If you ‘ve been using the Mac for a hanker clock time, you can have learn how handy it is to keep a copy of each macOS as you upgrade. even when it was possible to get them all easily, they were still huge so it was far easier to use a local anesthetic copy. unfortunately, that handy throng of macOS installers you collected on that old external drive became despicable on October 24, 2019. As of that date, any old macOS you still have copies for, will not run. You ca n’t install macOS from them because the security system certificates on them expired back then. however, any old macOS installer that you can download from Apple immediately will work. And as the annual handout cycle ticks on by, we ‘re already at the stage where the last four releases are available to download. Or quite, they ‘re available to download when you know precisely where to look. Apple keeps the most late honest-to-god installers in the App Store — but hides them. You do n’t ever see them listed, and you could n’t typically find them with a direct search, either. You had to read Apple ‘s support software documentation before you could get a associate that would magically open up the installer in the App Store. immediately this is genuine for the last four releases, while you need a separate solution for the three before that.
But first, why you’d bother
Do n’t get an old version of macOS because, say, you ‘re short on drive space and the smaller footprint of, say, OS X Tiger is appealing. ( Modern Macs wo n’t run the Tiger installer even if you can find it on Apple ‘s site. They rather report that it ‘s from an unidentified developer. That could besides be to do with the October 24 exhalation, and if sol, it ‘s intemperate to see Apple bothering to do anything about an bone from closely 15 years ago. ) flush with less prehistoric releases, do n’t do this at all unless you have to. It ‘s not that it ‘s difficult or that it ‘s somehow hazardous for your Mac, but it can be otiose. If your Mac is physically able of running macOS Monterey, you ‘re about surely better off updating it to that. While Apple supports Macs going back more years than seems feasible, there are distillery going to be batch of machines that can not ever update to Montery or of course to Apple Silicon. And that ‘s all right because you ‘re probably going to leave them on whatever they ‘re presently running. however, it ‘s easy to end up with old Macs that are working perfectly well, so far could be updated a small. not all the way to Monterey or even Big Sur, but possibly to High Sierra, possibly El Capitan, conceivably Mojave.
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The old macOS Big Sur is on the App Store, but you can only find it when you have the direct link
Each modern version of macOS that you can update to, you should. It is worth it for features, security and dependability. And the more up to date you can possibly make your old Mac, the longer you will be able to get utilitarian knead out of it. You fair have to find the old macOS installer.
How to find High Sierra through to Big Sur
Use these links to, presently, get any of the stopping point four releases of macOS. In each case, the link takes you to a concealed App Store entry for the macOS installer. And in each case the App Store will besides tell you if it ‘s not possible to install the version you want on the Mac you ‘re using. Apple notes that you ca n’t install any macOS on a car if it ‘s older than the one that came with that Mac. So you will have to follow these links on a Mac that will accept the download. These links will bring you to a download page.
How to find old macOS installers
choose from the following to get the official macOS update and directly from Apple. Clicking through will start the download. In each case, Apple recommends that you beginning check which is the latest that your Mac can run, and then thoroughly, repeatedly, back up that Mac. Apple besides notes that you ca n’t install a version of macOS on top of a late one. You ca n’t go back. You can, if you very needed a avocation, wipe the Mac and start again installing that older macOS, if you were so inclined for a software compatibility rationality or like .
Craig Federighi introducing macOS El Captain way back in 2015
Whereas it is easy to imagine needing to update an old machine to give it some more years of life. And, added security on the Internet. Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for io, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @ appleinsider and Facebook for bouncy, late-breaking coverage. You can besides check out our official Instagram report for exclusive photos .
