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Getting a copy of macOS High Sierra

Texas,
Here is the link to High Sierra from my Dropbox. so you can download it. Will be much easier for you. I got the file directly from the Apple server. Let me know when you have downloaded it, so I can close the link.
 
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Texas_Toast said:
Thanks, but I'll wait on a response from @Mr_Brightside_@ and do it myself.

(For security purposes, I simply cannot accept files for others, and certainly not an OS.)
Click to expand...
Are you not aware that if the file has been tampered with in any way, it won't install? Apple verifies the file before installing.

I have been here almost 7 years helping people. Your loss. Do it your way.
 
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Texas_Toast said:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/299731/macos-high-sierra-media-installer


@Mr_Brightside_@
At this point I won't have a chocie, so it'll automatically download to my MacBooks' Applications folder, right?




So can I plug in an external USB HDD and store things there?




If I am downloading to an external HDD, and I had to stop for some reason, would it break things?

(Hopefully I could just do this before bed and have it down in the morning?)




Just out of curiosity... If I am able to download the 5GB file to an external USB HDD, and I accidentally clicked "Restart", I guess it would take that 5GB image/dmg and install it on my MacBook, eh?




So that would be my external USB HDD, right?




I think he is saying do NOT copy the .DS_Store file, right?

(Because in the picture on that webpage, it looks like he is selecting it?!)




So in my case, I would copy that *updated* "Install macOS High Sierra" folder (i.e. 5GB) to somewhere for safe storage, like my external USB HDD, right?

Then in addition to that, I could create a bootable USB instalelr for High Sierra so I have that as well, right?

Just want to make sure I am following your intended advice, and sorry if I missed that earlier!

;-)
Click to expand...
I haven’t done it. Do not restart no matter where the stub is, otherwise you should be fine.
 
No, keep an eye on it. I'm trying the guide now. I think he said to ignore DS Store because it's normally a hidden file. Don't worry about copying it, or not.
[doublepost=1551150736][/doublepost]The full download took about 15 minutes over my Wi-Fi. Pretty quick.

Got to the screen attached. Quit the installer with no complaints from the app. I did not have as many files as were mentioned in the guide.
Copied them to Install High Sierra in my applications folder, into the new folder that was mentioned - I needed my password for this, not surprisingly. After that, opened installer app - now 5.23 GB - and it opened no problem. I would say you can create a usb no problem from there.
The only thing that gave me slight qualms was attempting this on my internal drive, so I chose a blank external as you can see from the pics.
 

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Mr_Brightside_@ said:
No, keep an eye on it. I'm trying the guide now. I think he said to ignore DS Store because it's normally a hidden file. Don't worry about copying it, or not.
[doublepost=1551150736][/doublepost]The full download took about 15 minutes over my Wi-Fi. Pretty quick.

Got to the screen attached. Quit the installer with no complaints from the app. I did not have as many files as were mentioned in the guide.
Copied them to Install High Sierra in my applications folder, into the new folder that was mentioned - I needed my password for this, not surprisingly. After that, opened installer app - now 5.23 GB - and it opened no problem. I would say you can create a usb no problem from there.
The only thing that gave me slight qualms was attempting this on my internal drive, so I chose a blank external as you can see from the pics.
Click to expand...

Knowing how things usually go for me - problems - I'm gonna wait until morning, so I have the whole day to play with this. (Work from home day!)

Hopefully things go as quick and as easy as they seemingly did for you!

I'll let you know in the morning.

And this time I guess I need like 3 copies of High Sierra so a bad sector doesn't bite me again?! :rolleyes:
 
Right now I have...5 of High Sierra specifically? One that I just made, two on my Mac Pro, one on my Time Capsule, one on USB. And at least two of all the others.
 
Mr_Brightside_@ said:
Right now I have...5 of High Sierra specifically? One that I just made, two on my Mac Pro, one on my Time Capsule, one on USB. And at least two of all the others.
Click to expand...

And I have a (corrupt) copy of High Sierra on my old MacBook, plus 3-4 (corrupt) clones of that file as well... :D

This time I'll save a copy on my Retina, save a copy on a dedicated "Old_OSs" external drive, and make at least one bootable USB drive with High Sierra.

Live and learn...
 
Once again, another amusing thread from Texas Toast.

Your problem is not unique, and others have had it as well.

Sorry if this URL was already posted, but the solution to your problem can be found here:
http://osxdaily.com/2017/09/27/download-complete-macos-high-sierra-installer/

Now, one gets tired of hearing your repeated hand-wringing about "security" and non-Apple software.
You have been shown "the pathway you need to walk" to overcome your problem.
We can't make you follow it -- it's your choice.

But... you can either continue to flop around like a fish out of water, or take the steps necessary to get a working copy of High Sierra.

Choice is yours!
 
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Mr_Brightside_@ said:
no
Click to expand...

Okay, so next I would like to create a bootable USB installer with High Sierra n it, and test things out.

I previously cloned my Mac before downloading High Sierra.

It seems to me that I had heard here in the past that once you install High Sierra, you cannot (easily) uninstall it and go back to macOS Sierra.

Is this true?

What would have to be done so I could roll back from a fresh install of High Sierra and reinstall either my bootable clone with macOS Sierra on it, or installing the clone I just made last night which contains macOS Sierra on it plus all of my data?
 
You cannot easily rollback without a bootable backup, and even then it's time consuming.

Make the USB, add a 10 GB partition to your Mac, install High Sierra there using the USB, test it, then delete it after.
 
Is there any source were i can get a fresh copy of medium sierra?
I like the feel of Sierra, but lacks the punch of high sierra which is too powerful for my Mbairs.
 
10 GB is NOT enough space to install High Sierra. 20GB would be absolute minimum, but 40GB would be a comfortable small system boot drive.

The bootable backup of your Sierra partition is your way to easily go back. You can't "roll back" to Sierra, but you can simply restore from your Sierra backup.
 
Mr_Brightside_@ said:
You cannot easily rollback without a bootable backup, and even then it's time consuming.

Make the USB, add a 10 GB partition to your Mac, install High Sierra there using the USB, test it, then delete it after.
Click to expand...

I don't think you understood me...

I thought that I read last year on MacRumors that when you install High Sierra, it somehow changes your Macintosh's HDD format so that you CANNOT gab back and install Sierra after you upgrade?!

As mentioned above, I created a *clone* of my Mac containing macOS Sierra and all of my apps + data.

Now that you have helped me get the 5GB files that make up a full copy of High Sierra, next I was going to create a bootable USB installer with High Sierra on it.

Then I was thinking of using that bootable USB installer to install High Sierra on my MacBook.

If the install works okay, then that proves that my USB installer is working okay, right?

At that point I would want to take my *clone* of my current Mac and reinstall Sierra and all of my apps and data so my computer is restored to its normal state, HOWEVER, if what I said above is true, then I would be unable to do that because the High Sierra test would break things?!

Follow me now?


(*Note: I do have my "backup" Retina laptop that I could use to test out my USB installer with High Sierra on it, BUT AGAIN, if installing High Sierra somehow prevents you from going back and installing Sierra, then I need to know that up front!!)
 
Expobill said:
Is there any source were i can get a fresh copy of medium sierra?
I like the feel of Sierra, but lacks the punch of high sierra which is too powerful for my Mbairs.
Click to expand...
Get macOS Sierra
Texas_Toast said:
I don't think you understood me...

I thought that I read last year on MacRumors that when you install High Sierra, it somehow changes your Macintosh's HDD format so that you CANNOT gab back and install Sierra after you upgrade?!

As mentioned above, I created a *clone* of my Mac containing macOS Sierra and all of my apps + data.

Now that you have helped me get the 5GB files that make up a full copy of High Sierra, next I was going to create a bootable USB installer with High Sierra on it.

Then I was thinking of using that bootable USB installer to install High Sierra on my MacBook.

If the install works okay, then that proves that my USB installer is working okay, right?

At that point I would want to take my *clone* of my current Mac and reinstall Sierra and all of my apps and data so my computer is restored to its normal state, HOWEVER, if what I said above is true, then I would be unable to do that because the High Sierra test would break things?!

Follow me now?


(*Note: I do have my "backup" Retina laptop that I could use to test out my USB installer with High Sierra on it, BUT AGAIN, if installing High Sierra somehow prevents you from going back and installing Sierra, then I need to know that up front!!)
Click to expand...
You are thinking about the APFS file format, which I believe High Sierra will change your SSD to if installed.

If you really need to test the bootable High Sierra USB, you should use it on your backup Mac.

You can easily roll back to Sierra using your Sierra USB by wiping the SSD back to macOS Extended Journalled.
 
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Mr_Brightside_@ said:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?ls=1&mt=12
You are thinking about the APFS file format, which I believe High Sierra will change your SSD to if installed.

If you really need to test the bootable High Sierra USB, you should use it on your backup Mac.
Click to expand...

I probably will do it on my 2nd Retina, but either way I'lls have the same issue of having a HDD with APFS format..


Mr_Brightside_@ said:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?ls=1&mt=12
You can easily roll back to Sierra using your Sierra USB by wiping the SSD back to macOS Extended Journalled.
Click to expand...

So while High Sierra re-fromats your HDD to APFS (from whatever format), you are saying to undo that, all you have to do is go into Disk Utilities and re-format your drive as "macOS Extended Journaled", right?

If so, that doesn't seem too bad. (Not why some people made it sound like the sky was falling?!)
 
Yes, you can go back, if you want to do that...
You would *erase* the High Sierra install (if you have installed HS on your boot drive.), and then restore from your Sierra backup.
I think that some of the information about some Macs is inaccurate. High Sierra, and particularly Mojave will update the Boot ROM firmware. A simple install on an SSD would do that. The updated firmware facilitates the move to the APFS format for a boot drive, and allows the boot-picker (Option-boot) screen to support and show boot partitions that are formatted APFS. There may be other functions that firmware update provides. It's a major firmware change, IMHO.

I don't have recent experience on most Macs, for a return to an older system after going to the most recent firmware -- until just this week when I got a 2015 MBAir, The owner was having some issues with Yosemite, which is what the MBair came with. The owner was nervous about upgrading, but was OK with me trying an experiment, and with the caveat that he might not be able to return to Yosemite (I wasn't sure at that point, either).
I backed up his existing drive, and installed Mojave on an external drive. That Mojave install process upgraded the firmware.
All good, so far.
Booted back to the Yosemite internal drive. Absolutely no problem, booted right up to Yosemite.
Finished up with a format, install Mojave, and successful migration of the owner's apps and files.
I have no doubt that I could return to Yosemite, by restoring from the backup. You DO have to erase the drive to revert to Mac OS Extended (journaled), and reinstall/restore -- but all that takes is time (and the existing backup)
 
I shouldn't have used the term "Restore" because I was using in in general (English) terms and I think y'all are using it in Mac terms.

I just meant, go back to how my computer is right now BEFORE installing High Sierra.


DeltaMac said:
Yes, you can go back, if you want to do that...
Click to expand...

I don't want to go forward! I'm just trying to download FULL copies of High Sierra and Mojave, and then building bootable USB installers, so I have them for safe keeping.

I am content staying with Sierra for now...


DeltaMac said:
You would *erase* the High Sierra install (if you have installed HS on your boot drive.), and then restore from your Sierra backup.

I think that some of the information about some Macs is inaccurate.

High Sierra, and particularly Mojave will update the Boot ROM firmware.
Click to expand...

That sounds kinda dangerous if I wanna stick with Sierra.

Should I just hope that the full version of High Sierra I assembled above is go=to-go and leave it be until I need it?

I don't want to start upgrading my Retina's firmware, and then I can't go back to how it is now!



DeltaMac said:
A simple install on an SSD would do that. The updated firmware facilitates the move to the APFS format for a boot drive, and allows the boot-picker (Option-boot) screen to support and show boot partitions that are formatted APFS. There may be other functions that firmware update provides. It's a major firmware change, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Not following you here...

If installing High Sierra updates your firmware, then installing it on an external HDD will NOT spare you from getting a firmware update on your actual macintosh computer. (The firmware resides on your logic board - not on the external hard-drive!)


DeltaMac said:
I don't have recent experience on most Macs, for a return to an older system after going to the most recent firmware -- until just this week when I got a 2015 MBAir, The owner was having some issues with Yosemite, which is what the MBair came with. The owner was nervous about upgrading, but was OK with me trying an experiment, and with the caveat that he might not be able to return to Yosemite (I wasn't sure at that point, either).
I backed up his existing drive, and installed Mojave on an external drive. That Mojave install process upgraded the firmware.
All good, so far.
Booted back to the Yosemite internal drive. Absolutely no problem, booted right up to Yosemite.
Finished up with a format, install Mojave, and successful migration of the owner's apps and files.
I have no doubt that I could return to Yosemite, by restoring from the backup. You DO have to erase the drive to revert to Mac OS Extended (journaled), and reinstall/restore -- but all that takes is time (and the existing backup)
Click to expand...

Maybe it's not worth the risk in my case.

I just like to save local copies of things since Apple and others like to yank things and then you can never get them back!

But if I'm messing wth my Mac's firmware, then that sorta changes the game...

What do you think I should do?
 
You are correct, but I will try clarify why I posted as I did:
Installing a newer macOS, such as High Sierra, or Mojave WILL check that the booting hardware has up-to-date firmware. If it does not, then it will update your firmware (which is what you want to happen)
I went on to say that updating the firmware did not affect booting back into an older macOS system -- that is, you can go back. You just have to erase the drive and return to the old format. If you already have a full backup, it's not a big deal.
I *think* you are over-thinking this for no good reason.

Finally, that's a Good Plan™ to create bootable system installers that you can keep! And, just so that I understand this, downloading the full installer, and using those installer apps to create bootable installers does NOT change your firmware in any way, as long as you don't actually run those installer apps. Most methods to download the installer, launches the installer at the completion of the download, so you do need to expect that (and quit the installer if it launches!)
 
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