Update From Lion To Mojave

Upgrade to macOS Big Sur

Before installing this upgrade, make sure that your Mac is ready.

Check compatibility

macOS Big Sur supports most Mac models introduced in 2013 and later.

Make a backup

Before you upgrade, make a complete backup with Time Machine, or store your files in iCloud.

Free up space

Coincidentally, the Mac OS X Mountain Lion download was the last paid upgrade to an OS X release. Future updates starting from the OS X Mavericks were all free. Apple also offered another marginal update on the Mac OS X Mountain Lion download called the Mountain Lion version 10.8.1. This update was released on August 23, 2012. In Mountain Lion and later, this was merged into the Mac App Store application, although the underlying update mechanism remains unchanged and is fundamentally different from the download mechanism used when purchasing an App Store application. In macOS 10.14 Mojave, the updating function was moved again to the Software Update preference pane.

If the installer needs more storage space to upgrade, you can free up space using tools that come with your Mac.

Download macOS Big Sur

If you’re using macOS Mojave or later, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update. If you’re using an earlier macOS, use the App Store instead.

Get to know macOS Big Sur

Learn about some of the new features of macOS Big Sur.

Control Center

Control Center brings favorite controls such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Do Not Disturb, and Sound together in a single place—so you can easily adjust them at any time.

Notification Center

Notification Center puts notifications and>

Safari

Customize your start page, navigate with ease using the new tab bar, and access a new privacy report to see just how Safari protects your privacy as you browse.

Messages

Send messages to friends and family using new tools that make it easier to keep track of group conversations and give you fun, engaging ways to express yourself.

Update From Lion To Mojave

Photos

Use the expanded editing capabilities in Photos to easily make simple changes and more advanced adjustments to your photos.

Update From Os X Lion To Mojave

Have a question?

Ask everyone. Our Apple Support Community can help you find answers.

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Answer a few questions and we'll help you find a solution.

This is a series of tips that cover Mac OS X client edition. Server forums cover Mac OS X server on the community.

Here is the series of tips for related Macs. 10.6,10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10,10.11,

10.12 ,10.13, 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 Catalina , 11.0 Big Sur.

See special note about resetting the SMC during updates and upgrades, later in the tip.

is an article I wrote that everyone updating their Mac should read. No update should be ventured into with operating systems or software without first ensuring your data is backed up in two separate places. Slowing down of your Mac should not lead you to assume an update will fix everything. First isolate why your Mac is slowing down or crashing before installing anything new.

Apple includes many full upgrade installer links on https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683

Note: APFS came about with High Sierra, and Mojave continues the practice of auto-reformatting drives into APFS that are solid state like flash drives from HFS Journaled. If you need to downgrade to an older system than High Sierra, you will need to reformat the drive again, or leave a partition with the old formatting available.

Apple released for 10.14.6 users, 2020-003 Mojave security update. If running an earlier version of 10.14, run the 10.14.6 Combo update first.

Apple recommends you have these Macs according to: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP777?locale=en_US

• MacBook (Early 2015 or newer) [model identifier 8,1 or later]
• MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) [model identifier 5,1 or later]
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer) [model identifier 9,1 or later]
• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) [model identifier 6,1 or later]
• iMac (Late 2012 or newer) [model identifier 12,1 or later]
• Mac Pro (Late 2013; Mid 2010 and Mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards) [model identifier 5,1 or later]

bracketed items in quotes were added for additional identification purposes. Your Apple menu -> About This Mac -> System Report or System Profiler gives you the model identifier.

All of the Macs that are older than 10.11, need to be updated to 10.11 first before installing Mojave.

The oldest MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iMac which can upgrade to Mojave shipped with 10.8, Mountain Lion.

The oldest MacBook Pro which can upgrade to Mojave shipped with 10.7, Lion.

The oldest MacBook had Mac OS X 10.10 installed.

The oldest Mac Pro on the list above with the compatible graphics cards, had 10.6 originally installed, and is the only Mac that shipped with 10.6 that can install Mojave. Before upgrading to 10.7 or later, read this tip as Apple has not reintroduced a series of software that made older Mac compatible software compatible with Intel Macs since 10.6.8's release.

Apple released Mojave on September 24, 2018. Reports from:

earlier than that date were made with pre-release Mojave versions and can not be relied upon.

September 30, 2018 driver additions from third party update pages:

HP, and Samsung (HP has become the download site for at least some Mojave Samsung printers, if you have Samsung see if any are Catalina compatible)

Silverfast.

10.14.3 was released January 22, 2019. Note, some users are reporting 10.14.3 will not successfully apply as an update without an SMC reset as described how to do in this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Frequently both updates and upgrades will require multiple reboots to successfully apply. Do NOT become impatient if you find the screen go blank during the update or upgrade process. If you press the power button to shut it down while it is rebooting for the update or upgrade, it may quit the process, and leave you stuck.

Use the macOS Mojave forum for operating system specific questions of other end users such as yourself.

Note: https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/partition-a-physical-disk-dskutl14027/mac

are directions for creating a separate partition that will allow you to dual boot into an older operating system

Can I Update From Mountain Lion To Mojave

if you find something not compatible with the current. Once you install the older operating system, you can use the Startup manager to dual boot to the older system.

You can't install Mojave from the Finder, unless you are running 10.13.6 or earlier.

The direct download link for Mojave is:

Note: some people have had trouble downloading the latest Mojave links. https://brave.com/ has been found to be a better web browser than some if you run into issues and is known to work on Mac OS X 10.10 and later.

Note: the 2020-004 security update for Mojave has a bug with the screen saver getting stuck. To repair delays in the screen saver, 'The workaround is to choose a non-picture screen saver such as Flurry, Message, etc.' (special thanks to community member dialabrain for this report.

Upgrade Mac From Lion To Mojave