My Macbook downloaded a newer opeating system Now I'm stuck!

Question

My Macbook downloaded a newer opeating system Now I'm stuck!

Having used the restore from internet facility yesterday after having a few issues, I found my macbook has now got a newer operating system on it! Instead of it downloading a fresh copy of Mojave, the online facility downloaded a fresh copy of Catalina instead! This isn't what I wanted at all as I have lots of 32 bit software that now won't work & I can't access my files on my time machine either. Although all the iCloud stuff is ok & has re-downloaded itself, I'd purposefully kept this operating system on so I could use the software. I tried re-downloading the Mojave software from the App Store, & had a data HD to hopefully load it onto but that Won't work either! Can anyone help me work out how to run the older software please? I'm feeling pretty upset about it all!

Thank you.

MacBook, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 28, 2020 7:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,590 points

Dec 28, 2020 8:10 AM in response to Jane Elizabeth Smith

Open your Safari browser and then click on this link,

How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support

go to Download OS and click on macOS Mojave.

This will redirect you to the App Store Mojave download page,

it should say Get.

This will download Install macOS Mojave to your Applications folder.

Next create a bootable USB stick installer using the instructions in this article.

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support

Having done that you need to make a full back up of your mac.

Now boot to the USB stick, restart the mac while pressing and holding down the

option/ alt key. When you see the Startup Manager select the USB press Return.

The mac will boot to the USB and open a Utilities panel.

Select Disk Utility press Continue.

Click on View in the menubar select Show All Devices.

Highlight the Disk not any of the indented Volumes,

click Erase.

Give the Disk a name,

Format: APFS

Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Click Erase.

When Done quit Disk Utility.

Click on Install OS the installation process should start follow the onscreen prompts.

When you have Mojave back up and running then you can restore your personal data from the

backup you made earlier.

Do not restore any System or Library files as this will put Catalina back on your mac.

Do not restore any apps from the backup this will put Catalina versions of apps back on your mac

and they will not open.

You will have to reinstall all your third party apps from scratch.

Never erase your mac unless you have your own means to reinstall the OS you want to install.

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,590 points

Jan 2, 2021 6:49 AM in response to Jane Elizabeth Smith

Are you sure you are pressing and holding down the option/ alt key, ⌥

If you want to add screenshots/ images click on the Image Insertion button

second from the right of the icons other toolbar at the bottom of the Reply window.

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Answer 3

Jan 2, 2021 6:35 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Hi Eau Rouge,

I followed your instructions as far as getting to the restarting my Mac holding down the alt/option key. I don't appear to have the start up manager screen when the Mac started up! A screenshot of what I saw won't upload to this page; but it showed the Mac HD picture with an arrow underneath it & below a list of options for WiFi to insert their respective password. That was it! I've tried restarting 4 times with the option/alt key pressed but don't get a start up manager screen. Please help! thank you.

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Answer 4

Jan 2, 2021 6:57 AM in response to Jane Elizabeth Smith

Going on from my question above, I can only assume these steps aren't working because the laptop has Mac OS Catalina on it now and I want to downgrade it to Mojave. As Catalina only runs 64 bit apps, I'm wondering if the install has changed the architecture of the HD making it UNABLE to now downgrade to 32 bit applications? Please can someone tell me if this is correct? Thank you

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Answer 5

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,590 points

Jan 2, 2021 7:33 AM in response to Jane Elizabeth Smith

Well something is not right if you have created the bootable USB stick as described

you should be able to boot to it through the Startup Manager, you then erase Catalina

as described and then install Mojave.

Many people have followed these instructions and managed to downgrade from Catalina to Mojave.

If the website does not upload your image right away wait a few minutes and try again.

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Answer 6

Jan 2, 2021 7:48 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Hi Eau Rouge,

I'm just updating you to tell you that I did get to the install manager in the end. I don't think terminal had been instructed properly the first time. So thank you very much for your assistance.

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Answer 7

Jan 2, 2021 11:43 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Hi Thanks, my MacBook is now booted to the desired Mojave OS so it went well. My only problem is now getting the data I want back from my time capsule since the hard drive has been wiped. I will search online for some help since going into time machine it tells me there are no back ups but I know everything was backed up perfectly before the computer updated itself to Catalina so I know all my 32 bit files are on the time machine disk. I just have to try to get them back. Migration assistant didn't help as it told me there were no files!

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