You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

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

46,062 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

View in context

macOS Recovery: No option to upgrade to Big Sur

Similar questions