How to safely postpone update to macOS 15?

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Level 2

240 points

How to safely postpone update to macOS 15?

I manually initiated the macOS update to version 15 on my macMini, and it's now a few hours into the process of downloading 14 GB. I did not see an option to just download and install later, and remember from previous updates that the process will eventually restart the machine on very short notice and not require another explicit user confirmation before.

However, I just found that I need to urgently perform (and complete) some work on the system before the actual installation starts.

Therefore, I want to either

1) pause the download and manually resume it later (retaining the data the Mac has already loaded in the past hours), or

2) let the Mac complete the download in the background, but safely prevent it from restarting itself after the download completes or starting installation if I need to reboot it myself.

How can either be accomplished? Thanks in advance for quick, but reliable hints!

*** Update ***

The download has completed sooner than expected, and contrary to my expectation, installation didn't start automatically, but I'm now prompted to configure a few things before. So my new question is

3) How do I abort this and start the installation later ensuring that

a) a restart in between will not trigger installation and

b) the download will not start over from scratch?

Mac mini (M1, 2020)

Posted on Oct 18, 2024 6:22 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 18, 2024 6:58 AM in response to Frank F.

When the upgrade installation is begun manually it will normally prompt you to restart. If you do not restart the upgrade won't complete. That should give you time to work and then you can restart later to complete the upgrade. Or re-run /Applications/Install macOS Sequoia. Once the installer runs it may remove Install macOS Sequoia from /Applications.

When the installation is run automatically (only updates not upgrades) then it will prompt to install overnight and ask for your password. Major upgrades from the major version 12, 13, 14, and now 15 are massive changes to macOS while dot releases are patches and fixes for bugs and security flaws. Only the dot releases will install automatically if macOS is configured to do so. Automatic updates take a week or so before they automatically install. i.e. they don't install as soon as the updates become available. They less aggressively check and update eventually.

ALWAYS BACKUP BEFORE RUNNING A MAJOR MACOS VERSION UPGRADE

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Answer 2

Frank F. Author

Level 2

240 points

Oct 18, 2024 6:44 AM in response to Frank F.

Note: I consider it likely that just quitting the installer at this point will do exactly that, but would like to be sure because I don't want to spend hours downloading those 14 GB of data for a second time, so please confirm this or tell me a better way to handle this. Thanks!

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