Comment by Wowfunhappy

Comment by Wowfunhappy 2 days ago

> Should have said mid-2014 like OP, sorry

I don't want to belabor the point, but just to be clear—I am referring to a mid-2014 MBA, anything newer and Mavericks wouldn't work! (There is no "late 2014" MBA as far as I'm aware.) Mine offers to install Yosemite in recovery mode.

It may indeed be based on when that specific computer came off of the assembly line or something, I have no idea, but for that exact model of computer you can get different results in recovery mode!

brewmarche 21 hours ago

I guess I was also confused about the different recovery modes as pointed out by aspenmayer below.

I used Shift+Option+Command+R (or hold Option and choose WiFi instead of disk) which is internet recovery using the macOS version that came pre-installed (or closest)

Whereas Command+R is local recovery which might be any macOS version that last changed the local recovery environment.

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aspenmayer 2 days ago

There are multiple boot-time recovery options, but you might not have a required firmware update to use them. Per everymac, all 2014 MBA’s should be able to run up to Big Sur?

What is offered to install when you do this?

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-...

> Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac.

https://everymac.com/systems/by_capability/maximum-macos-sup...

> MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur)

> MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur)

> MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur)

> MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur)

When updating to the new macOS, firmware updates that govern the pre-boot and recovery environment are changed/updated, and you can downgrade macOS again afterwards. You can usually install the firmware updates without updating macOS, but finding them is usually the harder part. You could probably swap hard drives to a scratch SSD if you wanted to update your firmware via updating macOS entirely without affecting your live install, or install macOS on a USB drive, which should not affect your internal SSD install, but like all upgrades, have a backup or pull the internal SSD.

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brewmarche a day ago

I don’t know, I’ve performed numerous updates from the pre-installed Mavericks (Yosemite, El Capitan, High Sierra, Big Sur are the ones I remember, might be more), but the default recovery still goes into Mavericks for me

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- aspenmayer a day ago
  
  You might need to update the firmware for your Mac in order for the Internet Recovery to support updating to Big Sur. The firmware updates are installed at upgrade time usually, but you may be able to install them separately.
  > About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/101198
  I would see if you can access this:
  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132
  Download it, then you can make a bootable flash drive if you want, or just install it from under macOS.
  > How to download and install macOS
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662
  > Create a bootable installer for macOS
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
  
  Reply View | 5 replies
  
  brewmarche a day ago
  
  Big Sur Recovery mode works for me with Option+Cmd+R, so if needed I can install that. What I meant is that the other goes into Mavericks Recovery mode. And I’m happy about that actually :-)
  Edit: if you were referring to Option+Cmd+R anyway, I guess I misread
  Edit2: by other one I meant Shift+Option+Cmd+R, just Cmd+R actually goes into Big Sur, you are right!
  
  Reply View | 4 replies

brewmarche 2 days ago

Good to know. Mine is from June 2014 (assembly, since it’s a custom configuration). Sorry for missing your point.

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