How to Upgrade macOS Operating System on an Apple Computer

Before You Upgrade:

Please ensure you have sufficient hard drive space to complete the installation by following these steps:

1. Click the Apple menu in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, then click "About This Mac."

2. Click the Storage tab.

3. Ideally you should have at least 45 GB of disk space available. If you have less than 45 GB available, please clear up space by emptying your Trash, deleting items you no longer need, deleting unwanted items from the Downloads folder, or moving large files to alternate storage (such as Google Drive, OneDrive, or a USB flash drive). 

If you are unable to free up sufficient space to complete the upgrade, please contact the IT Help Desk.

Steps to Upgrade Your Mac Operating System:

1. First, try to complete the update to your Mac Operating System following these steps:
   • Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, then click "About This Mac"
   • Click the "Software update" link
   • Once the App Store opens, launch the Install link for the available OS update.

1. If you are unable to update your OS following these steps, it typically means that your Operating System is too far behind to do a clean update. You will need to update your Operating System in stages manually.
   1. Using Safari, visit this Apple support site.
   2. Scroll down to the section "Use Safari to download macOS on your Mac"
   3. If your Mac OS is too far behind to update with the first method listed here, you should receive an error that informs you what MacOS you must update to. With this information, click on the link on this site for the corresponding macOS to manually download it to your Mac and run the install.