Yosemite changes the spirit and feel of your Mac , from ever - so - transparent windows to a completely Modern Spotlight user interface . But what has n’t changed is how you get it — come in the footsteps of Mavericks , OS X 10.10 Yosemite is offered as a costless upgrade , new available to download from the Mac App Store .
While instal Yosemite is not very dissimilar than set up Mavericks , you may have forgotten some whole tone from the last time . Let ’s endure through them now .
Before you begin
Excited though you are to add the a la mode version of Mac OS , there are thing you should do before embarking on that installment . They include :
Be sure your Mac can run Yosemite : The sound news is that if you ’re currently using Mavericks , your Mac can also accommodate Yosemite — arrangement necessary are the same for each . If you have n’t elevate to Mavericks and are n’t sure whether it can run Yosemite , be sure that your Mac can be found within this list :
Yosemite is compatible with the same Macs as Mavericks .
Apple tells us that , like Mavericks , Yosemite will take 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of free store space for the installation . Your Mac will fly the coop better with more RAM , so if you ’ve been nurse yours along with just 2 GB , it might be sentence to consider add together more .
Get an Apple ID : If you own any hunk of Apple hardware made in the last ten it ’s hard to imagine that you do n’t also have an Apple ID . But if you ’re That Person , it ’s sentence to get one . And it is because you ca n’t download Yosemite from the Mac App Store without such an ID . Again , Yosemite is free so you wo n’t see a deep charge seem on your credit entry card after the download , but you still call for the ID to get a written matter .
refresh your apps : From the Apple computer menu chooseApp Storeand in the resulting windowpane tap the Updates tab and install all appropriate update for your existing apps . developer have been interfering make their apps compatible with Yosemite and updating them before you proceed will make for a happier experience when you finally jump to type O X 10.10 .
Back up your macintosh : Mac OS upgrades generally go very swimmingly these day , but if you were suffer under a high-risk sign , you could be one of the inauspicious few whose instalment pass awry . Use Time Machine or another backup method acting to back up all your data .
Consider a clean facility on a freestanding loudness or division : With every OS update — Mobile River or desktop — there are people who make the switch and then regret doing so . It may be Yosemite ’s unexampled “ categorical ” flavour that couch them off or that Yosemite ’s performance on their Mac is n’t everything they ’d hoped it would be . By installing Yosemite on an external drive or a divider on your startup volume you have the option to experience it before making a unadulterated commitment . If you are n’t satisfied with it , it ’s a uncomplicated matter to boot back into your Mavericks bulk . If you care what you see , go right out front and install it on your even startup volume .
Downloading Yosemite
As were the last few versions of OS X , Yosemite is available from the Mac App Store . To get your copy select App Store from the Apple carte du jour . For the first several sidereal day that Yosemite is available , Apple will display a banner promoting it . ( If you ’re translate this month after its release , scroll down the page and look under the gratis bearing along the ripe side of the window . OS X Yosemite likely appear within the top 10 free downloads . )
In either casing , you ’re aim to the OS X Yosemite varlet where you’re able to download Yosemite for free . Click the appropriate push button to download it and then enter your Apple ID and password when prompted . The installer will start downloading and be saved to the Applications folder at the root grade of your arduous drive .
This download exceeds 5 G so if you have a dull broadband connexion , be prepared to wait awhile . ( If your connection isreallyslow consider starting the download before you leave the office or go to layer . It should be quick for you the next morning . ) remark that if you ’re downloading it on the first day of release , it may take longer to get to you than it would a a day or two subsequently due to the large number of the great unwashed trying to get their copy .
Saving a copy of the installer
As part of the installation process the Yosemite installer deletes itself once it finishes its job . This is n’t entirely distressing as you could always download another copy should you involve it .
However , if you have more than one Mac that you ’d like to upgrade to Yosemite or you prefer to have the installer around should you need to put in a fresh copy at a later engagement without waiting for it to download , you must make a copy of the installer outside of the Applications folder . Do so and it wo n’t be deleted after the installing .
If you set about to drag it out of the Applications folder , an false name of it will be created rather than a transcript . To make the transcript , defend down the Option ( Alt ) key and haul it to another name and address .
To move it to another Mac , re-create it over a local web or place it on a removable drive such as a flash drive or external hard drive that you then plug in to another Mac . The Yosemite license allow you to install that single copy on multiple computer .
Begin the installation
Once the download is complete the installer will launch and exhibit the Install OS X windowpane , which contains a Continue push button . clack that clitoris and you ’ll be asked to tally to the license correspondence double . In the next CRT screen you ’ll discover a thumbnail ikon of your startup drive , suggest that the installer is willing to refresh your current operating system .
If you have access to other divider or drives confiscate to your Mac , aShow All Disksbutton will also appear . To select a different volume or partition to set up Yosemite on , click this clit , choose the address you ’d like to use , and click onInstall . In the windowpane that appear participate your user name and password .
Choose the bulk you ’d like to establish Yosemite on .
A pre - installation process begin where the installer gets the Mac and its goal loudness quick for the job at handwriting . During this fourth dimension you ’ll see a grayish advancement bar . When the physical process finishes you ’ll be recount that the Mac will mechanically re-start in 30 seconds . You ’re welcome to sink in the Restart button if you ca n’t wait that long .
The Mac then reboots , displays the Apple logotype along with another progression taproom . Then the Install OS X window appear with a downcast progress bar and the words “ instal on [ nameofvolume ] ” with an estimated stay time appearing below the progress bar . Thrilling though this may be to watch , you may wish instead to take a interruption as the installation can take more than 15 minutes . When this is all gross the Mac will restart and you ’ll be actuate to start configuring the OS .
Performing a clean install
After the Mac charge you ’ll see a variety of configuration windows . Which you see depends on whether you ’re installing Yosemite over an exist Mac group O installation or you ’re installing it on a ride that did n’t previously have got a copy of the Mac OS ( this is term aclean install ) . Here ’s what you ’ll find when preform the latter .
The first windowpane asks you to opt the state where you reside . This is to found sentence zone as well as location . At the bottom of the window you ’ll see instructions for activating Mac OS X ’s VoiceOver screenreader feature film , which set aside those with visual impairment to operate the computer . If you have such an impairment , you’re able to get started with VoiceOver by pressing the Escape key .
You ’re then task with choosing the variety of keyboard layout you use ; a Wi - Fi net ( if your Mac is n’t jacked into an Ethernet connexion ) ; and whether you want to transmigrate information from a Mac , Time Machine accompaniment or startup disk , or a Windows PC . Choose to migrate information and Yosemite ’s Migration Assistant launches andwalks you through the physical process .
If you pick out to proceed without transport datum you ’ll be asked to contract in with your Apple ID ( you may take not to as well as choose to make an Apple ID if you do n’t have one ) . You ’re then offered the opportunity to share your location with iCloud so that your Mac can be cut across by iCloud’sFind My Mac service(part of the Find My iPhone scheme found on iOS devices ) . If you ’ve enabledtwo - step verificationfor your Apple ID , you ’ll next be asked to take an authorized twist on which to receive a verification computer code that allows you to proceed with the installation . Enter that computer code when you receive it .
A term and Conditions screen appears next . You must consort to it ( twice ) , otherwise you ca n’t proceed .
You ’re nearly done . If you have n’t already lay out up an account on this volume ( meaning that you ’re performing a clean installation rather than update an existing account ) you ’ll be asked to create such an chronicle . By default Yosemite admit you to use your Apple ID as your login but you’re able to disenable this option and do things the previous - fashioned way : Create an explanation name and enter and aver a password .
you could optionally contribute a hint in the appropriate field of operation . Also enabled by nonpayment are theAllow my Apple ID to reset this passwordandSet fourth dimension geographical zone based on current locationoptions . flip these off if you like and , if you want to , doubly - tap the icon that the installer has put to your name and choose a different picture . ( Or selectCameraand take a picture show with your Mac ’s camera and use it as your icon . ) ClickContinueand the Mac will set about create the news report .
You ’re now asked to dress up iCloud Keychain , which holds passwords and news report options . you’re able to set it up now and affirm it , or skip this gradation and do it after . I prefer to do it from the get - go so that my favourite entanglement site and countersign are await for me when I found Safari .
ultimately , prefer whether to send symptomatic information to Apple and/or break apart data point to third - company developers , click Continue , and your Mac moves to the Yosemite desktop , ready to apply .
If you install over an existing copy of the Mac o , you ’ll encounter far few pace . Specifically , when set up over Mavericks you ’ll be require to choose a Wi - Fi internet , sign in with your Apple ID , prefer to apply Find My Mac ( and verify your indistinguishability if you ’ve go under up two - step verification ) , fit in to the terms and condition , and choose whether to share diagnostics and usage data with Apple .
Later installations
If you ’ve come to this template months after you initially installed Yosemite and would like to do so again — on the Mac you ’re using or another one you own — there are a couple of way forward .
Just as you could before , you could bring up into Yosemite ’s Recovery division by obtain down Command - R at startup , and in the OS X Utilities window that finally appears , click Reinstall OS X , and then click Continue . This launch the OS X installer , which will download a sassy copy of Yosemite and install it on your inauguration volume .
Alternatively , if you no longer have the original Yosemite installer that you downloaded from the Mac App Store , you could get another written matter by take App Store from the Apple carte , clicking on the Purchases link , and clicking Download next to the OS X Yosemite entry .
If the wordDownloaddoesn’t seem next to the installer , it signify that the App Store believe you have a work copy of the installer already on your Mac . You should locate that copy and if you do n’t desire to habituate it — because it ’s now a couple of point - releases old , for instance — either constrict it or take out it from your drive . Once you do , you should be able to download a fresh copy from the Purchases Thomas Nelson Page .
Welcome to Yosemite
You now have a working copy of Yosemite on your Mac . Although the installer has finish its job , there are a few thing you ’ll want to do before moving on . They admit the pursual :
tick off for software update : Although you just updated your apps before raise to Yosemite , tally the App Store again to see if there are new update that are available only to those Macs running Yosemite . instal any you want or need .
dress up a Time Machine backup : If you have another thrust attach to your Mac you ’ll be asked if you ’d care to use it with Time Machine . If that ’s the purpose of that movement , allow this to hap . If you do n’t have a backup scheme , this is a good time to machinate one . The simple way is through an external drive , but you could also back up over the meshwork to a Time Capsule or some other kind of internet storage . The data you keep may be your own .
Add your printers : If you still apply ink to newspaper as part of your calculate aliveness , you ’ll want to be sure that your Mac is aware of the printers you use . Launch System Preferences , selectPrinters & Scanners , and see if your devices appear in the tilt to the left . If not , tick the positive ( + ) button and add them . In some case , printer drivers will be built in . In others , they ’ll need to be download .
And a few tweaks for good measure : By default Yosemite presents an user interface with more cobwebby component — windows in addition to the cobwebby menu bar that we ’ve seen in the past times . If you prefer that Yosemite ’s mien be more unintelligible , launch System Preferences , selectAccessibility , chooseDisplay , and enable theReduce Transparencyoption . This same Display druthers offer additional selection for increasing contrast .
And if you still find OS X ’s “ natural ” scroll direction unnatural , you’re able to reverse it by choke toMouse(if you use such a thing ) orTrackpad(for trackpad user ) preferences and disable theScroll direction : naturaloptions .
Familiarize yourself with Yosemite’s new features
And now your geographic expedition begin . Yosemite has a lot to propose , include Spotlight and Notification Center betterment , Continuity and Handoff , iCloud Drive , and more . For that more keep an middle on Macworld.com — we’ve get you covered .