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I started to download the El Capitan upgrade, but then I shut down my computer. The day after I wanted to continue the download but in App Store it shows "Waiting..." and doesn't do anything. Also when I go to the updates section, it shows the button "Download" but it's inactive. Maybe someone can help me? I tried to find the download file in some directory to delete it and start over but I couldn't find it.

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  • We encourage jeopardy questions where you ask a question and then answer it. Would you mind putting your answer in the answer and make the question clearer? If you had enough reputation to chat, we might be able to sort out the original closure, but it's best to collect all the possible answers to one symptom on one thread. that's why questions get closed as duplicate.
    – bmike ♦
    Oct 1, 2015 at 20:02
  • Why not just submit an answer to the other question?
    – bassplayer7
    Oct 1, 2015 at 20:05
  • @bassplayer7 This question is asking for a different error situation that shows Waiting... message. I think this is a valid reason to post a new question.
    – Eonil
    Oct 2, 2015 at 1:42
  • Restarting AppStore a couple of times did the job.
    – Amr Hossam
    Oct 2, 2015 at 12:19
  • 1
    The only thing that worked for me was running "Install OS X El Capitan" from the /Applications folder -- that was apparently left there as a result of one of my many Download attempts from the App Store.
    – l3x
    Oct 5, 2015 at 16:38

2 Answers 2

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50

In App Store, selecting Store > Check for Unfinished Downloads did work for me.

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  • 1
    this is the right answer. Worked perfectly.
    – gbrandt
    Oct 9, 2015 at 18:43
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    Didn't work for me, clearing the downloads folder did.
    – Michael J. Calkins
    Dec 24, 2015 at 16:21
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I've found the solution:

  1. Close the "App Store" App
  2. Open "Terminal"
  3. Enter defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true
  4. Open the "App Store" app
  5. Now you have in the menu-item "Debug" - open it - and open "Show Download Folder"
  6. Delete all files and folders in the folder "com.apple.appstore"
  7. Close the "App Store" app
  8. Restart the Mac
  9. Clean the trash bin
  10. Open the "App Store" app an repeat the download.

Now the download should work!

If you want to hide the debug-menu again just enter in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool false

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  • 1
    +1 This solved my case. My Mac was stuck at Waiting stage for 24 hrs, and now it's running after I did this.
    – Eonil
    Oct 2, 2015 at 1:43
  • I have the same problem. Where can I find the "TERMINAL", to be able to proceed???
    – user149920
    Oct 2, 2015 at 16:56
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    Open your "Applications" folder, then open the "Utilities" folder. Open the "Terminal" application.
    – Yup
    Oct 2, 2015 at 18:09
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    No Debug option available.
    – Green
    Mar 25, 2016 at 7:58
  • A shorter version of this: 'Show download folder', close the app store app, delete the 'com.apple.appstore' folder, empty the trash, start the app store app again. No restart required.
    – Glenn 'devalias' Grant
    Jul 6, 2016 at 1:02

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