How do I upgrade from mojave to big Sur

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Level 1

15 points

How do I upgrade from mojave to big Sur

Can I upgrade to Big Sur instead of Monte… - Apple Community

bit like this thread, which does not really help, because when i click on big Sur, it says the update is not available.

It's rather frustrating when the guidance is a bit hidden and requires a lot of patience to accomplish otherwise straightforward tasks. I rebooted, followed the guidance, but the system still wants to upgrade me to Monterey, which I don't want to do. How do i get the big sur update. The store pages are perplexing, but when i get the right page, click "get" it fails. Can we get more info on what is happening.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Mar 25, 2022 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 10, 2022 10:17 AM in response to conradbraam

Did you fix this? I'm having the same issue on a 2018 MBP and don't want to upgrade to Monterey yet but need to go from Mojave to Big Sur – which is fully possible. I've tried all the troubleshooting steps on tutorials. Wondering if doing the Catalina upgrade would help, even if it's technically not necessary?

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Answer 2

Mar 25, 2022 7:53 AM in response to conradbraam

The link in How to get old versions of macOS. works for me.

Make sure you are using Safari, once the App Store opens, and you press the blue "Get" button, what exactly happens?

That is the only way to download Big Sur, and it's fairly straight forward.

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

91,681 points

Mar 25, 2022 8:27 AM in response to conradbraam

The Age of this computer will Govern what newer version of macOS it will Qualify to install. Use About this Mac from the Apple Icon on Desktop - the required Information will be there.

With the above information in-hand - follow this How to get old versions of macOS and verify what version this computer Qualifies to install. For Best results use Safari to commence the download as Others may not work.

Safari will open a redirect and open the Apple Store where the download can commence.

macOS Big Sur 11 hardware requirements

macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements

Caution - jumping over all the newer versions and directly to Big Sur / Monterey on Qualifying computers is Technically possible - there are those who have attempted and were successful. Then there are those who attempted and had less than good results.

If this is a Production or Mission Critical Set-up - a more prudent and measure approach is suggested.

The above is from observations on the Apple Support Community Forums and IMHO

Tips Big Sir Upgrade Released Nov 2020

Make Time Machine Backup is very useful and can be used to Revert to Previous Working macOS

Notation - Mojave is the Last version to support 32 bit applications / extensions and Drivers. Catalina, Big Sur & Monterey supports only 64 bit and there is no workaround.

Suggest using Go64 to find 32 bit application before attempting the upGrade. Some or many of the Application already installed may required update or upGrades to 64 Bit Versions.

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Answer 4

conradbraam Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 25, 2022 8:27 AM in response to Phil0124

Can someone at apple please fix the error messages.

You have to choose the next version up from the list of OS, you cannot skip a release.
If you are on Mojave, you need to upgrade to catalina first. Then repeat, such a pity the UI is good at hiding the actual error cause. Would have made this a tad less frustrating. Giving the OS names that are not necessarily meaningful to everyone probably made this more confusing that it needed be.

If like me you are running the computer without a screen, remotely it's a nightmare. This question has been asked at least 5 times in different ways on the forums, it's a lot of reading to finally find the workaround. It also does not help that the apple store is a bit weird with search results, this seems to be a recurring pattern with search systems online.

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Answer 5

saipurva

Level 1

8 points

Mar 25, 2022 8:15 AM in response to Phil0124

I have the same issue, trying to update from macOS Catalina, when i click the "GET" button in the App Store, the software update is like that for really long hours.

been trying since Sunday 27th March,

And i don't want to install Monterey for now...

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Answer 6

Mar 25, 2022 8:56 AM in response to conradbraam

conradbraam wrote:

1. Can someone at apple please fix the error messages.

You have to choose the next version up from the list of OS, you cannot skip a release.

This is incorrect. You can go straight to whatever version you want without updating to the intervening ones.

If you are on Mojave, you need to upgrade to catalina first. Then repeat, such a pity the UI is good at hiding the actual error cause. Would have made this a tad less frustrating. Giving the OS names that are not necessarily meaningful to everyone probably made this more confusing that it needed be.

Again, not true. You can update directly to Big Sur. You do not need to install Catalina.

Also, this is a user to user forum. Apple is not here. Nobody here can tell Apple anything.

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Answer 7

conradbraam Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 25, 2022 9:26 AM in response to Phil0124

I'm just explaining what is happening when "I" go through the steps. "Works on my computer" has always been a reasonable defence, but this is not the first Mojave upgrade that has caused me problems so unfortunately I'm finding it hard to believe. Perhaps because the machine is headless? I must admit, had totally forgotten about the 64bit question, but as far as I'm concerned I just want to install xcode and xcode requires me to upgrade from Mojave; 64bit did not come into it. When you search for "macos Big sur" the search results in the store app only show tutorials or tools specific for big sur, not the actual download, that is bizarre/dark patterns at play.

I'm pretty sure it's meant to work, but sometimes unexpected issues do cause problems. I'm not a frequent mac user, so this is really costing me far more time than I had hoped. The mac is remote located and I so I have started the update remotely so I don't have to sit in a very noisy lab while it runs. I access it over ARD, and that now means I have to tend the machine which I had to do anyway, but now have to wait for both upgrades. I honestly do not have the time to learn how to "Time Machine" and get involved with cloud storage markey or the stress of running low on local storage. I'm like an end user, I'm a technician, but macs are just a means to an end for me, and the hardware is great to work with, but the OS is perplexing at times.

The apple documentation is still far far better than that of most systems, and yes I have left a note/vote against the online documentation.

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Answer 8

PRP_53

Level 10

91,681 points

Mar 25, 2022 9:22 AM in response to Phil0124

The OP may have taken my earlier posting about " prudent " as having to do a stepped Upgrade to eventually reaching the ultimate goal.

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How do I upgrade from mojave to big Sur

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