If you’re currently running macOS Mojave, you can re-download a macOS High Sierra installer for whatever reason to macOS Mojave. Re-downloading older versions of macOS system software can be desirable for a variety of reasons, and in this case getting the older High Sierra release is most often to create a macOS High Sierra USB installer or for running an older macOS release in a virtual machine or something of that nature.
If you’ve searched the Mac App Store from Mojave, you’ve probably noticed the High Sierra installer is nowhere to be found. But not to worry, we’ll show you how you can download macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 from macOS Mojave 10.14.
How to Download macOS High Sierra from Mojave
Need the macOS High Sierra installer again but you’re running macOS Mojave? Here’s how to get it:
- Click here to download macOS High Sierra from the App Store from MacOS Mojave, then click the “Get” button, this will redirect to the Software Update control panel
- From the Software Update preference panel, confirm that you want to download macOS High Sierra by choosing “Download”
- MacOS High Sierra will download into the /Applications/ folder of the Mac, labeled as “Install macOS High Sierra”
Once you have the macOS High Sierra installer you can copy it elsewhere, use it for making a bootable macOS High Sierra installer, use it for installing macOS High Sierra into a virtual machine like Parallels, for setting up a dual-boot environment, or whatever else is necessary.
Note that this is not a downgrade process nor is it intended to be, it’s merely downloading the macOS High Sierra installer onto a Mac running the newer macOS Mojave release. You can not install an older macOS release over a newer release. Instead, if you want to downgrade for whatever reason, your best bet would be to downgrade from macOS Mojave to High Sierra (or earlier) by using Time Machine backups made prior to the initial Mojave update. Another option would be to perform a macOS High Sierra clean install, though a clean install completely erases a Mac and removes all data from the computer, making it less practical for most users given that most users want to maintain their personal data.
Interestingly enough, if you try and search the Mac App Store for “macOS High Sierra” from within macOS Mojave, you will not find the installer in the Mac App Store listings. For whatever reason, Apple has hidden the installer, and thus you must click on a direct download link that opens directly to the MacOS High Sierra download page within the App Store.
Users who had previously downloaded other versions of macOS (including High Sierra) using the same Apple ID can also find the prior macOS releases available from the “Purchases” section of the Mac App Store.
If you know of any other tips or methods to download older versions of MacOS and Mac OS X system software from within MacOS Mojave, share them with us in the comments below!