How to reinstall MAC OS X El Capitan 10.11 ?

Hello, I've recently been given an iMac by a friend and I can't find a way to reinstall the OS on it, I have the same "this item is temporarily unavailable" message as everybody after typing my Apple ID. I know this is a frequent question and I looked tons of topics about it but nothing worked for me.


What I've tryed so far:


Put an older date then try to reinstall -> gives me a message that says "an error occured while preparing the installation. Try running this application again"


Booting an USB with El Capitan on it -> whatever keys i'm pressing after starting the mac it boots as usual and I can't launch the install from the USB


Clicking find help online and log into icloud on safari with the same Apple ID -> the icloud page never load but other pages would load if i'm typing another research


Starting the mac and holding cmd + opt + r or any other commands -> starts as usual, no globe, no Apple logo without loading bar, just the usual starting that brings me into the macOS Utilities


Erasing the hard drive -> no difference it's already empty anyway



So far I think this is all the solutions I could find on the differents topics. I tryed to put it as clear as I could but if anybody would need more information i'll do my best to provide them. I'm running out of hope and really wish someone could help me find a way out of this.

iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jan 24, 2023 09:58 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 24, 2023 12:28 PM

Booting an USB with El Capitan on it -> whatever keys i'm pressing after starting the mac it boots as usual and I can't launch the install from the USB


Are you holding option key at startup & choosing to boot from the USB stick?


Are you using a Wired USB KB? Wireless KBs often fail to see the keys until too late.

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 24, 2023 12:28 PM in response to Taqqumi

Booting an USB with El Capitan on it -> whatever keys i'm pressing after starting the mac it boots as usual and I can't launch the install from the USB


Are you holding option key at startup & choosing to boot from the USB stick?


Are you using a Wired USB KB? Wireless KBs often fail to see the keys until too late.

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How to reinstall MAC OS X El Capitan 10.11 ?

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