Traditionally, new versions of macOS are released by Apple each fall. Information Technology will hold the version back for up to 90 days in order to ensure there are no major bugs or issues when released to campus.
Prepare for the Upgrade
The upgrade to macOS will require at least 15 GB of free disk space and can take up to two hours to complete. Please also be sure that any laptop is plugged into power before beginning the upgrade.
The upgrade will also reboot the computer multiple times during the process.
Installing the Upgrade
Once ready to perform the upgrade, follow these steps to start the process.
- For faculty and staff, you will need to run Privileges
- All macOS upgrades require administrator privileges in order to run correctly. For information on Privileges, see the "Related Articles" section on this page.
- Click on the Apple menu () - System Settings...
- Click General
- Click Software Update
- Select the upgrade to install and click Update Now or Upgrade Now
- When prompted, enter your computers' username and password (this might be different from your Bowdoin username and password).
- Students should be administrators of their own computers and do not need to run Privileges first.
- Follow all on-screen prompts.
For more information, you can visit Apple's knowledge base article on the subject.