If you’re a developer or just wondering what the next version of macOS will be like, you can install a beta version of a future version on your Mac. But what if you no longer want to run the beta?
If the beta is causing havoc on your Mac, you’re tired of setting aside hours each week while the latest update is installed, or you want to keep the latest stable version rather than ruin things with the next update.
Below we will detail the simple steps to migrate from macOS Ventura beta to the final version of macOS Monterey (or even from Monterey beta back to the latest officially released version), but essentially they are as follows:
- Sign out of the Apple macOS Beta Program.
- Install macOS Monterey using one of the following methods.
It’s easy enough, but there are a few issues you might run into along the way, so read on for a full explanation of the steps.
Apple
How to exit the macOS beta program
The first thing to do is remove yourself from Apple’s macOS beta program, as this will prevent your Mac from receiving beta updates.
Here is what you should do:
- Open System Preferences on your Mac.
- Click “Software Update”.
- On the left side, under the gear icon, you’ll see a message: “This Mac is enrolled in Apple’s beta testing program.” If you’d like to stop receiving beta updates on your Mac, click Learn More.
- A pop-up window will appear asking you to confirm that you want to restore the default update settings. This will mean that any current updates will not be removed, but you will no longer receive beta updates. To confirm this, click “Restore Defaults”.
As explained on the last screen, this will not remove the beta from your Mac, it just means you will no longer receive further beta updates (unless you decide to sign up for the beta again).
How to uninstall macOS beta from Mac
Now that you have exited the beta program, you will no longer receive updates, but you will be stuck with this version of the beta running on your Mac.
There are several ways to go back from beta to the latest full operating system on Mac. This method will depend on which version of macOS you want to go back to and whether you’ve made a backup.
Luckily, it’s easier to migrate from beta to macOS Monterey or earlier macOS (although migrating to anything pre-High Sierra is more difficult because Apple started using a completely new file system (APFS) starting with High Sierra). Read: How to install old macOS.
If you want to remove the beta and revert to a previous version of macOS, you have several options: the easiest way is to install the current version of macOS via Software Update. However, there are many different ways to go back to an earlier version of macOS, which we will discuss below.
How to reinstall macOS Monterey (or earlier)
By removing your Mac from the beta program, you will be able to install macOS Monterey on your Mac. Here you have several options:
Reinstall Monterey via System Preferences
Follow the steps below to install your current version of macOS.
- Open System Preferences on your Mac.
- Click “Software Update”.
- Your Mac should search for an update. When it confirms that an update is available for your Mac, you can click “More Information” to get detailed information about what the update brings. Click “Update Now” when you’re ready to update your Mac.
- You will see a message stating that you need to restart your Mac in order to update. You can choose Not Now or Restart, depending on whether now is the right time for your Mac to be idle for half an hour or more.
More tips for installing macOS on your Mac can be found here. Including what to do if you run into problems installing macOS.
What to do if your Mac won’t load Monterey
If you find that Monterey is not available to download via Software Update – perhaps because your Mac mistakenly believes it already has the software running – you can trick your Mac into downloading the full version of the software and installing it using your Mac App Store.
- Open the Mac App Store.
- Click this link for Monterey (or this link for Big Sur, or this link for Catalina) in the Mac App Store.
- Click “Get” and your Mac will prompt you to download the installers.
- The Software Update window from System Preferences will open. Confirm that you want to download the software, you will also see a warning that you are downloading an older version of the OS, ignore it.
- Wait for macOS to load – this can take a while, and if your internet connection drops, you may have to start over.
- Once downloaded, click “Open” and wait for it to install. Expect it to take some time…
You may see a message that the software is already installed. Just confirm that you want to proceed with the download and once you have the installer, you can install the final version on top of the beta.
Reinstall macOS Monterey via Recovery
You can also download and install an older OS using the built-in recovery mode (this may be the fastest way – if you have a good internet connection). But it depends on which version you return two. We’ll look at how to do this here: How to reinstall macOS in recovery mode.
Here’s how to reinstall the most recent compatible version of macOS on your Mac using Recovery:
- Restart your Mac.
- On an Intel-based Mac, hold down Option + Command + R until the Apple logo appears. If you have an M1 series Mac, you need to press and hold the power button until the Loading Startup Options screen appears, then click Options and then Continue. See How to start your Mac in recovery mode.
- You will see an option to “Reinstall macOS”. Click on it and Recover will install the latest version of macOS compatible with your Mac.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to go back to Monterey, press Shift + Option + Command + R to reinstall the version of macOS that was installed on your Mac when you bought it.
Downgrade beta via Time Machine
This is another option, but it’s important to remember that the backup won’t include any changes you’ve made since the macOS beta was launched. All data on your Mac will be erased during the restore process, and only the data from the last backup you made will be restored, so be sure to make a separate copy of anything you don’t want to lose (or at least back it up). in iCloud).
After unregistering your Mac from the beta program as above, follow these steps:
- Connect the hard drive that contains the Time Machine backup.
- Restart your Mac.
- On an Intel-based Mac, hold down Command + R until the Apple logo appears. If you have an M1 series Mac, you need to press and hold the power button until the Loading Startup Options screen appears, then click Options and then Continue. See How to start your Mac in recovery mode.
- Now that you’re in macOS Recovery Mode, you’ll see the “Restore from Time Machine Backup” option. Select this and click Continue.
- Select a backup source and click Continue again.
- Choose the correct backup – the last one before installing the beta. (You can check this by looking at the macOS version column).
We have a guide on how to restore from Time Machine here.
Reinstall macOS using a boot disk
Currently, it’s easy to download the latest version of Monterey from the Mac App Store, but if you want to install an older version of macOS, it will be much more difficult because Apple has made it difficult to download older versions of macOS in Catalina. It’s not easy, but fortunately we have instructions on how to get an older version of the Mac operating system here.
Once you have the correct version of macOS, you will need to follow these instructions: How to create a bootable disk for macOS.
Once you’ve prepared your boot disk, follow these instructions to reinstall an older version of macOS.
- Make sure you are connected to the Internet
- Click on the Apple logo > Restart.
- Press Command + R until your computer restarts.
- When you enter recovery mode, click Disk Utility > Continue.
- Select your boot drive.
- Click “Erase” (yes, you need to erase the drive before you can proceed).
- If your Mac uses APFS (probably if you’ve run anything since High Sierra), select APFS from the list of formats. In some rare cases your Mac may use HFS+, for example if you have a Fusion Drive, in which case you will need to select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the list of formats.
- If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map. Click Erase.
- Wait for the erasing process to complete before closing Disk Utility.
- Now to install macOS again… Make sure your boot drive is connected to your Mac.
- Click on the Apple logo > Restart.
- Hold Option while your Mac restarts if it’s an Intel model. If your Mac is an M1 series or later, press and hold the power button until options appear.
- You will see a list of boot disk options, select the boot disk containing the version of macOS you want to run.
- Click Continue and wait for it to install.
You can now restore your settings and data from the last backup you made before installing the beta.
How to revert to Sierra or earlier
As we said above, it’s a bit trickier if you’re reverting from Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, or High Sierra to a version of macOS that predates them, because Apple made it harder to get the old installers and (probably related) Apple switched to the new file system. .
Back when Apple stopped trying to get APFS to work on Fusion Drives during the High Sierra beta (an early version of that beta that supported it on Fusion Drives), the company released the following instructions for downgrading APFS. HFS+ version. Since Mojave provides APFS for hard drives and Fusion drives, it’s likely that if your Mac is equipped this way, you’ll need to keep that in mind when downgrading.
- Make a backup copy of the Time Machine.
- Download the Mojave installer from the Mac App Store.
- Create a bootable installer as above.
- Press Option/Alt while starting your Mac.
- Select the macOS Mojave installer as your boot drive.
- Select Disk Utility.
- Select Show all devices.
- Select your drive and click Erase.
- Change the format to MacOS Extended (Journaled).
- Change the name of your drive to something else.
- Close Disk Utility.
- Select “Reinstall macOS” and select the new drive’s name as the target.
- In the Setup Assistant, choose to migrate your data from a Time Machine backup (Time Machine doesn’t use APFS yet, so this should work for now).
To reiterate, before you install an older version of your Mac operating system, make sure you back up all your important files. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to restore files that have been backed up by Time Machine since you ran the beta because that will also restore that version of macOS, so make a separate backup for them.