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aurawra Author

Level 1

25 points

macOS Recovery: No option to upgrade to Big Sur

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to install macOS Big Sur on a separate APFS volume. I've backed up my Mac and created the new volume, but when I start up in macOS Recovery via Option–Command–R, there's no option to upgrade to Big Sur – only the option to install Catalina.

I think this is a known issue (Command–R should allow you to re-install your current version of macOS while Option–Command–R should allow you to upgrade to the latest version), so which workaround should I use?

Will installing via > System Preferences give me the option to choose which disk I want to install to? If not, is there another workaround?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 23, 2021 10:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

Jack-19

Level 8

46,002 points

Posted on Jan 23, 2021 11:29 PM

Hi aurawra,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities! I see your question above and am happy to help.

You are correct. If you download macOS Big Sur via. System Preferences > Software Update it will give you the option of installing on your separate APFS volume. Just backup first in case anything goes wrong!

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Jack

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macOS Recovery: No option to upgrade to Big Sur

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