El Capitan Boot

Is the latest OS X El Capitan slowing your Mac and causing all sorts of problems? Then you’ve come to the right place.

At MacPaw we are invested in Mac performance. Today we are focusing on El Capitan, the newest Mac OS X, because we continue to receive requests to help solve common El Capitan problems, which are harming Mac performance and user experience.

If you’ve been struggling with El Capitan problems, this handy guide will help you tackle some of the worst El Capitan OS X issues.

Do you have El Capitan issues?

Download your copy of the prebuild (32-bit) version of boot.efi for El Capitan (compiled on Microsoft Windows 10 with Microsoft Visual Studio 2015) with a black background and white Apple logonow, and verify the download by entering (either one) in a terminal window: openssl md5 boot.efi = 036476dc081da904f50736eb56acbcfa.

El Capitan replaces Yosemite as the most current operating system for the Mac. El Capitan brings with it a host of incredible features like the ability to use two apps at once with a split screen, the introduction of Mission Control to better organize your virtual desk, a complete overhaul of the Notes app, and a ton of new features that make old favorites like Mail and Spotlight even more powerful.

El Capitan is bringing a lot of joy to Mac users, but it’s also bringing a lot of frustrating issues. El Capitan has a software version number of 10.11 and since its release, at the time of writing, there have been five updates (10.11.5 being the most recent) focused on addressing a long list of El Capitan problems.

  • But after installed El Capitan, at the first boot up after first power shut down, I still got the same problem of grey screen with no progress in progress bar. Apple Store could not solve the problem except asked me either to clean install or to wait for El Capitan patches or other applications upgrade gradually.
  • OS X El Capitan PWN: Uploading.TransMac: Uploading.
  • Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac 2018. Get protection from viruses, worms, spyware, ransomware and other common threats. Download the installer by clicking the “Download Now” button. During installation, you will be prompted for the activation code you purchased from Connecting Point. Compatible with MacOS X El Capitan 10.11.

Before we get started on our guide, it is recommend that you update to the latest and most stable version (10.11.5) before doing anything else. The next step should be the download, installation and scanning of your system by our Mac optimizing app, CleanMyMac X. When it comes to performance issues, there is no single solution that tackles more problems than CleanMyMac X. It’s free to download, so you can test it right away.

If you’ve updated El Capitan to 10.11.5 and cleaned your system with CleanMyMac X, it’s now time to look at the remaining issues. Below we have some of the most common El Capitan performance problems and solutions to help get your Mac performing as it should.

El Capitan problem with installation

The first problem that we need to talk about is the most annoying – you can’t enjoy the El Capitan OS X experience if you can’t even get it installed in the first place. The initial release of El Capitan had a number of users struggling with the actual installation of the OS X. Apple gave this a lot of focus and have lessened the problem with updates, so make sure you are installing from 10.11.5.

If updating to OS X El Capitan still leaves you with a frozen screen, error messages or an installation that seems to work until you actually reboot and see that your OS X hasn’t updated from the previous version, there are a few things you can do to help.

Solution

Sometimes your previous OS X is dealing with other problems and processes, so when you start an installation of El Capitan, problems may occur due to the resources of your current OS X being focused on other processes and apps in the background. To run a focused and clean installation of El Capitan, follow these easy steps:

  • Save all open documents, and restart your Mac.
  • Quit the apps that launch on after startup.
  • Run the El Capitan installation right after that.

If you are still having freeze issues, you’re going to want to restart in Safe Mode:

  • Restart your Mac or, if necessary, hold the power down to force a shutdown (wait 10 seconds after shutdown).
  • When you hear the boot sound, hold down the Shift key.
  • When a grey Apple logo will appears, you can release the Shift key.

El Capitan is slow

Many users have experienced a slower OS X experience after updating to El Capitan. Slowness can come from a number of sources, including the re-indexing of Spotlight, which occurs in the hours after an installation of El Capitan. So, 24 hours of slowness after you’ve updated to El Capitan is not unusual and it is temporary.

However, if your Mac has been slow for more than 24 hours, the problem is not Spotlight indexing. There is a good chance that one of your apps is not working well with El Capitan, and slowing down the whole system as a result.

Start by ensuring that all your apps are up-to-date:

  • Click on the App Store icon in your Dock.
  • The numbered red badge shows you how many updates are available.
  • Click it to launch the App Store and update all apps.

If all your apps are up-to-date and the problem persists, follow these steps:

  • Click on Apple menu > System Preferences.
  • Click on Extensions.
  • Identify a problematic app by systematically disabling extensions to see if performance improves.

If this doesn’t help, make sure that you’ve run the cleaning processes of CleanMyMac.

  • Download CleanMyMac X for free.
  • Install the application.
  • Run the cleaning processes to fix problems and speed up your Mac.

Wi-Fi issues in El Capitan

What is it about a Youtube video that won’t stream, which makes you feel like your life is ruined? Unfortunately, as much as we love Wi-Fi, it can often go wrong. Certainly, OS X Yosemite users had a lot of Wi-Fi problems, but the Apple developers have been working hard to address them.

Even though things have greatly improved, Wi-Fi problems can still exist with El Capitan. If you are one of the unfortunate people that are having to deal with the frustration of a slow El Capitan Wi-Fi connection, it’s time to take a look at our solutions below.

Solution

This is a hard problem to troubleshoot so here are a few things you should try to fix your slow Wi-Fi:

  • Make sure El Capitan and your router firmware is up-to-date.
  • Unplug your router and modem for a minute.
  • Click the Wi-Fi icon on your Mac and turn it “off” for a minute and then back “on”.
  • Go to System Preferences > Network > Advanced and under Wi-Fi delete your network connection. Turn Wi-Fi “off” and then “on” again to set up a new connection from scratch.

El Capitan issues with Handoff

We love Handoff. If you have a lot of Apple devices, Handoff is the perfect feature for users that want to stay efficient and productive while on the go. Start work on your Mac in the office and then finish it on your phone in the elevator. What could be cooler than that?

However, when it doesn’t work, you’re left feeling like a relay runner whose teammate dropped the baton. If Handoff has stopped working since you upgraded to El Capitan, and logging out and back in on your devices doesn’t help, it’s time to look for a fix.

Solution

This is a really simple fix that has worked for a lot of users struggling with similar El Capitan Handoff problems:

  • Turn off Bluetooth on your Mac.
  • Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist or ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  • Turn Bluetooth back on.

El Capitan problem with AirDrop

Another great productivity feature is AirDrop, a native app to make file sharing between your Mac and other Apple devices as easy as can be. When it works it enables you to feel in control of your digital world. But when it doesn’t work it leaves you feeling rather frustrated.

If AirDrop no longer works and you’ve tried the usual rebooting and logging in and out of devices, it’s time to try a proper solution

Solution

The AirDrop not working on El Capitan fix is the same fix that we posted above for users experiencing problems with Handoff:

  • Turn Bluetooth off on your Mac.
  • Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist or ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  • Turn Bluetooth back on.

Crashing apps cause El Capitan issues

We know this feeling. A new Mac OS X version feels like Christmas, but the joy of the occasion can turn sour when you notice that not all of your apps are working as they once did. If you have certain apps that are crashing or behaving strangely on El Capitan, compared to how they worked on your previous OS X, then you’ve got a problem that needs to be addressed.

Luckily, we have some solutions that may help to get your apps and El Capitan working together as they should.

Solution

The most important step is to make sure that all of your apps are up-to-date, as these updates could contain the fixes you seek. If you’ve updated an app and it is still crashing, try uninstalling and performing a fresh installation of the app. This will often solve the app crashing problem.

You should also download and run CleanMyMac X, as it will remove the kinds of conflicts that can cause apps to crash. You can also use its Uninstaller tool to reset the problematic application.

Safari crashes and El Capitan freezes

Safari has been something of a disaster on El Capitan. The 10.11.4 update introduced some nasty Safari crash problems that had users, of both low-end and high-end systems, fleeing to Chrome and Firefox in order to simply browse the internet.

Unfortunately, much to the annoyance of the Mac community, update 10.11.5 has not solved the problem, leaving many users unable to use Safari on El Capitan. For some it is so bad that Safari actually freezes up their entire system.

Before you change to a different browser, there are a few things you can try.

Solution

There are three solutions that could be just the fix you are looking for. Starting from easiest to most complicated.

Option 1 – Download CleanMyMac X and use it to clean your Safari cache and history. This has been shown to help some of the users affected by the El Capitan Safari problem.

Option 2 - Turning off Safari Suggestions has been successful for a number of users experiencing the problem. To turn it off, follow these steps:

  • Launch Safari and click on “Safari” in the Mac menu.
  • Select “Preferences” or ?,
  • Click on the “Search” tab.
  • Uncheck the “Include Safari Suggestions” box.

Option 3 - We once again turn to CleanMyMac X’s bag of tricks, only this time we are going to use the Uninstaller to select Safari and then choose to Reset Application. This will be a completely fresh install of the app so be aware that you will lose your bookmarks and settings.

What we’ve learned about El Capitan issues

We want to be clear, El Capitan is a great operating system and we use it ourselves. These days we have to accept that our operating systems aren’t going to be perfect, which is why we will continue to develop tools like CleanMyMac X to help improve your Mac performance and squash those annoying bugs.

Warning: Please follow these instructions at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage or information loss that could result from following this guide. Also, note that installing OS X on PC is illegal. Please buy a real Mac if you're satisfied with your Hackintosh. This guide is for evaluation purposes only.

Requirements

  • An Intel-based PC with UEFI bios
  • A USB flash drive with at least 16GB capacity
  • A dedicated hard drive (SSD highly recommended)
  • A computer running OS X (10.9 or later) for preparing the installation USB flash drive

I chose to avoid the UniBeast installer (by Tonymacx86) because of its commercialized nature, as described here. Here is a vanilla guide to installing El Capitan on your PC!

Preparing the USB Installation Drive

First things first. We need to prepare a USB thumb drive that will contain the installation files as well as the bootloader and custom kexts for our specific Hackintosh build.

Download El Capitan from the Mac App Store

Head over to your existing OS X environment running 10.9 or later and open the Mac App Store.

Search for 'El Capitan' and click Download. The download is completely free if you're running OS X 10.9+.

Wait for the download to finish (this could take some time).

Format the USB Drive

Open Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities and locate your USB device. Make sure you've backed up anything important on that drive as it will be erased forever.

Select it, and then on the right, click the partition tab.

  1. Click Curent Layout and change it to 1 Partition.
  2. Set the Name to USB.
  3. Set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
  4. Click Options and select GUID Partition Table.

Click Apply to format the drive.

Copy the Installation Files to the USB Drive

Now that we've downloaded the installation files from the Mac App Store and formatted our USB drive, let's copy the installation files to it.

Run the following command in the Terminal (Applications/Utilities):

The command will run a script inside the Install OS X El Capitan application that will copy the installation files to the USB drive.

This process takes about 15 minutes. Go out for a quick run, or a hamburger, or both. When you come back, it should have finished.

Installing a Bootloader

If you tried to boot from the USB drive as is after the previous step on a PC, it wouldn't work. We need a bootloader that makes it possible to boot OS X on x86 and x86_64 PCs.

There are 3 popular bootloaders to choose from.

  • Clover
  • Chameleon
  • Chimera

I went with Clover as it seems to be the most popular choice among other El Capitan installers, mostly for the following reasons:

Clover is an open-source EFI-based bootloader created on Apr 4, 2011. It has a totally different approach from Chameleon and Chimera. It can emulate the EFI portion present on real Macs and boot the OS from there instead of using the regular legacy BIOS approach used by Chameleon and Chimera. For many, Clover is considered the next-gen bootloader and soon it will become the only choice since BIOS in being replaced by UEFI in every new motherboard. One big feature of Clover is that iMessage, iCloud, the Mac App Store works along with Find My Mac, Back To My Mac and FileVault since Clover can use the EFI partition. (Read more)

Install Clover on Your USB Drive

Installing Clover on your USB drive is relatively easy. It involves running an installation wizard and selecting some options.

Download the latest Clover installer from here.

  1. Run the installer.
  2. Click Continue twice.
  3. Click Change Install Location and set it to your formatted USB drive.
  4. Click Customize and check the following options:
    • [x] Install for UEFI booting only
    • [x] Install Clover in the ESP
    • [ ] Drivers64UEFI
      • [x] OsxAptioFixDrv-64 - fixes memory map created by AMI Aptio EFI. Booting OS X is impossible otherwise.
  1. Click Install and wait for the installation to finish. It shouldn't take more than a minute.
Copy Essential Kexts to the USB Drive

Next, we'll need to copy some kexts (kernal extensions, similar to drivers on Windows) to the USB drive.

  • FakeSMC.kext - open source SMC device driver/emulator developed by netkas. Tricks OS X into thinking it's installed on Apple hardware. Absolutely required for Hackintosh installation.
  • NullCPUPowerManagement.kext - disables AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext which may cause kernel panics when you try to boot from the USB drive. It's optional, copy it only if you get an AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement-related kernel panic.
  • ApplePS2Controller.kext and AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext - adds support for PS2 devices (such as PS2 keyboard/mouse). They're optional, copy them only if you still use PS2 devices.

Download these files from here and copy them to the EFI mounted volume at /EFI/Clover/kexts/10.11/.

Now that the installation USB drive is ready, let's install OS X El Capitan!

Boot from the USB Drive

Restart your computer and boot from the USB drive (Press Esc/F8/Del to access the boot selection menu).

Use the arrow keys to select Boot OS X Install from Install OS X El Capitan (It should be selected by default). Press the spacebar and select Boot Mac OS X in verbose mode. Verbose mode means that you'll be able to see exactly what's going on under the hood as OS X attempts to boot up its installer. You'll be able to see the exact error message if booting fails.

Press Enter and cross your fingers. Clover will now boot the installer from your USB drive. This could take some time, in my case, it takes around 5 minutes (Don't worry -- the startup time is around 5 seconds after installing on an SSD).

Did it fail?

It's more than likely that the boot will fail. Don't panic (ha-ha), as kernel panics usually mean that you forgot to copy an essential kext to the EFI partition. Look up the exact error you're getting before the boot log comes to an end and search Google for a solution.

Install El Capitan Usb

Once you find an additional kext that your system needs, you'd attempt to copy it to the EFI volume, only to discover that it's gone! Not to worry, it's just unmounted and hidden. Follow this guide to mount the hidden partition, and then, follow the Copy Essential Kexts section above to copy it to the USB drive's EFI partition.

Format the Target Hard Drive

Once the installation wizard boots, the next step is to prepare the hard drive that you want to install OS X on.

Click Continue, followed by Disk Utility.

Select the target drive to install to (not the USB drive!) and click the Erase button. Make sure to back up anything important on that drive, as it will be deleted forever.

  1. Set the Name to El Capitan.
  2. Set the Format to OS X Extended (Journaled).
  3. Set the Scheme to GUID Partition Map.

Click Erase to format the drive.

Install OS X to the Target Drive

Exit the Disk Utility and click Install OS X.

Click Show All Disks and select the drive you just formatted to install OS X on it. Finally, click Install.

The process takes about 25 minutes. Be patient. For me, it hung at the end ('1 second remaining') for around 5 minutes. Don't be tempted to reset or cancel the installation.

When that's done, the system will reboot. Make sure to boot from the USB device again, and select Boot OS X Install from Install OS X El Capitan once again, in verbose mode. The installation is a two-part process that continues once you re-boot into the USB drive.

Finally, after about 25 more minutes, OS X El Capitan should be successfully installed on the target drive.

El Capitan Boot

Boot into El Capitan via the USB Device

After the second reboot, boot from the USB device once again, but this time, select Boot OS X from El Capitan, and select verbose mode.

Press Enter and cross your fingers again. If all goes well, you'll be presented with the setup wizard:

Take a minute to set up your new Hackintosh. Once you're done, there are a few things you need to do to finish off the installation.

Reinstall Clover on the Hackintosh Drive

In the previous step, we used Clover on our USB drive to boot our Hackintosh. This is fine, but most of us aren't going to keep that USB drive plugged in forever. Let's make it possible to boot El Capitan independently by reinstalling Clover on it.

Go back up to the Install Clover on Your USB Drive section and follow the steps again, but this time, select your El Capitan volume instead of the USB drive.

Once again, copy the essential kexts to the EFI partition that shows up after installing Clover.

Finally, make sure to add Clover EFI boot options which is possible by pressing Clover Boot Options in the Clover boot window (if there are 2 boot options -- find the one for your SATA drive). I literally spent 3 hours figuring out why Clover would not boot when I disconnected the USB drive before I figured out that I need to manually add the EFI boot options.

Now you'll be able to boot directly from the El Capitan hard drive, as it should be!

Audio and Networking

If you're lucky, audio and networking will work right out of the box. If not, you're on your own from here. You'll need to research your exact hardware (by using System Information in Applications/Utilities) and searching Google to find the right kext or installer to make it work on El Capitan.

Clover Themes

The default Clover theme is pretty ugly (no offense). Check out this theme database to improve Clover's appearance.

This is YosemiteLogin by xenatt:

Bootable El Capitan Download

Enjoy!

El Capitan Bootable Usb

That's it! Enjoy your new Hackintosh, and if you absolutely love it, consider buying a Mac!

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