MAC OS El Capitan – Upgrade From Yosemite Instructions

I helped another customer on a third party website, where I earn supplemental income answering computer and technology related questions. This is the customers question:


Purchased Turbotax Deluxe at Sams. Unable to install. Tried to download OS X 10.11.

Stated it cannot be installed on my computer. How can I do my taxes?

This individual owned a Macintosh with the following specifications:

* OS X Yosemite
* version 10.10.5
* iMAC 27-inch late 2013
* processor 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
* Memory 16 GB

Newer versions of Turbotax, for example 2017 versions, now require MAC OS 10.11. This is known as El Capitan. In order to upgrade your MAC operating system, you must now have an Apple ID.

If you have installed El Capitan before, then all you have to do is browse to the “Apple Store” on your macintosh. You need to login with your Apple ID. Click on the “Purchases” tab.

A list of all your previous purchases will populate. Apple considers operating system upgrades as purchases. Select “El Capitan” and then click on “Download”.

Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this download can take hours to complete. If you have NOT installed Apple MAC OS El Capitan before, you will need to download El Capitan from this alternative Apple Store download link. You will need to access this link from your Macintosh computer.

Once El Capitan finishes downloading, then the installation will open. You will need to accept some terms of conditions. Keep clicking “Next” until you come across a “Restart” window.

Click on “Restart” and your Macintosh will reboot and begun upgrading from Apple MAC OS 10.5 Yosemite to Apple MAC OS 10.11 El Capitan. You can click on the Apple icon and select “About this MAC” to verify your operating system. You should see MAC OS 10.11 populated.

Here is a bonus tip. Now that you have successfully upgraded your Macintosh to El Capitan, you can upgrade other MACs to El Capitan by just logging into the Apple store with your Apple ID and clicking on “Purchases” tab.

You can then download El Capitan from this tab. Finally, if you are having problems upgrading to El Capitan, it might be because your Apple Macintosh hardware is NOT compatible.