At this year’s WWDC event Apple announced the fourteenth release of operating system for its Mac computers and labeled it as macOS High Sierra. It is not a major update but focus on the refinements of current macOS Sierra. The new features and notable improvements coming with macOS High Sierra include Apple File System, HEVC standard for video, Metal 2 graphic rendering engine, virtual reality support, Intelligent Tracking Prevention and autoplay blocking in Safari, enhanced Siri, etc.

The developer beta of macOS High Sierra is only available to the $99/year developer accounts for testing purpose, and the second beta was rolled out recently. The public beta version will be released soon, allowing Mac users who are not registered developers but join in the public beta program to experience the software for free.

Those who have installed the macOS High Sierra beta 1 can head to Mac App Store > Updates and directly install the beta 2 from there. If you are a new comer to the Apple Developer Program, here is how to install the develop beta to your compatible Mac:

Step 1. Back up your Mac with Time Machine

Before you start the installation, make sure to back up your entire Mac to avoid any potential risk. To do so, connect an external hard disk to your Mac, then head to Apple menu > System Preferences and select Time Machine in System Preferences panel. As Time Machine launches, turn the slider from Off to On, then click Select Backup disk button and choose the disk.

Time Machine will format the disk and start backing up. It may take a long time depending on the backup storage.

Step 2. Download macOS 10.13 developer beta

• Launch your web browser, visit this page and sign in with your developer account.
• Scroll through the page and click on the Download button next to the macOS 10.13.
• Head to your Download folder in Finder, locate the macOS High Sierra Developer Beta Access Utility, and then double click on the file to run the installer.
• When the Mac App Store automatically launches and displays the Updates section, click on the Update button to download the available developer beta software.

If the developer beta does not show up on the Updates list, reboot your Mac and try it again. And it typically takes certain time to finish downloading developer beta update.

Step 3. Install macOS 10.13 developer beta

When the download is complete, your Mac will reboot automatically, and you will be prompted to install the software. So just click on Continue, agree to Apple’s Terms and Conditions, and click on Install to begin. During the installation process, follow the onscreen instructions and wait for it to complete.

If you want to install macOS 10.13 on a separate partition so that it will not affect your current operating system, you need to create a partition on your Mac first, and then do the followings: select Show All Disks (after clicking Agree to the Terms and Conditions), select the partition you want to install the update on and click Install.

Step 4.Set up macOS 10.13 on your Mac

When the installation finishes, your Mac will reboot again, and then you are able to set up the system by following the next steps: click on Continue, sign in with your Apple account, and click on Get Started. Now you can explore the new features.

The final release of macOS 10.13 High Sierra will be available in this fall.