How to upgrade my Mid 2011 iMac to latest OSX

[b4mb1]

Hello,

I just want to ask, how can I upgrade my Mid 2011 iMac to latest supported OSX. I'm currently on 10.7.5 and whenever I try to update everything is not supported High Sierra/Catalina (requirements is 10.8 and above). Is there a way to update without official channels? Thank you!

 

[CoastalOR]

Maximum Apple supported macOS for your 2011 iMac is High Sierra (10.13.6), but minimum OS to upgrade is 10.8.

You will need a 2 step process to get to High Sierra.

First, upgrade to a macOS later than 10.8;
Yosemite:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

or
El Capitan:

How to download and install macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

or
Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

and then finally to High Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

 

[honestone33]

First off, you are running OS 10.7.5, which is Lion.

Secondly, there are 6 more recent versions you could install:

Mountain Lion - OS 10.8.x
Mavericks - OS 10.9.x
Yosemite - OS 10.10.x
El Capitan - OS 10.11
Sierra - OS 10.12
High Sierra - OS 10.13

Third, you need to be concerned about any third party software you are using, and most likely, will need either to upgrade some/most/all of them to be compatible with the OS you want to move to, or possibly some of them might not work at all.

Fourth, for High Sierra, Apple introduced the APFS file system, so that could be a challenge.

I would advise not skipping "too many" of the various versions. Maybe skip 2 of them and upgrade to Yosemite. But upgrading might not be as "safe" or "OK" as doing a clean, fresh installation of the new OS, and then migrating/copying needed files, folders, settings etc. from a backup. And the easiest way to do that is to use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable backup. (You are making backups to an external device, right?)

Finally, when you begin this process, you might want to do as much disk cleanup/maintenance as possible. You can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs (both free and commercial) which can help you with those tasks.

 

[b4mb1]

Maximum Apple supported macOS for your 2011 iMac is High Sierra (10.13.6), but minimum OS to upgrade is 10.8.

You will need a 2 step process to get to High Sierra.

First, upgrade to a macOS later than 10.8;
Yosemite:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

or
El Capitan:

How to download and install macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

or
Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

and then finally to High Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Thank you for the reply. I'm gonna follow these steps, update to Yosemite first then High Sierra. Is there any risk for me before updating? No worries about files because this is a clean system (I don't have files installed yet)

First off, you are running OS 10.7.5, which is Lion.

Secondly, there are 6 more recent versions you could install:

Mountain Lion - OS 10.8.x
Mavericks - OS 10.9.x
Yosemite - OS 10.10.x
El Capitan - OS 10.11
Sierra - OS 10.12
High Sierra - OS 10.13

Third, you need to be concerned about any third party software you are using, and most likely, will need either to upgrade some/most/all of them to be compatible with the OS you want to move to, or possibly some of them might not work at all.

Fourth, for High Sierra, Apple introduced the APFS file system, so that could be a challenge.

I would advise not skipping "too many" of the various versions. Maybe skip 2 of them and upgrade to Yosemite. But upgrading might not be as "safe" or "OK" as doing a clean, fresh installation of the new OS, and then migrating/copying needed files, folders, settings etc. from a backup. And the easiest way to do that is to use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable backup. (You are making backups to an external device, right?)

Finally, when you begin this process, you might want to do as much disk cleanup/maintenance as possible. You can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs (both free and commercial) which can help you with those tasks.

Thank you for the reply. There's no need to worry about files and stuff. My system is clean and has no installed programs or files yet. I was wondering if there are steps for clean installations? Mind if you can share it with me. And I apologize because I'm from Windows and new to these kind of stuff. Haha!