How to download macOS Sonoma 14,Ventura 13, Monterey 12, Big Sur 11, Catalina 10.15, Mojave 10.14, High Sierra 10.13, Sierra 10.12, El Capitan 10.11, 10.10 Yosemite 10.10, Mavericks 10.9, Mountain Lion 10.8 & 10.7 Lion
UPDATED 2/27/24
If you are wondering how to download macOS full installers direct from Apple’s servers, you’ve found the right place. If you are a macOS user or just starting in Apple IT, you will find out pretty quickly this can get complicated.
8 Different ways to download macOS Full Installers
Need a full macOS installer to rebuild a Mac or create a USB Installer stick? I will show you 8 different ways to download macOS.
- 1. App Store = High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura & Sonoma
- 2. System Preferences = 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12, 13 & 14 – NEW INFO!
- 3. Softwareupdate –fetch-full-installer command 10.14 & 10.15, 11, 12, 13 & 14
- 4. InstallAssistant.pkg – Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey & Big Sur via browser
- 5. Direct Download links for 10.12 Sierra, 10.11 El Capitan & 10.10 Yosemite
- 6. Direct download links for 10.8 Mountain Lion & 10.7 Lion
- 7. How to download OS X Mavericks 10.9?
- 8. MIST – macOS Installer Super Tool = 10.15, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0 & 14.0
- 9. Greg Neagle’s installinstallmacos.py script 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11. 12, 13 & 14
- 10. MDS (Mac Deploy Stick) by twocanoes.com 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12, 13 & 14
1. Mac App Store
The Mac App Store will be your main way to download macOS. You can download the following versions – 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12 & 13. Each link below will open up that version in the Mac App Store. All you need to do is, click the Download Button. When the download is finished, the installer will be in /Applications.
1 – macOS Sonoma 14
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-sonoma/id6450717509
2 – macOS Ventura 13
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-ventura/id1638787999
3 – macOS Monterey 12
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294
4 – macOS Big Sur 11
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132
5 – macOS Catalina 10.15
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314
6 – macOS Mojave 10.14
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828
7 – macOS High Sierra 10.13
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741
8 – macOS Sierra 10.12
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414
If you are looking for Apple.com direct download links for macOS 10.12 Sierra, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.8 Mountain Lion & 10.7 Lion skip to section Section 5 & 6
2. macOS Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur & Monterey Software Update pane = Sonoma – WARNING!
Apple added a new system preference pane in 10.14+, it’s called Software Update. This new section will show you available macOS software updates, but it will also show you upgrades! In this case we can use this pane to download and install macOS Ventura.
WARNING! macOS Sonoma changes the upgrade system. The upgrade is now an “Update” and will not download the full installer app if you are on Monterey 12.3 or newer. If you are on Monterey 12.2.1 or below, you will get the full installer app from System Preferences.
After hitting the “Upgrade Now” button, macOS Ventura will start to download and then it will install on your main system immediately if the size of the update is under 12GB
If you are on Monterey 12.2.1 and below, Big Sur, Catalina or Mojave this is what you will see in Software Update:
3. Download Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, or Mojave with softwareupdate –fetch-full-installer
With the release macOS 11 Big Sur & 10.15 Catalina we got a much needed new option added to the softwareupdate binary. We can now download full installers!
To get more information you can just run the softwareupdate command from terminal.app and it will give you a quick overview of all the options.
softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer– this command will download the newest version of Monterey.softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version– This sub option will allow you to download specific versions. An example of this would be 11.6.8. An example of this command issoftwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 14.3.1
When the download is complete the macOS Installer app will be in /Applications
4. Download macOS Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey or Big Sur Full installer via Apple SUS & InstallAssistant.pkg
You can download the full installer of macOS Big Sur from Apple’s own software update servers. The InstallAssistant.pkg includes the entire Install macOS Big Sur.app. Run the pkg and it will put the entire install app into your Applications folder!
macOS Sonoma Final and Beta Installers here >
https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-sonoma-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/
macOS Ventura Final and Beta Installers here >
https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-ventura-13-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/
macOS Monterey Final and Beta Installers here >
https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-12-monterey-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/
macOS Big Sur Final & Beta Installers here >
https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-big-sur-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/
5 . Download Links for 10.12 Sierra, 10.11 El Capitan & 10.10 Yosemite
For 10.12, 10.11 and 10.10 you can download the installer directly from Apple’s servers.
10.12 macOS Sierra
How to upgrade to macOS Sierra – Apple Support
10.11 OS X El Capitan
How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support
Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
10.10 OS X Yosemite
How to upgrade to OS X Yosemite – Apple Support
Download OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
6. macOS Mountain Lion 10.8 and Lion 10.7 are now free to download!!
As of June 30th 2021, Apple has made macOS Mountain Lion 10.8 and Lion 10.7 Free to download!
macOS Mountain Lion 10.8 Article – https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2076
10.8 Direct Download Link – https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2021/macos/031-0627-20210614-90D11F33-1A65-42DD-BBEA-E1D9F43A6B3F/InstallMacOSX.dmg
macOS Lion 10.7 Article – https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077
10.7 Direct Download Link – https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2021/macos/041-7683-20210614-E610947E-C7CE-46EB-8860-D26D71F0D3EA/InstallMacOSX.dmg
7. How to download OS X Mavericks 10.9?
Wondering where the download link to Mavericks is? For some reason, Apple did NOT post a download link to OS X Mavericks 10.9.5.
I used my original copy to create a dmg of the original 12.9.5 installer. I uploaded it to internet archive under my account MrMacintoshBlog. https://archive.org/details/os-x-mavericks-10.9.5
8. MIST – macOS Installer Super Tool
A new open source tool called MISTm created by Nindi Gill (ninxsoft) is now available! It allows you to download full macOS installers.
https://github.com/ninxsoft/Mist
9. Using installinstallmacos.py python script
installinstallmacos.py is a script that was written by Greg Neagle. The description reads – A tool to download the parts for an Install macOS app from Apple's softwareupdate servers and install a functioning Install macOS app onto an empty disk image
This script reaches out directly to Apple and downloads all the pieces that form the macOS install app. At the end it will install to a blank dmg image. In the end you have a fresh macOS Install app in a .dmg!
The script is located on Greg’s Github site.
https://github.com/munki/macadmin-scripts/blob/master/installinstallmacos.py
You can download the file directly from this link
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/munki/macadmin-scripts/master/installinstallmacos.py
Opening the link above shows you the raw script. Download it by Right Clicking anywhere on the page and then select Save As. Now that you have the script, let’s run it.
Open up terminal.app. Below is an example how the script would look on your command line.
MacBook-Air:~ mrmacintosh$ sudo /Users/MrMac/Desktop/installinstallmacos.py
Notice that you have 8 versions of full macOS installers available! As of April 9th 2020, the latest version of Catalina is 10.15.4 (19E287). Select 2 (or 6 it’s doubled up for some reason) then hit enter.
The download will start and look like this
All of the download pieces are downloaded to /Users/yourhome/content/downloads
Making empty sparseimage...
installer: Package name is macOS Catalina
installer: Installing at base path /private/tmp/dmg.IJe432
installer: The install was successful.
When the download is complete the .dmg will be located at the root of your home folder.
10. MDS (Mac Deploy Stick) by twocanoes.com
Free download – https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/mac-deploy-stick/
How to Download macOS Troubleshooting Index
- 1. Support.Apple.com/Downloads
- 2. High Sierra Mac App Store
- 3. What happens if you have an old version of installer.app on your system and want the latest version?
- 4. How do I check the macOS version number of Install macOS installer.app?
- 5. Downloading the latest version after finding an old version.
- 6. The Mac you are using has to be compatible with the macOS version you are trying to download.
- 7. If Mojave is not compatible with my system, how do I download High Sierra 10.13?
- 8. The dreaded 22mb”Stub” installer.
- 9. The Mac App Store was redesigned for Mojave 10.14!
- 10. Can I download High Sierra in the new Mojave App Store?
- 11. The new Mac App Store has solved the dreaded 22mb “Stub” installer problem.
- 12. Let’s review which macOS versions you can download on Mojave & High Sierra
- 12. Mac App Store Errors
- 13. Review of which macOS versions you can download on Mojave & High Sierra depending on your Mac Version.
- 14. Download full macOS installers using installinstallmacos.py
- 15. How to download macOS Catalina 10.15 Beta – Apple Beta Software Program.
- 16. Apple App Store Download links for 10.15, 10.14, 10.13 + direct download links for 10.12, 10.11 & 10.10.
1. Support.Apple.com/Downloads
Let’s say you want to download the full macOS installer.app from Apple so you can deploy in-place upgrades or build a USB Installer. Let’s first check Support.Apple.com/Downloads.
Hmmm… Searching for Mojave and High Sierra installers only show combo and security updates.
2. High Sierra Mac App Store
No big deal, let’s go to the High Sierra App Store and search for Mojave and High Sierra installers.
Ok, well we are getting a little closer it seems. Searching for macOS Mojave comes up, yet High Sierra is nowhere to be found.
3. What happens if you have an old version of installer.app on your system and want the latest version?
You now see Mojave is there in the Mac App Store, but instead of
After clicking Open I am presented with this message above. As you can see the App Store first searched my system and found that I already have macOS Mojave installer.app. Notice that it searches all locations, not just the Applications folder where the installer app normally is stored. It found the macOS Mojave Installer.app in a folder called test.
Great, we are ready to go right? Not really because I have no clue what version this is. Looking at the creation date gives us a pretty good clue. MacOS Mojave was released on September
4. How do I check the macOS version number of Install macOS installer.app?
We have multiple ways of checking the version number and build number. The easiest way is to simply look at the version number info from Get Info.
After checking the version number, I now know the macOS version is 10.14.0. We can find the build number inside the actual installer.app but knowing the version number is usually good enough unless you need a specific hardware build.
5. Downloading the latest version after finding an old version.
I have macOS Mojave Installer.app on my system but it’s outdated. I need the latest version. We now need to get the app store to show the Download button instead of Open. Simply close the App Store, delete the old version of macOS Installer then re-open.
I deleted the installer.app but the App Store still thinks that I have the installer. The button SHOULD switch to Download but didn’t. If this happens again just restart your Mac.
Perfect, after restarting the Mac App Store can’t find any version of the Mojave installer on your Mac so it now shows you the download button.
6. The Mac you are using has to be compatible with the macOS version you are trying to download.
We could not complete your purchase. This version of macOS 10.14 cannot be installed on this computer.
I STILL can’t download Mojave because the Mac I’m trying to download it on is not compatible. All I want to do is download macOS Mojave! I do understand why Apple did this, they don’t want a user to think they could install Mojave on a system that can’t run it. Apple should take this one step further and not show it as available in the App Store. Or have the button say Not Supported.
7. If Mojave is not compatible with my system, how do I download High Sierra 10.13?
How do I download macOS High Serra 10.13? If searching High Sierra in the App Store comes up empty how can I download it? You have to visit the Apple Upgrading to High Sierra Support Page for the direct App Store link.
We are back in the 10.13 App Store, let’s try to download again.
After clicking Download we finally get some action!
I have a pretty fast connection but not 5.3 gigabytes in 3 minutes fast. The download just finished let’s see what the deal is.
8. The dreaded 22mb”Stub” installer.
This is what’s known as the macOS “Stub” Installer. This is not the 5gb full installer we are looking for it’s only 22mb! All this file will do is start the installation only to download the full 5gb before beginning the install. You cant boot to this file or create a USB Installer from this pkg.
While the 10.13 App Store does not allow you to download the full High Sierra installer, it will allow you to download the full version of Mojave.
9. The Mac App Store was redesigned for Mojave 10.14!
The App Store was totally redesigned for 10.14 Mojave. The look is pretty different from 10.13’s App Store. This is what the Mojave section looks like in the new App Store.
The new design aligns the Mac App Store with the iOS App Store. The first hint is that the
We are off to the races now! The first thing you will notice is that instead of downloading macOS Mojave Installer inside the App Store it opens Software Update. Software Update will search for the Installer and ask if you are sure you want to download the 6gb Mojave Installer. After clicking download you will get a new prompt for admin credentials to start the download (not to actually install yet). After
10. Can I download High Sierra in the new Mojave App Store?
Good news, the Full High Sierra installer will now download from the new App Store.
11. The new Mac App Store has solved the dreaded 22mb “Stub” installer problem.
The “Stub” download problem can be reproduced using 10.13 App Store. Yet I can’t seem to reproduce this on 10.14. I have tried multiple machines. The “Stub” installer problem seems to be gone as long as you are using 10.14’s App Store.
12. Mac App Store Errors
If you get one of the following errors, follow look at the next section below.
- The requested version of macOS is not available
- This version cannot be installed on this computer
13. Review of which macOS versions you can download on Mojave & High Sierra depending on your Mac Version.
After all this testing, we know what can be download from the App Store. We also found out what can’t download. After performing multiple tests with each OS you can download any newer version, the current version but only 1 OS behind. You will get a mixture of “The requested version of macOS is not available” or “This version cannot be installed on this computer”
T2 Security Chip equipped Macs
The following Macs have a T2 Security Chip.
- 1. 2017 iMac Pro
- 2. 2019 Mac Pro
- 3. 2018 Mac Mini
- 4. 2018-2010 MacBook Air
- 5. 2019 16″ MacBook Pro
- 6. 2018-2019 15″ MacBook Pro with TouchBar
- 7. 2018-2019 13″ MacBook Pro with TouchBar
10.14.4 and up (non T2 Macs) Mac App Store
Can download 10.14 & 10.13
(Note: on 10.14.0 – 10.14.3 High Sierra 10.13 shows as “not available” further confusing people)
Can’t download 10.12 or 10.11
10.14.x (T2 Macs) Mac App Store
Can download 10.14
Can’t Download 10.13
10.13.6 Mac App Store
Can download 10.14, 10.13 & 10.12
Can’t download 10.11
14. Download full macOS installers using installinstallmacos.py
I showed you how to download the macOS installer through the Mojave Mac App store. The thing is, a better way to download the full installer exists and is called installinstallmacos.py. I was going to explain how to use installinstallmacos.py here but now realize the topic deserves a full article. I did not even get into hardware specific (Forked) builds. As you can see we have a lot to go over, so stay tuned. I will put the link here when complete.
15. How to download macOS Catalina 10.15 Beta – Apple Beta Software Program.
If you would like to test Apple’s Public Betas you can sign up using this link. You can then download and try macOS Catalina 10.15 Beta.
beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram Sign up today with your Apple ID
16. Apple App Store Download links for 10.15, 10.14, 10.13, 10.12, 10.11 & 10.10
The links below will bring you to an Apple Support Document that will explain how to upgrade and download macOS.
10.15 Catalina
How to upgrade to macOS Catalina – Apple Support
10.14 Mojave
How to upgrade to macOS Mojave – Apple Support
10.13 High Sierra
How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra – Apple Support
10.12 Sierra
How to upgrade to macOS Sierra – Apple Support
10.11 El Capitan
How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support
Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
10.10 Yosemite
How to upgrade to OS X Yosemite – Apple Support
Download OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
Hi,
Where can I down load the installer of Mavericks 10.9?
Best regards
Hi Mr. Macintosh,
We use Jamf as our MDM. We purchased a few hundred Macs and have a 3rd party company direct ship to our employees. The issue is these Macs were purchased with macOS Catalina. Is there a easy way for have the 3rd party company to upgrade the macOS to Big Sur prior to shipping out the Macs to our employees?
This company will not have the ability to login or have Jamf credentials.
Matt, the 3rd party should be able to boot to internet recovery and that version should be Big Sur! command option r https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 you can also take a look at MDS from Two Canoes
Just saw this. ? Can I use my iPhone to download the macOS Big Sur 11.5… update and then transfer this file to my M1 Mini to complete the install? I have access a few miles from my house with a 5 G connection. Also I have plenty of room on my phone.
Ronald, this is a very interesting idea! If you try it and it works let me know. I will have to try this myself to see if it is possible.
Hello, Well I tried to download Big sur from the apple store and it said I am not an owner. I have the M1 and I tried out Monterey. I would like to go back but its been a bug for myself.
Please advise,
Hello
Thank you for this information. I have an iMac High Sierra 10.13.6 that I just updated tonight to that version. BECAUSE I need to get my taxes done with Turbo Tax and it wasn’t installing! Silly me! It needed Mojave or later! I am not a computer tech, geeky kind of gal….so….I started researching what I need to do to get to the next OS for my iMac. My kind hubby said I should upgrade to Big Sur! And of course, I got the message from the App store that it can’t install that on my computer. My question is: by using your link above #16 – Apple App Store Download links…should I go to Mojave, then Catalina, then to Big Sur? Or am I able to jump right over to Big Sur? In my quest to find an answer, I had read one article that said you shouldn’t skip over the other OS upgrades. I use Microsoft Office 2011 on my Mac. Other than that, I don’t really use it for games and things. Your advice?
The AppStore link for Mojave is an update not a full installer.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828
Does anyone have the full installer link ?
Thanks
thank you for authoring this critical annd informative information to help us newbies
Hey Mr. Macintosh, thanks for the great article!
I recommend that you also add RMC’s macOS Downloader (https://github.com/rmc-team/macos-downloader) to the article, as it allows you to download the full .app installers of macOS 10.10-10.15 directly from Apple’s servers, and it’s fully open-source! I find it really useful for getting the full .app installer for macOS 10.10-10.11 specifically because it’s only offered as a .pkg through Apple’s support articles.
Full disclosure: I am part of the RMC team, but I didn’t have any involvement in the development of this tool.
Thanks, and have a good one!
The install instructions for macOS Downloader don’t make sense:
“Unzip the download and open Terminal. Type chmod +x and drag the script file to Terminal, then hit enter. Then drag the script file to Terminal, and hit enter.”
There is no zip to download. Are we dragging the script to the terminal twice?
Hi rev6,
There is a ZIP file available for download at the project’s Releases page on GitHub. Here’s the link: https://github.com/rmc-team/macos-downloader/releases
Download the latest version available, and extract the ZIP file, which should reveal the script along with the resources used by the downloader script. Then, open Terminal on your Mac and type the following command: chmod +x
After you’ve done that, simply drag the macOS Downloader.sh file into the Terminal, pressing enter to execute the script.
If you need any further help or have any more questions, feel free to reply, and I’ll do my best to help you out!
Hi, is there dumbed down instructions on how to download the full installer for Catalina. I cant figure out how to use the site what so ever.
Ok, I’ll try to break it down into a lot of small, simple steps:
1) Click on this link to download the utility: https://github.com/rmc-team/macos-downloader/archive/2.4.7.zip
2) Double-click on the ZIP file to extract it. Open the newly extracted folder.
3) Open a Terminal window. You can find this using Spotlight Search or by navigating to Applications > Utilities.
4) In terminal, type this: chmod +x
5) Once you’ve entered the command, it should look something like this: chmod +x /Users/yourname/Downloads/macos-downloader-2.4.7/macOS\ Downloader.sh. Once you’ve verified this, press Enter.
6) Now, drag the macOS Downloader.sh file into the Terminal window again, pressing Enter to run it.
7) When prompted, drag the folder you want the Install macOS Catalina.app to download to. Making a blank folder on your desktop will work just fine here. For example, your selection might look something like this: /Users/yourname/Desktop/untitled\ folder.
8) Type the number that corresponds to the version of macOS you want to download. For example, for macOS Catalina, type 2, followed by enter.
9) Wait for the installer to download. When finished, the script will notify you. Once downloaded, you can browse to the folder you created earlier to find the Install macOS Catalina file.
If you have any questions, be sure to let me know!
thank you so much!
I opened terminal. Typed “Chmod +x”, pressed Enter. dragged Downloader.sh file to terminal, pressed Enter. Was prompted to “Input a save Folder Path” . Created “untitled” folder on desktop. typed the “/Users/NAME/Desktop/untitled” in terminal, pressed Enter. Received error “Write permissions check failed, Run this tool with a writable save folder”. However the folder’s Permissions are all “Read & Write” for all users under Get Info.
Huh, that’s weird, the site cut off my reply. You’re actually supposed to type chmod +x and then drag the macOS Downloader.sh script into the Terminal window there as well. It should look like the example I provided in my previous instructions.
ok, thanks again!
No problem! Let me know if you have any further questions or need help getting something working 🙂
Ok, downloaded the installer but when trying to Run “Install macOS Catalina.app” get “This copy of the Install macOS Catalina.app application is damaged, and can‘t be used to install macOS”
Unfortunately the link to zip not longer works?
Which one @ekranoplan66?
No longer available, 404 error.
I need to find the stub installer for Catalina, and then Big Sur once it’s out, do you know how I can find this?
Hello Lee, the stub installer has been gone since 10.13 App Store.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12
this above link can bring up High Sierra in Mojave app store. It worked!
Found the link at this page
http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/21/download-macos-high-sierra-from-mojave/
Perhaps there is a better way to find it but I could not by simply searching for it in Mojave app store?
Thanks again for your article.
High Sierra is no more available in Mojave App Store. You need to update the article. Also you can confirm if that is the case? Is there another possible method to download High Sierra installer?
Thanks
Hello Zain,
I will check and confirm if this is the case later today and will report back. Thanks!
Hi there,
Perhaps you could help me out with the following:
I have a late 2011 Mac Air which along the years was gradually updated to OS High Sierra (through automatic software updates). However because it was getting slow and cluttered, I decide to do a factory reset. This finally worked through the inter recovery option although the recovery partition is present. In this process of reformatting the SSD HD, it called my attention that the option to use the APFS file format disappeared, only leaving the Journalled one.
So once the system was reset and fully updated to Lion 10.7.3, I tried the update. However no OS automatic updates are shown, except for some safari update. And when I try to follow the link to the app store to OS Capitan or High Sierra, click the get button, I get an “unknown error” message.
PS. Perhaps relevant: at the time (2011) I used a different apple id. I had to change it some while ago because I cancelled the previous email account linked to the id.
How can I solve this ?
Many thanks
Paul,
When you booted to recovery it sounds like you booted to Internet Recovery instead of the Recovery Partition. If you booted to the recovery partition with Command R you would have reinstalled 10.13 High Sierra. It sounds like somehow you used Shift Option Command R and booted to Internet Recovery with macOS Lion. This is the Shipping version of the os that your MacBook Air originally came with.
Try again holding down Option Command R. This will boot to internet recovery and will present you with the latest version that your Air is compatible with (10.13 High Sierra)
Those links don’t work sadly. I’m on a 2009 macbook pro, 10.11.6 El Capitan and it won’t let me download the original Sierra or High Sierra. High Sierra tries to download 10.12.6 and I need 10.12.0.
Hello Holly,
Sorry but you will only be able to download the last version of macOS. 10.11.6, 10.12.6, 10.13.6 or 10.14.6. I download every single installer just for this reason.