How to Download MacOS Installers for New & Old Versions

Learn where and how to download macOS installer for newer and older versions

By Chris Smith - Senior Editor
6 Min Read

Want to know how to download MacOS and Mac OS X installers? You might be wondering where you can download current and older versions of Mac OS from, particularly if you’re looking to update a Mac, install a different MacOS version, or even use an older system software version. MacOS installers can be used to update systems directly, or even make bootable USB drives out of.

Downloading and using different Mac OS installers is very common for performing system updates and restores, troubleshooting purposes, for IT staff and admins, and for tinkerers. This article will cover where to download and access installers for MacOS Sequoia 15, MacOS Sonoma 14, macOS Ventura 13, MacOS Monterey 12, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Catalina, MacOS Mojave, MacOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite, OS X Mavericks, Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS X Tiger, and others too. We provide direct download links to the installers wherever possible, and we also show you how you can retrieve installers from Apple by using the command line, and the Mac App Store.

Just note: if you were hoping to run Catalina, Mojave, or a version of macOS older than Big Sur on an M1 or later Mac, that’s not possible.

Where to Download Mac OS Installers From

The following links point to locations on Apple’s website or CDN where you can download various MacOS system software installers. The installer downloads come directly from Apple, corresponding to the version you choose. In many cases, these are direct download links, meaning clicking on the .pkg or .dmg will initiate the download right away, retrieving the installer from Apple. If you’re having difficulty getting a download to start or complete, you might try right-clicking on one the links and choosing "Save As", or using the Safari web browser on a Mac.

Note that we have discovered that most of the links we give below will only work if you are using Safari, so we suggest you switch to Apple’s browser before moving on. You should also close the Mac App Store app if you have that open or the link may not work

MacOS Sequoia 15 Installers

MacOS Sequoia installer and IPSW can be downloaded from here:

macOS Sonoma 14 Installers

MacOS Sonoma 14 is currently the latest stable version of MacOS system software from Apple:

MacOS Ventura 13 Installers

macOS Monterey 12 Installers

macOS Big Sur 11 Installers

macOS Catalina 10.15, Mojave 10.14, High Sierra 10.13 Installers

macOS Sierra 10.12, OS X El Capitan 10.11, OS X Yosemite 10.10 Installers

Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Installers

Many of these MacOS installers arrive as InstallAssistant.pkg files that will extract the full installer into the /Applications folder on the Mac.

New versions of MacOS installers are typically available through the Mac App Store, accessed through a computer that is compatible with the latest Mac system software release.

Older versions of Mac OS X installers can often be downloaded as well, but from different sources.

For earlier versions of Mac OS X, including Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9, Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, Mac OS X Tiger 10.4, and before, the process to obtain those installers differs a bit.

Downloading MacOS Installers via Terminal

Mac users can download the latest macOS installer available from the Terminal by using command string:

  1. Launch the Terminal application as usual, then use the following command syntax, replacing "**.**.*" with the installer version you wish to download:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version **.**.*

  1. Hit return to start downloading the full installer application of that version of MacOS

Remember to replace **.**.* with the version you want to download, for example to download the full macOS Catalina installer the syntax would be:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15

The downloaded installer application of MacOS will appear in the /Applications directory of MacOS, just as if you had downloaded the installer from the Mac App Store or Software Update control panel.

From Terminal, issuing the following command will list out available macOS Installers for the Mac:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

This may return something like:

Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.0.1, Size: 12128428704K
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.1, Size: 12428472512K
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6, Size: 12428553042K
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.5.2, Size: 12440916552K

Note that if you’re running an M1 Mac or newer and issuing this command, the available software installers reported will not include versions that do not support M1 or newer hardware.

Downloading Mac OS X Installers from App Store "Purchases"

If you had at one point in time purchased or downloaded a version of MacOS or Mac OS X from the Mac App Store, then you should be able to re-download it from the Mac App Store by going go the "Purchases" section. This can typically be used to access downloads for installers for MacOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion, though there are some caveats and exceptions.

  1. Open the App Store
  2. Go to the "Purchases" section (newer App Store versions must go to Account > Purchases)
  3. Scroll down the list of Purchased items to locate the Mac OS X Installer version you wish to re-download, then click on the download button

This works particularly well if the Mac you’re downloading the software onto is running an older version of Mac OS X.

This approach for re-downloading older OS X installers from App Store Purchases section works for obtaining many older versions of Mac OS X, particularly if the machine doing the downloading is running an older Mac release too. For example, re-downloading Mavericks from Yosemite, whereas if you’re running the App Store from newer versions of MacOS you’d need to follow the links further above to download the installers directly, or via the App Store links.

Downloading Mac OS X Snow Leopard

If you’re a registered Apple developer then you may be able to download Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Mac OS X Leopard directly from Apple ADC using the following links:

Downloading Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Lion

Apple provides dmg files of these older macOS versions too. A disk image named InstallOS.dmg will download and once it does you need to locate the pkg installer inside the disk image.

Prior to June 2021, you could purchase OS X 10.7 Lion or Mountain Lion from Apple for $19.99/£19.99 each – Apple would send you a download code. Now Apple has stopped charging for the aging operating system versions. Instead, you can download the operating systems directly from the company using the following links:

How to get OS X Leopard or earlier

If the old version of the OS you are after predates Snow Leopard and you have a developer account you might be able to get it from developer.apple.com/downloads. If you search within the OS X category you should see downloads for all versions of OS X, at least from version 10.3 to 10.6.

You could also try looking on Amazon or eBay to see if anyone is selling old versions of the Mac operating system or perhaps a Mac running one.

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Chris Smith is a senior editor at GeeksChalk based in Canada. He likes to think of himself as a jack of all trades (and a master of at least a few), though he mainly focuses on iPhones and Macs. Often covering both at the same time. When not surrounded by various Apple devices while putting them through their paces, Chris can be found streaming the latest movies or series, gaming on his PS5, or getting fresh air on a hike in the beautiful wilderness of British Columbia.
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