{"id":3526,"date":"2025-01-30T21:42:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/?p=3526"},"modified":"2025-01-30T21:46:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:46:30","slug":"manually-download-macos-sequoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/manually-download-macos-sequoia\/","title":{"rendered":"Manually Download MacOS Sequoia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Apple\u2019s macOS updates are typically seamless through the App Store, but sometimes, a bug can throw a wrench in the process. I recently encountered this firsthand when updating one of my Macs to macOS Sequoia. No matter what I did, the App Store refused to download the installer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After some research, I found a workaround: manually downloading the installer and writing it to a USB stick. If you\u2019ve ever been stuck in a similar situation, here\u2019s how you can do it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Problem: App Store Download Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Updating macOS through the App Store should be straightforward\u2014find the update, click download, and let the system handle the rest. However, some users (myself included) have encountered a strange issue where the macOS Sequoia installer refuses to download correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Usually, when the App Store fails, you can use a bootable USB installer to upgrade your system. But what do you do if you can\u2019t get the installer from the App Store in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Solution: Manually Downloading macOS Sequoia<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While looking for a solution, I came across <a href=\"https:\/\/wolfpaulus.com\/sequoia\">this article<\/a> by Wolf Paulus. It provided the key information I needed: using a script called <strong>gibMacOS<\/strong> to fetch the macOS installer manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>gibMacOS is an open-source tool that allows you to download macOS installers directly from Apple\u2019s servers. The best part? It can build a bootable USB installer for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step-by-Step Guide to Manually Download macOS Sequoia<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re experiencing the same issue I did, follow these steps to download and install macOS Sequoia manually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Download gibMacOS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>First, you\u2019ll need to grab the gibMacOS script from its GitHub repository:<br><br>\ud83d\udd17 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/corpnewt\/gibMacOS\">gibMacOS on GitHub<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To download it, open a terminal and run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><code>git clone https:\/\/github.com\/corpnewt\/gibMacOS.git\ncd gibMacOS<\/code><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t have <code>git<\/code> installed, you can manually download the ZIP file from GitHub and extract it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Run gibMacOS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>On macOS, run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><code>.\/gibMacOS.command<\/code><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This will open a menu where you can choose the version of macOS you want to download. Look for <strong>macOS Sequoia<\/strong> and select it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Install The Instaler<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Double-click the downloaded installer to create the MacOS installer in the \/Applications directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Create a Bootable USB Drive<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you have the full installer, you must create a bootable USB drive. Insert a USB stick with at least <strong>16GB<\/strong> of space and format it as <strong>Mac OS Extended (Journaled)<\/strong> using Disk Utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, run the following command (replace <code>MyUSB<\/code> with the actual name of your USB drive):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><code>sudo \/Applications\/Install\\ macOS\\ Sequoia.app\/Contents\/Resources\/createinstallmedia --volume \/Volumes\/MyUSB<\/code><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This will write the installer to the USB drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Install macOS Sequoia<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the USB installer is ready:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Restart your Mac<\/strong> and hold <strong>Option (\u2325)<\/strong> while booting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the <strong>macOS Sequoia Installer<\/strong> from the boot menu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow the on-screen instructions to install or upgrade macOS.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dealing with unexpected issues updating macOS can be frustrating, especially when the App Store refuses to cooperate. However, as this experience showed me, there\u2019s always a workaround. <strong>gibMacOS<\/strong> is a powerful tool that helps you manually download macOS installers and gives you complete control over the upgrade process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you\u2019re troubleshooting a buggy system, creating a bootable installer for multiple Macs, or simply preferring to have a local copy of macOS on hand, this method ensures you\u2019re never stuck waiting on the App Store. While it requires a few extra steps, the ability to <strong>bypass download issues, build a bootable USB, and install macOS on your terms<\/strong> makes it well worth the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PS &#8211; I found a second script, but I haven&#8217;t tried it yet: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/munki\/macadmin-scripts\/blob\/main\/installinstallmacos.py\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/github.com\/munki\/macadmin-scripts\/blob\/main\/installinstallmacos.py<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple\u2019s macOS updates are typically seamless through the App Store, but sometimes, a bug can throw a wrench in the process. I recently encountered this firsthand when updating one of my Macs to macOS Sequoia. No matter what I did, the App Store refused to download the installer. After some research, I found a workaround: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,61],"tags":[425,424,422,423,99],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-tools","tag-apple","tag-mac","tag-macos","tag-sequoia","tag-tools"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkeithjones.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}