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Install macOS Sequoia on a separate partition
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How about installing macOS 15 Beta in a virtual machine?
Wondering what the next version of macOS will look like? Try it yourself without putting your Mac at risk by either installing it on a separate partition or using a virtual machine. This way you can try both methods.
Install macOS Sequoia on a separate partition
If you have enough space and are comfortable playing around with Disk Utility, you can install a pre-release version of macOS on a separate partition. You can keep your stable macOS installation on one partition and then restart your Mac to try out the beta version.
Your data will not be affected and you won’t even have to “sacrifice” storage space, as macOS can take all the data it needs from the main drive.
It’s never a bad idea to create a Time Machine backup before messing around with macOS partitions, just in case. Back up your Mac now before you begin so you can restore your data if something goes wrong.
Download the macOS Sequoia installer
The first thing you need to do is download the installer for the beta version of macOS you want to download. The easiest way to do this is through Terminal, where you can specify which version of macOS you want to download and mount it in your Applications folder.
You should do this on the same Mac you are installing the beta on, as Apple will recognize your Mac and display appropriate versions.
First, go to System Preferences > General > Software Update, then under Beta Updates, select the version of macOS you want to install. We recommend the public beta, as developer betas can be even more unstable.
Now open Terminal and run the following command:
softwareupdate --list-full-installers
Wait a moment and your Mac will retrieve a list of relevant installers.
In the screenshot above we can see that 15.0 is the latest version. Now get this special installer using the following command:
softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.0
Remember to replace the version number with the corresponding version. Now wait for the installer to download. It is about 15 GB in size, so it may take a while.
If the list-full-installers command doesn’t work after you enable the beta flag in System Preferences, restart your Mac and try again. If it still doesn’t work, disable beta participation and make sure your Mac is updated to the latest stable version of macOS. Then re-enable beta participation and try again.
Creating a new partition for macOS Sequoia
Now open Disk Utility and with the internal startup volume selected (probably labeled “Macintosh HD”), click the “+” sign next to “Volume.” Give your new volume a name you’ll recognize, make sure “APFS” is selected, and don’t worry about specifying a size.
Click Add and your volume will be created. You can now close Disk Utility and are ready to install the macOS beta.
Install macOS Sequoia on your new volume
Hopefully, there should now be a new item in your Applications folder called “Installing macOS 15 Beta” (if not, check the progress in this Terminal window).
Now all you have to do is run this file and start the installation. Click “Next” and on the next screen you will be asked to select an installation location. Click “Show all disks” and select the volume you created previously.
It’s worth double-checking that your main partition isn’t selected here, otherwise you’ll overwrite your existing stable version of macOS.
Click Continue and choose whether you want to copy the account settings. Finally, click Install and enter a password when prompted. The macOS beta will be installed on the appropriate partition.
When the installation is complete, your Mac will restart and prompt you to set up the new version of macOS as if you were using a brand new Mac.
Switching between stable and beta versions of macOS
To choose which version of macOS you want to start, shut down your Mac using Apple > Shut Down.
On an Apple Silicon Mac (with M1 chip or later), press and hold the power button (Touch ID sensor) to start your Mac, then select the appropriate partition. On an Intel Mac, press and hold the Option key, then press the power button (Touch ID sensor) and select the appropriate partition.
You will need to do this every time you want to switch between the beta and stable versions of macOS.
Deleting the macOS beta
To delete the beta, go back to Disk Utility from your stable version of macOS (macOS 14 in this case) and highlight the “macOS Sequoia” partition you created. Click the minus “–” button next to “Volumes” and confirm by clicking “Delete”.
How about installing macOS 15 Beta in a virtual machine?
This is supposed to be the part of the guide where I explain to you why installing macOS 15 in a virtual machine is the easiest and least risky option. That’s technically true, but getting one of the beta versions of macOS 15 to work in a virtual machine isn’t necessarily easy.
All you need to do is download the appropriate IPSW from Apple’s developer website (which is now free or use a free IPSW downloader to download the appropriate IPSW file), create a virtual machine in free tools like UTM and Virtual Buddy or a paid tool like Parallels Desktop and you’re ready to go.
After several hours of trying on a fully updated macOS 14 host, I was unable to create a working macOS 15 virtual machine. This included installing the Xcode 16 beta, extracting and installing mobile support installers from the app directory, and even installing device support packages from Apple Developer.
In UTM and Virtual Buddy (both based on QEMU) I got a generic “Installation failed” message. Parallels Desktop was able to create a virtual machine that was terminated during installation.
There is plenty of evidence online of some people succeeding in getting these methods to work, while others failed miserably (like me). This highlights the nature of pre-release software, where a few changes on Apple’s part can seemingly break compatibility with even paid virtualization solutions.
And beta software is fleeting. While it’s likely that the final version of macOS 15 will work perfectly in software like UTM and Parallels (just like macOS 14), the betas may never work.
By the time you read this, another beta version might already be out that fixes these issues and works perfectly. If you want to give it a try, there are instructions below that might help you out.
Install macOS 15 Sequoia with UTM
Install macOS 15 Sequoia with Parallels Desktop
If you’d rather just find out what’s coming to your Mac without installing anything first, check out our full roundup of upcoming changes in macOS 15.
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