One of the most significant changes in OS world was made with macOS Big Sur which is the 11th version of macOS. The previous version of macOS was Catalina, and the version number was 10.15. Everyone was expecting that macOS 2020 will be the 10.16 version, but Apple surprised everyone with macOS Big Sur 11.0. So let’s download macOS Big Sur DMG file. This incredible operating system was introduced in Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this year on June 22nd. macOS Big Sur will be released on some date of September, this fall. But the developers beta of Big Sur is available, and you can download macOS Big Sur DMG and ISO file that we recommend for you, for a smooth installation process. In this article, we will go through a small look at this year’s WWDC, some features of Big Sur, What is a DMG file? Why we need a DMG file for installing macOS Big Sur? Is Big Sur available for all the people for free and many useful tips and points that you will need for downloading the DMG file?
- Related:Download macOS Catalina DMG File – (Direct Links)
macOS Big Sur on VirtualBox – Full-Screen Resolution
The first developer beta of macOS 11 Big Sur was released following the WWDC 2020 keynote on 22 June 2020. It's not just developers who get an early look, though. 3 macOS Big Sur Bootable Installer (macOS Big Sur DMG) Download and install macOS Big Sur without MAS / System Preferences In macOS, whenever you download a new system update, some package files are downloaded to your computer, and then processed by the Software Update utility, to convert them into an executable “.app” file.
Big Sur has been an absolute nightmare for me to install as well. Software update errors, downloading the standalone installing package and creating the install file also has issues. Creating a bootable USB also errors out when installing from that. Downloading Big Sur via Internet Recovery also errors out. You are not alone! We talk about a lot of new version of macOS, like Big Sur or Catalina, which is now packed with many amazing features. However, they need to more advanced hardware to run the OS smoothly. If you are using an old model of Mac computer, High Sierra is still the best choice if it was not eligible for upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur. Steps to Create macOS Big Sur ISO File. Download macOS Big Sur From Apple; Create & Mount an empty Disk Image using hdiutil; Use the Createinstallmedia command to make the disk image bootable with macOS; Unmount the Disk Image; Covert the Disk Image to ISO image #1.1. There are 2-ways to download macOS Big Sur from Apple.
WWDC 2020 Highlights
WWDC is an annual event arranged by Apple and Apple developers. Every year WWDC used to be with the audience and live introduction. And people had to pay at least $1600 to attend the show. But this year’s was completely different. Last year WWDC conference took place in McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, but this year WWDC was live from Apple Park. The format of WWDC was changed this year because of the Big incident of George Floyd and due to Coronavirus. So Apple had the WWDC event live, and everyone could watch from the comfort of their home. Some people even thought this was better than the previous years.
This year’s WWDC was also fantastic, and people loved it, but some fans noticed that Apple didn’t talk about hardware introduction. And many fans got upset, and many Apple lovers are asking what happened to AirTags. AirTags and Details of the device, its name, even icons depicting it were all unearthed by MacOS in the months before WWDC. In the end, though, it never made an appearance. In the same case with AirPods Studio, New Apple TV and Remote, and a few small changes that had to be in WWDC 2020 but Apple didn’t talk about the nor in the WWDC neither after the WWDC. Some of the most significant introduction was iOS 14. iOS 14 has many improvements in the design and software. macOS 11 is looking fantastic, and we have explained some of the most important features below. watchOS 7 has got so many useful workouts and daily life plans for everyone, which makes it unique. tvOS 14 and iPadOS 14, has many new and remarkable changes in the design, features, and appearance, which feels fantastic.
Features of macOS Big Sur
macOS Big Sur doesn’t need an introduction according to me, but enhancing its features is an important thing. The most significant change that you’ll notice right in front of you is your redesign. The windows have a lighter, more spacious look that makes everything look spotless. I think Apple went a little heavy on the transparency, dock, and the menu bar but balance the lighter window.
The notification center also received a nice update and redesign. And now, Widgets has redesigned, and there are three types of widgets and group notifications. Notifications are now grouped by thread or application, and you can expand each group to see previous announcements making macOS and ios much more inline with notifications.
- Related:[Ultimate Guide] Install macOS Big Sur on VMware on Windows PC
What is a DMG file?
- Related: Download macOS Big Sur VMware & VirtualBox (VMDK) Image
Download macOS Big Sur 2021 DMG file (20D64) (February 1, 2021)
In this article, We provided points about macOS Big Sur, DMG fie, WWDC 2020, and about the developer’s beta of macOS Big Sur. I hope you enjoyed reading and learning the tips mentioned here. I tried the links myself, and the links given were working for you, and they will work for you too.
Alternative to providing macOS Big Sur ISO file, we’ll try to cover every aspect of macOS Big Sur. From downloading macOS Big Sur ISO to installing macOS Big Sur on VMware and VirtualBox. In this post, I will simply provide a macOS Big Sur DMG file so get it and enjoy it.
macOS Big Sur 11.2 DMG (2021)
Download easily macOS Big Sur from the Google Drive and we hope it works. It is the most updated file of macOS Big Sur. Hope it helps.
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We provide many useful points in this article, and we tried to help you in any way possible. But if you still have any questions or if you face any problems while downloading, you can tell us in the comment section below. We will reach you soon after reading the comments. We will bring more useful and informational content like this, so don’t forget to subscribe.
Difference Between ISO and DMG file
ISO and DMG files are essential files for installing any operating system. They can help us do the process of installing more comfortably without damaging the actual operating-system. In general, there is not much difference, but if you compressed the fabric will make a difference. An ISO file was created to contain a disc image, and ISO file/image is used to create CD and DVD images. But DMG files were created to make a backup copy of disk or disks, and now it is used for the creation of hard disk image files. A huge/small difference between them is that ISO has only one format, and DMG comes in two versions: compressed and uncompressed. Both files can copy content from an original disk, and both the image can do the same thing, but they can do other tasks too. Users have used them for different jobs, and they have worked well.
- Related: [Ultimate Guide] Install macOS Big Sur on VirtualBox on Windows PC
Is Big Sur available for all the people for free?
As I mentioned before, macOS hasn’t released officially, and only the developer’s beta has been released, but the actual macOS will be recognized in fall this year. But there is a question, is the developers beta available for people for free or no to download and use macOS Big Sur developers beta we need to pay. This a question that I have been asked in the comment section on many articles, and today I want to answer that. Developers beta of macOS Big Sur is available for free for developers, and as its name is known, it is for developers. But frequent and the public is not possible to use or download that for free. But here is a way that you can download the developer s beta. Apple has a rule that you can use, in Apple website, you can log in and register your self for the developers beta. It doesn’t cost much, but it only takes $99 in a year. And there you can download ay macOS’s beta for free, but at the end of the year, you need to pay.
- Related: Download macOS Big Sur ISO File – Latest Version
Download macOS Big Sur ISO File – Latest Version
System Requirements For Installing macOS Big Sur 11
One of the main things you need to be careful about before downloading the iso file from the beta version of the developer macOS Big Sur 11 is that it only works on some of the Mac products listed below. Still, you also can download iso and DMG file for macOS Big Sur in Windows or Linux computer. But for Mac, you can follow the list below.
- MacBook 2015 and later
- MacBook Air 2013 and later
- MacBook Pro late 2013 and later
- Mac mini 2014 and later
- iMac 2014 and later
- iMac Pro 2017 and later (all models)
- Mac Pro 2013 and later
But if you want the iSO file for macOS Big too. You can follow the above link or I’ll put a link here also.
In addition to it, if you’d like to add something or would like to share, we have the way open to you through the comments forum. So use it and let us know what do you think.
When you want to provide automated workflows to upgrade to or erase-install macOS Big Sur, you can use the startosinstall
tool. You can find this tool inside the “Install macOS Big Sur” application at:
Note: Apple calls the “Install macOS *” application “InstallAssistant.” I find this a useful shorthand and will use it.
Before you can use startosinstall
, you need to somehow deploy the InstallAssitant on the client system. And since the “Install macOS Big Sur” application is huge (>12GB) it poses its own set of challenges.
Different management systems have different means of deploying software. If you are using Munki (or one of the management systems that has integrated Munki, like SimpleMDM or Workspace One) you can wrap the application in a dmg. Unfortunately, even though “app in a dmg” has been a means of distributing software on macOS for nearly 20 years, most management systems cannot deal with this and expect an installer package (pkg).
You can use pkgbuild
to build an installer package from an application, like this:
This works for all InstallAssistants up to and including Catalina. With a Big Sur installer application this command will start working, but then fail:
The reason for this failure is that the Big Sur installer application contains a single file Contents/SharedSupport/SharedSupport.dmg
which is larger than 8GB. While a pkg file can be larger than 8GB, there are limitations in the installer package format which preclude individual files in the pkg payload to be larger than that.
When you want to distribute the “Install macOS Big Sur” application to the clients in your fleet, either to upgrade or for an erase-and-install workflow, this limitation introduces some challenges.
You can use Composer with Jamf to create a Jamf dmg style deployment, but that will only work with Jamf Pro. You could further wrap and split the application in different containers, but that will increase the creation and deployment time.
There are a number of solutions. Each with their own advantages and downsides, some supported and recommended by Apple and some… less so. Different management and deployment styles will require different solutions and approaches.
App Deployment with MDM/VPP
When you have your MDM hooked up to Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager, you can push applications “purchased” in the “Apps and Books” area with MDM commands. This was formerly known as “VPP” (Volume Purchase Program and I will continue to use that name, because “deploy with Apps and Books from Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager” is just unwieldly and I don’t care what Apple Marketing wants us to call it.
Since the “Install macOS Big Sur” application is available for free on the Mac App Store, you can use VPP to push it to a client from your MDM/management system.
When you do this, the client will not get the full InstallAssistant application, but a ‘stub’ InstallAssistant. This stub is small in size (20-40MB).
The additional resouces required for the actual system upgrade or installation which are GigaBytes worth of data will be loaded when they are needed. It doesn’t matter whether the process is triggered by the user after opeing the application or by using the startosinstall
or createinstallmedia
tool. Either workflow will trigger the download of the additional resources.
This has the advantage of being a fast initial installation of the InstallAssistant, but then the actual upgrade or re-installation process will take so much longer, because of the large extra download before the actual installation can even begin. For certain deployment workflows, this is an acceptable or maybe even desireable trade-off.
The extra download will use a Caching Server. This approach is recommended and supported by Apple.
Mac App Store and/or System Preferences
For some user-driven deployment styles, having the user download the InstallAssistant themselves can be part of the workflow. This way, the user can control the timing of the large download and make sure they are on a “good” network and the download will not interfere with video conferences or other work.
You can direct then to the Big Sur entry in the Mac App Store with a link. You cannot search for older versions of macOS Installers in the Mac App Store, but Apple has a kbase article with direct links.
You can also use a link that leads a user directly to the Software Update pane in System Preferences and prompts the user to start the download:
When the InstallAssistant is already installed, this link will open the application. When the Mac is already running a newer version of macOS or doesn’t support the version given, it will display an error.
You can use these links from a script with the open
command:
The downloads initiated this way will use a Caching Server. Linking to the Mac App Store is supported and recommended by Apple. The x-apple.systempreferences
links are undocumented.
softwareupdate command
Catalina introduced the --fetch-full-installer
option for the softwareupdate
command. You can add the --full-installer-version
option to get a specific version of the installer, for example 10.15.7
.
You can run this command from a managed script on the clients to install the application. The download will use a Caching Server.
This would be a really useful method to automate deployment the InstallAssistant on a client, if it were reliable. However, in my experience and that of many MacAdmins, this command is very fragile and will fail in many circumstances. As of this writing, I have not been able to reliably download a Big Sur InstallAssistant with this command. Most of the time I get
This approach is often recommended by Apple employees, however it will have to be much more reliable before I will join their recommendation.
Please, use Feedback Assistant, preferably with an AppleSeed for IT account, to communicate your experience with this tool with Apple. If this command were reliable, then it would be my recommended solution for nearly all kinds of deployments.
InstallAssistant pkg
With these solutions so far, we have actually avoided creating an installer package, because we moved the download of the InstallAssistant to the client. A caching server can help with the network load. Nevertheless for some styles of deployments, like schools and universities, using the local management infrastucture (like repositories or distribution points) has great advantages. For this, we need a package installer for the InstallAssistant.
A “magic” download link has been shared frequently in the MacAdmins Slack that downloads an installation package from an Apple URL which installs the Big Sur InstallAssistant.
This pkg from Apple avoids the file size limit for the package payload by not having the big file in the payload and then moving it in the postinstall script. Smart hack.. er… solution!
The URL is a download link from a software update catalog. You can easily find the link for the current version with the SUS Inspector tool.
But it would be really tedious to do this on every update. You, the regular reader, know the “tedious” is a trigger word for me to write a script. In this case it was less writing a script than looting one. Greg Neagle’s installinstallmacos.py
had most of the pieces needed to find the InstallAssistant.pkg
in the software update catalog and download it. I merely had to put the pieces together somewhat differently.
Nevertheless, I “made” a script that downloads the latest InstallAssistant.pkg for macOS Big Sur. You can then upload this pkg to your management system and distribute it like any other installation package.
- GitHub: scriptingosx/fetch-installer-pkg
It works very much like installinstallmacos.py
.
When you start the script it will download a lot of data into a content
folder in the current working directory, parse through it and determine the Big Sur Installers in the catalog. When it finds more than one installers, it will list them and you can choose one. When it finds only one Installer, it will start downloading that immediately.
You can add the --help
option for some extra options (all inherited from installinstallmacos.py
.
Big Sur Dmg Download Google Drive
We will have to wait for the 11.1 release to be sure this actually works as expected, but I am confident we can make it work.
This approach is very likely not supported by Apple. But neither was re-packaging the InstallAssitant from disk in Catalina. This deployment method is likely closer to the supported deployment workflows than some common existing methods.
The download does not use a Caching Server, but since the goal is to obtain a pkg that you can upload to your management server, this is not a big downside.
Big Sur 11.1 Dmg Download
Big Sur signature verification check
Big Sur Dmg Download
You may have noticed that when you launch the Big Sur InstallAssistant on Big Sur for the first time, it will take a long time to “think” before it actually launches. This is due to a new security feature in Big Sur that verifies the application signature and integrity on first launch. Since this is a “big” application this check takes a while. Unfortunately Big Sur shows no progress bar or other indication. This check occurs when the user double-clicks the app to open it and when you start an upgrade or installation with the startosinstall
command.
Big Sur 11.0.1 Dmg Download
There does not seem to be a way to skip or bypass this check. You can run startosinstall --usage
from a script right after installing the InstallAssistant. This will do nothing really, but force the check to happen. Subsequent launches, either from Finder or with startosinstall
will be immediate.