How do I upgrade my MacBook from macOS Big Sur to macOS Monterey?

Hi, and welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Re: How do I upgrade my MacBook from macOS Big Sur to macOS Monterey?

Seems MacOS upgrades are best done gradually, working up through the versions one by one.

(ie: Big Sur to Monterey ... Monterey to Ventura ... Ventura to Sonoma)

NB: Backing up your Mac before upgrading is always a wise first step:

How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support

For a Mac that has not been kept up-to-date ... seems the App Store is the place to go for MacOS versions.

See Apple support's online article: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support (CA)

Eg: says:

Use these links to find macOS in the App Store.

If these links don't work as expected, try again using Safari, which is in your Applications folder.

• Sonoma 14
• Ventura 13
• Monterey 12

All the best :-)

BigSureUpgrade2024 wrote:

I have a 2020 MacAir M1 with *GB memory. I haven't used it for a year or more, but hope to use it now for photo editing. I'm running Big Sur 11.7.10. I wanted to install Lightroom Classic, which requires Monterrey 12.0 or later. When I click Software Update, I only see Sonoma as an option, but it won't install

Any Apple Silicon computer M1 / M2 / M3 computer can install and use macOS 14 Sonoma

What is the error message that appears when you tried to install macOS 14 Sonoma ?

macOS Sonoma is compatible with these computers

Computer Qualifying for macOS 13 Ventura 

Computer Qualify for the Monterey upgrade

Suggest having at least 50 GB of Empty Space on the drive.

It will allow the Full Version ( about 12.xx GB ) to download, then expand and then commence to install.

If there is Third Party Security Software installed - remove it.

It will interfere with both the download and installation process.

Always make a Time Machine Backup  before doing any upGrades 

BigSureUpgrade2024 wrote:

Looks like it was a combination of system preferences and security software that was affecting the process. Thanks for the pointers!

You are welcome for the Tip on Third Party Security Software interfering with the download and installation process

Thank you kindly for your thoughtful reply, and for letting us know the cause of the situation. Pleased to know you were able to solve it. Cheers :-)