Sonoma installed itself

Yes, there have some several reports of Monterey being Auto upGraded to Sonoma even with the setting you have disabled.

There is yet to be some response or acknowledge from Apple as to why this is happening

If you are going to downgrade back to Monterey be aware the TM Backup does not contain a Full and Working Copy of the Previous Operating System ( Monterey )

It is suggested as Temporary Workaround, once the machine is back on Monterey and all is good.

Manually download the Full Version of Sonoma and leave the " Install Sonoma Application " about 13 GB alone and appearing in Applications folder alone.

This may indicate to the Update Applet in System Preference Not to Redownload and upGrade the machine a second time

Terminal command below

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 14.2.1

JakoobCZ wrote:

I'm looking on options, how to downgrade.

Here is another thread about the incident: Forced upgrade to Sonoma: can it be stopp… - Apple Community

What you need to do depends on what computer you have and what OS version you were running before. You'll have to erase the hard drive, certainly. If you were running Monterey, you'll also need to setup a bootable USB. If you were running Ventura, then Recovery Mode will be able to reinstall Ventura.

Then you'll need to restore from backup. But just a heads-up, after I restored, I found several instances of corrupt data. This episode has shaken my faith in more ways that one.

obutcher wrote:

I was using my MacBook Pro on Monterey and it was running a but sluggish so I restarted my machine. It took a long time to restart but then upon booting it had automatically installed Sonoma. I hadn't upgraded as I require programs that aren't compatible with Sonoma to operate.

I didn't request Sonoma to install, nor do I have MacOS updates turned on. Naturally I checked the settings on my Mac as soon as I worked out what was going on and I have attached a screenshot of the way it was set.

I have seen some other people on Macrumours and Reddit with the same issue in the last few days only.

I have a time machine I'll be trying to revert to but why is the OS automatically updating itself?

To be proactive you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

My 2018 MacBook pro, running Ventura, also updated itself to Sonoma this week. I remember seeing an annoying notification that Sonama was available, and then I was notified that it would be installed in 60 seconds after my mac automatically rebooted.. I wasn't ready to upgrade to Sonoma because not every Mac in our household is capable of running it. It didn't reboot on its own, but later when I initiated a reboot it installed Sonoma.

Same thing happened to me early this morning. Was running Monterey, restarted, now on Sonoma. Had "Automatically keep my Mac up to date" unchecked, but didn't have "Download new updates when available" unchecked. Honestly I always thought the "download" option was just for security updates and not operating systems.

I just read a comment in TidBits that addresses this issue pretty comprehensively and offers some good thoughts on the matter. https://tidbits.com/2024/01/22/ventura-and-monterey-users-beware-unwanted-sonoma-upgrades/

Yup. Me too. - January 24, 2024

I was watching some streaming video and it stalled, then Safari was not cooperating, RAM was maxed out, fan was running loud, so I restarted. It took a much longer time than usual, so I restarted with the Shift key for safe mode. It did eventually boot up in Safe Mode (WIFI was off) but with the wrong wallpaper and sign-in appearance. I restarted it normally. Sure enough, it had spontaneously updated from Monterey to Sonoma.

I had auto-updates disabled and pointedly avoided "upgrading" beyond Monterey, only allowing security updates to Monterey.

wbg10 wrote:

I just read a comment in TidBits that addresses this issue pretty comprehensively and offers some good thoughts on the matter. https://tidbits.com/2024/01/22/ventura-and-monterey-users-beware-unwanted-sonoma-upgrades/

Sounds like gaslighting to me.

"I don’t believe Apple meant to force Sonoma upgrades on users."

"This is a nasty bug and is a distinct lapse on Apple’s part. However, I think it’s overstating the case to claim that it’s indicative of a trend or a reason to stick with older versions of macOS."

"there’s no reason to fear Sonoma. It has been out since September and has received several updates to fix bugs, add promised features, and block security vulnerabilities."

and finally, "Any further divergences will be deleted summarily"

Since my reply would be deleted on that site, let's break this down. Apple most definitely meant to do this. There is a red badge on System Preferences that can never be removed. There are upgrade notifications that cannot be blocked. And now, "so sorry, that must be a bug - just upgrade your OS for a fix 😄".

Anyone claiming that this isn't indicative of a trend knows absolutely nothing about Apple. And yet, the author of that piece obvious does. Hmmmm... How to reconcile this contradiction?

No reason to fear Sonoma. It's been out for months now and has lots of bug fixes! If that's not a selling point, I don't know what is. Well, what if we don't want to deal with those bugs in the first place? Last, but not least - more fear-mongering. If you don't upgrade to Sonoma, the North Korean hackers are gonna getchya! I sure hope he's a paid influencer. I would hate for Apple to get this kind of media pandering for free. At least let them pay for it.

There are far more than "several" people reporting this, my very large company has been grappling with it auto-updating no matter what, and after wiping and reinstalling, it happens again. It says you can defer it up to 7 times.... well I deferred once, and next morning I opened the lid to find the Sonoma desktop was there. No permission asked. Sonoma is not compatible with the other software we are running, and the nightmare is that it's been weeks and has still not been fixed.

I think I'd uncheck download new updates when available.

1. If you turn off WIFI and/or disconnect Ethernet before rebooting, does it still force the upgrade?

2. Has it happened to Big Sur or earlier systems?

> I'd uncheck download new updates when available

I have that setting because I want to decide when to download and when to install.

On the other hand, I set my son's M2 MacBook Pro the same way and it is still at Sonoma 14.0 although I have nagged him to update for a few weeks...

...but now he can't because he has an unfinished Final Cut project that needs vintage footage from a Firewire DV camcorder, and I advised him NOT to update just yet because 14.1 has a new camera setting (my Sonoma 14.2.1 Intel Mac needed that before Sony TRV320E D8 camcorder was recognized). "If you can't use your camera or video output device after updating to macOS Sonoma 14.1":

If you can't use your camera or video output device after updating to macOS Sonoma 14.1 - Apple Support

This happened to me as well, to my bewilderment! I was running Monterey and it downloaded Sonoma in the background and then restarted the machine and went through the installation process all by itself, basically shoving Sonoma down my throat!!

I had disabled automatic updates since I have hundreds of packages installed through Macports and now I am forced to reinstall from scratch and hope for the best that they would all work (highly unlikely!).

I am really upset right now and I think that after Google even Apple is now getting so bad!!

Is this a maneuver to make my Macbook Pro go slower and then try to convince me to buy a brand new one?!?

The same happened to me this afternoon. Unwanted forced installation of Sonoma over the top of Monterey. What gives? I have NEVER had auto-update enabled. I have software compatibility issues with Sonoma. I'm trying to downgrade right now. Thankfully, this happened on a weekend! This would have killed me if it had happened on M-F. Should I be nervous about restarting my Mac from now on?

MacBookPro16,1; 6-Core Intel Core i7; 2.6 GHz

Same problem here. I am really upset. Some of my software do not work well with Sonoma yet so I tried to keep away from it. A complete reinstall will cost me three days of work. It is a total waste of time and money. Thank you Apple :(