“Install macOS Monterey” app downloaded without permission

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I am running an early-2020 13-inch MacBook Pro with four ThunderBolt 3 ports and an Intel processor (not Apple silicon). I am currently on macOS Big Sur 11.6.2, and plan to stay until at least macOS Monterey 12.2 comes out and some of my programs are updated to resolve issues under Monterey. The Mac is set to automatically check for updates, but it is not set to install updates automatically (“Download new updates when available” is deselected).

Today, I noticed the “Install macOS Monterey” app was downloaded to my Mac, with a last modified date of 1:57 PM. I was most certainly not looking at updates at that time, so I have no idea why Apple has decided to silently download the Monterey installer onto my Mac. 12 GB too! Good thing bandwidth and storage space isn’t an issue, but what if it was? A 12 GB download without my permission!

Can I simply move the “Install macOS Monterey” app into the trash, and still download and install Monterey later? I’ll upgrade to Monterey eventually—I just want to do it on MY terms. Has this occurred for anyone else?

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A similar thing happened to my iMAC a few years ago. It was running High Sierra and I noticed one day there was an “Install Mojave” icon when I opened the launchpad. I honestly don’t know how it got there since my update settings were as yours. But I was never pestered to actually install Mojave. My intention was to install Mojave after Catalina came out, but by that time the “install Mojave” icon was either gone or nonfunctional – don’t remember which. Long and short: it didn’t really affect my life and I just wound up installing Catalina at a time of my own choosing. I never really felt that I wasn’t in control of when an update happened; I was always able to choose when an installation took place.

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This happened to me too. I just noticed the installer in my Applications folder yesterday. I did not request it or download it, and like you my update settings are to only check for updates, NOT to download or install them. Also strange that the installer file was created on January 23, 2022 at 2:52 a.m., when both my Mac and I were fast asleep.

I plan to upgrade in the future, so having the installer isn’t a big problem – but my computer downloading and installing a 12+ GB application without my permission or knowledge IS.

This gives me flashbacks to Microsoft doing similar things with Windows 10 years ago!

I created a post about this on the Apple Support Community forums to see if anyone else has experienced this strange behavior. I may also contact Apple Support directly to see if they can give me an explanation.

I’ll come back and post again if I get any more information from either of those sources about this.

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anonymous wrote:

This gives me flashbacks to Microsoft doing similar things with Windows 10 years ago!

from what to Windows 7?
MSFT never forced Windows 7

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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FROM Windows 7 and 8 TO Windows 10. They had that bloody “GetWinX” thing that basically TRICKED people into installing Windows 10, or they just outright installed it automatically if you didn’t explicitly disable the installation.

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I also have the “install macOS Monterey” application in my Intel Mac’s “Apps” directory, as revealed by using Finder to look for it. It is also the update to software in-wait I have been finding for several months by now when using the “looking for updates” application that has a gray icon that looks like a cog within a cog. This is quite as it has been, since I was running Sierra in 2017: once it comes out, usually in October, the notification that one can install the latest version of macOS is present there, waiting for me to download and install it when and if I choose to do so, as I have the Mac set to”notify me of any updates, but do not install them until I say so” (or words to this effect).

The mere presence of this application in one’s Mac is not making the installing, in this case, of Monterey mandatory. No one is being tricked, as far as I know (including myself), with (for example) a pop up announcing how great is Monterey that, when clicking on the “x” to close it, actually sends a signal to begin installing Monterey (as MS sneakily did to force Windows 10 to be installed, back when Win 10 first came out).

If you don’t launch that application yourself, directly, or through “Software Update” in “System Preferences”, nothing will happen.  One always can delete the app by trashing it, as one would trash any other thing in a directory (“folder”). No idea if it comes back, my guess is that it will.

I think the policy to follow is to relax and forget about it. But if anyone else likes to worry about it, I am OK with that too.

As to installing any version of macOS older than Big Sur and Monterrey, there are instructions in numerous threads on how to do that at AskWoody.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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pmcjr6142

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OscarCP…do you know how long after a  new OS comes out before this install app was downloaded to your Mac?  I installed Monterey after only a few days after its release by going thru “software update” in Preferences.  If the app was on my Mac then I wasn’t aware of it. I understood you to say you can go thru “software update” even if the app is on your Mac?  I guess that would shorten the OS update download time.  Where exactly was the install OS app…in the Applications folder with all your other apps?  There was no notice it had been downloaded to your Mac?  How would someone even know to look for it and start the update via this app?  I have the same “notify me but do not install setting” on my Mac.  It would never have occurred to me to look for an install app instead of going thru “software update” normal procedure.

iPhone 13, 2019 iMac(SSD)

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I’m not Oscar, but same thing happened to me when my iMAC was running High Sierra. One day by chance I was looking in Launchpad for something and just happened to see the install Mojave icon. I don’t when it showed up. I was planning on using the icon to install Mojave after Catalina came out, but turned out the icon at that time was useless, wouldn’t let me do anything. So I just bit and installed Catalina.

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pmcjr6142

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pmcjr6142:

Not being an expert on things “app”, I am guessing that no matter which way one chooses to make an update to the next macOS version, this particular “app” is what does the job, and that is why the “app” might show up around the time when the invite to upgrade to the current version of macOS shows up in “Software Update.”

Occam’s Razor and all that. (Last resort, having no other reason …)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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pmcjr6142

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Since writing this thread, I deleted the app. It has since re-appeared not twice, but three times.

This has never happened to me when I was on Catalina, no Big Sur installer popping up uninvited, so I’m not sure why Apple is downloading 12 GBs onto my computer without my permission.

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Well I got hit by the “Install macOS Monterey” installer on my MacBook Air running Catalina! I just noticed it today but should have realized earlier this week when I ran my weekly Time Machine backup. It backed up 13G of data when normally it does 400M to 500M.

I got to keep my eyes wide open with Apple these days.

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Was it in Lauchpad with all you other apps?

iPhone 13, 2019 iMac(SSD)

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I have it too, as I am in Big Sur.

My choice is to let it be, as it otherwise it does nothing unless I chose to move to Monterey: a “let sleeping dogs lie” approach. And keeping in mind that this particular dog keeps coming back. Besides I have more than 1/2 TB of free space left after close to 5 years since I bought the Mac with a 1 TB SSD. Which is why it pays to spend on more mass storage and on RAM. Plenty of the latter also can keep the frequent memory paging, that can wear the SSD, way down. Even if one scrimps on other things to have these.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Have you tried : https://techstacker.com/how-to-stop-mac-automatically-downloading-updates/#:~:text=Disable%20Mac%20Auto%20Downloads,bar%20and%20select%20System%20Preferences.&text=At%20the%20bottom%20of%20the,ticked%20(enabled)%20by%20default.

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That article was published Sept. 2020 and is no longer valid. The download of the Monterey installer occurred in spite of those recommended settings.
The installer just sits there if you leave it alone. But it’s one heck of a big piece of * to impose on people’s bandwidth if they have limited bits or they are doing Internet-intensive work.
It happened to me while I was running the scoring for a diving meet, with live online results being uploaded, and it delayed the meet in spite of my 16GB RAM and i7 processor b/c it bogged down my computer and choked my Internet connection.

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Alex5723

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PK: Good point. I wonder why I never noticed a slowdown. Maybe because I have a good Internet connection? I don’t think mine is particularly good, though. Not bad, yes, but really great? No, at least by today’s standards. Perhaps it has been the mere good luck of not doing something computer intensive when the downloads took place.

I turn the computer off when I am not using it, so the download has to happen when I am working with it.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Yes I found it with my other applications.

Like OscarCP, I’ll leave it rest. No point in deleting if it will just come back!

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pmcjr6142

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I just found one on mine that was “last accessed” Jan. 19, 2022 at 12:57 p.m. Almost as bad as that U2 album that showed up in everyone’s iTunes.

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This is really irritating. I had this update dl several times without permission. I do not want new dual library MacOS. It is annoying for them to try and force that on me.

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When you go to Apple Icon/About this mac/System Report/Installations, what entries are there for macOS Monterey? I have versions 12.2.1, 12.3, 12.3.1, and 12.4 on my MacBook Air, but only the first 3 on my iMAC. Of course, they’re not actually installed – both computers are running Catalina.

When you go to System Preferences/Software Update/Advanced, do you have “Download updates when available checked?

Also, just out of curiousity, does your Software Update work? In other words are you told you have updates (or that your system is up to date, or do you just get a spinning wheel with the message Checking for Updates?

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Anonymous, the last one to comment above this: I don’t think Apple is going to force you to do anything, it will nag and annoy you by planting (repeatedly, it seems) some biggish piece(s) of Installer software in your Mac that will do nothing, just sit there taking up space in the HD or SSD. Unless you have the Mac wide open, set up to “Install everything Apple sends my way any old time, no questions asked.”

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Hello,

For me, it’s better, because I’m already on macOS Monterey 12.4, but I received a notification to upgrade to… Monterey!

And the installer has been downloaded in my App folder… again!

Very inconvenient!

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