📢 Newsroom Update
Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >
Apple introduces M4 Pro and M4 Max. Learn more >
I have received a new Mac Mini i7 with Catalina installed and have discovered that lots of my studio hardware is not supported. Is it possible to roll back a new Mac with a previous version of the OS ie Mojave or High Sierra using a USB to boot the install, or are there disadvantages of doing this on a brand new machine?
The only way to do it is via a virtual machine with apps such as
Parallels Desktop Mac, VMWare Fusion, or Virtual Box. Google
any one of these for site information and how virtual machines
work. Performance for some things will be not as good as the
running them native, but may suffice for your application.
Virtual Box is freeware but macOS support may not be that great
for newer versions of macOS. Both Parallels and VMWare are
commercial but do have 30 day trials so you can evaluate their
usefulness.
I am a bit concerned that Apple support told me it was possible with a bootable external drive? Hardware support was not mentioned? Although the Mac mini’s were shipping originally with Mojave Installed (2018) so presumably it would still work with that installer?
You can certainly try installing Mojave 10.14.6 on an external drive and attempt to boot from it holding the option key on startup. Catalina may have applied firmware revisions on the new Mac mini so that it will not allow Mojave boots now.
No. You cannot install a version of macOS older than what shipped with the new Mac mini — there would be no hardware support in the previous operating system for the new Mac mini.
Update for anyone with same question...it’s definitely not possible as firmware has changed since the Mojave issued Mac mini’s.
Downgrade new Mac OS
