macOS Monterey, a solid update with plenty of new features that improve productivity and enhance privacy, is out today. While not everyone will want to upgrade to the new operating system, if you plan to do so, then you should prepare your Mac.
Should you upgrade your Mac to Monterey? Is your Mac compatible with the new operating system? And how should you prepare for this big change? In this article, I’ll answer all those questions, so you can be ready to upgrade your Mac to macOS Monterey.
If you’re reading this shortly after macOS Monterey’s initial public release, you should be aware that it’s likely that a few bugs and compatibility issues will be discovered and fixed soon, although these bugs may not necessarily affect you. If you’ve purchased a brand new Mac that has Monterey installed, you’ll be prompted to install the latest macOS Monterey update.
Some Mac users, as a general rule, prefer to wait a few weeks for the initial bugs to be worked out and patched, and for more information to become available about compatibility with third-party apps and hardware, before upgrading to the latest macOS. Other Mac users are excited to embrace bleeding-edge macOS advancements and will prefer to upgrade immediately.
You should also consider that the latest macOS version is generally the safest to use online. Major new macOS versions typically contain security enhancements and fix vulnerabilities that never get fixed for the previous macOS versions.
Regardless of whether you prefer to upgrade immediately or wait a few weeks first—or if you haven’t yet decided which category you fall into—read this guide carefully to make sure you’ve made all the important considerations before taking the leap into the next-generation Mac operating system.
The first thing to check is whether your Mac model is compatible with Monterey. The following Macs can run Monterey:
This is a big change from macOS Big Sur, especially for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, which jumped two years – you can run Big Sur on 2013 versions of these Macs.
If you’re not sure of the vintage of your Mac, go to the Apple menu, and choose About This Mac. You’ll see its model and year.
In macOS Big Sur, Apple made a major under-the-hood change: legacy kernel extensions (kexts) were deprecated in favor of new “system extensions” that behave very differently, and this carries over to Monterey. This change primarily affects security protection and network monitoring software, as well as drivers (software that enables your Mac to work with certain third-party hardware).
If you care about your security and privacy, you probably use software such as an antivirus or firewall (including Intego software), or VPN software. It’s always important to upgrade these to the latest versions before you upgrade to a major new macOS release. Intego’s X9 apps are already fully compatible with macOS Monterey. Be sure to run NetUpdate to verify that you have the latest versions.
It’s also very important to check that any hardware drivers you rely on are compatible. For example, if you use a RAID storage device, and its driver isn’t updated, you won’t be able to access your files on that device; and if you have a graphics card whose drivers are not part of macOS, you’ll need to make sure they have been updated to use your Mac correctly. You may also want to verify that there are Monterey compatible drivers for your printer or any other hardware that may rely on custom software for special features. Although some printers, scanners, and other common hardware may work fine without any custom software, you may not know for sure about your own peripherals until you try them with Monterey.
Any software that’s actively developed by Apple should be fully compatible with Monterey by the time of its release. Many major third-party apps will work as well, but there’s a possibility that one or more apps that you depend on won’t be, especially older apps that may no longer be updated.
In some cases, third-party app developers might not yet have finished developing a Monterey compatible version, and in rare cases it may not be possible to make their apps compatible. If there are any apps you can’t live without, it is essential that you check to make sure that your apps are compatible. Imagine if you don’t, and you find that one app you use to perform an important task for your clients doesn’t work! You might be forced to rely on your system backup (more on that below) and try to revert back to Big Sur.
Apple does not maintain a list of compatible third-party apps, but you’ll find unofficial lists in various places as the beta campaign progresses, and by the time Monterey is released, these lists should be fairly complete. Each app developer should say on their websites, or in Mac App Store information, whether they are compatible. But in some cases, especially for older or infrequently updated apps, you may not know unless you contact the developer.
Note that if you’re buying a new Mac with Apple Silicon (an Apple M1, M1 Pro, or M1 Max processor, rather than an Intel processor), you may also want to check a site like Does it ARM? (Apple processors are based on the ARM architecture) or contact the developer to ask whether their software will work on Apple Silicon Macs. In general, most apps that are compatible with macOS Monterey should work with little or no additional development effort due to Apple’s Rosetta 2 technology, which allows apps designed for Intel Macs to run on new Apple Silicon-based Macs. However, there may be some exceptions where developers will need to update their apps for compatibility with new Mac hardware.
Since Macs with Apple Silicon have been out now for more than a year, if an app developer hasn’t updated their software to be compatible with these new Macs, then it’s possible that they won’t be updating it.
It’s a good idea to update as much of your software as possible before upgrading to a new Mac operating system, because in many cases updates will be available that are compatible with the new operating system before its release.
Most apps these days offer automatic update features, or, if you’ve purchased them from the Mac App Store, you can get updates via the App Store app. Updating is especially important for software like the Microsoft Office suite, the Adobe Creative Cloud apps, or other apps you may depend on for your work.
Another thing you can do is clean out some of the gunk that has been on your Mac for a while. You can start by choosing the Apple menu > About this Mac, then clicking on Storage.
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You can also use Intego Washing Machine (available as part of Mac Premium Bundle X9, Mac Washing Machine Secure X9, or standalone) to clean up and delete files you no longer need, such as cache files, downloads, duplicates, and more.
Apple’s Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities) is a tool designed to manage disks, but also to check them for errors. Before upgrading, it’s a good idea to run Disk Utility’s First Aid tool on your startup volume, as well as on the disk(s) you will use to back up your Mac (see below).
Launch Disk Utility, select your startup volume, then click First Aid in the toolbar. This will take a few minutes, and during the process your disk will be locked so Disk Utility can make repairs, if necessary. When this is completed, it will tell you if all is well, and if it has made repairs.
If your Mac is compatible, and you’re ready to upgrade, the first thing you should do is back up your Mac. You can use Time Machine if you have an external hard drive, but the safest way to do this is to clone your drive. A clone, or bootable backup, is an exact copy of everything on your Mac’s drive: system files and personal data. You can do this with Intego Personal Backup.
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If anything goes wrong during the upgrade process, you can boot from the external drive, and, if necessary, recopy all its files to your Mac.
And, of course, you can always take a belt-and-suspenders approach and do both. That way if something goes wrong with restoring a backup, you can feel secure knowing that you have an alternative option.
There are two ways to upgrade a Mac. The simplest is to run the macOS Monterey installer, which will install the new files over your existing operating system. It won’t alter your personal data, but only those files that are part of the system, as well as bundled Apple apps.
The other is to perform a clean installation, setting up your Mac with the new operating system, then copying files from the previous operating system. To do this, you should clone your Mac, on at least two drives (one to use for the upgrade, and another as a backup). Start up your Mac, then, if you have an Intel processor in your Mac, press the Option key immediately so you can select a cloned drive as the startup drive. For M1 Macs, press and hold the power button until you see Loading Startup Options, then choose the external drive. Launch Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) and erase the drive on your Mac. (You did make two backups, right?)
Download the macOS Monterey installer and launch it. It will ask which drive you want to install the software on; select the now erased drive in your Mac. Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
When you’ve finished, you’ll have a virgin operating system on your Mac, and you’ll still be working from your external drive. You can now copy all the files in your home folder, as well as personal apps.
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Setting Up a New Mac: Should You Migrate or Do a Clean Installation?
A clean installation is time consuming, but it can weed out old files from apps you no longer use, and it’s a good way to start with a clean slate. Some people do this for every major operating system upgrade; I only do it every few years, because it does take a long time. If you do a clean installation, make sure to keep both of your clones for some time, just in case there’s something you forgot to copy over.
Okay, it’s taken a while, but now you’re ready. If you’re installing macOS Monterey on a laptop, make sure it’s charged, or connect it to a power supply; you don’t want it running out of battery during the installation process.
Go to the Mac App Store and download the macOS Monterey installer. This installer is around 12 GB in size, so it may take a while to download, depending on your bandwidth. When the download is complete, the installer will launch; follow its instructions. The upgrade process can take a while—expect it to take a half-hour or more—and this is a good time to get a cup of tea or coffee, walk the dog, or do something else instead of sitting in front of your Mac watching its progress bar.
Once the installation is complete, you need to go through a few screens, such as one to sign into your iCloud account. At this point, you may see an Incompatible Software screen telling you of apps that have been moved because they are known to be incompatible. You’ll find them in an Incompatible Software folder at the top level of your drive.
Many things can go wrong with an operating system upgrade. If you have a problem, you can boot your Mac from the clone you made earlier, then run the installer again. In a worst-case scenario, you may need to wipe your Mac’s startup drive, the follow the clean installation method I discussed above.
Even if all seems well, keep your clone or backup for a while, just in case something goes wrong within the first few days or so. You can start checking out some of the new features in macOS Monterey.
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