Having worked in Technical Support here at OWC for some time now, I have helped customers handle many different types of errors and problems that they have come across. Some such as, “The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer,” might have simple solutions like formatting the disk, and some are more difficult such as “My Mac keeps freezing. Help!”
Related: My Upgrades tool helps you get the most from your Mac
One error that customers often come across while upgrading their machines occurs during the re-installation of macOS or OS X, and it has a relatively simple fix.
Once booted into the recovery partition and after selecting “Reinstall OS X”, the “Eligibility Verification” window shows up. The error occurs as soon as you click “continue”. An unspecified error shows up which states “An Error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.” Upon doing so, the same exact error pops up. Nothing has been done to have this occur, so what exactly is going on?
While this can be frustrating, something quite simple is going on in the background that needs to be addressed. One of the checks that occur during “Eligibility Verification” is to see what time the machine thinks it is. If the computer is reporting the wrong time, an error will occur.
While there is a simple fix, it does require using the Terminal to accomplish. Many users might be wary of the Terminal, feeling like something could break and that it’s something only hackers and System Administrators use. While this can be true, the Terminal can be your friend and help you to resolve quite a long list of issues that commonly occur. But with great power comes great responsibility. Terminal can be destructive if its abilities are improperly used. My recommendation for those that are wary of this wonderful tool is to copy/paste commands or to type them very carefully and to double-check what was typed before execution.
To fix the aforementioned “unspecified error”, follow the steps below:
- First, click “OK” on the error window.
- Then click on “Utilities”, then “Terminal”.
- Once opened type in “date” without the quotes and hit enter. This will give you the computer’s current time and date.
- To fix the date, type in the current date/time in the following format: “date mmddHHMMyyyy”. (mm = two-digit month, dd = two-digit day, HH = 24 hour, MM = minute, yyyy = 4 digit year) So if it is currently 10:46am, June 19, 2015, the command would look like: “date 061910462015”.
- Once you have the current date/time inserted, you will then hit enter. You can double-check to see if it was set properly by using the “date” command once more, it should show the date/time you have just typed in (see image below).
- Once the proper date and time are set on the computer. Exit the Terminal and run the OS X installer once more. This time it should go through without any errors! If it doesn’t, feel free to contact an OWC technician for further assistance.
Looking to Downgrade from one OS to another? We have you covered!
- Downgrade from macOS 10.15 Catalina
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- Downgrade from macOS 10.13 High Sierra
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More tech tips from OWC
Look for many more tech tips on macOS Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina for your Mac or iDevice at the Rocket Yard!
oh thank you! thank you! this worked :)
This did not work. Do you have any other articles or suggestions to try?
I reset the date to the day after I first purchased El Capitan – same result. Is there anything in a log file that would indicate what verification test is failing?
The original Apple memory in this MBP has been replaced. I found a note in a 2015 submission saying that OS X installation does not like non-Apple memory. This MBP will now run Ubuntu.
Thank you SO MUCH for these instructions! I was totally stuck with the error for an old Mac Air reset and this really worked!
Hello, i want to make clean installation.
Delete everything and after that “Lion” OS can not install because have a problem.. and after 3 days searching and try to making smth i dont have a result.
In last video when i see, tried to make bootable flash with mojave macOS, and everything is worked until i got there.
Nothing works with this command “date”, try to change year, time.. everything and nothing.
Now i am stuck here.
Macbook Pro 15 – 2012
I did this and it says command not found
magical !!!thank you!!!
Thank you. This is was my saver fix.
Cheers
thank you, thank you, thank you!!
It works great thank you very much. You saved my life
thanks a tonne! saved my life!
Hi
I am in India and my brother sent over his old Mac Mini from the US, since he had barely used it. He had wiped it clean and said I should reinstall the OS. I followed the steps you have prescribed above in setting the date and time, but it still doesn’t work (it’s supposed to install Lion OS). The date and tine are showing up correct, but before the year it is showing PST,which I suppose is Pacific Standard Time. If that’s the case, how do I set it to IST – Indian Standard Time? If that is not the case, then how do I reinstall Lion? We don’t have Apple support available locally and hence I need to rely on online support forums or sites.
Please help.
Thank you.
How to update jio phone,an Eros occurred solution to my jio phone.
Make sure if time says PST you set you set it to PST not local time.
That worked great for me…
hi, thank you, can you tell me how to setup the time zone? should i do it when inputing time and date or before?
thanks
great help thank you
Did not work unfortunately.
Question though….
I am in New Zealand (NZT) and I set the time to UTC time, as UTC was the time zone listed.
Should I have done this or set the time to NZT regardless?
dude you are my hero right now!!!!!!!!
date issue did not fix the problem. but i solved by format HDD using third party application, then use disk tools to format HDD.
the start the re-installation. and it works fine.
What 3rd party app did you use?
I’m having the same issue.
Thanks
Installing mac os x lion 10.7 on macbook pro A 1278 after erase all data. Message apear on screen this item is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. This message appear after sign in apple id.
I tried this, but the error still persists when I try to install. Any further recommendations of a fix?
thank you – I bought a wiped macpro and needed to reinstall the OS X and this worked.
We’re so glad it worked for you!
Best page !
Hi, i’ve change the time successfully but the same issue shows up again.
Thank you, I’ve watched numerous videos and gone to numerous different sites, and yours is the only one that addressed this issue that I came across. I greatly appreciate you writing this help.
My Mac book I want reinstalled but not working ,it’s shows like this ” An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application what I need to do can u tell me this
Thanks Good job
i tried everything but not work for me…can you give me some other solution?
Option + command + R and install from the internet
Thank you so much! So helpful.
Thank you! I was frustrated at continuing to experience this error and your simple fix has me on my way. I appreciate it.
Dude, this one had me breaking my head for a while.. thanks so much!
Seemed to work but then just at the end of the installation process I get:
A server with the specified hostname could not be found.
Any suggestions gratefully received!
You are a complete genius! THanks!!!
I was stuck trying to reinstall Lion onto an early MacBook Air – this worked like a charm. Thanks
Trying to install Mojave on an internal SSD from an external HDD running High Sierra on a Mac mini Late 2012, but still getting the same error after:
Resetting time & date
Reset SMC
Reset PRAM
Reformat SSD to Journaled HFS+
Reformat SSD to APFS
Anything else I can try?
thanks
Excellent! thank you
this did not work for me cos the date and time was right
I tried but once I pressed enter it came up with ‘command not found’
and my terminal looks different to the example image.
mine says ‘bash terminal’ instead of ‘OWC terminal’ and it has the word ‘bash’ written in the space instead of the words you provided in the image,
what shall I do?
I’m at the same place. Have u figured it out?
You need to type the word “date” along with the actual command.
Date 100419232019
Then enter
LIFESAVER!!! THANKS
Tried the above but when I entered date it came up with command not found.
yes i tried this with the date it came up as commond not found
have macbookpro on the terminal came up put the date came up jan2 22:38:35 PST2001
then put in 06267382019 that when command not found
you need a two digit hour, so 7:38 will be 0738
Thank you! This fix worked perfectly. Now only if I can figure out why I can’t log in to the App Store……
Did you manage to login to the App store? Same problem this side
Great advice. Worked perfectly and not too difficult to do even for an amateur like me!!
Thanks,
Install OS X An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again. OK
Worked perfectly… Thanks!!
when I did this I was able to switch time to my time , however it still says PDT , then I run the install and get the same error ….how do I switch to CDT
I have the same problem! Did you figure it out?
Brilliant! I don’t think I ever would have figured that out. Thank you!
Thank you for the instructions. It was very simple to correct.
Thank you for the instructions. It was very simple to correct.