“No packages were eligible for install” – Unable to install El Capitan. Windows 10 Internet Security. AVG Internet Security Business Edition. APPLE iMAC & Macbook security. Protect Your Mac and Save 30%. 100% Australian Website Hosting. Register your domain name. Oct 24, 2019 No packages were eligible for install: Target Drive for Install - SATA Drive Thread starter sunilzlog; Start date Feb 15, 2016; sunilzlog. Joined Feb 3, 2016 Messages 2 Mac Classic Mac Mobile Phone. Feb 15, 2016 #1 hello, case 1: I have created a bootable USB for El Captain using Unibeast software. I was able to install El Captain on another. Oct 16, 2017 The drive you are installing macOS could be the source of the problem and this was the cause with an install I recently did. I tried installing High Sierra 10.13.2 on. “No packages were eligible for install” – Unable to install El Capitan. Windows 10 Internet Security. AVG Internet Security Business Edition. Jun 21, 2016 No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again. I checked Apple’s support Matrix (it is a very old macbook pro) at and it was listed as supported. The above image came from an attempt to install El Capitan. I just got the following message, macOS could not be installed on your computer, while trying to install macOS High Sierra. In both cases there was the same cause. In the El Capitan case, as I say in the next paragraph, the hardware clock had reset to zero because it did not have a battery pack. Nov 08, 2019 Whether or not you should install MacOS Catalina onto an unsupported Mac is another question entirely, as performance may not be up to par, and some things may not work as expected (or at all. No packages were eligible for install”.
Exciting a new version of macOS is exciting. But it can quickly become frustrating if, instead of being presented with a brand new Mac, ready to use, you see an error message like “macOS could not be installed on your computer.” Fortunately, there are lots of things you can do to fix the problem, so let’s get started.
It’s essential that before you perform any major upgrade, say from Mojave to Catalina, that you backup your Mac. One of the steps described below involves a complete reinstall of the operating system, which could result in you losing data. It’s best if you can do the backup using Time Machine, as you can then use Recovery Mode to restore your Mac from the backup. But if you don’t want to use Time Machine, create a bootable clone of your startup disk using a tool like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
There are a number of reasons you might see this error message. Here are some of the most common.
Check if your Mac is compatible with the version of macOS you’re trying to install. The best way to do that is to launch the App Store app, search for the macOS version you’re trying to install and scroll down the Compatibility section. You should see a message that says “works on this Mac”. Alternatively, go to Apple’s website support pages and search for the minimum system requirements. You might need to reboot in Safe mode, see below, to check because if you do a normal restart, your Mac may immediately launch the installer again.
Safe mode disables startup items, launch agents, and everything else except the bare minimum macOS needs to function. Restart your Mac from the Apple menu or by holding down the power button, and press Shift until you see the Apple logo.
If the problem was that launch agents or daemons were interfering with the upgrade, Safe mode will fix that. If it works, you should restart your Mac normally after the installation and remove any launch agents and daemons you don’t need.
The simplest way to remove launch agents is to use CleanMyMac X.
Here’s how:
You’ll need up to 20GB of free space on your main drive to download and install an update to macOS. If you don’t have that much free space, it’s time to clear out the junk and free up space. I’ve found that the quickest and easiest way to do that is to use a popular app CleanMyMac X by MacPaw. It can free up tens of gigabytes of space with a couple of clicks.
Install CleanMyMac X, then launch it — download free edition here.
The NVRAM on your Mac stores data even after your Mac shuts down or restarts, unlike regular RAM which is flushed every time you restart. NVRAM persists, thanks to a small amount of power supplied by your Mac’s internal battery. Resetting NVRAM rarely has any effect, but it can do in some situations, and as it won’t do any harm, it’s worth trying. It’s quite tricky to do, so you might need some help.
Restart your Mac while holding the Command + Option (Alt) + P + R keys and wait until you hear a startup chime. It may take a little longer than normal to restart, and may restart twice, but once it’s done, the NVRAM will have reset.
If you can restart in Safe mode and quit the installer, try downloading the combo updater from Apple’s website. The combo updater contains all the files necessary to install macOS on all Macs, whereas the version downloaded from the App Store only has the files for your specific Mac. It may be that the combo updater works, where the Mac App Store version doesn’t.
This is the last resort, if nothing else works.
There are a number of things you can do to fix your Mac when you see the message: “macOS could not be installed on your computer.” If the problem is that you don’t have enough space, you can use CleanMyMac X to get rid of files you don’t need. Otherwise, go through the above steps one at a time until you’re able to install a new version or update to macOS.
These might also interest you:
When the warning “macOS could not be installed on your computer” or “The path /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg appears to be missing or damaged” is thrown during a macOS High Sierra install on a hackintosh it’s usually caused by one of two things.
ICloud seamlessly syncs everything across your devices — or you can back up, restore, and sync by connecting the device directly to your Mac. With Mac Catalyst, developers can easily create Mac apps from the iPad apps you already know and love. Experience your favorite iPad apps now on your Mac. Mac mojave select certificate for website template. And rest assured; everything you had in your iTunes library is still accessible in each app.
I first noticed this problem when installing the High Sierra 10.13 Supplement Update (17A405) and only happens when installing macOS over an Intel iGPU or a Nvidia GPU.
The cause of the error is usually one of two things: GPU or SMBIOS. Here’s how to fix both:
If you got this error when installing macOS with an Intel iGPU or Nvidia GPU then it’s likely you have EmuVariableUefi-64.efi in your EFI partition. This driver can cause an issue during the install of High Sierra which can produce the above error and removing it will remove the error.
If this solves the error. Add EmuVariableUefi-64.efi back into your EFI folder if you plan to use a dedicated graphics card by opening your config.plist in Clover Configurator and selecting Install Drivers on the left column menu.
If the errormacOS could not be installed on your computer persists after removing EmuVariableUefi-64.efi, then a bad SMBIOS setting could be what’s behind it. If the SMBIOS spoof is too old (i.e. 2011 or earlier) the installer will detect that the “Mac” as too old to run High Sierra. Verify the spoofed SMBIOS being used is based on a Mac that came out in 2012+ or later. The SMBIOS spoof can be changed in Clover Configurator.
If the installer can’t match the firmware and BIOS version with known values the error will also be thrown. Generate a new SMBIOS using Clover Configurator to fix the firmware issue, then restart your hackintosh and try the installer again.
If the time in BIOS does not match the apple time of your installer this error can be thrown if it’s outside the macOS Installer’s allowed tolerance. For example if you are using a motherboard/laptop that’s been in storage awhile the system time may not match the installer’s time.
See:For anyone who can’t install macOS because “the Installer is Damaged”
If you are updating from an earlier version of macOS and getting this error you can try clearing out the NVRAM.
sudo nvram -cThe drive you are installing macOS could be the source of the problem and this was the cause with an install I recently did. I tried installing High Sierra 10.13.2 on an old drive running Sierra 10.12.6. Despite it being a separate partition no matter what I did I was still getting the error. I then decided that it must have been the drive itself because and it was.
I backed up all my files on a separate drive to transfer back later and used Disk Utility to erase the drive I wanted to install High Sierra. That did the trick and I was able to complete the install without getting the error.