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User profile for user: nickvanbeat
nickvanbeat Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Upgrade reset MacBook Air mid 2012 from OS X Mountain Lion to Sierra / High Sierra

Hi everyone,


I´m about to sell my old MacBook Air from mid 2012 which was running on Sierra lately. After deleting all data via disk utility I re-installed the original OS X Mountain Lion. Before selling it I was trying to re-upgrade to the following OS X version to get back to Sierra or even High Sierra.


However, all updates available are concerning internal tools like Safari, App Store & Co. The one for iTunes is showing an error (1.02) and no upgrade to Mavericks, respectively all subsequent OS X versions. Does anyone have advice on that? What do people do who receive a reset MacBook in this situation?


Kind regards!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Feb 28, 2023 8:59 AM

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
24,185 points

Posted on Feb 28, 2023 9:12 AM

Your 2012 MacBook Air can run up to macOS 10.15 Catalina. If you feel the need to upgrade the Mac before selling it, then I would upgrade to that.

Please see: How to download macOS - Apple Support

Also see: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support



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User profile for user: nickvanbeat
nickvanbeat Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Feb 28, 2023 11:20 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

Thank you very much! That "How to" link was very helpful!


To solve the problem I had to create two by-passes:

  1. From OS X Mountain Lion it was not possible to open the link from Safari. Therefore I had to download a suitable version of Chrome first to install OS X Sierra (no Apple ID needed - direct download possible from your link)
  2. After installing Sierra I created a temporary new Apple ID (before that Mountain Lion was not able to connect to iCloud.com to verify the Apple ID - From there on in Sierra I was able to install Catalina


Problem solved!

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Upgrade reset MacBook Air mid 2012 from OS X Mountain Lion to Sierra / High Sierra

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