When trying to install El Capitan via the recovery partition on a 2014 MacBook Air, I get a message that “no packages were eligible for install.” The problem is that the certificates are out of date, so the installer won’t proceed. The general workaround is to change the computer date to sometime in mid 2017.
- Upon receiving the prompt that “no packages were eligible,” don’t restart. Turn off the wifi.
- Go to Utilities>Terminal
- Change the date using this command:
date 0115124517 - Quit terminal.
- Disconnect from wifi, or select a network with an unknown password.
- Click Restart.
- (After restarting) Click continue, and follow the onscreen instructions.
From there, the computer should install El Capitan. If it hangs after reaching a full bar, cycle the machine power. Now it should prompt you to complete the installation.