Upgrading used Mac Mini to macOS 14.

By Khomus, 19 October, 2024

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi all.

My Mac Mini, should be arriving tomorrow, has 13 on it by
default, I think. Apparently I'm not supposed to upgrade to 15 yet because various music/audio thingies may or may not be compatible.

I assume after I upgrade I just turn off automatic updates so I can upgrade to 15 when I choose to. Any simple way to upgrade to 14? Just go get it from the app store? I won't be downgrading, I'm literally going to try setting up the basics and then just go get the OS so it can update.

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Comments

By Khomus on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 18:50

Thanks! He says you have to install the .pkg file and then you'll get the OS installer. So do you do the normal thing of copying the .pkg file into the apps directory?

And yeah, I'm planning on upgrading to current as soon as I get the word it's OK. The only reason I'm not right now is because my audio interface is still testing stuff. I'm honestly considering just upgrading to current anyway. I can probably do quite a bit of testing with the built-in audio anyway.

By Chris on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 18:50

I haven't done this before personally, but I believe it puts an Install macOS Sonoma.app file in the Applications folder after running the installer package. Run that file and follow the prompts to perform the upgrade. You can also get it from the Mac App Store.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-sonoma/id6450717509?mt=12

By Khomus on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 18:50

I'm really kind of leaning toward just letting it update however it wants. Ableton Live doesn't have any issues that they know of,and Garage Band should obviously be fine. If I'm going to
install the Native Instruments stuff, I'll need an external drive anyway, unless I just install a few things to play around with.

And I'm not buying more hardware for it unless it really seems like switching is viable. But I'm still thinking about it all, so it's
really nice to have the option. That's especially true since I'll know how to manage things going forward if I need to wait to update the next version. I really appreciate the help.

By Chris on Friday, October 18, 2024 - 18:50

Software Update should automatically put you on 15.0.1, so good luck. If you ever want to downgrade, you'll need to clean install from a USB drive. The steps are similar, except you'll have to take the downloaded macOS installer and create a bootable USB installer, boot from that, and then erase the Macintosh HD volume. If you want to do that in the future, let us know.