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I was preparing a 2008 iMac to be sold or donated and I was successful in erasing the hard drive, but when I attempted to sign into the App Store using my Apple ID, I received an Error 403 Forbidden. What do I need to do to reinstall OS X El Capitan on this iMac?
Earlier Mac models
403 Forbidden
The HTTP 403 Forbidden client error response status code indicates that the server understood the request but refused to process it. This status is similar to 401, except that for 403 Forbidden responses, authenticating or re-authenticating makes no difference. The request failure is tied to application logic, such as insufficient permissions to a resource or action.
Clients that receive a 403 response should expect that repeating the request without modification will fail with the same error. Server owners may decide to send a 404 response instead of a 403 if acknowledging the existence of a resource to clients with insufficient privileges is not desired.
Use a web browser for older versions
These older macOS versions are available as disk images that you can download using your web browser. To get the installer from the disk image, you must use a Mac that is compatible with that macOS.
Use a bootable installer
A bootable installer can be useful if you want to install macOS on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time, or when you can't install using macOS Recovery or the other methods.
To download an installer suitable for creating a bootable installer, use the App Store or use a web browser to download from a compatible Mac. The Mac must also be using the latest version of macOS Sierra or later.
How to create a bootable installer for macOS
How to download and install macOS - Apple Support
I finally received my OS flash drive that I purchased off of eBay ($18 +tax). It worked great. Thanks so much for the suggestion. You won't believe this, but while I was reloading the El Capitan OS, I opened the iMac keyboard box that I had stored away, and lo and behold, there were two disks with the initial OS on them. Oh well. Alls well that ends well, I guess.
Great idea. I just ordered one off of eBay for $20. Thanks.
Thanks for the recommendation. I was really hoping that I could create a bootable installer. Unfortunately, I don't have any computers that are old enough. My main iMac (running Sequoia) is from 2021, and my MacBook (Running Monterey) is from 2016. The computer I am trying to bring back to life is a 2008 running El Capitan.
Is my only hope to go to a Mac dealer and have them do it for me? I'm not sure how much more I want to invest in a computer worth less than $100. Thanks for any ideas you might have.
Might check eBay & such for an install USB stick.
Please let us know how it works my friend.:)
👍
Not able to reinstall OS X El Capitan because of an error 403
