Reinstall macOS directly from the Recovery HD

[JB3K9wXY]

Hello there,
I want to reset an old MacBook Pro (2009, El Capitan) to factory settings.
After having erased the System HD, Apple did not allow me to install macOS from the Recovery HD.
The only option was to connect to the App Store, where I got the message "This item is temporarily unavailable".
I tried restarting while pressing Option-Command-R (for the latest OS), or Shift-Option-Command-R (for the original). No joy...

How can I reinstall macOS directly from the Recovery HD?
TIA

 

[Nukeban]

Somebody needs to invent a flawlessly reliable method for installing and reinstalling OSX. Wait, before somebody says that already exists, please review the 28 billion threads where folks report the difficulties they are experiencing.

 

[Applescrumpy]

Somebody needs to invent a flawlessly reliable method for installing and reinstalling OSX. Wait, before somebody says that already exists, please review the 28 billion threads where folks report the difficulties they are experiencing.

I always keep a bootable installer on a USB stick which usually works. I say usually as there’s been the odd occasion when it failed and I reverted to internet recovery. But …… you get the drift.