Unable to install Yosemite on MacAir 2015

I recently received my daughter's old MacBook Air 2015. I hit the wrong button restoring it and believe I lost Monterey which it was updated to.

I then did a lot of reading and entered the world of restoration. The only option it gave me was to restore on line. I did that numerous times but when I get to the instillation of Yosemite 10.10 I can only get so far.

I then called Apple. Initially they were willing to help, but then were not and told me to go to Best Buy.

I realized a needed and bootable disk eventually downloaded on my macbook 2021 and then to a flash drive.

I am just stuck and hoping that someone will be able to give me assistance.

Thank you

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 20, 2025 10:45 AM

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,444 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2025 9:25 AM

If you actually have a 2021 M-series Mac, then you should be able to download & create a bootable macOS 12.x Monterey USB installer which should work on a 2015 MBAir. Here is an Apple article with instructions and links to the installer:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Theoretically you should be able to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the online macOS 12.x Monterey installer, but unfortunately some Macs may decide to only boot to the older online installer for the OS which originally shipped with the Mac from the factory regardless of the keys used for booting.

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Unable to install Yosemite on MacAir 2015

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