How to download old macOS installers

The old collection of macOS Installer disk images you used to keep may now be worthless, and Apple made it harder to find any downloadable copies before macOS Monterey. However, there are still good reasons to get an old OS, and here’s how to do it.

Apple really wants you to use macOS Monterey. If it means you have to buy a new Mac, they’ll find a way to deal with their anxiety. Partly because of this, and partly to make it clear to newcomers that this is the current version of macOS, the company has long been hiding previous versions.

If you’ve used a Mac for a long time, you probably already know how convenient it is to keep a copy of every macOS you upgrade. Even though they can be easily obtained, they are still large, so it is much easier to use a local copy. Unfortunately, that bunch of handy macOS installers you collected on that old external drive became worthless on October 24, 2019.

Any old macOS that you still have a copy of as of that date won’t work. You can’t install macOS from them because the security certificate on them has expired at the time.

However, any old macOS installer you can download from Apple will now work. As the annual release cycle rolls by, we’re already at the stage where the last four releases can be downloaded.

Or rather, download them when you know exactly where to look. Apple keeps the latest old installers in the App Store, but hides them.

You’ll never see them listed, and you can’t usually find them with a direct search. You have to read Apple’s support documentation before you can get the link that will magically open the installer in the App Store.

This is now true for the last four versions, whereas the previous three required a separate solution.

But first, why do you bother

Don’t use an older version of macOS because, for example, you’re running out of drive space and OS X Tiger’s smaller footprint makes it attractive.

(Even though you can find the Tiger installer on Apple’s website, modern Macs won’t run it. Instead, they report that it’s from an unidentified developer. This could also have something to do with the October 24 expiration, if so , it’s hard to see Apple’s disdain for an operating system from nearly 15 years ago.)

Even with less prehistoric versions, don’t do this unless you have to.

That’s not to say it’s hard or somehow risky to your Mac, but it’s probably pointless. If your Mac is physically capable of running macOS Monterey, you’ll almost certainly be better off updating it to that version.

While Apple has been supporting Macs for longer than it seems, there are still plenty of machines that can’t be updated to Montery, and certainly not to Apple Silicon. This is fine because you might leave them on whatever they’re currently running.

However, it’s easy to end up with an old Mac that works well but could do with some updates. Not all the way to Monterey, or even Big Sur, but maybe to the High Mountains, maybe El Capitan, maybe Mojave. Every new version of macOS you should update to. Its features, security and reliability are worth it.

And the more you can update your old Mac, the more useful work you’ll get out of it.

You just need to find the old macOS installer.

How to Download High Sierra via Big Sur

Currently, use these links to get any of the last four versions of macOS. In each case, the link will take you to the macOS installer’s hidden App Store entry.

In each case, the App Store will also tell you if the version you want can’t be installed on the Mac you’re using. Apple states that if the machine is older than the one that came with the Mac, you cannot install any macOS on the machine.

Therefore, you must click these links on the Mac that accepts the download. These links will take you to the download page.

• macOS Big Sur version 11
• macOS Catalina 10.15
• macOS Mojave 10.14
• macOS High Sierra 10.13

How to Find Old macOS Installers

Choose from the options below to get official macOS updates and get them directly from Apple. Click to start the download.

• macOS 10.10 Yosemite
• macOS 10.11 El Capitan
• macOS 10.12 Sierra Leone

In each case, Apple recommends that you first check for the latest version your Mac can run, and then back up that Mac thoroughly and repeatedly.

Apple also states that you can’t install a macOS version on top of a later version. You can’t go back. If you really need a hobby, you can wipe your Mac and start over with an old macOS install, if you’re so inclined for software compatibility or similar reasons.