So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

Apple today (July 25, 2012) announced that OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, is available as a download from the Mac App Store. With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion includes iCloud integration, the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide. Preparing for Installation: After booting from the USB drive, you would see the OS X installer screen. Here, you can choose your language, then from menu bar at top, choose Utilities Disk Utility. Select the target hard drive for the installation of Mountain Lion on your PC and click the Partition tab. To create an Apple Mountain Lion bootable USB Installation you will need PowerISO and an Apple OS X installation in ISO format. Download And install PowerISO Create a Mountain Lion bootable USB installation Open PowerISO and continue unregistered.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0Puma 10.1Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3Tiger 10.4Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6Lion 10.7Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9Yosemite 10.10El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12High Sierra 10.13Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

  • Uninstall large unused apps
  • Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
  • Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store

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If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc
  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc

Mac Os X For Pc

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
  2. Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
  4. Select external drive as a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.

Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

  1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external drive.
  3. Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra

Mac Os Download For Windows

Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc

Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc Download

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.

These might also interest you:

Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc Windows 7

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Install Mac Os X Mountain Lion For Pc Windows 10

Read on for the step by step guide.
Requirements:
Access to a Mac to download OS X Mountain Lion from App Store and prepare UniBeast USB Drive.
A minimum of 8GB or larger USB flash drive.
A PC capable of running OS X Mountain Lion.
Step 1: First and foremost, this process requires that you own a copy of Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) and a USB drive with a minimum capacity of 8GB. The operating system is available to download from the Mac App Store for $19.99. If you haven’t already, download OS X Mountain Lion using your registered Apple ID.
Step 2: Download the updated and current version of UniBeast that is available from the downloads section of the tonymacx86 website (free of charge registration required).
Step 3: After the relevant software has been downloaded, the initial step is to create a bootable USB drive containing OS X Mountain Lion. With the formatted USB plugged into an available USB port on your Mac, open up an instance of Finder and navigate to /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and highlight the relevant USB drive in the left hand column of the interface.
Step 4: Select the Current drop down menu and choose the 1 Partition option.
Step 5: Select Options underneath Partition Layout menu and make sure the Master Boot Record option is checked. Click Ok.
Step 6: On the right hand side of the Disk Utility window there are options to name the USB Drive. You can choose a name now or it can be done later. Under the Format header, make sure Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is selected. Select Apply before selecting Partition.
Step 7: Run the UniBeast 1.5.1 application that was downloaded in step 2. If UniBeast is giving you an error message relating to Mountain Lion being missing, make sure the installation file downloaded from the Mac App Store is located in the /Applications folder.
Step 8: When UniBeast is running, skip through the first few screens before selecting the relevant USB drive on the Select a Destination screen. Choose Continue, then enter your system password for approval. UniBeast will then look for the Mountain Lion installer file in the /Applications folder and install it to the USB drive.
Once the process has ran its course and completed, the partitioned USB drive will have a functional version of OS X Mountain Lion on it that can then be used on a PC to create an installation of Mountain Lion. The next few steps can be followed through to ensure everything is working without issue.
Step 9: Insert the USB drive into the PC that you want to turn into a Hackintosh and make sure that the machine is set to boot from USB through the BIOS.
Note: Steps 10 – 12 are only required for new installations. If you are updating from an existing installation of Mac OS X Snow Leopard or OS X Lion these steps can be skipped.
Step 10: After booting from the drive, you should now be in the OS X installer. Set the desired language, choose the Utilities option from the menu bar before selecting Disk Utility. Select the target hard drive for the installation of Mountain Lion on your PC and click the Partition tab.
Step 11: Once again, select the Current drop down, select 1 Partition before selecting Options and choosing GUID Partition Table.
Step 12: Type in Macintosh HD as the name of the partition and once again set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Step 13: Click Apply then Partition before closing down the Disk Utility.
Step 14: Now simply install Mountain Lion on this hard drive.
When the process is completed, restart the machine. When the machine boots up, choose the new Mountain Lion option to make the drive bootable.
So there we have it, a fully functional Hackintosh PC running the latest Mac operating system. Last but not the least, you will need to install the drivers for your machine. This can be done using MultiBeast tool, which can again be found in the downloads section over at tonymacx86.
Apple will obviously tell you that the Mac machines they produce are designed to work harmoniously with the software and operating systems that they also develop, but running OS X on a Windows based PC can be an extremely pleasurable experience now that the installation process is relatively pain free.