Catalina - an upgrade guide
This tip is from a series of tips of upgrading Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite,10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra ,10.13 High Sierra, 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 Catalina, 11.0 Big Sur, 12.0 Monterey, 13.0 Ventura, and 14.0 Sonoma client release.. Server edition forum is over here:
macOS Server - Apple Community
Octobrer 7, 2019 Apple released Catalina. The first 64 bit only operating system.
August 18, 2022 Apple released Safari 15.6.1, more current web browsers are available at:
Browsers by Mac operating system - Apple Community
July 20, 2022 Apple menu -> About This Mac -> Software Update and Apple menu -> System Settings -> Software Update offer Security Update 2022-005 the last security update for Catalina.
Don't upgrade until you read this entire article, as Catalina and Big Sur are both very different in compatibility than former Mac OS versions!
Backup your data before installing anything.
Before upgrading, don't do so, in order to optimize your speed. Frequently an optimizer will slow you down, and it won't stop from slowing you down by upgrading your system. Your first step is to make sure your system is running optimally before upgrading. Upgrades are there for feature enhancements and new features. If you have already been trying optimizers, read what I have to say about removing them:
Amended comments to MacKeeper tip - Apple Community
Go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Date and Time and select the closest time server to set your time, and do so. Download based on manual time may fail, especially on older systems where the system time is not set right.
The direct download link for Catalina is here: macOS Catalina 10.15.
Prior upgrades are found here: How to download macOS - Apple Support
Be forewarned, Macs with solid state drives will be updated in formatting to APFS with 10.13 or later (this is discussed later in the tip, but bears repeating). This means if you need to downgrade the machine, you will need to erase the partition with the older HFS extended GUID to use the older systems. Regardless of which direction you go, backup your data first. This is only for Macs older than September 25, 2017.
Here is the client forum:
macOS Catalina - Apple Community
Mac OS 11.0 Big Sur, came out on November 12th, 2020. Only upgrade when you have
established 1. You are backed up to at least two separate sources. 2. You have software that is known to work. Software quoted to work on it before November 12th, 2020 may need to be retested to ensure compatibility.
On October 7, 2019, Apple released Mac OS 10.15.
July 15, 2020 Apple released 10.15.6 Combo, and Delta.
June 15, 2020 Apple released a 5600M Radeon patch for MacBook Pros with the graphics chip (see your System Profiler to determine which graphics chip you have and if it matches the one the patch addresses). This may be the same issue that has affected certain Macs from 10.15.1 on with a blank screen after upgrading past 10.15.2. The 5500M which has been reported as having similar issues is NOT documented as being addressed by this patch.
10.15.7 was released on November 11, 2020.
Catalina 2021-001 security update.
Are all direct links to the security updates which followed.
Before installing anything new, a backup is essential http://www.macmaps.com/docs/DOC-1992
This is especially important, as there is a bug that may cause data loss when using Mac OS Mail application within Catalina. Currently that bug's status is unknown, but has been reported on several Mac news websites. One news website actually suggested using a system optimizer that mentioned the bug. However, optimizers should never be used on Macs as they can cause data loss in of themselves.
Make sure everything you have from software to hardware is compatible with Catalina before upgrading, or needs it.
These Macs are compatible with 10.15 (with their Model Identifier/ Machine ID from the system profiler in x,x format). No Snow Leopard 10.6 compatible Mac can be upgraded to Catalina. As a result there is no PowerPC application support on a separate boot for Macs compatible with Catalina.
MacBook early 2015 8,1 (shipped with 10.10.2)
iMac Late 2012 12,1 (Shipped with 10.8.2)
MacBook Pro Mid-2012 9,1 (shipped with 10.7.3)
Mac Mini Late 2012 6,1 (shipped with 10.8.1)
MacBook Air Mid 2012 5,1 (shipped with 10.7.4)
Mac Pro 2013 9,1 (shipped with 10.9.1)
No 32 bit application or driver is compatible with Catalina. Also no drive or disc using just plain HFS is compatible iwth Catalina. If you find after the fact your applications are not compatible, you can partition a hard drive to install an older OS (note the third option for booting to install older systems), if your Mac is older than Catalina's release date.
http://www.roaringapps.com/ is starting to list compatible software for Catalina. Do not use reports that predate October 7, 2019. Further information on its compatibility with applications can be determined through the System Report (a.k.a. System Profiler) information from Apple menu (the menu in the upper left corner with the Apple logo)-> About This Mac. Only those applications that say "Yes" under 64-bit (Intel) are compatible. You can even click on the column header to sort 64-bit (Intel) to group just the applications you need to update for Catalina. Notice how in the image below the arrow on the far right with the 64-bit (Intel) is pointed up. This brings the non-64-bit applications up first.
If About This Mac is slow, you can use
https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/index.html
To determine what software is native.
The following peripherals have Catalina pages of info from their manufacturers on Mac compatibility:
Ricoh: On October 24th 2019, Ricoh updated many of their Sierra and later drivers including drivers compatible with Catalina on the website. Select the Or Option on the right side of the page to find out if yours is one of them.
Epson has this help page for scanners. Their printer support is on the driver individual pages.
https://epson.com/s0/macOS-10-15-Catalina-Support/s/SPT_CATALINA-NS
has more tips from Epson.
More info will be added as it becomes available.
The direct download link for Catalina is here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?ls=1&mt=12
If the installer fails, ask a question in the forum, and gather the results from Etrecheck to help us identify your issues:
Etrecheck - the handy reporting tool for … - Apple Community
Note, another user found a great way to download Catalina directly from the command line. This has not been tested by the author:
sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7