Apple unveiled macOS Mojave 10.14 at their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 18) on June 4, and the initial beta of the upcoming Mac operating system has been available to developers since that day.
If you’re wanting to see what all the hullabaloo is about, and want to try out Mojave’s new Dark Mode, the Home app, Stacks, and improved security features on your Mac, there are ways to try it out before the official release this fall.
Be advised, using a beta isn’t for the faint of heart, and we definitely don’t recommend installing it on your daily-use Mac. But, if you’re up to it, you can try out the beta now.
How to Get macOS Mojave
As mentioned above, the developer beta of macOS Mojave is available now. But you’ll need an Apple Developer Program membership, which requires an Apple ID and $99.
In a few weeks and a few beta seeds from now, Apple will release a free beta version of the new macOS to members of Apple’s Beta Software Program. You can visit the site and sign up for the beta program, and you’ll be able to download the public beta of macOS Mojave when it becomes available. (You’ll also get access to iOS 12 when it becomes available to public beta testers.)
While there are ways to obtain the Mojave beta download, we don’t recommend them, as you run the chance of installing malware on your Mac, or worse, the file may not be validated and could corrupt your install.
Check your Mac’s Compatibility
Before doing anything, make sure your Mac is compatible with macOS Mojave 10.14. The new OS is compatible with Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later, plus 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models with Metal-capable graphics cards.
To check your Mac, click the Apple icon in the upper-left hand corner of your Mac’s Desktop and click the “About This Mac” menu option. A window will appear, telling you the model year of your Mac, and it’s core specs.
Be Careful
Once again, we warn you not to install macOS Mojave on the Mac you use every day. If you must install it on your daily driver, install it on a separate partition on your Mac.
Backup! Backup! Backup!
Before you install macOS Mojave, be it on your second Mac, your daily driver Mac, or on a new partition, backup your hard drive. Use Time Machine or your favorite backup utility, but have a recent backup before doing anything listed below.
Create a New Partition and Install macOS Mojave
To create a new partition on your Mac, do the following:
- Launch the “Disk Utility” app.
- Select the disk you want to partition from the left-hand panel (it’s usually the top option and is likely named “Macintosh HD”).
- Click the “Partition” button at the top of the window.
- Click “Partition” (as opposed to Add Volume) if Disk Utility doesn’t automatically make that choice.
- Click the “+” button below the Partition Layout diagram.
- Choose a size for the new partition by dragging to resize the wedge of the pie chart that represents your hard drive (MacOS Mojave is said to be 4.8GB, but give your new OS some elbow room, and set up a larger partition, whatever you feel you can give up from your macOS High Sierra installation) give the new partition a name, like, macOS Mojave Beta Test.
- Leave the Format as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)”.
- Click “Apply” and wait for the new partition to be created, it should only take a few minutes, tops..
Use a Virtual Machine
If you’re not feeling bold, but you still want to play with the upcoming new version of macOS, you can always install it in a virtual machine. You can use Virtualbox, VMware, Parallels Desktop Lite, or other virtual machine solutions.
You’ll find that the performance of macOS Mojave in a virtual machine isn’t quite up to the speeds of it running on a physical Mac, but it’ll give you a taste of Mojave without needing to put your current Mac install and its data at risk.
Good Luck
However you choose to install and run macOS Mojave 10.14 on your Mac, we wish you luck. Enjoy!
