Nov 23, 2020 Download the macOS X El Capitan ISO file and don’t let it run automatically. Make a copy of the El Capitan ISO (10.11) on a disk or flash drive. Make sure the drive has enough capacity. The driver will require over 5 GB of empty space. 7/10 (202 votes) - Download macOS El Capitan Mac Free. The twelfth version of Mac OS X appeared in 2015. MacOS El Capitan is the successor to Yosemite with improvements to its functions.
You bought a CD, madness.
If you want to upgrade your Mac from Yosemite to another newer OS you have three alternatives..
El Capitan, Sierra and High Sierra are all available for download and are free.
It sounds like you have been trying to install updates to El Capitan downloaded from the Apple Support Downloads pages. If so you need to have already installed El Capitan, that is why you are getting the message about 10.11.
for example if you downloaded the 10.11.6 Combo update this will update any previous version of El Capitan from 10.11.0 to 10.11.5 to the last version 10.11.6. Please remember full versions of OS's are only available via the Mac App Store.
10.11 El Capitan Downloadwnload
Depending on the age of your Mac you may not be able to upgrade to Sierra or High Sierra, if so you should be able to upgrade to El Capitan.
High Sierra Download
Have a look at the links below to determine what OS you would like to download. Bear in mind though that if your Mac qualifies for High Sierra then you will be denied the download of El Capitan.
The versions that will be downloaded in each case will be the latest versions of each OS, so for El Capitan it will be 10.11.6, Sierra will be 10.12.6 and High Sierra will be 10.13.3.
If you tried Erics link to El Capitan and you couldn't download it, then the App Store is recognising that you Mac qualifies for High Sierra, so you can upgrade to that or if you want you could also upgrade to Sierra from the link above.
El Capitan Download App Store
Feb 28, 2018 12:24 AM