How to Download Older Versions of macOS

Downloading Older macOS Installers

 

Use the following links below to download older versions of macOS from Apple’s Mac App Store.

Be sure you are using a Mac computer and the Safari Browser, and close your Mac App Store App before proceeding.

If you have trouble with the below links, try on a different computer running a different version of macOS if possible.

 

macOS Monterey – click here

macOS Big Sur – click here

macOS Catalina – click here

macOS Mojave – click here

macOS High Sierra – click here

 OS X El Capitan – click here

When the store page opens in the browser, it should automatically open the Mac App Store, and from there, you can click on “Get”.  It should download the installer to your Applications folder.

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Creating a Bootable USB Drive From The Installer

 

Follow the directions below to create a bootable macOS installer using a USB thumb drive (at least 16gb in size).

 

1.  Plug in the USB drive to your Mac computer

2.  Using Disk Utility, format the USB thumb drive using the following options:

(Warning, you will lose everything on your USB drive)

Name: Whatever you want

Format: macOS Extended (Journaled)

Scheme: GUID Partition Map

3.  Open the Terminal App (either finding it in your Utilities folder, or searching with Spotlight)

4.  Copy and Paste one of the terminal commands below (depending on the version of macOS you wish to create) into the terminal window.

5.  Important!  Be sure to change “xxxChangeThisxxx” to the name of the Volume on your new USB drive (whatever you Named the Volume in Step 2).

 

macOS Monterey

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx

macOS Big Sur

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx

macOS Catalina

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx

macOS Mojave

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx

macOS High Sierra

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx

OS X El Capitan

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/xxxChangeThisxxx --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app

6.  After pasting the above command (and changing the volume name!), hit enter.

7.  Terminal will prompt you for your password, and will warn you that your USB drive will be erased.  After confirming both of this, the creation toll will start writing the installer to your thumb drive.  Do not interupt this process, and do not unplug your drive.  The full process will take 15-30 minutes, depending on the speed of your drive and computer.

8.  Once the terminal is done erasing and copying, you can eject your drive.  You’re done!