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). 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. No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Quit the installed to restart your computer and try again. However, if the model Mac is too new to allow the installation for El Capitan, then message given below will occur when trying to create the Install OS X El Capitan application.
I have an older, MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) that I intend to give as a gift.
For security reasons, I decided that I was a good to format the drive and reinstall OS X El Capitan.
My first effort was thwarted by an error:
This item is temporarily unavailable.Try again later.
After reading Wiped drive, now can’t reinstall El Capitan from Recovery because the “item is temporarily unavailable”, I supplied a different set of icloud credentials, and the process continued.
Eventually, however, the installation failed with a different message:
No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Quit the installed to restart your computer and try again.
I tried using 'Internet Recovery' (Option+Command+R) and a bootable USB drive that contained El Capitan, both of which ultimately failed with the same message.
Is there a way to get this to work?
No Packages Eligible For Install Mac Operating System
To create a bootable USB drive, I needed the Install OS X El Capitan.app package.
Using my MBP 16', I used the Download OS X El Capitan link on Apple's support site to get the installer.
No Packages Eligible For Install Macbook Pro
Unfortunately, running the InstallMacOSX.pkg package in the DMG failed:
No Packages Eligible For Install Mac Catalina
This version of OS X 10.11 cannot be installed on this computer.
No Packages Eligible For Install Mac Os
I 'found' a Install OS X El Capitan.app package and was able to create the bootable media.