This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall

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When you attempt a Mac OS X system recovery (boot holding command + r), you get a message this item is temporarily unavailable and it prevents you from completing a re-install of the OS.Some online reports suggest to login to iCloud from Safari by backing out of the installation and selecting Get Help Online from the Mac OS X Utilities screen - but this leads you to a browser unsupported. I boot up in recovery disc. I select disc utility. Erase with format os x extended (journaled) Quit utility and select reinstall osx, in this case el capitan. I follow the prompts, but when I sign in with my appl id it just says 'this item is temporarily unavailable. Try again later'.

You must repartition the drive and remove all traces of the prior owner. If the MBA came with Lion or later pre-installed then do this:

I am a computer dummy having computer issues. A friend gave me a 24' iMac from 2009, and it worked fine when she gave it to me, using it for internet browsing. I shut it down, put it in storage for a year, and when I fired it back up a year later, it goes into a Kernel Panic reboot. Clean Install of Sierra or El Capitan on a Clean Disk. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command-Option-R keys until a globe appears. The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. I'm trying to reinstall OS X (Lion, or higher — which version doesn't matter to me right now) on a Macbook Air, 11-inch, Late 2010 model. The machine came with OS X Lion pre-installed, and has been upgraded up to El Capitan while I used it. I recently decided to give the MBA away.


Clean Install of Sierra or El Capitan on a Clean Disk


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command-Option-Rkeys until a globe appears.
  2. The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
  3. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  4. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (usually, the out-dented entry) from the side list.
  5. Click on the Erase tab in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
  6. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  7. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  8. Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
  9. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  10. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.


If it came with Snow Leopard or earlier pre-installed then do this:


Snow Leopard Erase and Install

Reinstall Os X El Capitan Error This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable


If possible be sure to back up your files.


Capitan
  1. Insert Snow Leopard DVD into the optical drive and restart the computer.
  2. Immediately upon hearing the chime hold down the C key.
  3. Release the key when the Apple logo appears and wait for the loading to finish.
  4. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities' menu. After Disk Utility loads select the out-dented disk entry from the side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive size.) Click on the Partition tab in the Disk Utility’s right window. Set the number of partitions to one (1) from the drop down menu. Click on the Options button and select GUID, click OK button, set the format type to MacOS Extended, Journaled. Finally, click on the Apply button.
  5. After formatting has finished quit Disk Utility. Continue with the OS X installation and follow the directions.
  6. When the installation has finished the computer will restart into the Setup Assistant. After you complete the Setup Assistant you will be running a fresh installation of Snow Leopard. Open Software Update and install the recommended updates.
  7. If you are planning to sell or give your computer away, then do the following: After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall Snow Leopard, the computer restarts to a Welcome screen. To leave the Mac in an OOTB (Out Of The Box) state, don't continue with the setup. Instead, press Command and Q keys to shut down the computer. The Setup Assistant will guide the new owner through the setup process after he/she turns on the computer.
  8. Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. You can then download and install your own copy of El Capitan or Sierra.

Mar 17, 2017 7:59 PM

I'm out of ideas… Tried every suggestion I could find on the net, but nothing worked. Hoping someone here has a different idea.

This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall Chrome

The situation

I'm trying to reinstall OS X (Lion, or higher — which version doesn't matter to me right now) on a Macbook Air, 11-inch, Late 2010 model.

The machine came with OS X Lion pre-installed, and has been upgraded up to El Capitan while I used it.

I recently decided to give the MBA away. Before doing so, I erased the default system/home partition with Disk Utility in Recovery Mode.

I have now been trying to re-install OS X on the MBA, but didn't succeed.

Things I tried already

  • Turning on the machine, i.e. regular startup: Bootup stops at question mark screen. No surprise, since the system partition has been erased.

  • Turning on with cmd-R, i.e. regular recovery mode. No visible progress for about 30 seconds, i.e. grey screen, then automatically switch to Internet recovery mode. Seems to suggest that there's no recovery partition, or it's not recognized, right?

  • Turning on with cmd-option-R, i.e. using Internet recovery mode directly. Mac OS X Utilities menus load, no problem here. Selecting option 2, 'Reinstall Mac OS X', I am offered to install OS X Lion 10.7 (the original OS the machine was shipped with). Pressing 'ok' is followed by message 'To download and restore Mac OS X, you computer's eligibility will be verified with Apple'. 'ok', followed by progress report 'Loading Installation Information', then dialog to confirm license agreement, then dialog to select installation disk. After that, I am asked to sign into the App Store. This step is not optional in my case, i.e. I cannot skip the app store sign-in. Once I sign in, installation fails with error message: 'This item is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.'

  • Checking Disk Utility, I see there's no recovery partition. Not 100% sure why, since I didn't erase it, but given that I got the MBA from someone else as well, it is possible that partition was erased earlier.

  • Last thing I tried: Recovery Disk Assistant on my working Macbook Pro to create recovery USB. Using USB on MBA at boot up leads to the regular boot up progress bar going about halfway, then stopping at an error screen (box with an 'X' inside). Perhaps because the computer I used to create the USB runs El Capitan, while MBA came with Lion.

Summary

Trying to re-install OS X on Macbook Air after erasing default system partition.

Recovery partition missing, so I have to use Internet recovery.

Internet recovery installation fails as follows:

(1) I am forced to sign into app store when reinstalling OS X Lion (weird, since other people suggest app store sign-in is not necessary when reinstalling original OS).

(2) After signing in, I get the error 'This item is temporarily unavailable.'