Upgrading to Mojave (Mac OS 10.14)
This is a series of tips that cover Mac OS X client edition. 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11El Capitan
10.12,10.13, 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 Catalina first 64 operating system , 11.0 Big Sur, and 12.0 Monterey, 13.0 Ventura, 14.0 Sonoma, and 15.0 Sequoia client release.
Server forums cover Mac OS X server on the community.
See special note about resetting the SMC during updates and upgrades, later in the tip.
Mojave and Sonoma are not the same. The 10 prefix is an important distinction of 5 years.
September 13, 2021, an updated Safari 14.1.2 was pushed via Apple menu -> About This Mac -> Software Update.
Backup now, or forever hold your peace
is an article I wrote that everyone updating their Mac should read. No update should be ventured into with operating systems or software without first ensuring your data is backed up in two separate places. Slowing down of your Mac should not lead you to assume an update will fix everything. First isolate why your Mac is slowing down or crashing before installing anything new.
Apple includes many full upgrade installer links on How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support
Go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Date and Time and select the closest time server to set your time, and do so. Download based on manual time may fail, especially on older systems where the system time is not set right.
Be forewarned, Macs with solid state drives will be updated in formatting to APFS with 10.13 or later (this is discussed later in the tip, but bears repeating). This means if you need to downgrade the machine, you will need to erase the partition with the older HFS extended GUID to use the older systems. Regardless of which direction you go, backup your data first. This is only for Macs older than September 25, 2017.
Apple released for 10.14.6 users, 2020-003 Mojave security update. If running an earlier version of 10.14, run the 10.14.6 Combo update first. This does not give you the latest of version Safari anymore. For that, you'll need to find an alternative browser.
Apple recommends you have these Macs according to: macOS Mojave - Technical Specifications
- MacBook (Early 2015 or newer) [model identifier 8,1 or later]
- MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) [model identifier 5,1 or later]
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer) [model identifier 9,1 or later]
- Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) [model identifier 6,1 or later]
- iMac (Late 2012 or newer) [model identifier 12,1 or later]
- Mac Pro (Late 2013; Mid 2010 and Mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards) [model identifier 5,1 or later]
bracketed items in quotes were added for additional identification purposes. Your Apple menu -> About This Mac -> System Report or System Profiler gives you the model identifier.
All of the Macs that are older than 10.11, need to be updated to 10.11 first before installing Mojave.
The oldest MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iMac which can upgrade to Mojave shipped with 10.8, Mountain Lion.
The oldest MacBook Pro which can upgrade to Mojave shipped with 10.7, Lion.
The oldest MacBook had Mac OS X 10.10 installed.
The oldest Mac Pro on the list above with the compatible graphics cards, had 10.6 originally installed, and is the only Mac that shipped with 10.6 that can install Mojave. Before upgrading to 10.7 or later, read this tip as Apple has not reintroduced a series of software that made older Mac compatible software compatible with Intel Macs since 10.6.8's release.
Several Macs that run Mojave also support Sequoia, the new 2024 operating system:
- iMac 2019 and later 19,1 Mac OS 10.14 Mojave
- Mac Pro 2019 and later 7,1 Mac OS 10.14 Mojave
- iMac Pro 2017 1,1 Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra
- Mac mini 2018 and later 8,1 Mac OS 10.14 Mojave
- MacBook Pro 2018 and later 15,1 Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra
Apple released Mojave on September 24, 2018. Reports from:
earlier than that date were made with pre-release Mojave versions and can not be relied upon.
September 30, 2018 driver additions from third party update pages:
HP, and Samsung (HP has become the download site for at least some Mojave Samsung printers, if you have Samsung see if any are Catalina compatible)
Konica/Minolta compatible devices
10.14.3 was released January 22, 2019. Note, some users are reporting 10.14.3 will not successfully apply as an update without an SMC reset as described how to do in this link: How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support
Frequently both updates and upgrades will require multiple reboots to successfully apply. Do NOT become impatient if you find the screen go blank during the update or upgrade process. If you press the power button to shut it down while it is rebooting for the update or upgrade, it may quit the process, and leave you stuck.
Use the macOS Mojave forum for operating system specific questions of other end users such as yourself.
Note: Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
are directions for creating a separate partition that will allow you to dual boot into an older operating system
if you find something not compatible with the current. Once you install the older operating system, you can use the Startup manager to dual boot to the older system.
You can't install Mojave from the Finder, unless you are running 10.13.6 or earlier.
The direct download link for Mojave is:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12
Note: some people have had trouble downloading the latest Mojave links. https://brave.com/ has been found to be a better web browser than some if you run into issues and is known to work on Mac OS X 10.10 and later.
The SD card reader in the MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 no longer reads directly in the Finder under Mojave with a card formatted under a Panasonic FZ80. I found I could use the application Image Capture to read the card. What happens in the Finder, is instead of a generic floppy disk icon, I get a generic document icon. At least Image Capture is a work around.
Note: the 2020-004 security update for Mojave has a bug with the screen saver getting stuck. To repair delays in the screen saver, "The workaround is to choose a non-picture screen saver such as Flurry, Message, etc." (special thanks to community member dialabrain for this report.
Some certificate issues with installation can be resolved by adjusting the computer's time:
https://appuals.com/this-copy-of-the-install-os-x-el-capitan-application-cant-be-verified/
Need to create an older installation flash drive? Apple explains how for El Capitan and higher:
