downgrading a MBP M1 Silicon to Monterey

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Level 1

52 points

downgrading a MBP M1 Silicon to Monterey

I have a Time Machine backup that I made immediately before upgrading to Ventura.

Can I use this - straightforwardly and reliably - to revert to Monterey?

(The reason I'm considering this is that I've lost a lot of disk space after the install, and am now looking at ways I might recover it and maybe start again. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254836878?login=true&page=1)

An article in MacWorld makes it seem easy enough https://www.macworld.com/article/671318/how-to-downgrade-macos-revert-back.html (see Option 1 Downgrade macOS using a Time Machine Backup) - but any feedback from someone who has actually done it would be invaluable.

One more thing - I've used my Photos library since upgrading to Ventura. Does this rule out a downgrade?

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on May 8, 2023 11:54 AM

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Answer 1

tbirdvet

Level 6

17,090 points

May 8, 2023 2:21 PM in response to citroenDS

You cannot just use TM to downgrade directly. The OS no longer is contained on the backup drive. You would need to make a USB installer drive or if your Mac came with Monterey you could go to recovery, erase the drive and then just reinstall the OS (which would be Monterey). Then use your TM backup to restore your files, etc.

https://www.macworld.com/article/671308/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-macos-installer.html

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downgrading a MBP M1 Silicon to Monterey

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