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 brainstorm with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or just crash) on newer operating systems. As well, you may have noticed your Mac'southward performance went down right after the concluding update. Finally, if y'all desire to run a parallel re-create of Mac Bone X on a virtual auto, you too will demand a working installation file of an older Mac Bone X. Further down nosotros'll explain where to become one and what problems you may face downwardly the road.

A listing of all Mac Bone X versions

We'll be repeatedly referring to these Apple Bone versions beneath, so it'due south good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah ten.0 Puma x.1 Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.iii Tiger 10.4 Leopard ten.5
Snowfall Leopard 10.half-dozen Panthera leo 10.seven Mountain Lion 10.viii
Mavericks ten.9 Yosemite x.x El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12 High Sierra 10.13 Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

Pace 1. Set your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn't new and is filled with data, yous will probably need enough gratuitous space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself simply also space for other applications and your user data. One more statement is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual retention so your apps have "fuel" to operate on. The nautical chart beneath tells you how much free infinite is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need plenty disk infinite bachelor, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to costless up infinite 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 tin can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.

If you aren't comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, at that place are some nice automatic "room cleaners". Our favorite isCleanMyMac as it'south most unproblematic to use of all. It deletes organisation junk, old broken apps, and the residuum of hidden junk on your drive.

CleanMyMac X - Smart Scan complete

Download CleanMyMacfor OS ten.4 - 10.eight (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for Os x.ix (free version)

Download CleanMyMacfor OS ten.10 - ten.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Go a copy of Mac Bone 10 download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a 1-fashion road. That's why going dorsum to a past Apple tree OS version is problematic. The principal challenge is to download the Os installation file itself, because your Mac may already exist running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your side by side step is to create a bootable USB or DVD then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS 10 versions via the App Store

Mac operating system download


If you once had purchased an old version of Mac Os 10 from the App Shop, open it and go to the Purchased tab. At that place you lot'll find all the installers you can download. Even so, information technology doesn't e'er work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But hither is the path to check information technology:

  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Roll downwardly to detect the preferred OS X version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows y'all 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 tree Programmer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, y'all tin can get admission to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If y'all desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account amid other options. The membership price is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nonetheless, continue in mind that if y'all visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you tin only notice x.3-10.six OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are non available because starting Mac OS Ten Snow Leopard ten.seven, the App Store has become the merely source of updating Apple tree Os versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating arrangement

Apple OS Versions

Y'all tin purchase a boxed or email version of by Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will toll you effectually $twenty. For the reason of being rather blowsy, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Go an e-mail re-create of Lion x.7
Go an email copy of Mount Lion 10.8

The e-mail edition comes with a special download code you tin can use for the Mac App Store. Notation, that to install the King of beasts or Mount Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snowfall Leopard so you tin install the newer OS on pinnacle of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you tin run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it's possible also. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to Bone 10 10.6.8. And then, hither are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.half dozen.8 using Software Update.
iii. Download El Capitan hither.

"I can't download an old version of Mac Os 10"

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For case, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don't look it to run whatever OS released prior of that time, because older Apple tree Bone versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

Mac os x download

Merely as it oftentimes happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a hazard to download the installation file if you accept an access to a Mac (or virtual car) running that operating system. For case, to get an installer for Lion, you may enquire a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, in one case again, ready a virtual machine running Lion. And so you will need to prepare an external bulldoze to download the installation file using Os X Utilities.

After you've completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you tin click Cancel and copy the file you demand. Below is the detailed instruction how to practise information technology.

STEP iii. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS 10 Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Showtime your Mac holding downward Command + R.
  2. Gear up a make clean external bulldoze (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Inside Os X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
  4. Select external bulldoze as a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.
How to download old Mac OS X versions

Now the Os should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. Subsequently the download is complete, your Mac volition prompt you to do a restart, but at this indicate, you should completely close information technology down. Now that the installation file is "captured" onto your external drive, y'all can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

  1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external bulldoze.
  3. Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file y'all need to reinstall Lion OS 10. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.xiii, information technology is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. Yous tin practise information technology either with Fourth dimension Car or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.

Instruction todowngrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction todowngrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction todowngrade from macOS Mojave

Pedagogy to downgrade from macOS Catalina

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 make clean upwardly your Mac from old organisation junk files and application leftovers. The easiest manner to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your car (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older Os X version

If none of the options to get older Bone Ten worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should accept image installations going back to OS Leopard and before. You tin can also ask their assist to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So hither you are. We promise this article has helped y'all to download an old version of Mac Bone 10. Beneath are a few more links you lot may find interesting.