Sometimes it's hard to search for older / previous versions of macOS & OS X on the App Store or Apple web site since they change links to promote the newest shipping version. *This is an attempt to provide the canonical QA for this issue, as per the Meta QA - https://apple.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2418/where-is-the-list-of-canonical-questions-stored-for-ask-different I expect it to be modified over time to hopefully become a complete information resource.* How can I get any older version of a Mac OS to be able to run virtually (as a VM) or to reinstall a specific previous version on my Mac?

If I copy an application already have in my Apple ID (Edit: for example, Xcode) from another computer to the Applications folder, will the Mac App Store be able to update it? Or will I have to do something manually in order to enable updates from that app?

Often when I buy an App Store giftcard, as I remove the grey plastic strip covering the code number, the number itself tears and becomes unreadable. Removing it slowly doesn't seem to work any better than removing it quickly. There is a way to get a refund for an unreadable number, but it's a time-consuming process. (I'm in Taiwan, where bureaucratic rules are sometimes elaborate.) There's no easy way to identify different batches of cards, so as to avoid those that seem more prone to doing this. But I'm wondering if there are any suggestions as to ways to prevent the paper from tearing in the first place. I can imagine that heating or cooling the whole card might change the way the glue on the strip interacts with the paper underneath. I don't want to experiment, lest I make matters worse. Any ideas? Edit: In this case I was able to guess the correct number on the third try, but at other times it's been too hard. I've added a picture here, since reader comments show they're not familiar with these particular cards:

When I want to download an app (clicking on the cloud with arrow icon) or when I want to update an app (like XCode), the app gets the "square in circle" icon and stays like this forever. - clicking on the square does not stop/cancel the process - signing out and back in the App Store or restarting the MacBook (Big Sur) did not help (i.e. the same behaviour when signing back in or after restart. - there is Internet (since I see and choose App Store content) Is there a command line (in the terminal) to force cancel a started download / update? Is there a place (log file or already installed logging app) to see the errors why App Store is stuck?

In order to run a 32-bit app, I need to downgrade from Catalina 10.15 to Mojave 10.14. In Safari, I went to the direct download link: https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12 The page for getting Mojave opened in the App store, and after I clicked the "**Get**" button, around 6,04GB were downloaded. But right after, the App updater showed this popup: "***No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.** An error occured while installing the selected updates*". I **cannot find where the downloaded 6,04GB installer is located** ; I looked in the App folder, on the desktop, in the downloads, and cannot find it. The download must be hidden somewhere on the computer. My understanding is that despite using the direct link to the installer, the App store tries to install Mojave directly when clicking the "Get" button. I expected a "Download" button instead, with the goal to create a bootable installer. Did I miss something? Should the installer be downloaded from the Terminal? --- New attempt: trying to download-only Mojave from the Terminal. **Bugs when trying to download Mojave 10.14 from the Terminal in Catalina 10.15.7** It seems that a bug was introduced with Catalina 10.15.5, which is still here with Catalina 10.15.7: running softwareupdate from the Terminal is not working properly. softwareupdate --list only lists newer versions of MacOS and no previous ones. As for softwareupdate --download --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.14.6 it reports "Downloading **and installing** 10.14.6 installer", **despite the --download flag which should prevent it** ; and if removing --fetch-full-installer does not work. It also reports twice the following error before starting the download and install: SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFConstantString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)" This thread confirms the bug: https://www.reddit.com/r/macsysadmin/comments/hagf3o/did_macos_10155_break_the_softwareupdate/ --- Second attempt from the Terminal: administrator@AdministorsiMac ~ % sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.14.6 Password: Downloading and installing 10.14.6 installer SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFConstantString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)" SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFConstantString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)" Installing: 89.0%SUPreferenceManager: Failed to set object of class: __NSCFConstantString for key: LastRecommendedMajorOSBundleIdentifier with error: Error Domain=SUPreferenceManagerErrorDomain Code=1 "(null)" Install finished successfully administrator@AdministorsiMac ~ % According to the logs, the install finished successfully, but the installer cannot be found in the Applications and the iMac is still with Catalina.

My organisation is blocking access to the App Store for security reasons, so I can't download Xcode 13 from there. I looked at https://developer.apple.com/download/all/ but there I only see a bunch of tools, not Xcode 13 itself. Are there other ways to download Xcode 13?

Somehow, Apple's App Store app icons are duplicated in the Launchpad on my MacBook Pro running macOS 11.5 (Big Sur). Since this is a system-level application, I cannot delete one of these redundant icons. I tried the strategies that I found on the Internet, i.e., 1. Remove ~/Library/Application Support/Dock/*.db 2. Run defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true 3. Run killall Dock 4. Restart the system But these duplicated icons are still in Launchpad after reboot. I am wondering how to remove one of them?

The laptop is a Macbook Pro, M4 Pro I search for an app, click get then install, it has a popup with no options or prompts and nothing happens. Tried signing in and out, change password requirements, date and time settings, scanning my finger even though it doesn't ask for it and rebooting. 1. Click "Get" 2. Click "Install" 3. Popup, with no options other than cancel. At this point it will sit at this popup forever if I let it, never installing. Any suggestions on how to get it to continue and install would be much appreciated.

Safari and App store don't work on MacBook Air M1 on my home wifi, but Google Chrome does. Safari and the App Store both work over home ethernet. I updated macOS (only works with ethernet) to version 14.6.1 and restarted the Mac, but it didn't fix the problem.

Whatever I try, entering *correct* iCloud username and password still does literally nothing in App Store. It just does not work! iCloud account logout, shutdown, and start again and login does not help. Even quite promising advice login/logout and login again to Music app, which is now responsible for proprietary content, didn't work, also I would give it a chance at first place. All forums full of advice do not help, and such advice like delete your system and iCloud keychain are insane, as this leads directly to losing your data and of cause does not help to resolve App store login issue. Do not follow such if you encounter. Commands in Terminal regarding reset of Apple store do no work. Literally lost hours, after moving data to new hardware and stuck. Everything works except App store! I cannot login, cannot install new apps, cannot update existing apps... Update: At the moment of question it was MacOS Mojave, but since network stack configuration is quite system thing, it is located in still the same location on macOS Catalina, and I just checked Monterey, it's still the same.

I have a 1000/300 Mbps fibre connection. On my 2023-Nov 16" M3 Max MacBook Pro (which has Wi-Fi 6E), I have been experiencing slow download speeds exclusively from the Mac App Store and when downloading macOS updates. Other download events' performance varies, but it is always more than acceptable. For example, using the Steinberg Downloading Assistant, the speed can reach 100 MB/s (close to the theoretical maximum of my network). When I download an app, or an update, from the Mac App Store, the maximum is capped at 2.7 MB/s. If I press the Update All button (which allows up to 3 concurrent downloads), speeds go down to 800 kB/s... While this clearly isn't a hardware problem, I ran Wireless Diagnostics and it showed no issue, as expected. I have another Mac, running Monterey 12.7, connected to the same network. It has Wi-Fi 802.11ac (compared to this new 802.11ax). Holding Option and tapping on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar gets a Tx Rate of 867 Mbps (compared to the new one which has 1200 Mbps). Downloading macOS updates or App Store updates/app there is blazing fast, 50+ MB/s. I am using iCloud Private Relay on both Macs & am using CloudFlare (1.1.1.1) DNS as top priority on both Macs. Another Mac mini in the house (2018) is also downloading well. So, it's not the network, it's not the Wi-Fi modem in the new Mac, what is it, then? Is Sonoma to blame here? Is macOS using a specific port for these two services (softwareupdate & the one governing Mac App Store updates, assuming it is different)? Apple service is not to blame, since it works in an older (Intel) Mac and not in a newer (Apple Silicon) Mac. Thank you for your insight. EDIT 1: following Apple Support initial contact, I created a new Administrator account and tried again there. Same results. I then booted into Safe Mode from the main account and tried again here. Same results. Did a Speedtest again and, generally, I'm getting 700+/300 Mbps speeds. EDIT 2: second round with Apple Support today. We tested a tethering connection with my iPhone XS. Speedtest gave 30/10 Mbps, so about 25x slower than my home Wi-Fi. Using the App Store, I began a download event and the speed was 4.2 MB/s, perfectly in line with the speed test, and almost double the one I had with my Wi-Fi. Now, Apple Support suggested I contact my ISP to see if they have some protocol that may prevent just the App Store & softwareupdate from using the whole band. But how should I word this? I need some technical language I am not proficient with, and also, why this Mac has this issue and the others, older ones, do not? Could this Mac's Wi-Fi 6E modem not like my 5G router, but only for these processes? If so, what could they do to solve this? Are there specific ports being used by App Store & softwareupdate? If this brings no result, they suggest reinstalling macOS.

I search for an app (any app available in the app store), click Get, then install. A popup with no options or prompts and nothing happens. Tried signing in and out, change password requirements, date and time settings, scanning my finger even though it doesn't ask for it and rebooting. Click "Get" Click "Install" Popup, with no options other than cancel. At this point it will sit at this popup forever if I let it, never installing. At the same time, previously installed applications are being updated successfully. MacBook Air MacOS 15.4

My mac is running MacOS Ventura, version 13.7. I tried installing Xcode from the App Store, but it won't let it install because it says that it can only install on version 15.2 or higher. Is anyone aware of a way to get around this problem? For reference, I am installing Xcode so that I can install Macports, following this tutorial. Thanks!

The employees in my company are encouraged to get themselves the apps from App Store if they need them for a task at hand in addition to the apps pre-installed by the administrator. There seems to be no way to remove such apps when they are no longer needed. What have I tried? - In App Store, in the grid of apps after clicking on my account, I tried selecting "Delete app" from the three dot menu of the app. - In Launchpad, I tried hitting ⌥ option key and clicking ⦻ which appears next to the app. - I tried going to Applications folder in Finder and choosing "Move to trash" from right-click menu. - I tried dragging and dropping the app from Applications in Finder and from Launchpad onto the trash bin icon in the dock. Each time the pop-up asks to login as an administrator. I cannot satisfy it with my Mac login account or my Apple ID which I use for App Store. I imagined that the application is installed to a place where the App Store is allowed access to, so I would be able to remove the app with the App Store in the same way that I installed it. I have no problem updating those apps manually in App Store. App Store also updates them automatically for me. For example, here are the permissions of WhatsApp app directory:

/Applications % ls -la WhatsApp.app
total 0
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel   96  2 гру 12:08 .
drwxrwxr-x+ 28 root  admin  896  2 гру 18:08 ..
drwxr-xr-x  10 root  wheel  320  2 гру 12:08 Contents
/Applications % xattr -l WhatsApp.app 
com.apple.appstore.store_cohort: 7|date=1605871800000&sf=143492&pgtp=Software&pgid=1147396723&prpg=Search_3d742123-f66f-4798-8833-3ee76553ac1b&ctxt=Search&issrch=1
com.apple.appstore.storefront: 143492
com.apple.appstore.vendor_name: WhatsApp Inc.

I tried rm -r WhatsApp.app, but, as expected, it returns Permission denied for each file until I terminate it. **May it be possible to be able to remove the apps, which I install from App Store, on my own or there is a technical obstacle which definitely prevents me from doing it?** If it is not enabled by default, may be the system administrator can enable it somehow, so that I do not need the administrator for removing those apps, without giving me unnecessary permissions? I am under macOS Catalina version 10.15.7 (19H15). This question is similar to another one , but in my question I am specifically interested in how to remove the app, not in why the administrative password is requested. Please note that my display language is not English, so some text may be not precise. --- _Update from 1 April 2025_: Following another answer to this question, I tried removing the application once again, and now it was uninstalled successfully. The method which had failed before worked this time: > - In Launchpad, I tried hitting ⌥ option key and clicking ⦻ which appears next to the app. The system was updated to Sequoia 15.3.1. I do not know what else could have changed. Also, closing the application was not necessary.

I installed the app irightmouse from [this website](https://www.irightmouse.com/) or [this App Store link](https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/%E8%B6%85%E7%BA%A7%E5%8F%B3%E9%94%AE-irightmouse/id1497428978?mt=12&pt=119219825&ct=Better365) , and it had instructions to run this command upon installation

pluginkit -e "use" -i cn.better365.iRightMouse.iRightMouseExtension;killall Finder

The app ended up not working, and then I noticed that every time I double click my right mouse button that it closed the window I'm working in, there is no instructions on the site on how to undo the command so I'm stuck. is there anyway to reverse the command or remove it?

I want to deploy the Microsoft Universal Print app to our Macbook users via MDM (specifically Microsoft Intune). This isn't possible normally because Intune doesn't support MacOS App Store apps and Microsoft haven't made a PKG or DMG file available yet. We're talking deploying to 500 users, so the more automated we can make this, the better. On Windows (with an unrelated app for an unrelated issue) I was able to get a direct download URL. That is, the file that the Microsoft Store would download in the background when I would click on "Get". I'm looking for a similar direct download URL for the Universal Print so I can package it up and deploy it via MDM, but I'm not having any luck. Is there a way to get a direct download URL of an app from the MacOS App Store, short of installing Wireshark and sniffing traffic that way?

Just purchased a used early 2011 MacBook Pro and did a complete new reinstall of Sierra 10.12.6 from Bootstick/Internet including all updates later available for 10.12.6; I was able to download them from the App Store without being signed in. When trying to sign directly into the App Store I received a failure message: ***An unexpected error occurred while signing in. The data couldn’t be read because it isn’t in the correct format.*** Additional Information: - Accessing my App Store account from another MacBook Pro late 2011 with the same OS is no problem. - Accessing my App Store account from my iPad and iPhone is no problem. - Accessing my Mac ID, iTunes and iCloud accounts is no problem. - When signing into iCloud in Preferences the MAC automatically signed me into the App Store (in AppStore\Store\View my Account; it shows the email address currently used). However when trying to download third party apps, the App Store asked me to sign in again and after doing that the same failure message occurs again too. - No VPN or Virus Software is installed. - I have only one Internet Network and can not test with another one, however since the problem is only related to this one Mac and the other one runs fine, I assume the Network is not the cause of the problem. What was done so far, but did not solve the problem: - Log in / Log out - Created new App Store password - Created new Test User. - Used another App Store account. - Basic system restart. - Restart in Safe Mode. - Apple Hardware Diagnostics via Internet. - Time reset from Automatic to Manual. - Resetting the Time Zone. - Turned off the Firewall. - Deleted /User/Library/Preferences plists for app store. - Complete new Reinstall with Time Machine Backup which is working fine on my other MacBook. - Repeated all the above listed trouble shooting steps, with the Time MAchine Install, problem remains the same. Just did another complete new reinstall of Sierra 10.12.6 from Boot-stick/Internet, problem remains the same. Library/App Store/Adoption.plist is actually providing some more information and saying that the Mac s/n is missing. However, the Mac system information is showing the s/n: Also the Console is showing some log info: How can I get rid of this problem and sign into my account again with this MAC?

The timezone of my Mac Monterey 12.5 is set to New York which is totally different from my current time and location. The strange thing about it is that I can't change my time zone. Also, the TouchID is deactivated so I have to keep entering the password. For example, I have to use the password for installing applications instead of TouchID. Once I fixed these problems by reinstalling the operating system and it fixed for a while but again has these issues. The strange thing is that I don't see any error message from the operating system. Does anyone know where the problem is and how I can fix it? If the problem is serious, does the App Store support it for free? ![Screenshot of the Date & Time preferences pane ][1]

Sandboxed apps have to declare their entitlements. Of course, that doesn't do me any good if I can't tell what entitlements it declares. A text editor that has entitlements for Core Location, Network Server, and my Address Book, without my knowledge, could be much worse than an unsandboxed app. How can I see what entitlements an app has?

When I open the apple store on MacOS, or on my iPad, it is supposed to show the balance of my Apple account under my name; at least that's what the Apple support pages say. However in my case, nothing is shown. This is supposed to mean that my balance is zero. But when - on MacOS - I click on my name and then on "Account settings", the section "Apple Account" does show the correct balance. How come? **UPDATE** I found that it's even more bizarre. What I described above, applies to MacOS on my Macbook, and the correct balance shown in the Apple Account (but not on the AppStore page) is around 60€. When I use MacOS on my iMac (same Apple ID of course), the balance *is* shown on the AppStore page, but as around 90€.