Remember that if you recover from an old backup you will lose the data you have added since updating to the version of macOS you wish to uninstall, so back up any new data before you do this.

Choose a Time Machine backup from before you installed the version of macOS you wish to revert from and click on Continue.

When you see the Utilities window choose Restore from Time Machine Backup and click on Continue.

Keep holding the keys until you either see the Apple logo (Intel) or a message to say you can stop (M-series). On an Intel Mac start it up while holding down Command + R and on a M-series Mac press and hold the Power Key.

Start up your Mac in Recovery mode: Shut down the Mac.

Here are the steps you need to take to recover an older macOS from a Time Machine backup: How to revert to an old macOS using Time Machine If you have a Time Machine backup from before you updated your Mac to a newer macOS it’s quite easy to revert to the old version–but you will lose any new data you have created since the update, so we recommend that you save things like new files and photos to an external drive before you revert using Time Machine. Our advice would be to be absolutely sure that everything you need is in the cloud before you wipe you Mac though–in these days where we are so accustomed to everything being in the cloud we can forget about the things that aren’t. If, like us, you use iCloud you may find that a lot of what you need is actually in the cloud rather than on your Mac. We discuss the best ways to back up a Mac separately. We have some suggestions for back up options here: Best back up software for Mac, but you could just copy files, folders, photos and music onto a external drive. So you would just reinstall the version of macOS you are trying to revert from.įor that reason you want to make a back up of your data that won’t preserve the operating system. Normally our advice would be to use Time Machine to back up your Mac, but the problem with that method is that Time Machine makes a complete back up including your operating system. You will therefore need to make a back up of anything you don’t want to lose. Most of the processes for reverting to an older version of macOS unfortunately mean you will need to wipe your Mac. We have a separate article about installing a new macOS on an older Mac. This is because newer versions of macOS tend to drop support for older Macs.

Similarly, if you were hoping to install newer version of macOS on an old Mac you might find that you can’t. If you are installing an old version of Mac OS X on an old Mac you shouldn’t have too many difficulties though. To help you find out what versions of macOS your Mac supports we have a full list of which Macs run each version of Mac OS X and macOS. However there may be exceptions, for example, if you bought a Mac in 2017, but the spec hadn’t changed from the predecessor, or the model was actually introduced a few years earlier, you may find you can run an older version of macOS on it. If you want to run older versions of OS X on your Mac, you need to get an older Mac that can run them. Simply speaking, Macs cannot boot into an OS X version older than the one they shipped with when new, even if it’s installed in a virtual machine. You may find you can’t install an old version of Mac OS X on a new Mac because the drivers for the hardware in your new Mac simply don’t exist in the old software, so it can’t run.

Now for the bad news: It is unlikely that your Mac will be able to run a version of macOS or Mac OS X that is older than the one that was installed on it when you bought it. First you need to confirm that your Mac will be able to run the version of macOS or Mac OS X you want to install.Īs a guide, expect your Mac to be able to run any version of macOS or Mac OS X that was supported when that Mac launched, and any that were released in the few years immediately following your purchase.

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