Preparing For macOS 10.14 Mojave and/or macOS Server 5.7.x

Preparing for macOS 10.14 Mojave and/or macOS Server 5.7.x

1. Check whether you have a compatible Mac from this list:
   • MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
   • MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
   • MacBook Pro 13"/15" (Mid 2012 or newer)
   • Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
   • iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
   • iMac Pro (2017 or newer)
   • Mac Pro (Late 2013 or newer)
   • Mac Pro (Mid 2010/2012 but only with recommended/supported Metal-capable video cards/GPUs)
   † supported Metal-capable video cards/GPUs - from Apple's official list:
   
   Specific third-party video cards that do support Metal:
   • MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
   • SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
   • SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
   • NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
   • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition
   Specific third-party†† video cards that might support Metal:
   • AMD Radeon RX 560
   • AMD Radeon RX 570
   • AMD Radeon RX 580
   • AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
   • AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
   • AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
   • AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
   • AMD Radeon Frontier Edition
   †† Third-party graphics cards vary, so you should check with the vendor of your specific graphics card for compatibility details - please check first before purchasing.
   We at MacStrategy personally believe, and predict, that Apple will drop support for cheese-grater Mac Pros completely in macOS 10.16 or even as early as macOS 10.15 (due autumn/fall 2019), so you may want to watch spending large amounts of money to get a Metal supported video card for 10.14 Mojave, just to find Apple drops support for your actual Mac within 18 months!
   
   NOTE: If you are not sure whether you have a compatible Mac check our Mojave FAQ before proceeding.
2. Check you do not need any of the following as Mojave does not directly include/support them:
• The ability to run AppleScripts/use Scripting Additions - see this in-depth article
• The ability to run most server features in macOS Server
• The ability to fully run applications that utilise OpenGL
• Back To My Mac - see our Mojave FAQ
• Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) via FTP or File URL schemes - see our Mojave Post Install FAQ
• Safari 13 for Mojave does not support .safariextz packaged Safari Extensions - see our Catalina Third Party Product Compatibility Information article
• Safari in Mojave does not support legacy NPAPI browser plug-ins except for Adobe Flash
• Messages support for AIM, Yahoo, Googla Talk and Jabber accounts
• PPTP VPN support
• Rosetta for running PowerPC software
• Web Sharing - see our Mojave FAQ
• Xgrid Sharing - see our Mojave FAQ for alternatives
• X11 - see our Mojave FAQ for alternatives
• Java especially Java web browser plug-in - see our Java article for more information
3. If you have a Mac Pro (Mid 2010) or Mac Pro (Mid 2012) you must be running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 with FileVault turned off before installing Mojave.
4. If you have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) check this Apple article before installing Mojave.
5. If you have a third party SSD installed in your computer check to see if it needs a firmware update before installing Mojave.
6. If you have manually created a Fusion drive using two SSDs you cannot install Mojave in place - you must backup/clone, reformat/recreate the Fusion drive using APFS, and then install Mojave.
7. Make sure you are connected to the internet (preferably with a fast connection and with a large or no data cap in place).
8. Make sure you have an Apple ID (use the iTunes or App Store application to create one if necessary e.g. go to Macintosh HD > Applications > App Store > Store menu > "Create Account…" to get started if you don't have an Apple ID).
9. Consider whether you want the Mac App Store Apple ID to be the same for services such as iCloud, iTunes, etc if you are going to use them.
10. Make sure that your Apple ID "account" has enough credit on it or has a credit card on file (with enough credit on it).
• macOS 10.14 Mojave = FREE
• macOS Server 5.7.x = £19.99
11. Check you have enough disk space:
• macOS 10.14 Mojave installer = ~6GB
• macOS Server 5.7.x installer = ~200MB
• macOS 10.14 Mojave installation = ~10GB
• macOS Server 5.7.x installation = ~500MB
12. Go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility:
• Select the volume under the disk you are going to use for Mojave on the left, then on the right of the window click "Verify Disk" - if problems are found you will need to repair your disk.
• Select the volume under the disk you are going to use for Mojave on the left, check at the bottom that it states "Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". If it doesn't state "(Journaled)" you will need to turn journaling on by going to File menu > Enable Journaling.
• Repair your boot disk's permissions.
13. Backup and/or clone your computer.
14. Check that your favourite software is Mojave compatible.
15. Temporarily disable any third party disk encryption software.
16. Temporarily disable any anti-virus/malware software.

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