How to upgrade to Sequoia instead of Tahoe

[jaze22]

My M1 MacBook Air is still running Ventura. Everything works great but with security updates ending in November I want to upgrade to Sequoia instead of Tahoe. But if I visit https://support.apple.com/en-mide/102662 and click on Sequoia it won't let me install it, it wants me to proceed with Tahoe.

How can I update Ventura to Sequoia?

 

[Bigwaff]

How can I update Ventura to Sequoia?

Download Sequoia full installer package using links by MrMacintosh. The package will place the Sequoia installer app in your Applications folder. Launch it to install/upgrade to Sequoia. As always, recommend you have Time Machine back up before updating or upgrading macOS.

macOS Sequoia Full Installer Database. Download Directly from Apple!

Download macOS Sequoia full installer with one click straight from Apple! Every version of Sequoia Beta & Final available all in one place!!

mrmacintosh.com

 

[Gregg2]

Have you looked in your System Settings > General > Software Update? I'm already on 15.7.1 so nothing that "old" shows up anymore. But I'm pretty sure that when I made that update, it was listed with Tahoe as well. I was not forced to upgrade to the latest.

 

[Fishrrman]

As usual, waff provides the right answer above !
Try Mr. Macintosh before doing ANYTHING else...

 

[bogdanw]

If you install the Defer Tahoe profile, only Sequoia will appear in Updates https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/defer-tahoe-for-90-days.2465304/

 

[jaze22]

If I visited the apple support page https://support.apple.com/en-mide/102662a and clicked on the Sequoia link it would not install, which is weird because it was taking me to the Sequoia page in the App Store.

So how did I get Sequoia to install?

I opened the App Store on my laptop, searched for 'Sequoia' and clicked to start the install process and it worked. It looked like the same page as before, but there must have been some difference I could not fathom.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

PRINT OUT this reply and check it off step by step.

First, go to this page (Mr. Macintosh):

macOS Sequoia Full Installer Database. Download Directly from Apple!

Download macOS Sequoia full installer with one click straight from Apple! Every version of Sequoia Beta & Final available all in one place!!

mrmacintosh.com

This is a page that lists ALL released Seqoiua installer files.

I believe the one you want is this one (installs version 15.7.2):

https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/23/34/093-99065-A_B4TEYIISAM/1a1ddvynvgdh82ev879kh13y2a3trwr18v/InstallAssistant.pkg

You can just click this link above to download it.
I recommend that you download this to your desktop, or MOVE IT to your desktop from the downloads folder.
It will be a small "pkg" file.

Next
Double-click this pkg file to open it.
It will offer to "install" the Sequoia app.
DO THIS.
It will download a BIG file from Apple's servers.

HOWEVER...
This DOES NOT install the Sequoia OS directly.
Instead, it installs the Sequoia install app into your applications folder.

When done, go to your applications folder and launch the Sequoia installer.
Start clicking through.
The Mac will reboot several times, and the screen will "go dark" for a minute or more with no other indication of activity.
Just be patient.

When done, you should see the welcome screen.
Do any setup you need to do.
But if you get this far, you're now upgraded to Sequoia.

Good luck.

 

[derek33]

If I visited the apple support page https://support.apple.com/en-mide/102662a and clicked on the Sequoia link it would not install, which is weird because it was taking me to the Sequoia page in the App Store.

So how did I get Sequoia to install?

I opened the App Store on my laptop, searched for 'Sequoia' and clicked to start the install process and it worked. It looked like the same page as before, but there must have been some difference I could not fathom.

Yeah, Apple won’t let you skip versions once there’s a newer major release — the Software Update page will always push you to the latest (Tahoe).
If you specifically want Sequoia, you’ll have to grab the installer manually from the App Store link:

https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-sequoia/id6450717503

Open that on your Mac, download the installer, and it should let you upgrade straight from Ventura. Just make sure you’ve got enough space first.