My MBP auto-updated, it broke a bunch of extensions I don't have replacements for yet. I grabbed Safari 12 off a clone, but Finder won't let me replace Safari 13 with 12. How do I downgrade properly? Thanks!
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Downgrade Safari 13 to 12
- Thread starter rick3000
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The problem you're having is an example of why I keep ALL "auto-updating" TURNED OFF.
I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING to "update" on its own. NOT EVER.
I'll choose when to update and when not to, thank you very much.
Having said that...
Safari is so "intertwined" with the OS, that the only practical way to "downgrade it" is to:
1. Back up your internal drive (I recommend CarbonCopyCloner, free to download and use for 30 days).
2. ERASE the internal drive
3. Reinstall a clean copy of a version of the OS that uses Safari 12.
4. RESTORE from your backups.
A lot of work.
My advice:
Forget the extensions for now.
Use Safari 13 (if everything else is working).
Add new extensions as you find them.
Doing this will save you A LOT of grief and time.
And again, TURN OFF "auto updating" !
I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING to "update" on its own. NOT EVER.
I'll choose when to update and when not to, thank you very much.
Having said that...
Safari is so "intertwined" with the OS, that the only practical way to "downgrade it" is to:
1. Back up your internal drive (I recommend CarbonCopyCloner, free to download and use for 30 days).
2. ERASE the internal drive
3. Reinstall a clean copy of a version of the OS that uses Safari 12.
4. RESTORE from your backups.
A lot of work.
My advice:
Forget the extensions for now.
Use Safari 13 (if everything else is working).
Add new extensions as you find them.
Doing this will save you A LOT of grief and time.
And again, TURN OFF "auto updating" !
I turned it off, and I also solved my problem. After pulling my hair out for over an hour I resigned myself to a wipe and reinstall. I have never backed up from TM before, but the clone I have was a few weeks ond and I didn't want to lose any data.
I booted into the Recovery Partition and selected my latest Time Machine snapshot, from only a few minutes before I closed Safari and it auto-updated. I thought it would wipe and reinstall, but I was surprised to see it only took about twenty minutes. I guess it does a progressive restore only replacing what has been changed since the snapshot/backup was taken. I didn't know TM restore worked this way.
I booted into the Recovery Partition and selected my latest Time Machine snapshot, from only a few minutes before I closed Safari and it auto-updated. I thought it would wipe and reinstall, but I was surprised to see it only took about twenty minutes. I guess it does a progressive restore only replacing what has been changed since the snapshot/backup was taken. I didn't know TM restore worked this way.
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I haven't tested this idea, but it should work: disable SIP (reboot to recovery, from Terminal csrutil disable), delete Safary 13 (sudo rm -rf /Applications/Safari.app), reinstall macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Combo Update https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2010
This is one of the huge advantages APFS offers. The installer will snapshot just before doing the installation, so you can easily roll back. I've had this feature allow users to undo a failed system update more than once.