Updating to the High Sierra GM Candidate

Let’s look at how to do that final (we hope) beta update for macOS High Sierra. If you’ve been on the beta or public beta track for 10.13 High Sierra, you probably know that the Gold Master (GM) Candidate was recently released. Unfortunately, updating to it isn’t done the way it used to be. Here’s what you need to know to download and install the High Sierra GM Candidate.

Using the Right Tools is Key to Getting the High Sierra GM Candidate

When you first installed the High Sierra beta, you used a utility to open a back-door into the operating system’s page in the Mac App Store. With each new beta release, you’d get a notification of the update from the Mac App Store. Then it was just a matter of opening the App Store, clicking Updates, and installing the new version. Not so for the GM Candidate.

To install the High Sierra GM Candidate, you have to go back to that special utility. It’s official name is the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility. Here’s how you can download it again and get the GM Candidate installed.

First, Delete Old Installers

The first step is to delete any old High Sierra beta installers you might have on your Mac. Look in /Applications, and drag Install macOS High Sierra Beta to the Trash.

To make sure it’s really gone, go ahead and empty the Trash. Then you can go to the next step.

Download and Run the macOS Beta Access Utility

Now, it’s time to download the proper beta access utility so you can get to the High Sierra GM Candidate in the Mac App Store. For developers, it will be called macOS Developer Beta Access Utility, and you can access it from the Downloads page of the Apple Developer portal.

For those of you on the Public Beta, you’ll need to go back through the portal you originally used and download the macOS Public Beta Access Utility.

Once you have the correct file downloaded, double-click it to open it and then run the package within. Very shortly, you’ll be done and you’ll see the High Sierra page within the Mac App Store.

Download and Run the Beta Installer

Finally, download the beta installer from the Mac App Store. It will take some time, but launch on its own when finished. The filename will still be Install macOS High Sierra Beta, but it really is the GM Candidate.

For regular Mac users, running the installer one time should be sufficient to get you upgraded to macOS High Sierra GM Candidate. Things might be a bit different for those of you on a Hackintosh, though …

In fact, I had to run the installer four (count ’em, four) times to finally get fully past the installation. On my initial run, rebooting the first time failed to create and display the proper Install macOS partition in Clover. The second time, the partition was there but the subsequent reboot didn’t show the necessary partition. Third time around was the same as the first, but the fourth attempt seemed to be the charm and everything installed fine.

Waiting for the Official Release

If you’d rather wait for the official release, we’re expecting that on September 25. At that time, it should appear in the Mac App Store, either as an update or as a free install.