I have an iMac(Early 2009) running Leopard (10.5.8). Now I want to upgrade my OS to El Capitan (10.11).
The situation is this one:
✔ my iMac version is listed under the upgradable devices
✘ MacOSX 10.6.8 is required to be installed (due to Mac App Store introduction) on the iMac
Official solution (or what I undestood reading Apple website)
- buy the DVD of Snow Leopard (10.6) from online Apple Store and install it on 10.5.8;
- update the OS until 10.6.8;
- use the App Store to download and install El Capitan.
Said that, after some search, I found this macworld article showing alternative methods to upgrade from 10.5.8 MacOSX version to a more recent one. This reading brought me to another solution:
Alternative solution
- use a Mac of a friend of mine which runs El Capitan to download El Capitan from Mac App Store;
- create a bootable usb stick from it;
- use it to do a clean install on my iMac (erasing all disk content before choosing the HDD in which to install El Capitan)
- configure my iMac creating my Apple ID
Questions
- Will solution 2 work?
- Is solution 2 legal?
Note
The linked article hit my questions' topics but I did not deeply understand nor the configuration of the Apple ID on the fresh installed El Capitan nor the legal aspects of the solution.