Anyone successfully upgraded MacBook Air from High Sierra (10.13) to Monterey (12.7.4)? Staged upgrade or straight jump?

[notableMba]

I'm running macOS 10.13.3 (High Sierra) on my MacBook Air (2017, 1.8GHz i5, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD). Thinking of upgrading to Monterey (12.7.4).


1. Step-by-step upgrades:
10.13 → 10.14 (Mojave) → 10.15 (Catalina) → 11 (Big Sur) → 12 (Monterey)

2. Direct upgrade from 10.13 (High Sierra) to 12.7.4 (Monterey)

Concerns:
APFS conversion issues?
Any 32-bit apps I should worry about?
Clean install vs upgrade-in-place?
Any performance/stability problems on older MBA hardware?

I’ve got multiple backups (Time Machine, bootable USB installer for Monterey, external SSDs).
Just want to avoid bricking the machine or dealing with weird firmware issues.

Has anyone done this exact jump or partial steps recently? Any horror stories or tips appreciated.

 

[Bigwaff]

If you have Monterey installer on USB and TM backup, I would go straight to macOS 12. Boot from USB, wipe drive using Disk Utility, install macOS, and restore from TM during initial setup.

 

[notableMba]

Thanks for the tip. Just wondering do I really need to wipe the whole drive before installing Monterey? Is it essential, or can I just do an in-place upgrade from 10.13? I'd rather avoid the risk unless there's a clear advantage.

I'm planning to clone the internal drive beforehand using SuperDuper anyway, just as a safety net. Anything else I should be watching out for in terms of compatibility or install issues during an in-place upgrade?

Appreciate the help.

 

[Bigwaff]

Just wondering do I really need to wipe the whole drive before installing Monterey? Is it essential, or can I just do an in-place upgrade from 10.13?

While not essential, I just think faster, simpler, and less chance of problems if macOS 12 Monterey your goal. Lots of internal system changes between 10.13 and macOS 12. Just my preference. In place upgrade to macOS 12 probably work just fine. However, I would disable FileVault before attempting in place upgrade. You can re-enable after upgrade complete.

 

[padams35]

I jumped from Mojave directly to Monterey on a 2015 i7. No stability issues, but performance was noticeably slower. I would suggest considering stopping an upgrade earlier at Big Sur. I'm not aware of any software that can be installed on Monterey but not Big Sur.

I wiped the drive because I was transferring it to a new user, but as a side effect lost the Pages/Numbers iWork applications. I think that was caused by getting a new user account, but if iWorks is important you may want to upgrade in place.