This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall

Download: OS X El Capitan This will be downloaded as a disk image named InstallMacOSX.dmg. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It will install an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. I held down COMMAND + R, went to Disk Utilities and unmounted then erased the harddrive. Then I went to reinstall mac os. It was on El Capitan. It asks me to connect to WiFi, I do. Then after a few clicks it asks to login Apple ID. After I try to do that, it says This Item is Temporarily. Q: How do I upgrade my Mac from El Capitan to High Sierra? A: According to Apple: Check compatibility You can upgrade to macOS High Sierra from OS X Mountain Lion. So I thought I'd repeat that process and reformat + reinstall. After I chose the safest format option (the one that takes several hours); I tried to install OSX again (via the internet since I have no disks). Everytime I tried to login with my apple-id it said 'this item is temporarily unavailable'. I did already I message said this item is temporarily unavailable. Then you can upgrade to 10.11 El Capitan using. Pressing CMD/R and choosing reinstall.

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:


Clean Install of Sierra or El Capitan on a Clean Disk

This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall


  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:

This item is temporarily unavailable el capitan reinstall


Snow Leopard Erase and Install

This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall Windows 7


If possible be sure to back up your files.


  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.

This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable El Capitan Reinstall Using

Mar 17, 2017 7:59 PM

Reinstall Os X El Capitan Error This Item Is Temporarily Unavailable

Hi All,
I have two macs that were given to me, one from work and one from a friend. One is a 20 inch imac (2 ghz,1G,250GB) the other a mac book pro(mid 2009). I have no OS on either of them . I have tried the internet recovery sequence Command, Opt R for both but can't seem to get that to work. I can get in to the recovery mode but whenever I try the reinstall option I get the error 'This item is temporarily unavailable'.
I assume the real error is 'you have not purchased the OS so your computers are useless to you'.
Is there anything I can do to get an OS installed on these machines or is it off to the dump?
Thanks