If you ever get this error while attempting to install OS X, you will likely need to set the date using terminal.
The simplest way to set it (if you have no OS installed on the machine) is to boot the install media, open the terminal and check the date (type date).
Jul 12, 2015 I am trying to install the Public Beta version of El Capitan and after about 10-15 mins of trying to install, a message pops up that says 'no packages were eligible for install' and the installation fails. Here's what I've tried so far: Restarting with command + r: - I do not have a Time Machine backup. Please watch version 2 of this video here: the 'install failed' and 'No packages were eligible for install'. I was repeatedly getting 'Could Not Be Installed on your computer no packages were eligible for install' using both the internet el capitan install and this USB install. Thank you MIKX using terminal date just got me going!! I'm running into this problem too. I have spent all morning trying to get a Catalina Mac Mini to run a VM of El Capitan so that I can still use some of my old 32bit software. I keep running into this: 'OS X could not be installed on your computer. No packages were eligible for install'.
Feb 15, 2016 No packages were eligible for install: Target Drive for Install - SATA Drive Thread starter. Just tried installing El Capitan for the first time today.
The following information was found on someones site (sorry I forget which), but I have included it here to make it easier to correct this issue.
Use the following command in terminal to set the machine to a time and date of your choosing:
date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year}
For example, to set it to 8pm on the 2nd October 2018
date 100220002018
The command below will output the current date in a format suitable for use on another machine:
date '+%m%d%H%M%Y.%S'
Further, the following (mouthful of a command) will let you specify a date and time in a more readable format and set it in one go:
date -f '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' '2016-07-09 15:20:10' When trying to upgrade from OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan, I repeatedly encountered a frustrating error message: 'OS X could not be installed on your computer. No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.'
My end goal was to install macOS 10.13 High Sierra. I read online that one must upgrade to OS X 10.11 before upgrading to macOS 10.13 if one is starting from OS X 10.6. This upgrade route did not work for me no matter how many solutions I attempted. I eventually found a solution to this frustrating problem which I'll share below, but before I do that, I'd like to share what did NOT work for me to hopefully help others avoid unnecessary frustration and wasted time:
Solution attempts that did NOT work for me:
I tried changing the time to the correct present time and to a past time when the installer certificates may have still been valid (mid-2016). The upgrade problem persisted either way.
Manually setting the date and time via the Terminal (see above link) to an earlier date is worth trying because it has worked for some people. Try this time: 1010101015
2) Erasing my internal hard drive using Disk Utility in Internet Recovery Mode
All this did was remove my data, but the persistent 'OS X could not be installed...' problem remained.
3) Booting from an external hard drive that was formatted to act as an installer for OS X 10.11
4) Booting in the Internet Recovery Mode option to install the version closest to the operating system that came with my Mac (Shift+Option+Command+R).
My Mac came with Snow Leopard, which is not available to download, so it attempted to install Lion, but wasn't able to do so because I had not purchased it with my Apple ID.
Here's the upgrade route that DID work for me:
1) I purchased OS X 10.7 Lion with my Apple ID and downloaded it via the Mac App Store on another Mac (so it would be in my App Store download history)
2) I booted in the Internet Recovery Mode option to install the version closest to the operating system that came with my Mac by holding down Shift+Option+Command+R while my MacBook was restarting.
3) I selected 'Reinstall Mac OS X' in the 'Mac OS X Utilities' window that appeared when Internet Recovery Mode fully booted up.
4) When prompted, I entered my Apple ID information that was used to purchase and download OS X 10.7 Lion and allowed the OS X upgrade to proceed to completion. I then had a fresh version of OS X 10.7 Lion installed on my Mac.
El Capitan No Packages Were Eligible For Installation
5) The next step was to upgrade from OS X 10.7 Lion to macOS 10.12 Sierra using these steps.
6) Once macOS 10.12 Sierra was fully installed, I upgraded to macOS 10.13 High Sierra using these steps.
My MacBook Pro is now successfully running macOS 10.13.6 High Sierra.
Basically, what worked for me was circumnavigating the suggested route of installing OS X 10.11 before installing macOS 10.13. Instead, I followed this upgrade route: 10.6 to 10.7, then 10.12 to 10.13.
El Capitan No Packages Were Eligible For Install
I thought it may be helpful to share what worked for me in case someone else out there is trying to upgrade from OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard to macOS 10.13 High Sierra and encountering the issue I encountered. Please feel free to ask me any questions about this and I will do my best to help.
No Packages Were Eligible For Install El Capitan Hackintosh