(Redirected from OS X 10.12)
A version of the macOS operating system | |
Developer | Apple Inc. |
---|---|
OS family |
|
Source model | Closed, with open source components |
Initial release | September 20, 2016; 2 years ago |
Latest release | 10.12.6 (16G2128)[2] / July 29, 2019; 20 days ago |
Update method | Mac App Store |
Platforms | x86-64 |
Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
License | APSL and Apple EULA |
Preceded by | OS X 10.11 El Capitan |
Succeeded by | macOS 10.13 High Sierra |
Official website | macOS - Apple at the Wayback Machine (archived August 30, 2017) |
Support status | |
Partially supported. Extended support ends in September 2019. iTunes, in August 2020 |
Part of a series on |
macOS |
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Java Update for Mac OS X 10.4 could also be available for download on the author's website. Jaleco aims to offer downloads free of viruses and malware. Jaleco aims to offer downloads. Folx Download Manager Font Book (fixed in second beta). MPlayer OSX Extended MySQL Workbench 6.3.6 Nik Collection. Quicken Essentials for Mac 1.7.4 (icon has.
macOS Sierra (version 10.12)[3] is the thirteenth major release of macOS (previously OS X), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. As the successor to OS X El Capitan, it was the first version of the operating system issued under the June 2016 rebranding as macOS. Sierra is named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and Nevada.[4] Its major new features concern Continuity, iCloud, and windowing, as well as support for Apple Pay and Siri.
The first beta of macOS Sierra was released to developers shortly following the 2016 WWDC keynote on June 13, 2016. The first public-beta release followed on July 7, 2016. It was released to end users on September 20, 2016, as a free upgrade through the Mac App Store.[5]
- 2Changes
- 2.1System features
- 2.2Application features
- 2.3Security improvements
System requirements[edit]
macOS Sierra requires at least 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage space and will run on:[6]
- iMac: Late 2009 or newer
- MacBook and MacBook 12-inch: Late 2009 or newer
- MacBook Pro: Mid 2010 or newer
- MacBook Air: Late 2010 or newer
- Mac Mini: Mid 2010 or newer
- Mac Pro: Mid 2010 or newer
- Xserve is no longer compatible.
Sierra is the first version of macOS since OS X Mountain Lion, released in 2012, that does not run on all computers that the previous version supported.[7] Developers have created workarounds to install macOS Sierra on some Mac computers that are no longer officially supported as long as they are packed with a CPU that supports SSE4.1.[8]
Changes[edit]
The default desktop picture is an image of Lone Pine Peak.
System features[edit]
Siri[edit]
A demonstration of Siri on macOS Sierra Beta.
The user can access the Siri intelligent assistant via the Dock, the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut and results are shown in a window in the upper-right corner.[9] Siri can send messages, search the web, find files and adjust settings. Results can be dropped into other applications or pinned to Notification Center.[9] For instance, pictures from search results can be dragged into a document.
iCloud Drive and Optimized Storage[edit]
This image shows what the Optimized Storage suggestions are.
iCloud Drive can upload the user's documents and desktop directories and sync them to other devices. The System Information application has a new section that gives the user detailed information about space usage per application or file and provides tools and suggestions for freeing up space. For instance, the user can let the system upload old files to iCloud Drive and remove their local copies, keeping them available on-demand in Finder. It can also remove old files from trash automatically. iTunes can delete watched, purchased films and TV programs from its library.[10][11]
Auto Unlock and Universal Clipboard[edit]
Building upon Continuity, an 'umbrella term [for] features that facilitate the communication between [Apple devices]' using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Sierra adds two features.[10] With Auto Unlock, the user can unlock their user account by holding a paired Apple Watch close to the device. Time of flight is used to prevent relay attacks. Auto Unlock requires a Mac that was introduced in 2013 or later. With Universal Clipboard, the user can share the clipboard for cut, copy and paste between macOS Sierra and iOS 10 devices, including text and rich content, such as pictures or videos.
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Tabs and Picture-in-Picture[edit]
Applications that support multiple windows can support multiple tabs within a single window, allowing the user to keep windows organized similarly to Safari.[12] With Picture-in-Picture, videos can be played in a window that follows the user across the system.[13]
Apple File System[edit]
Apple released a preview of a new file system in Sierra, called Apple File System (APFS), to overcome the limitations of HFS Plus. It is intended for solid-state drives and flash memory and will adopt several features found in modern file systems, such as snapshots and cloning, as well as native support for features that Apple already provides in HFS Plus through supplementary software, such as file-system encryption and TRIM support. The file system was released in macOS High Sierra.[14]
Night Shift[edit]
Night Shift is new in macOS 10.12.4, with the same functionality as its iOS counterpart. Night Shift reduces blue light at night to aid sleep. This can be scheduled in the System Preferences app (in the Displays menu) and can be toggled on or off in the Notification Center or using Siri.[15]
Since this feature relies on the Metal framework,[citation needed] Night Shift is not available on all systems that support macOS Sierra.[16]
Application features[edit]
Photos[edit]
Apple says it has improved the face recognition of the Photos application, adding object and scene recognition. It groups similar pictures together using faces, locations and object recognition to create 'memories'. Memories contain picture slideshows with transitions and music selected by the algorithm, which can be modified to the user's liking. The 'People' album organizes photos by the people in them, and Places shows all photos on a world map.
Safari and Apple Pay[edit]
Safari provides an 'extension point' which enables developers to bundle Safari extensions within their Cocoa applications and communicate with them directly from the applications.[17] Safari conceals the presence of installed 'legacy' plug-ins, such as Adobe Flash Player, Java applets, Microsoft Silverlight, and QuickTime – from websites and requires the user to enable a specific plug-in on a per-use or per-website basis.[10]
Apple Pay allows vendors to embed an Apple Pay button on their websites. In Safari, users can click the Apple Pay button to check out, then complete a purchase using an iPhone or Apple Watch. Apple Pay requires a Mac that supports Continuity (2012 or later models) and either an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 10, or an Apple Watch with watchOS 3.
Messages[edit]
The Messages app adds aesthetic effects to messages, such as three times bigger emojis and click back with hearts or thumbs-up on a message bubble.[18] The ability to play YouTube videos and preview links in a conversation was introduced.[19] Users can view interactive content added to iMessage in iOS 10. The app also allows you to turn on or off read receipts on a conversation by conversation basis.[20][21]
iTunes[edit]
Apple Music within iTunes has been redesigned, making it simpler to find favorite songs and discover new ones. A new 'For You' tab has been added, which suggests new music the user might like (similar to the existing Genius).[citation needed] A refined MiniPlayer with the ability to view lyrics while listening has also been introduced.[22]
Notes[edit]
The Notes app allows the user to share and collaborate on notes. This is done by clicking on a share button at the top of the window.[22]
Other changes[edit]
- Disk Utility regains the ability to format and manage RAID sets, after it was removed in El Capitan.[10][23]
- Finder has an option to show folders always at the top of the view hierarchy, for instance in list views.[10]
- Mail adds a control to the top of email lists to quickly filter them, for instance, by read status or the presence of attachments.[10]
Security improvements[edit]
Gatekeeper[edit]
macOS Sierra slightly changes the Gatekeeperuser interface and adds two new mechanisms. A new default in System Preferences hides the 'Anywhere' option which allows the user to disable the mechanism and execute programs from any source without needing to approve each new one individually.
The first new mechanism allows developers to code-signdisk images that can be verified as a unit by the system. This allows developers to guarantee the integrity of external files that are distributed alongside the application bundle on the same disk image. An attacker could infect these external files with malicious code and with them exploit a vulnerability in the application, without having to break the signature of the application bundle itself. By signing the disk image, the developer can prevent tampering and force an attacker to repackage the files onto a new disk image, requiring a valid developer certificate to pass Gatekeeper without a warning.[24]
The second new mechanism is 'path randomization', which executes application bundles from a random, hidden path and prevents them from accessing external files relative to their location. To avoid this, the developer has to distribute the application bundle and its external files on a signed disk image or in a signed installer package. The user can avoid this mechanism by moving the application bundle without its external files to a new location.[24]
Directory permissions and sudo[edit]
The Unix permissions for writing to the /Volumes directory are now restricted to root and no longer 'world-writable'.[25] Apple expanded System Integrity Protection to /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC,[26] a directory that contains a list of applications that are allowed to 'control the computer', and restricts write access to programs which were signed with an Apple 'private entitlement'. The file-hosting serviceDropbox has been criticized for manipulating the directory to add their Dropbox application to the list, rather than asking the user to do it for them explicitly in System Preferences.[27]
The sudocommand-line utility with which a user can execute a command as another user, typically as root, is configured with the 'tty_tickets' flag by default, restricting the session timeout to the terminal session (such as a window or tab) in which the user authenticated the program.[28]
Removed functionality[edit]
Sierra removes support for garbage collection from the Objective-Cruntime,[29] a memory-management system that was added in Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) and declared deprecated in favor of Automatic Reference Counting in OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8). [30][31] Applications that have been compiled with garbage collection will no longer run.
Apple removed native support for the VPN protocol PPTP and made recommendations for alternatives that it considers more secure.[32]
The 'time remaining' estimate has been removed in the 10.12.2 update after complaints of the battery life of 2016 MacBook Pros.[33][34][35]
The Game Center app has been removed.[22] However, the service still exists.
Reinstallation[edit]
Following the download of macOS Sierra (10.12) from the Mac App Store, the installer does not show under a users' 'Purchased' tab in the Mac App Store app. Users can still re-download the Sierra installer by visiting the macOS Sierra page on the Mac App Store.[36]
Reception[edit]
macOS Sierra has received generally positive reviews. Users and critics have praised its functionality, including the addition of Siri and support for Apple Pay in Safari.[37]Macworld gave it 4.5 stars out of 5.[38]Engadget gave it a rating of 87 out of 100 praising the new features such as Siri integration, Universal Clipboard, and Apple Pay while criticizing the unreliability of Auto Unlock, that 'Siri isn't always smart enough' and some of the Messages features are only available on iOS 10.[39] Developers of apps that rely on the PDFKit library built into macOS have complained that radical changes to PDFKit introduced in Sierra are causing instability and potential data corruption.[40]
Releases[edit]
Previous release | Current release | Beta |
Version | Build | Release date | Darwin | Notes | Standalone download |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10.12 | 16A323 | September 20, 2016 | 16.0.0 | Original Mac App Store release | N/A |
10.12.1 | 16B2555 | October 24, 2016 | 16.1.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Update |
16B2657 | October 27, 2016 | ||||
10.12.2 | 16C67 | December 13, 2016 | 16.3.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Combo Update |
16C68 | December 14, 2016 | ||||
10.12.3 | 16D32 | January 23, 2017 | 16.4.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Combo Update |
10.12.4 | 16E195 | March 27, 2017 | 16.5.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.4 Combo Update |
10.12.5 | 16F73 | May 15, 2017 | 16.6.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.5 Combo Update |
16F2073 | June 5, 2017 | ||||
10.12.6 | 16G29 | July 19, 2017 | 16.7.0 | About the macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Update | macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Update macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Combo Update |
16G1036 | October 31, 2017 | About the security content of Security Update 2017-001 Sierra | Security Update 2017-001 Sierra | ||
16G1114 | December 6, 2017 | About the security content of Security Update 2017-002 Sierra | Security Update 2017-002 Sierra | ||
16G1212 | January 23, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-001 Sierra | Security Update 2018-001 Sierra | ||
16G1314 | March 29, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-002 Sierra | Security Update 2018-002 Sierra | ||
16G1408 | June 1, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-003 Sierra | Security Update 2018-003 Sierra | ||
16G1510 | July 9, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-004 Sierra | Security Update 2018-004 Sierra | ||
16G1618 | October 30, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-005 Sierra | Security Update 2018-005 Sierra | ||
16G1710 | December 5, 2018 | About the security content of Security Update 2018-006 Sierra | Security Update 2018-006 Sierra | ||
16G1815 | January 22, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-001 Sierra | Security Update 2019-001 Sierra | ||
16G1917 | March 25, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 Sierra | Security Update 2019-002 Sierra | ||
16G1918 | March 29, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-002 Sierra | Security Update 2019-002 Sierra | ||
16G2016 | May 14, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-003 Sierra | Security Update 2019-003 Sierra | ||
July 22, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 Sierra | ||||
16G2128 | July 29, 2019 | About the security content of Security Update 2019-004 Sierra | Security Update 2019-004 Sierra |
References[edit]
- ^'macOS version 10.12 Sierra on Intel-based Mac computers'. The Open Group. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- ^'About the security content of macOS Mojave 10.14.6, Security Update 2019-004 High Sierra, Security Update 2019-004 Sierra'. Apple Support. July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^'Download - Apple Developer'. Apple Developer. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ^Loyola, Roman (7 July 2016). 'macOS Sierra FAQ: What you need to know about the new Mac operating system'. Macworld. Archived from the original on 15 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- ^Majo, Benjamin (7 September 2016). 'macOS Sierra will be released on September 20 for free to Mac owners'. 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^'How to get macOS Sierra'. Apple. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^Elliott, Matt (2016-06-13). 'See which Macs will -- and won't -- work with MacOS'. CNet. Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ^'MacOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread'. MacRumors Forums. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ ab'How to use Siri in macOS Sierra'. Macworld. Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
- ^ abcdefCunningham, Andrew; Hutchinson, Lee (September 20, 2016). 'macOS 10.12 Sierra: The Ars Technica review'. Ars Technica UK. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Clover, Juli. 'macOS Sierra: Save Disk Space With the New 'Optimize Storage' Option'. Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
- ^'macOS Sierra: Apps Gain Safari-Style Tabs'. Archived from the original on 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
- ^'macOS Sierra: Picture in Picture Mode for Safari and iTunes Videos'. Archived from the original on 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
- ^'macOS High Sierra: You'll Hardly Notice You've Upgraded - The Mac Observer'. The Mac Observer. 4 October 2017. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- ^Clover, Juli. 'Apple Releases macOS Sierra 10.12.4 With New Night Shift Mode'. Archived from the original on 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
- ^'How to Use Night Shift in macOS Sierra 10.12.4'. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
- ^'Safari App Extension Programming Guide: Safari App Extensions'. Apple Developer. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- ^'How to use Messages effects in macOS Sierra'. iMore. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ^'10 tiny macOS Sierra features I love'. iMore. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
- ^'7 hidden features in macOS Sierra you may have missed'. Macworld. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
- ^'How to Use Read Receipts on the iPhone and Mac'. TekRevue. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
- ^ abcMatt Elliott (November 10, 2016). '10 hidden MacOS Sierra features you need to know'. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
- ^'How to configure a software RAID in macOS Sierra's Disk Utility'. Macworld. Archived from the original on 2017-01-08. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
- ^ abCunningham, Andrew (June 15, 2016). 'Some nerdy changes in macOS and iOS 10: RAW shooting, a harsher Gatekeeper, more'. Ars Technica UK. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
- ^Trouton, Rich (September 21, 2016). 'macOS Sierra's /Volumes folder is no longer world-writable'. Der Flounder. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Gruber, John (September 20, 2016). 'Dropbox's MacOS Security Hack'. Daring Fireball. Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Pauli, Darren (September 13, 2016). 'Dropbox apologies for clunky administrator account access on Macs'. The Register. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Trouton, Rich (September 21, 2016). 'tty_tickets option now on by default for macOS Sierra's sudo tool'. Der Flounder. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^'Xcode Release Notes'. Apple Developer. May 29, 2018. Section 'Xcode 8.3'. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
OS X 10.11 was the last major release of macOS that supported the previously deprecated garbage collection runtime. Applications or features that depend upon garbage collection may not function properly or will not launch in macOS Sierra. Developers should use Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) or manual retain/release for memory management instead. (20589595)
- ^Siracusa, John (October 29, 2007). 'Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: the Ars Technica review'. Ars Technica. At section 'Objective-C 2.0'. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^Siracusa, John (July 25, 2012). 'OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: the Ars Technica review'. Ars Technica. At section 'Objective-C enhancements'. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^'Prepare for removal of PPTP VPN before you upgrade to iOS 10 and macOS Sierra'. Apple Support. July 16, 2016. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- ^Kahn, Jordan (2016-12-13). 'Why Apple is removing 'time remaining' battery life estimates following MacBook Pro complaints'. 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on 2017-01-08. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
- ^Schroeder, Stan. 'Apple's Sierra update 'fixes' Mac battery woes by removing 'time remaining' estimate'. Mashable. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
- ^O'Kane, Sean (2016-12-13). 'Apple removes the 'time remaining' battery estimate in new macOS update'. The Verge. Archived from the original on 2017-01-08. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
- ^'How to download macOS Sierra'. Apple. October 17, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
- ^'MacOS Sierra review: Six big ways it's going to change your Apple experience'. CNET. Archived from the original on 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
- ^'macOS Sierra review: Mixing iOS with OS X to make a better Mac'. Macworld. Archived from the original on 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
- ^Wollman, Dana (September 20, 2016). 'macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year'. Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
- ^'Sierra PDF Problems Get Worse in 10.12.2'. Tidbits. Archived from the original on 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
External links[edit]
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived August 30, 2017)
Preceded by OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) | macOS 10.12 (Sierra) 09/2016 | Succeeded by macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) |
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MacOS_Sierra&oldid=908817543'
So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.
A list of all Mac OS X versions
We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.
Cheetah 10.0 | Puma 10.1 | Jaguar 10.2 |
Panther 10.3 | Tiger 10.4 | Leopard 10.5 |
Snow Leopard 10.6 | Lion 10.7 | Mountain Lion 10.8 |
Mavericks 10.9 | Yosemite 10.10 | El Capitan 10.11 |
Sierra 10.12 | High Sierra 10.13 | Mojave 10.14 |
STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation
Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.
Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:
- Uninstall large unused apps
- Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
- Locate the biggest files on your computer:
Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)
Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)
STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download
Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.
How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store
If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:
- Click the App Store icon.
- Click Purchases in the top menu.
- Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
- Click Download.
This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.
Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer
If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.
Purchase an older version of Mac operating system
You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.
Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8
The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.
How to get macOS El Capitan download
If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:
1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.
“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”
If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.
But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.
After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.
STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive
The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.
- Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
- Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
- Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
- Select external drive as a source.
- Enter your Apple ID.
Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.
- Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
- Connect the external drive.
- Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.
Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.
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How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions
If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra
Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave
Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).
Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version
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If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.