How to associate macOS Sierra to my Apple ID?

[GameGuru38]

Ok so I am finally upgrading my Mac Mini 2007 to a Mac Mini 2011 (don't laugh) and it is arriving today. Now that I have a machine I can run macOS Sierra on I would like to associate it with my Apple ID and wondered how I need to do that. It is coming with macOS Sierra completely updated and wondered if when I log in with my Apple ID if it automatically becomes associated with my account or do I have to go to an extreme and install a previous version of OS X I have associated with my Apple ID and then upgrade to make macOS Sierra associated with my Apple ID?

Any advice?

 

[Bart Kela]

macOS Sierra will prompt you for your Apple ID for iCloud the first time you log in. No need to do anything special.

 

[GameGuru38]

macOS Sierra will prompt you for your Apple ID for iCloud the first time you log in. No need to do anything special.

I understand that but I want it to list "macOS Sierra" under purchases like all the rest. What do I need to do to get that done?

 

[Bart Kela]

You can just visit the App Store the computer, find macOS Sierra and download it. When it finishes downloading, the installer will automatically start. Don't run the installer, just quit out of it. I'm not sure if downloading the installer will actually register as having installed it in the Purchased section of the App Store app though.

If it doesn't show up there after downloading, you may need to re-install macOS with the newly downloaded installer app.

You'll find the Install Sierra app in the Applications folder. Note that if you do run the Installer, it'll delete itself once the OS is properly installed so it's wise to make a copy before installing.

I typically archive these to an external drive just in case I need one in the future. You can safely toss the Installer app into the trash if you don't need to install.

Not sure why you find it important for it to show up as Purchased.

 

[Intell]

Sierra doesn't show up under Purchased. This is new starting with 10.12.

 

[Bart Kela]

Well, that's certainly a new direction! I can see all of my previous macOS/OS X purchases (I've hidden them).

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[KALLT]

It won't show up in the App Store application in Sierra, but it is there in older versions of OS X. If you still have the installer.app located somewhere (even on an external drive), you can also update it with this command-line program: https://github.com/mas-cli/mas.

 

[Ebenezum]

I did some testing with 10.9-10.11 and was surprised that Sierra didn't show up in purchased list under 10.9 but it was present in 10.10 and 10.11. I have no idea why because previously all the other versions of OS I have "purchased" were visible in the App Store purchases.

I would like to know why Apple has changed this, I haven't seen any mention in any support documentation?

 

[macrlz9]

I did some testing with 10.9-10.11 and was surprised that Sierra didn't show up in purchased list under 10.9 but it was present in 10.10 and 10.11. I have no idea why because previously all the other versions of OS I have "purchased" were visible in the App Store purchases.

I would like to know why Apple has changed this, I haven't seen any mention in any support documentation?

Can't tell you why, but it's here... https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202161

"macOS Sierra doesn't appear in the Purchased tab. Use the Search field to find it again, then download it from the product page. Learn how to reinstall macOS."

 

[Ebenezum]

Can't tell you why, but it's here... https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202161

"macOS Sierra doesn't appear in the Purchased tab. Use the Search field to find it again, then download it from the product page. Learn how to reinstall macOS."

Apparently Apple hasn't thought this through. Changing things without prior notice will likely result in angry customers if Apple 1: Doesn't keep the Sierra on the App Store purchases, 2: Removes Sierra after next OS is released like they did with the previous versions.

I wish Apple would explain the reasons behind such changes..

 

[Fishrrman]

"I wish Apple would explain the reasons behind such changes…"

Control.
By them… over you.