Big Sur -- what to do if an upgrade to Monterey says "You must provide authorization..."

Owned by Steve Maser
Last updated: Dec 13, 2021
1 min read

If a “Standard” account user on an M1 (or greater processor) mac tries to upgrade the operating system, they may see a message like this:

 

(This is currently an issue upgrading from Big Sur 11.6.x to Monterey 12.x)

There are three recommended ways to upgrade the operating system at this point:

  1. Log out of the “Standard” user account and run the OS Upgrader from the “UM-Support” account.

  2. Use a Monterey boot stick to upgrade the OS.

  3. Make the “Standard” user an “Admin” user by following this link and then the user can run the upgrader themselves.