Why can't I upgrade my MacBook Air M1 from macOS Monterey 12.2.1 to Sonoma or Sequoia?

Software Update may only be offering the latest version of macOS – Tahoe. But you can get to the others.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

These days, you can also search the App Store for "macOS Sonoma" or "macOS Sequoa", and somewhere in there is an App Store "story", similar to the above Web article, that tells how to get several old versions.

MrPoopyman wrote:

why can't I download and update my MacBook Air M1 2020 from Monterey 12.2.1 to sonama or sequoia?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: OS upgrade

IPs question does beg the question " Why can't I upgrade my MacBook Air M1 from macOS Monterey 12.2.1 "

That specific version macOS 12.2.1 Monterey was released by Apple on February 10, 2022.

That would make it 3 years ago

Is the user sating, there have been no other updates for macOS 12 Monterey offered by Apple ?

There have been numerous updates for Monterey and the latest update was version 12.7.4 released 07 Mar 2024

The point being, if the computer can not or will not update Monterey to current version

Something is serious amiss here and may explain why upGrading to newer version of macOS Sonoma or Sequoia

is not happening

Can to shed so light on this

OP wrote " MacBook Air M1 2020 from Monterey 12.2.1"

Using the Terminal commands below

For macOS 14 Sonoma ?

Copy and paste

Then press the Return key on the keyboard

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 14.8.3

For macOS 15 Sequoia ?

Copy and paste

Then press the Return key on the keyboard

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.7.3

Be away this will manually download the Full Version which is about 12 GB to 14 GB in size

The computer should already have at least 50 GB Of Free Space

If it does not have that Free Space, the Full Version may still download but you may not be able to Install the Upgrade

If successful a New Application should appear in the Applications folder of this computer

You just need to launch the application like another application and follow the prompts

MrPoopyman wrote:

when I try to download any OS from the Mac store, it just keeps "finding update"

anyone know why and how to force a update?

Technically this is a upGrade

Updates are when the computer would move from Monterey 12.2.1 to Monterey 12.7.4

An upGrade is moving from Monterey 12.2.1 to say macOS 14 Sonoma or macOS 15 Sequoia

The two are not one and the same thing

How about some hints? What happens when you try?