MacBook Air OS cannot upgrade
I have a MacBook Air with OSX Yosemite version 10.10.5. But I have no updates to a newer OS available. Why can I not upgrade to a newer OS?
MacBook Air 11″, OS X 10.10
Question marked as
Top-ranking reply
You definitely can, to at least Mac OS X El Capitan, depending on the age of your mac you may be able
to upgrade to a newer OS.
The App Store Updates page only informs you of updates available for the OS you are running.
Installing a newer OS is called an upgrade.
Which OS you can upgrade to will be governed by which mac, model and year your mac is.
Click on the top left of your screen click on About This Mac to find out the year of your mac.
For older OS’s,
Open Safari and click on this link,
How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support
Go to Check Compatibility to see if your mac qualifies for the OS upgrade you want.
Then go to the Download OS section and click on the OS you want to install.
If you can install Big Sur, open Safari and click on the link below.
It is advised to upgrade to macOS High Sierra first.
How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur - Apple Support
Before upgrading make a full back up of your Mac.
Check that third party apps you use have updates available for the new OS.
Check that your printers/ scanners etc have updated drivers and software available for the new OS.
Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.
Do not use your mac while it is downloading
and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.
If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app
go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS ******.app.
Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.
If you are considering upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur be warned they do not support 32bit apps.
Your Mac is probably running 32bit apps and these will need to be updated to 64bit apps,
some updates may be free, some may be paid. Use this app to discover which apps you have
are 32bit, https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/ then contact the developers of the software to see
if they are providing 64bit updates or alternatives.