I have a MacBook Air from 2015 which is on MacOS Mojave. When I go to update to Catalina my response is "this is not available at this time." The computer acts as if I have the most updated version. What should I do? It worked on another laptop

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I have a MacBook Air from 2015 which is on MacOS Mojave. When I go to update to Catalina my response is "this is not available at this time." The computer acts as if I have the most updated version. What should I do? It worked on another laptop

Why doesn't my computer recognize Catalina as an update. It says my computer is up to date on Mojave. When I try to download from the App Store, it says "it is not available at this time" but my husband has the same computer purchased on the same day in 2015 and it worked for him. I checked that I have 8GB on my laptop, I have enough space for it and restarted my wifi.

Please help!

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 8, 2020 8:41 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dialabrain

Level 10

125,465 points

May 10, 2020 11:54 AM in response to SophieNora

SophieNora wrote:

how do I do that?

Copy the line that begins with sudo.
Run the Terminal app which is in the Applications > Utilities folder
Paste in the line into the Terminal then press Return
Type in your password and press return. You will not see the letters as you type.
Quit the Terminal
Reopen System Preferences > Software Updaate.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

125,465 points

May 10, 2020 7:33 PM in response to SophieNora

Try this…

Restart your Mac and as soon as you hear the startup chime press the Shift key
Once the Apple logo shows and the progress bar starts, release the shift key.
It takes longer to get to the log in screen than normal.

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Answer 3

May 11, 2020 1:21 AM in response to SophieNora

Finally worked. Doing as per the recommendation in comments before:

Run this command in the Terminal then reopen System Preferences > Software Update.

sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored

2. Restart in safe mode, download and installed.

now I have the Catalina 10.15.4 :)

i will try all the functions.

thanks

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Answer 4

May 10, 2020 1:30 PM in response to dialabrain

Thank you, it works..

I did it, now it shows me the Catalina, starts the download.. when it goes in 510Mb stops and says "the request is time out, An error occurred while installing the selected updates."

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Answer 5

SophieNora Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2020 2:50 PM in response to dialabrain

So this worked to have Catalina recognized as a software update on my computer. But when I click to download it, I get a popup window a few minutes after starting that says "The request timed out - An error occurred while installing the selected updates"

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Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

361,855 points

May 8, 2020 8:44 PM in response to SophieNora

You need to upgrade, not update. You are trying to download the wrong file. See How to upgrade to macOS Catalina.

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Answer 7

dialabrain

Level 10

125,465 points

May 10, 2020 1:34 PM in response to jessiemosquera

You're welcome. Make sure to delete any copy of "Install macOS Catalina" from the Applications folder if any, then try again while in Safe Mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 8

dialabrain

Level 10

125,465 points

May 8, 2020 8:46 PM in response to SophieNora

Run this command in the Terminal then reopen System Preferences > Software Update.

sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored

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Answer 9

SophieNora Author

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May 10, 2020 10:20 AM in response to dialabrain

how do I do that?

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Answer 10

SophieNora Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2020 10:22 AM in response to Kappy

I followed the steps and still have the same issue. When I try to download macOS Catalina from the App Store, my computer says "looking for update" and then says "update not available at this time"

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