MacOS – How to stop a macOS download

mac-appstoremacos

I was on the App Store, and accidentally started downloading macOS Sierra. I have no desire to download this, so I want to cancel the download, but I can't figure out how.

From what I have searched, you should go to the purchased section of the App Store, and cancel the download, but macOS doesn't show there:

What should I do?

The answers to Can I cancel a download of a Mac Store app? do not help me because:

  1. The ~/Library/Application Support/AppStore folder does not exist.
  2. Holding the alt key and clicking the 'x' button does nothing.
  3. Running defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true does nothing.

Best Answer

Let the download finish. After it's downloaded the Install macOS Sierra app will launch. You can simply Quit the app as you normally would any app.

If you also want to remove the downloaded file, by default it'll be in your Applications folder (not your Downloads folder). Depending on your setup it may be in your root Applications folder rather than your User's Applications folder.

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