Cannot enable Voice Control in Catalina. Is my iMac too old?

Solved it just now. It took a call to Apple, and I wanted to share the not-obvious-to-me solution. Something inside my longstanding Admin account was blocking the required Voice Command package download from completing successfully. Nuking and re-creating my Admin account seems to have fully resolved the issue.

Cheers! Stay safe and healthy...now with Accessible Social Distancing!

=== informal notes ===

Same problem here. Trying out Advanced Dictation for the first time...huh! Replaced by Voice Control with Catalina.

OK, no troubles. Enable Voice Control > the checkbox in system preferences spontaneously unchecks after a few seconds. Same message as quoted above logged in /var/log/system.log:

Apr  4 11:40:56 <My>-MacBook-Pro assistantd[2118]: rootless_convert_to_datavault: rootless_set_storage_class(/Users/<myuser>/Library/Caches/VoiceTrigger/SATUpload): Operation not permitted

I added user+group+other Write permission to this folder. No luck.

Removed (renamed) ~/Library/Caches, so whatever cache is the problem would start fresh. ALSO no luck.

Rebooted in Safe Mode. (I'm not sure how this would help...whatever Safe Mode is, it also didn't help.)

Called Apple Support. Their wait times are REALLY LONG right now. (Like 45 minutes. There are a HUGE number of people who are trying to work from home...including a TON of MDs seeing patients with a telemedicine visit for the first time ever. I get it! Thanks Apple for providing and supporting this life-saving technology!!) I persisted on hold and got a helpful human tech.

Here's the steps which worked for my 2016-vintage MacBook Pro:

• Preferences > Users > Create new Admin account
• Log in as the new Admin account.
• Preferences > Users > Delete the existing Admin account. (!!! BE SURE TO not change the Home folder. This was all of my user data. Back up your mac if you have not done that recently!!!)
• Preferences > Accessibility > enable Voice Control. (The microphone widget appeared for the first time ever!)
• Finder > browse to /Users, find the folder for <mylogin>, which is now called "<mylogin> (Deleted)". Rename to "<mylogin>".
• Create new Admin user with my original identity. Choose "reuse existing home folder", and make that account an admin account.
• Log in as my original identity.
• Delete the temporary Admin account.

It does say that. It may have when I first set it up. I've had Catalina on most of my Macs since June starting with betas. I forgot I guess. :)

Anyway, Voice Control works for me on all 5 of my Macs that are running Catalina. Including a Late 2012 iMac as I posted. My guess is you have something installed preventing it from working such as an antivirus app, CleanMyMac or some other junk.

Sophos at best is worthless and could be part of the issue you are experiencing. Mac OS is EXTREMELY secure and does not require nor does it benefit (in any way) from using third party anti-virus, cleaning or any other maintenance apps. Please locate the developers instructions to uninstall Sophos..

Third party AV apps have the exact opposite effect users want, they make Mac OS slow and uninstall and offer nothing in return.

I find that it is working here. It could be a defect in your installation or a corrupt installer. You might try:

A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

    Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.

1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
2. Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
5. Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences, if needed.
6. Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.
7. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
8. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
9. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
10. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

     1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.

     2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

     3. Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

     4. Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

     5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

     6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

     7. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Not sure there is a definitive answer. I know it works on my 2015 5K iMac and a 2017 iMac. But those are all I know about specifically.

You may want to call Apple for help;

Contacting Apple Customer and Support Service

1. Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
2. Primary support help at Contact Support.
3. To contact product and tech support:  Contacting Apple for support and service including international calling numbers.
4. For Mac App Store: Apple - Support - Mac App Store.
5. For iTunes: Apple - Support - iTunes.

Same issue here on MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017). Catalina 10.15.3.

The /var/log/system.log then shows:

Feb 10 10:26:17 localhost assistantd[586]: rootless_convert_to_datavault: rootless_set_storage_class(/Users/mgreen/Library/Caches/VoiceTrigger/SATUpload): Operation not permitted

Feb 10 10:26:48 --- last message repeated 4 times ---

Before the checkbox unchecking itself.

Apple specifically states that not all new features in Catalina will be supported on all hardware. Perhaps that is the explanation. VC does not work on your particular model.

d_jefferson wrote:

All I am looking for is a definitive answer to my question: Is Voice Control supposed to be supported on a late 2012 iMac, or not?

Works on mine with the internal mic.

That's not it I think. I am having the same problem with a 2018 Mac Mini. It is pretty obviously a glitch in the software that they haven't gotten around to acknowledging or fixing yet.

I’m running OS X 10.15.3 on a 2017 IMac and I’m having the same problem.

I just updated to OS X 15.1.2 and gave this another try without any luck. Same issue. Download never occurs. Voice Control just unchecks itself after a few moments. Where's the progress on this, Apple?

Amadeus wrote:

I just updated to OS X 15.1.2 and gave this another try without any luck. Same issue. Download never occurs. Voice Control just unchecks itself after a few moments. Where's the progress on this, Apple?

What download? Dictation used to have "Enhanced Dictation" which downloaded. Not in Catalina and has nothing to do with Voice Control.