Upgrading OSX from El Capitan to Big Sur

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Level 1

4 points

Upgrading OSX from El Capitan to Big Sur

Hello All,

I recently purchased a 2nd hand macbook air from 2015 which runs El Capitan. I would like to update the OSX to Big Sur rather than Monterey as my company's work from home software is not compatible with Monterey.

Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find any way of updating the OSX to anything other than Monterey. When I find Big Sur (or any other previous OSX for that matter) on the app store, there is no download option. I have searched elsewhere for a dmg file or an installer pkg, but nothing has worked

Please can somebody assist me with this.

Many Thanks in advance

Posted on Feb 18, 2022 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2022 9:43 AM in response to fez5555

Get Big Sur from here:

How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support

Create a bootable installer:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

If you have stuff you need to keep from the older mac, do Time Machine backup.

Start from the installer, run Disk Utility and completely erase the whole internal drive.

Choose APFS with GUID Partition Map.

Quit Disk Utility and install Big Sur.

If you have stuff to migrate, choose the appropriate drive when asked.

Make sure to ONLY migrate the user accounts, and not applications, other files or settings.

You don't want old cruft to cause conflicts in the new OS.

Install any applications afresh from their websites or the App Store.

Enjoy your new mac!

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Answer 2

fez5555 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2022 10:16 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you for the reply,

I had seen the 'How to get old version of Mac OS' guide before, but unfortunately this does work for me. When I click on the link for Big Sur, I am taken to the app store but there is no option to download Big Sur from here. It just says 'macOS Big Sur - Apple - Free', but there is no option to download. Are you able to advise further?

Many Thanks

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

122,723 points

Feb 18, 2022 10:52 AM in response to fez5555

Sorry, typo…

Macappstore://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132?mt=12

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Answer 4

fez5555 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2022 10:43 AM in response to Niel

Apologies, I am not sure exactly what this means - this is the URL for the link I am accessing https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132?mt=12 . Where do I add the 'macappstore'?

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