How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 3:09 PM

Reply
600 replies

Mar 31, 2015 2:46 PM in response to jamesx86

The only possibility would be to buy a refurbished unit from the Apple online store and it would need to have come with ML installed originally. I recently purchased a refurb iMac exactly for that reason: I needed one that will boot with ML - and I was ready with a full installer tucked away as I thought it may have Mavericks or Yosemite installed and I was ready to erase and reinstall (after having checked to make sure that it originally was ML) - but, I got lucky: this one actually had ML installed. Here is a list of build/OS version numbers you can consult if you're interested:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204319

Apr 29, 2015 2:41 PM in response to thump30

thump30 wrote:


If I erase the drive and reinstall Mavericks from a USB Mavericks installer flash drive and then use my time machine backup (which was created on the Yosemite version of my mac) will it just revert to Yosemite?

Yes, it will re-install Yosemite if you restore the entire backup. You can probably restore just your User folder that way, though.


You might be able to use Migration Assistant to restore everything except the system, but it probably will not allow that when migrating from a newer OS X version.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.