1. El Capitan Mac Upgrade
2. El Capitan Upgrade Download
3. Update Mac Os El Capitan
4. How To Upgrade El Capitan
5. Upgrade From El Capitan 10.11.6
6. Yosemite To El Capitan Upgrade Download
7. El Capitan Next Upgrade

Go to the OS X 10.11 El Capitan download page to get it. Open the System Preferences menu and select Software Update. Or, launch the App Store application and find macOS Catalina either from the Featured tab (⌘ + 1) or by visiting Apple’s Catalina download page (public release not yet available until October).

Performing an El Capitan-to-Sierra upgrade is easy. Although it does not come like a push-one-button-and-proceed method, the truth is it’s quite close.

Requirements for Upgrading from El Capitan to Sierra

El Capitan Installer. Mac operating system’s twelfth major version is the El Capitan Installer (version 10.11). All the Mac computers which don’t have the privilege to upgrade to MacOS High Sierra or the computers that need to upgrade to El Capitan first, can download this twelfth version on the computer. No more security patches for OS X El Capitan, time to upgrade Posted on October 31, 2018 May 31, 2019 by Jimmy Obomsawin With yesterday’s software updates El Capitan fell off the security patch bandwagon, as expected.

Before we proceed with our step-by-step guide, allow us to answer an important question that some Mac users have in mind: “Can an old Mac still upgrade to Sierra?”

The answer is, of course, a YES. However, there are a few minimum requirements that need to be met, such as the following:

• 2 GB RAM
• 8 GB Storage Space
• Mac Models: Late 2009 iMac, 2009 MacBook, 2010 MacBook Pro, 2010 MacBook Air, 2010 Mac Mini, 2010 Mac Pro

Once you are certain that your Mac has met the requirements above, make sure you have backed up your Mac. This backup will come in handy in case something comes up in the process of upgrading to High Sierra.

Pro Tip: Scan your Mac for performance issues, junk files, harmful apps, and security threats
that can cause system issues or slow performance.

Free Scan for Mac Issues

Special offer. About Outbyte, uninstall instructions, EULA, Privacy Policy.

Upgrading from El Capitan to Sierra

After backing up your Mac’s important files and folders, it’s time to get started. Here’s how to upgrade from El Capitan to Sierra.

1. Download High Sierra from the App Store.

High Sierra is available for download from the App Store. To get it, follow these steps:

1. Open the Mac App Store by simply clicking on the App Store icon in the dock.
2. Navigate to the Featured tab.
3. Find macOS Sierra in the rightmost column and click on it.
4. Click Download.
5. At this point, the download will start. It may take long, especially if it’s your first time accessing the App Store. Just be patient.
6. Once the download is completed, the installer should launch automatically.

2. Start the Upgrade.

With the High Sierra installer ready, it’s time to actually install it. Here’s how:

1. The High Sierra installer should now be open on your Mac. If you have accidentally quit it, you can restart it by going to the Applications folder and double-clicking on the installer.
2. Click Continue to proceed.
3. Press on the Agree button to agree with the software licensing terms and agreements flashed on your screen.
4. Click on the Agree button again to verify your action.
5. Hit Install.
6. A new dialog box will pop up, requiring you to input your administrator password. Provide that information and click Add Helper.
7. The High Sierra installer will begin copying the system files to the new target drive. The progress will show in a new window.
8. As soon as all the system files are copied, your Mac will automatically reboot. Don’t panic if the restart process takes a while. It only means your Mac is coping with the installation process.

3. Utilize the Setup Assistant to Complete the Installation.

El Capitan Mac Upgrade

Your Mac should already be finished with the basic installation process. The next thing you should do is run the Setup Assistant to configure some important macOS High Sierra options and settings.

Take note, though, that if your Mac is configured to ask for your login details, a normal login window will show. Provide your login credentials so you can proceed with the following steps:

1. The Setup Assistant starts off by asking you for your Apple ID details. If you wish to leave everything as it is, click the Set Up Later option.
2. Let the Setup Assistant configure all vital services that need your Apple ID credentials. Simply provide your Apple ID password and hit Continue.
3. Click Agree if you agree with the Terms and Conditions flashed on your screen.
4. You will be asked to verify your action again. To continue, click Agree again.
5. The Setup Assistant should then continue with configuring your iCloud account information. It will also ask you whether you want to set up iCloud Keychain. You can just skip it to avoid confusing yourself.
6. Next, there will be options displayed on your screen regarding how you wish to use iCloud for storing images and documents. Choose which of them apply to you by clicking on the boxes next to each one of them:
   • Store Files from Documents and Desktop in iCloud Drive – This option will allow you to automatically upload files from your Desktop and Documents folder to your iCloud Drive. Be mindful, though, that Apple only offers a limited amount of storage space for free users. If all this free space is exhausted, you will be asked to purchase additional storage.
   • Store Photos and Videos in iCloud Photo Library – This will let you upload videos and images from your Photo Library to iCloud. As with the first option, you have to remember that you only have limited free storage space.

7. Hit Continue.
8. Wait for the Setup Assistant to finish the setup process.
9. You will know when it’s done because you will be taken to your desktop.

Summary

We hope you found this guide useful. But before you download macOS Sierra and perform an upgrade, do not forget to clean up your Mac with a reliable Mac repair tool first. This way, you can ensure that nothing comes your way and keeps you from making the most of High Sierra.

Did we miss some important steps above? Do you know other, easier methods to upgrade from El Capitan from Sierra? We’d love to know. Comment on them below!

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
Catalina 10.15

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.

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:

1. Click the App Store icon.
2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
3. Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
4. 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

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:

El Capitan Upgrade Download

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
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.

Update Mac Os El Capitan

1. Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
2. Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
3. Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
4. Select external drive as a source.
5. 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.

1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
2. Connect the external drive.
3. 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.

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 High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

How To Upgrade El Capitan

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Upgrade From El Capitan 10.11.6

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).

Yosemite To El Capitan Upgrade Download

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

El Capitan Next Upgrade

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.