I have had inconsistent experience when migrating from backups after migration to an older OS. I got the same flat refusal you mentioned when I tried to migrate directly from the Tahoe install, but succeeded when migrating from backups of the Tahoe install. More detail in my posts in this thread and here.
There are some tips for dealing with the Mail Database and Photos lib which will have been converted by the later OS and not be compatible with the older OS.
2 Likes
Ars Technica just published a guide for downgrading from Tahoe, either using the ‘just install the downgrade via USB’ method or the full ‘nuke everything DFU method’.
By the way, my only issue with Tahoe is the redesign of the Music app, which places all the information and control for what is currently playing into a small button at the bottom of the window. The window cannot show information about what is currently playing, as well as the progress bar and control, at the same time. It is also unreadable in Dark mode.
3 Likes
The only wrinkle I’ve found so far was I was unable to get my 1998 HP Laserjet to work; no driver available anymore. But when I selected the generic driver, the darned thing is humming along again. Amazing!
4 Likes
Just as a counter-example, I just bought an M4 Mac mini, picking it. up on Wednesday at my local Apple Store. I just activated now, and it shipped with Sequoia 15.3.1. So not all Macs are shipping with Tahoe.
3 Likes
I reverted to Sequoia (for Firewire), but the process still insisted on installing the latest Safari which has odd behavior under Sequoia.
(The “odd behavior” has been resolved.-wb)
In my experience over the years, new Macs often shipped with the immediately previous operating system. I always assumed they had been sitting on the shelf when the new system was released.
2 Likes
Sure, but the M4 Mac mini that I bought was released at the same time as the M4 iMac that @byrds71 bought a couple of weeks before. You’d think that they would roughly be the same. I ordered it (16 GB / 1 TB) a few weeks ago, and had it shipped to my local Apple Store for pickup, which took a couple of days - so Apple probably did have it stocked up. Ironically for the title of this topic, I immediately upgraded it to Tahoe.
Just another data point…
I just received my M4 MacBook Pro (ordered from B&H). I was hoping it would have Sequoia but it had Tahoe installed. After going through the initial setup (triggered by plugging it in) I did a downgrade to Sequoia.
I had already prepared a Sequoia installer disk and booted from that. Next, I used Disk Utility to erase the internal disk then rebooted using the Sequoia installer disk to do the install. No firmware downgrades were attempted.
Sequoia is now installed (and updated to 15.7.5 today) and I did a successful Migration Assist.
1 Like
I’m the OP and that’s exactly what I did with my new M4 iMac. I did not change the firmware and Sequoia is working fine. The only thing is I’m having a couple of Mail issues but I seem to remember reading that Sequoia Mail was a little squirrelly.
2 Likes
The day Doug Miller posted that his new M4 Mac Mini was running Sequoia, I ordered the same M4 Mac Mini (16 GB / 1 TB) directly from Apple. It was running Tahoe (shrug). I installed Sequoia via DFU and Apple Configurator. All good.
1 Like