly appear on your other devices.
Photos
More things to do, places to go and people to see.
Give your photos a more personal touch with third-party editing tools. And with enhanced organization capabilities, support for the new Live Photos format and faster performance, the Photos app gets even better.
New editing extensions let you go further with your photos.
OS X El Capitan supports third-party tools that will be available from the Mac App Store and accessible right in the Photos app. Use multiple editing extensions from your favourite developers on a single photo, or use a mix of extensions and the editing tools built into Photos. From adding subtle filters to professional-quality noise reduction, you can take your photo editing to a whole new level.
Everything in its place.
Photos has been fine-tuned to make it even easier to manage your library. Now you can add a location to a single image or a group of photos. You can batch change photo titles, descriptions and keywords. Naming your favourite people in Faces is faster with a streamlined workflow. You can also sort your albums — and the contents inside them — by date, title and more.
Safari
The smartest way to surf.
With new tools built in.
With OS X El Capitan, the best browser for your Mac brings new tools for better surfing. Now Safari lets you keep favourite websites open and accessible with Pinned Sites. You can quickly mute audio without hunting for the tab it’s coming from. And use AirPlay to stream video from a web page to your HDTV.
Pinned Sites keep your favourite websites handy.
Keep websites you visit often — like your webmail, Facebook page or Twitter feed — open, up to date and easily accessible by pinning them. They’ll stay active in the background, and they’ll stay put on the left side of your tab bar.
Use AirPlay to share web video without sharing your whole screen.
Play video from a web page to your TV with Apple TV — without showing everything else on your desktop. Just click the AirPlay icon that appears on compatible web videos and you can watch your video on the big screen.
Easily tune out a tab.
Want to stop the music without hunting for the tab it’s coming from? Now you can mute it right from the Smart Search field. If you’re listening to audio in one tab and another website starts to play, you can mute the one you don’t want to hear. And if what you really want is silence, you can mute all audio from your browser, too.
Maps
Now arriving. Public transit info.
If you get around by train or bus, you can now get around more easily in select cities around the world thanks to Maps. You’ll find everything you need to go from point A to point B, including built-in public transportation maps, directions and schedules.
Mass appeal.
Choose a destination in Transit view and Maps offers you the best routes, with detailed walking, subway, train, bus and ferry directions. See routes for complex trips, such as linking a bus ride to a subway ride via a two-block walk. You can also plan your trip according to when you want to leave or when you need to arrive.
Get directions on your Mac.
Read them on the go.
Plan your route on your Mac, then send it to your iPhone with just a few clicks for stop-by-stop directions when you’re out and about.
Fonts
A distinctly modern take on type.
OS X El Capitan introduces new fonts that look crisp and beautiful on your Mac and in your documents — a modern, space-efficient system font called San Francisco, a new Chinese font called PingFang with thousands of redesigned characters and six new line weights, and four new Japanese fonts that offer even more choices for everything from presentations to email.
San Francisco
Designed from the ground up for use on all Apple devices, San Francisco has been fine-tuned for optimal readability on a Mac, and looks particularly crisp and refined on a Retina display. The new San Francisco system font optimizes legibility with size-specific letter shapes and dynamic character spacing. You’ll feel its subtle effect in the things you do every day.
Distinct characters
Similar characters like a capital I, lowercase L, and the number 1 are now more easily distinguished.
Dynamic spacing
Spacing between letters and words shifts depending on the font size, which helps readability.
PingFang
Enhanced readability.
The new Chinese system font PingFang was designed specifically for digital displays, delivering unmatched legibility in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
More variety.
PingFang is available in six weights from ultralight to semibold. The different weights give you flexibility for headlines, captions and more.
Japanese Fonts
YuMincho +36p Kana
Tsukushi B Round Gothic
New document fonts.
OS X El Capitan includes four new Japanese fonts, each available in two weights, that add personality to your documents and presentations.
Hiragino Sans
Enhanced Hiragino Sans.
Hiragino Sans, the Japanese system font for OS X, now offers a full set of ten line weights for use in documents.
Input Methods
Mac becomes even more fluent.
Now it’s easier to write Chinese and Japanese text on your Mac.
Chinese
Advanced keyboard input.
Thanks to advanced learning capabilities that quickly memorize your word choices, using the keyboard to input Chinese has never been simpler or faster. Vocabulary lists are frequently updated so you can use the latest words and phrases, and a smarter candidate window displays more character selections.
Improved trackpad handwriting.
Enter characters on the trackpad as swiftly and accurately as you do on paper — just by using your finger. A new Trackpad window reflects the proportions of your physical trackpad, gives you more room to write and lets you write multiple characters in a row.
Japanese
Live conversion for keyboard input.
OS X El Capitan dramatically improves the ease and speed of entering Japanese text. With an enhanced vocabulary and improved language engine, it automatically transforms Hiragana into written Japanese as you type — eliminating the need to press the space bar for individual word conversions.