While trying to image over the net, I did also try entering my iCloud credentials but would get something like 'this is not currently available' it was certainly talking online because it prompted me for multi-factor authentication.
I did initially try using TransMac on Windows to format a USB key and restore an image to use as recovery or install media, but either the images I had were no good or the USB key never came out bootable. Double-click on the InstallMacOSX.pkg and an installation window will open, this does not install El Capitan but creates the Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Downloads folder.
SMC & PRAM on Macbook Pro & Air (El Capitan) Sometime some devices such as USB ports. If you wanna create bootable USB flash drive for Mac OS X El Capitan on Windows PC. In recovery I set the startup disk back to the primary OS drive to get back in. HowTo: Set an Environment Variable in Mac OS X - Terminal Only The.