How can I remove/delete the Tahoe installer..

Drag it to the trash, and then empty the trash.

FWIW, you don't have the Tahoe installer downloaded. Your screenshot shows Tahoe is available and the download is 7.69 GB in size. You haven't "lost" the 7.69 GBs.

In addition to Phil0124's note. First go into System Settings > General > Software Update. Click on the information (i) icon next to Automatic Updates. Change the settings so it looks like this:

The top choice is normally on. If you don't turn it off, the OS will likely download the Tahoe upgrade again after you delete it.

decaf_green wrote:

How can I remove/delete the Tahoe installer.. Happy with Sequoia, I'm not updating to macOS26 and would like my 7 GB back.. The Installers just sat there..

Thanks!

?

This sounds like the "stub installer"— I know of no way to track this down...if it is not in the Applications folder.

The stub is a precursor to fetching the full installer.

You can download the full installer ~16.6 GB Tahoe 26.0.1

Once download delete the full installer. If it launches automatically you simply Quit it like any other app.

The installer will be sitting passively in the Applications folder "Install macOS Tahoe.app"

Delete that to regain all your GB.

Keep in mind available storage/purgable storage will take a day or two for the system to release it to free storage.

Then you'll probably find the installer in this folder:

/Library/Updates

That's the root Library folder next to Applications, System and Users.

It should be in the Applications folder in Finder. Usually.

Here's one place a person may be able to gain a lot of space back.

/Users/your-account/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/tmp

(the com.apple.TextEdit part appears only as TextEdit for the name in the Containers folder)

Within the last folder, you'll find a subfolder named TemporaryItems. It seems to be a cache of any text file you have ever saved or modified. This folder of useless junk was nearly 5 GB! on my system. I deleted the TemporaryItems folder and launched TextEdit. Saved a nonsense text file and it recreated that subfolder.

Sure seems safe to me to delete that folder or its contents anytime you want.

System Setting >>> General >>> Software Updates >> Automatic Updates

Click the I in the circle which should present as per below image

Turn OFF >> Download new updates when available "

Found the one that used to work:

softwareupdate --ignore "macOS [version name]"

I tried using softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Tahoe" under Sequoia, but Terminal just returns what you can use the softwareupdate command for. Which explains why it no longer works. Apple removed the --ignore switch entirely.

softwareupdate: unrecognized option `--ignore'

usage: softwareupdate <cmd> [<args> ...]

** Manage Updates:

-l | --list List all appropriate update labels (options:  --no-scan, --product-types)

-d | --download Download Only

-i | --install Install

<label> ... specific updates

-a | --all All appropriate updates

-R | --restart Automatically restart (or shut down) if required to complete installation.

-r | --recommended Only recommended updates

    --os-only Only OS updates

    --safari-only Only Safari updates

    --stdinpass Password to authenticate as an owner. Apple Silicon only.

    --user Local username to authenticate as an owner. Apple Silicon only.

--list-full-installers List the available macOS Installers

--fetch-full-installer Install the latest recommended macOS Installer

--full-installer-version The version of macOS to install. Ex: --full-installer-version 10.15

--install-rosetta Install Rosetta 2

--background Trigger a background scan and update operation

** Other Tools:

--dump-state Log the internal state of the SU daemon to /var/log/install.log

--evaluate-products Evaluate a list of product keys specified by the --products option 

--history Show the install history.  By default, only displays updates installed by softwareupdate.  

** Options:

--no-scan Do not scan when listing or installing updates (use available updates previously scanned)

--product-types <type> Limit a scan to a particular product type only - ignoring all others

Ex:  --product-types macOS  || --product-types macOS,Safari 

--products A comma-separated (no spaces) list of product keys to operate on. 

--force Force an operation to complete.  Use with --background to trigger a background scan regardless of "Automatically check" pref 

--agree-to-license Agree to the software license agreement without user interaction.

--verbose Enable verbose output

--help Print this help

I think I know where it is.

System Settings > General > Storage

When the OS is done adding up drive space (only takes a few seconds for the wheels to stop spinning), click on the i button to the right of macOS near the bottom.

I'm betting the 7 GB is being hogged by Apple Intelligence. Here's mine, despite having it turned off.

I'd love to get that 4.55 GB back for what *I* want to use it for, but haven't been able to figure out to remove the AI data.

Edit: That 4.55 GB is under Sequoia. When I installed Tahoe fresh on another volume, the very first thing I did - as fast as possible - was opening the System Settings to turn AI off. That stopped the data it was downloading at just under a hundred MB. And that's where it will stay as I will never turn AI back on.

decaf_green wrote:

How can I remove/delete the Tahoe installer.. Happy with Sequoia, I'm not updating to macOS26 and would like my 7 GB back.. The Installers just sat there..

Thanks!

Not only, as mentioned by my colleague @dialabrain, the Tahoe Installer has not been downloaded

It also fulfills your wish to stay with Sequoia

It shows Sequoia 15.7.1 is available to download and install

decaf_green wrote:

Great! How do I remove it from System Settings? The notification is irritating!

I have read elsewhere on these ASC Forums regarding your above request

If only I could find that posting

To recreate that suggestion I have initiated a AI/LMM to assist

It looks much like the original posting / suggest

Use a configuration/profile (for advanced users or managed devices)

If your Mac is managed by an organisation (or you don’t mind using configuration profiles), you can deploy a .mobileconfig profile to defer or block major OS upgrades. For example:

The policy “Delay Major macOS Software Upgrades” can hide the upgrade option for up to 90 days.

Block the installer application (e.g., Install macOSTahoe.app) from running.

These are typically used in enterprise/IT settings; deploying such profiles manually requires some comfort with device management.

If you disable Apple AI, it's supposed to remove the cache data after a short amount of time. From my experience, it never does.

I also have instructions that require booting into Recovery Mode and using a number of Terminal commands to remove the AI data. The ones I have used to work, but no longer do. Though I think a slight modification would work. I'm also just about to leave Sequoia behind (waiting for the .1 update for Tahoe to fix things there), so it doesn't matter much if I toast the Sequoia volume. That, and I can always reinstall the OS.

But, the instructions wouldn't fly past the kind of info we can post on these forums. It would be removed rather hastily.

Kurt Lang wrote:

There used to be a simple Terminal (Unix) command to tell the OS to stop showing updates you don't care about. But, it no longer works.

You are very correct, as usual 👍

There is no tongue in check there, either

Happy belated Halloween 👻