Apple’s macOS Sierra (formerly OS X) was released today, and includes some cool new features like a universal clipboard and optimized storage. Unlike OS X El Capitan, there aren’t nearly as many major changes like System Integrity Protection.
If you’re considering updating to macOS Sierra (10.12), there are some important things to keep in mind when upgrading your Mac mini remotely:
- Make sure you have a current backup using something like Time Machine. We don’t see many issues during upgrades, but it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side. We have external drive rentals available if you need a backup solution.
- The upgrade can be done remotely, however you will want to make sure you keep an eye on things as your mini may go to sleep after the upgrade is complete. If your mini goes to sleep, most likely you will need to contact support to power on your mini.
- Schedule the upgrade between 8AM and 5PM Central US time on a weekday for prompt and free hands-on support
- When starting the upgrade, leave the Screen Sharing window open even when it says Reconnecting – it will automatically reconnect when the upgrade is done.
- If this is a production machine, you may want to hold off on upgrading right away in case any bugs are discovered early on.
- Backup important data before the upgrade.
- The upgrade can take up to 30 – 60 minutes, depending on the specs of your machine.
- Do not remote reboot during the upgrade.
- Don’t go anywhere during the upgrade – you may need to fix the following power settings immediately after the upgrade:
- Computer sleep – change to ‘Never’
- Display sleep – change to ‘Never’
- Start up automatically after a power failure – check the box
- Schedule – make sure your mini is configured to power on at a specific time
If you’re a developer who needs System Integrity Protection turned off after the upgrade, we will need to manually boot into the recovery partition and disable it for you. If you need any assistance during the upgrade or have any questions, feel free to open a support ticket.