So, you've decided to download an older version of Mac Os X. In that location are many reasons that could point you lot to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or but crash) on newer operating systems. Likewise, you may accept noticed your Mac'south performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you lot want to run a parallel re-create of Mac OS X on a virtual car, you as well volition need a working installation file of an older Mac Os Ten. Further down we'll explain where to go ane and what problems you may confront down the road.

A list of all Mac Os X versions

Nosotros'll be repeatedly referring to these Apple Os versions below, and then it's good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah ten.0 Puma x.1 Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3 Tiger 10.4 Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6 Lion x.7 Mountain King of beasts 10.8
Mavericks ten.9 Yosemite 10.10 El Capitan 10.11
Sierra x.12 High Sierra 10.13 Mojave ten.14
Catalina ten.15

Footstep 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn't new and is filled with information, you volition probably need enough costless space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the Os itself simply too space for other applications and your user data. One more than argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual retention then your apps have "fuel" to operate on. The chart below tells you how much costless space is needed.

Notation, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you lot will need enough deejay space available, for example, to create Recovery Segmentation. Here are some ideas to free upward space on your drive:

  • Uninstall large unused apps
  • Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
  • Locate the biggest files on your reckoner:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Adapt by size

And so y'all tin movement your infinite hoggers onto an external drive or a deject storage.

If you lot aren't comfy with cleaning the Mac manually, at that place are some nice automatic "room cleaners". Our favorite isCleanMyMac equally it's nigh unproblematic to use of all. It deletes organization junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your bulldoze.

CleanMyMac X - Smart Scan complete

Download CleanMyMacfor OS 10.four - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (gratuitous version)

Download CleanMyMacfor Bone 10.x - 10.xiv (gratis version)

Pace 2. Get a copy of Mac Os X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That'due south why going dorsum to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The chief challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, considering your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you lot succeed in downloading the Os installation, your adjacent step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and 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 former version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open up it and go to the Purchased tab. There you'll find all the installers you can download. Yet, it doesn't always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that yous had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to cheque it:

  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Ringlet downwardly to find the preferred Bone 10 version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — simply if y'all previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version every bit Apple tree Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you tin get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Shop. If y'all badly demand a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/twelvemonth and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

However, proceed in heed that if you visit developer.apple tree.com/downloads, you can merely find x.3-ten.vi Os X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac Os X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Shop has become the but source of updating Apple tree OS versions.

Buy an older version of Mac operating system

Apple OS Versions

You tin can purchase a boxed or electronic mail version of by Mac Bone X directly from Apple. Both will cost yous around $xx. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can merely exist installed from DVD.

Purchase a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Become an email copy of Panthera leo ten.7
Get an email copy of Mountain King of beasts 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can employ for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain King of beasts, your Mac needs to exist running Snow Leopard so yous tin install the newer Bone on top of it.

How to become macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if y'all tin can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it's possible too. Simply before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X ten.6.viii. So, hither are main steps you lot should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.viii 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 case, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don't await it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions just do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

Mac os x download

But equally information technology often happens, workarounds are possible. There is nonetheless a chance to download the installation file if you take an access to a Mac (or virtual motorcar) running that operating system. For example, to go an installer for Panthera leo, you lot may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, one time again, set up up a virtual auto running Lion. Then you will demand to prepare an external bulldoze to download the installation file using OS Ten Utilities.

After yous've completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, merely you can click Cancel and re-create the file y'all need. Beneath is the detailed pedagogy how to practise it.

Step 3. Install older Bone 10 onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac Os X Lion, Mount Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Start your Mac property down Command + R.
  2. Prepare a clean external bulldoze (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Within OS X Utilities, cull Reinstall Bone X.
  4. Select external drive equally a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.
How to download old Mac OS X versions

Now the OS should beginning downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is consummate, your Mac will prompt yous to do a restart, simply at this point, you should completely shut information technology downwards. 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. Kick your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external drive.
  3. Get to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg deejay image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion Bone X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Panthera leo and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS Loftier Sierra 10.13, information technology is possible to revert it to the previous arrangement if you are non satisfied with the experience. Y'all tin can do information technology either with Time Automobile or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.

Pedagogy todowngrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction todowngrade from macOS Loftier 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 virtually of import files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from former organisation junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for gratuitous here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older Os 10 version

If none of the options to get older Os X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple tree Store. They should accept paradigm installations going back to OS Leopard and before. You tin can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this commodity has helped you to download an old version of Mac Bone X. Below are a few more links you may discover interesting.