Downloading old versions of OS X on macOS for another machine

Question

Downloading old versions of OS X on macOS for another machine

Hello,

I have a MB Air running macOS 11.1 Big Sur.

I'd like to download a copy of OS X 10.13 High Sierra for my sister's old MB Unibody that still goes strong despite the age (well, to be fair with the help of 8 GB RAM instead of the original 2 MB and a Samsung SSD drive but it is an upgrade I made many years ago)!

I'm trying to download a copy of High Sierra and create a bootable USB drive, so I can have everything handy and ready for a clean install when I'll go visiting her at home.

Does anyone know if it is possible and how?

Thanks and, despite of challenging times we live in, Merry Christmas to all the Community!

Luigi

Posted on Dec 23, 2020 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

91,831 points

Dec 23, 2020 1:46 PM in response to Luigi from Italy

All is correct in what is being done. Try CONTROL click download HS in the Apple Apps Store. It may caution again about too old to run on this computer but will allow to download anyways.

How new is the computer being used to download High Sierra. If an the newest M1 Chip chipset MBA , MBP of MacMini there might be an issue that can be resolved if access to older Intel computer can be accessed.

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Answer 2

cedar128

Level 1

92 points

Dec 23, 2020 12:54 PM in response to Luigi from Italy

Yes! this is very much possible

MacOS High Sierra Appstore link:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?ls=1&mt=12

Making bootable usb terminal code:

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

just replace the, "MyVolume" with the name of the flash drive.

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Answer 3

Dec 23, 2020 1:35 PM in response to PRP_53

Thank you for the quick answer!

I've just tried but when clicking to macOS 10.13, I am redirected to the App Store.

Then I click the "GET" button on the App Store but a window is opening that says "This copy of the “Install macOS” application is too old to be opened on this version of macOS." and the download won't start.

Then I'm stuck. :-(

I am using Safari, it is the only browser installed on my MB.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

Luigi

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