How to Download and Install Older Versions of MacOS Using the Terminal

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The Ultimate Lifehacker Guide to macOS ): title The Ultimate Lifehacker Guide to macOS Many people turn to Macs because they are incredibly easy to use. That’s true, but there is still a lot to learn before you can truly master your Mac.

When it’s time to install a new version of macOS or download a new update, almost everyone turns to the Mac App Store to begin the process. While the App Store makes installing the OS easy and relatively painless, it doesn’t always work – and it might be time to turn to Terminal (and a little creativity) instead.

Terminal is especially useful if you’re trying to install older versions of macOS or OS X, many of which are technically available from the Mac App Store, but will be marked “not available” when you try to download. You may not be able to grab them this way, but the Terminal will do all the work for you.

How to use Terminal to download macOS updates and installation files

For this tutorial, we’ll focus on two specific commands, one that downloads the latest macOS update, and the other that lets you download an older build of macOS or OS X, as detailed by 512 Pixels and the open source JAMF community on GitHub. This takes a little more work than just clicking on the App Store, but don’t worry – the terminal commands may seem daunting if you’re new to them, but the ones we’ll be using are easy to follow. Here’s how:

  1. Start opening the macOS Catalina Terminal by choosing Finder> Applications> Utilities> Terminal .
  2. Enter one of the following commands into the Terminal:
  3. To download the latest macOS update , type: softwareupdate —fetch-full-installer
  4. To load older macOS builds , type: softwareupdate —fetch-full-installer [build number] (ex: “softwareupdate —fetch-full-installer 10.14.5”)
  5. Press the Return / Enter key to execute the command.
  6. The installation file will download to your Mac’s Applications folder. Open the file to begin installation, and then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the update (or rollback).

Keep in mind that not all versions of macOS or OS X can be loaded this way, and some versions are only compatible with certain Mac hardware. However, this should work fine for the latest macOS updates, and you should be able to download several older releases of macOS and OS X (possibly still from OS X Yosemite).

For power users, it’s also worth mentioning that these aren’t the only terminal commands you can use to change or update your Mac’s OS, and you can find many others to play with on the JAMF community page on Github .

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