How to download older version of macos installer

Join , subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Got an old Mac and want to reinstall macOS? Maybe you want to roll back your Mac to an earlier version of macOS than the one you currently have installed? This guide can help you roll back to almost any version of macOS.

Older versions of macOS might experience problems restoring from Time Machine backups made on subsequent releases. For example, trying to restore a Time Machine backup made in Big Sur released in in macOS Catalina released in could prove difficult. As a last resort, you could manually back up your important documents, libraries, and so on to an external drive. Once any of these downloads finishes, do not open the installer to begin the installation.

Leave the installation app in your Applications folder. Once any of these downloads are complete, mount the. DMG file and run the. PKG installer within. This will put an installation app in your Applications folder, which you should leave there.

If you have a valid Apple Developer account, you might be able to download older versions from developer. Apple will email you an unlock code, which you can redeem in the Mac App Store. Some websites might offer old versions of OS X for download, but we recommend avoiding them. First, the installer might contain malware.

Second, there are legal concerns: OS X is still copyrighted software. Even if you own a license, you might not be able to legally download it in your jurisdiction. If you can, you might not be able to legally use BitTorrent to download it, as your BitTorrent client will be uploading parts of OS X to other people during the download process.

You can change various parts of this command to suit your own circumstances, with the main one being the name of the installer.

Be aware that any spaces will need to be preceded by a backslash. You can run the ls command to list all connected volumes, which will include your USB installation medium in case you need to check the label. First, insert your USB drive and turn off your Mac. They are as follows:. Once macOS loads You might need to select a language first. The next step is to create a bootable USB disk that you will use to install a fresh copy of your macOS.

Running the latest software is not always the best decision. There are plenty of reasons you might want to downgrade or run an older version of macOS on your computer.

Maybe as a developer, you want to create a test environment to ensure your software runs properly in all available versions of OS X - check out the infographic below. Or you may simply like the look of the old version better no judgement and not want to upgrade until absolutely necessary.

Get Setapp, a collection of Mac apps that strengthen your macOS. Whenever you decide to downgrade, your apps will travel with you. Tabbing over to Storage will let you know how much disk space you have available.

You can, of course, do so manually by deleting unused files and uninstalling old software to free up disk space. Depending on how tidy you are, this might take quite a bit of time. To make things easy, use a specialized app like CleanMyMac, which will quickly free up space by detecting unused apps and large files, and offering to completely delete them, with all their hidden corresponding files, in one quick click. The only solution that will free up disk space, uninstall bit apps, and solve tons of problems to prepare your Mac for a new macOS.

The final preparation step is to make sure you back up all your important files to cloud storage or an external drive. A proper backup app like Get Backup Pro can save you a lot of headache here. Downgrading to previous operating systems on Mac gets easier. To put it shortly, Setapp has your back here. Once you have space on your computer, figure out what version of OS X you would like to install.

Tab to the Purchase page of the menu and scroll down to find the line for previous operating systems. Clicking the install button of the macOS you want will begin downloading the file. If your goal is to download a version of macOS that you have not already used, or, that was not available as an update from the App Store after you bought your Mac, you may need to purchase it.

OS X Snow Leopard ships as a boxed version and requires a disk drive to install. It could be helpful to know where you sit on the timeline of macOS X updates. Below is a chronological list of all the updates beginning with the most recent update, High Sierra, released in Downloads for previous versions of OS X are linked below and include:.

Downloading a. Alternatively, you could hit up your nearest Apple Store. They will likely have image files of all the different versions of the software and help you install it right there as well. If you download the file from the App Store, the installer will start immediately. Follow the prompts and be prepared to restart your computer. A downgrade is different than an upgrade.

When you try to downgrade macOS, the installer may not launch right away depending on which versions of macOS you are moving between. Creating a bootable USB or a bootable drive is not complicated. Whether you use Terminal or Disk Drill, our guide on creating a bootable installer will walk you through all the necessary steps. Downloading and using different Mac OS installers is very common for troubleshooting purposes, for IT staff and admins, and for tinkerers. The following links point to locations from Apple website where you can download various MacOS system software installers.

New versions of MacOS installers are typically available through the Mac App Store, accessed through a computer that is compatible with the latest Mac system software release. Older versions of Mac OS X installers can often be downloaded as well, but from different sources. Mac users can download the latest macOS installer available from the Terminal by using the following command string:.

You can also download specific installer versions by using the following syntax, replacing the asterisks with version number:.