If you want to run OS X Sonoma, but can’t dedicate a computer to it, you could always install it on the UTM virtual machine engine. This allows you to test out Beta OS X features without taking over your primary machine’s OS.
Pre-requisites:
- A Mac with Apple Silicon running OS X Ventura
- An Apple Developer account ($99 / yr)
- UTM (available on the Mac App Store)
Steps:
- Download the IPFW restore file for OS X Sonoma for Apple Silicon – but don’t install it yet
- Download the X-Code 15 Beta
- Fire up the X-Code 15 Beta installer – and select iOS – somebody do it without this and let me know in the comments, maybe you don’t even need the iOS support (Mac OS X is already selected and cannot be unselected)
- Completely install X-Code 15 and let it finish
- Once installed, fire up UTM, select Virtualization, Mac 12+, and pick the IPFW file you downloaded for OS X 14 Sonoma
- You can customize memory and CPU and file system size (recent changes to UTM for OS X)
Note – you won’t be able to login to your iCloud account – and I’ve skipped other creature comforts, but if you just want to experiment with a new feature and UTM will give you enough information, go for this approach.