Should I upgrade from Mojave to Monterey for the Mac mini 2018 model.

[MacWorld78]

I would like your advice before I do anything on it..

My current system: Mac mini 2018 (i5) 8GB running latest Mojave 10.14.6, mostly I run VMware fusion Pro v11.5.7 (windows 10 Pro)

Will I loose anything if I actually update from Mojave to Monterey 12.3.1?

Do I have to buy again VMware fusion pro v12 in order to run Monterey or old version will do?

My fear somebody said once you upgrade to latest version you can't run 32-bit applications - does that means for MacOS or VMware?

 

[Wando64]

If Fusion V12 relies on Kernel Extensions, it might no longer be compatible Due to the security improvements built in MacOS 11 and 12.
I had the same issue with an old version of Parallels.

Check the VMware website for compatibility info.

Apart from that I have found Monterey to be rock solid.

 

[MacWorld78]

If Fusion V12 relies on Kernel Extensions, it might no longer be compatible Due to the security improvements built in MacOS 11 and 12.
I had the same issue with an old version of Parallels.

Check the VMware website for compatibility info.

Apart from that I have found Monterey to be rock solid.

It's hard to find information from VMWare website - what do you means by Kernel Extensions?

Nice to know that Monterey to be rock solid ?

 

[allan.nyholm]

You don't have to buy VMware Fusion 12 - of course, seeing you mention the Pro version. Yes, you'll have to buy that one. However, you might get a discount. The VMware Player 12 for the Mac is free.

32-bit apps like Steam and the old Photoshop CS6 is long gone as an option to use with Monterey. These are just the more discussed 32-bit apps that fails. You might have some app that doesn't work.

Any game you might have bought from the Mac App Store such as GRID or whatever is also no longer useful on macOS Monterey until the game developers find a way to code a proper 64-bit loader for those ported games.
It's been some years now and nothing like that has happened.

I don't think that your version will work on Monterey for the reason mentioned. The new security model in Monterey is new. You'll learn that if you update and VMware 11 Pro doesn't work. Then get the free VMware Player 12 and eventually update to the Pro version of 12

Before updating you might eliminate the possibility for VMware to move the virtual machine compatibility up if you plan on going back to Mojave and again use VMware 11.5 Pro

Here's a chart of VMware version compatibility

And here's some info on v12 and such - including information about the free VMware 12 - non-pro

 

[MacWorld78]

You don't have to buy VMware Fusion 12 - of course, seeing you mention the Pro version. Yes, you'll have to buy that one. However, you might get a discount. The VMware Player 12 for the Mac is free.

32-bit apps like Steam and the old Photoshop CS6 is long gone as an option to use with Monterey. These are just the more discussed 32-bit apps that fails. You might have some app that doesn't work.

Any game you might have bought from the Mac App Store such as GRID or whatever is also no longer useful on macOS Monterey until the game developers find a way to code a proper 64-bit loader for those ported games.
It's been some years now and nothing like that has happened.

I don't think that your version will work on Monterey for the reason mentioned. The new security model in Monterey is new. You'll learn that if you update and VMware 11 Pro doesn't work. Then get the free VMware Player 12 and eventually update to the Pro version of 12

Before updating you might eliminate the possibility for VMware to move the virtual machine compatibility up if you plan on going back to Mojave and again use VMware 11.5 Pro

Here's a chart of VMware version compatibility

And here's some info on v12 and such - including information about the free VMware 12 - non-pr

Thank you for the information.

I checked Vmware v11.5.7 will not work on Monterey based on above url link that you provided.

If I upgrade from old to VMware pro fusion v12 - will that file windows10.vmwarevm work on new version?

How do I backup current Mojave OS v10.14.6 just in case if I don't like the upgrade from Mojave to Monterey - is that even possible to roll back to old version (Mojave).

 

[allan.nyholm]

Your Windows 10 virtual machine will be updated and not possible to downgrade since VMware updates the virtual machines with the latest compatibility by default settings. In case you want to revert to Mojave at any point and maintain your latest working Windows 10 virtual machine, you should look into either; backing up the whole of your virtual machine by duplicating it and keeping that duplicate safe and never use it with Monterey. Then use the other one.

Or change the hardware compatibility to something that will fit VMware 11.5 - such as 16
Currently we're at 19 and VMware Fusion 12 starts at hardware compatibility 17 - after that you'll have to work around a lot of things to revert that single virtual machine that you didn't backup and keep safe to something that will work with Mojave again.

That's why I suggest making a duplicate and keeping it out of the Virtual Machines.localized - folder

For keeping a complete backup of Mojave 10.14.6 you'll have to use CarbonCopyCloner or the built-in Time Machine - Time Machine is your best bet here IMO.

Now you'll just have to understand that while you can revert to macOS Mojave after being on Monterey for a while. Just know that your absolute best installation process is to get a hold of Mojave from Apple and create a USB installer to then use to completely wipe out Monterey as Monterey will update your system drive with additional APFS containers.

For that to go away and you have a perfect Mojave installation again. You should clean install and then use your existing Time Machine backup to manually drag out your stuff from.

It's what I do normally when I revert. I'm not going back and forth as much anymore. I think I've settled quite well with Monterey. It was scary to let go of LiteIcon and my purchased games and the macOS appearance(I make new themes so not a big deal)

It might be a tough transition for you too? Give it time.

This screenshot shows what I mean by Hardware Version compatibility - It appears that you can keep using Hardware Version 16 for Fusion 12.2.x

 

[MacWorld78]

Your Windows 10 virtual machine will be updated and not possible to downgrade since VMware updates the virtual machines with the latest compatibility by default settings. In case you want to revert to Mojave at any point and maintain your latest working Windows 10 virtual machine, you should look into either; backing up the whole of your virtual machine by duplicating it and keeping that duplicate safe and never use it with Monterey. Then use the other one.

Or change the hardware compatibility to something that will fit VMware 11.5 - such as 16
Currently we're at 19 and VMware Fusion 12 starts at hardware compatibility 17 - after that you'll have to work around a lot of things to revert that single virtual machine that you didn't backup and keep safe to something that will work with Mojave again.

That's why I suggest making a duplicate and keeping it out of the Virtual Machines.localized - folder

For keeping a complete backup of Mojave 10.14.6 you'll have to use CarbonCopyCloner or the built-in Time Machine - Time Machine is your best bet here IMO.

Now you'll just have to understand that while you can revert to macOS Mojave after being on Monterey for a while. Just know that your absolute best installation process is to get a hold of Mojave from Apple and create a USB installer to then use to completely wipe out Monterey as Monterey will update your system drive with additional APFS containers.

For that to go away and you have a perfect Mojave installation again. You should clean install and then use your existing Time Machine backup to manually drag out your stuff from.

It's what I do normally when I revert. I'm not going back and forth as much anymore. I think I've settled quite well with Monterey. It was scary to let go of LiteIcon and my purchased games and the macOS appearance(I make new themes so not a big deal)

It might be a tough transition for you too? Give it time.

This screenshot shows what I mean by Hardware Version compatibility - It appears that you can keep using Hardware Version 16 for Fusion 12.2.x

View attachment 1987802 View attachment 1987803

Thank you for the useful information...

I want to be sure that I'm 100% understanding from you.


1: SanDisk blank SSD 500GB (Mac mini is 256GB internal) and use Time machine to back up whole things from internal 256GB to external SanDisk SSD 500GB - It is necessary to have APFS format? my internal is showing as APFS format.

2: Mojave MacOS file and create them as bootable usb media - (I need to find tutorial step for that)

3: Upgrade Mojave from to Monterey by any means.

4: Copy VMware windows 10 from external SanDisk SSD 500GB into internal 256GB SSD.

5: Play around with Monterey & install various apps....


If I don't like it by any means for the Monterey MacOS.

6: Use bootable usb was create from 2: step to wipe out Monterey and install freshly Mojave.

7: once in Mojave - get into boot recovery mode in order to restore original file was create on 1:

Please do let me know if missed out any anything important step(s) Thanks.

 

[allan.nyholm]

Thank you for the useful information...

I want to be sure that I'm 100% understanding from you.


1: SanDisk blank SSD 500GB (Mac mini is 256GB internal) and use Time machine to back up whole things from internal 256GB to external SanDisk SSD 500GB - It is necessary to have APFS format? my internal is showing as APFS format.

2: Mojave MacOS file and create them as bootable usb media - (I need to find tutorial step for that)

3: Upgrade Mojave from to Monterey by any means.

4: Copy VMware windows 10 from external SanDisk SSD 500GB into internal 256GB SSD.

5: Play around with Monterey & install various apps....


If I don't like it by any means for the Monterey MacOS.

6: Use bootable usb was create from 2: step to wipe out Monterey and install freshly Mojave.

7: once in Mojave - get into boot recovery mode in order to restore original file was create on 1:

Please do let me know if missed out any anything important step(s) Thanks.

1. That's a fine drive to back up with using Time Machine for this purpose - an SSD is not a good choice going forward because all the read write actions would not be good for the SSD. Find a 7200RPM 2,5 drive like a Seagate Expansion one. Comes in real cheap these days.

2. Apple has a website for its older macOS' https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683 -- instructions are quite easy. See below
2.1 In a Terminal window copy paste this in. I'm just assuming your USB key to be named MojaveKey:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MojaveKey

2.2 In a Terminal window copy paste this in for a Monterey USB key installer. Your USB key is here named e.g MontereyKey

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MontereyKey

3. Correct.

4. You could probably skip the duplication of your Windows 10 virtual machine and instead leave the Time Machine backup from Mojave be intact in case things goes sideways with Monterey. You'll always have that good known time Machine backup to use with Mojave again. Assuming that you discontinue the use of the SSD as a backup drive for Monterey.

5. Yes.. you should see if it's any good and if you feel confident enough that Monterey is where you'd like to be.. Then re-attach / re-enable the Time Machine drive.

5.1 Or simply just continue using the Time Machine drive you have from Mojave as the power of Time Machine is that it keeps revisions of your files up to a certain point.

5.2 Just beware of the fact that Time Machine as a service might begin to prune out old backups and your oldest known good backup for Mojave might be taken away when your 500GB Time Machine SSD gets full.


6. Yes. Your best option is to wipe Monterey clean and reinstall macOS Mojave from the USB key you made.

7. Not quite.. recovery mode is something else. Recovery Mode is for e.g repairing your system disk if macOS can't repair the drive in a macOS session.. You do this instead:
7.1 Open the Time Machine drive or the Time Machine interface and find your latest known good Mojave backup that would have a date and possibly time indicating when the backup was made.. you can safely assume that this first backup is the known good one for Mojave.

7.2 You'll be back in an hour or so.. depending on which route you take when restoring as there is also an application called Migration Assistant that Apple makes.

7.3 Migration Assistant could be more beneficial for you as the process of getting everything back is automatic. If you like that sort of thing, then that's good.

7.4 I would just advise you to be careful with automation unless Migration Assistant allows you to return from the Time Machine backup you made on Mojave.

Also seeing that you're upgrading in-place, then please send out a comment if you get stuck after the fact.

 

[MacWorld78]

I really appreciate for your useful information.

I’m in the process to buy WD black 2.5” 7200 RPM external drive (for time machine backup) and couple Lexar 32gb usb 3.1 flash drives (for Mojave and Monterey installation file).

Just wondering it is really necessary to have normal spin hard disk (which I don’t have atm) just for one time using Time Machine Backup? I got few portable SSD with me.

and I will think about back up process later stage.