Downgrading big sur to Catalina pls read

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Downgrading big sur to Catalina pls read

Hi! Recently I upgraded my 2018 MacBook Air to big sur however I didn't really like it and wanted to downgrade back to catalina. I opened up internet recovery (shut down and then shift option command R) and opened up disk utility at first. I then accidentally went into disk utility and deleted my original disk (Macintosh HD I think). After doing this I just clicked onto the MacBook SSD and pressed erase so I think my MacBook is operating like it was completely new. After this I went into Mac OS and installed Mojave onto the new disk. Everything seems to be working fine now but but I was just wondering have I messed up my laptop in any way after doing this? Sorry I am not very good with technical issues. also in system preferences/software updates I have only been offered big sur to update to and it seems to have completely skipped the catalina update?? Is there any way that I could actually get Catalina back without using a time machine backup?

sorry for all the waffle and any advice would be much appreciated!

Posted on Jan 28, 2021 6:36 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Sharhari

Level 5

6,293 points

Jan 28, 2021 6:40 AM in response to zuffysh74

Please see this link and use safari to open the download links.

How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support

Hope it helps.

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Answer 2

Sharhari

Level 5

6,293 points

Jan 28, 2021 8:23 AM in response to zuffysh74

If you need someone to guide or walk through the steps.

You need to contact Apple support directly.

Contact Apple Support

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,959 points

Jan 28, 2021 7:25 AM in response to zuffysh74

zuffysh74 wrote:

thank you however im not sure what this article means? is there any way I could reinstall catalina without going into disk utility or recovery os? Thanks!

You're welcome, and no there isn't.

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Answer 4

zuffysh74 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 6:44 AM in response to Sharhari

Thank you very much for your reply! Just to clarify after doing this would I still be able to upgrade to other softwares like big sur if I wanted to (eg. will the big sur update still show in system preferences)?

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

135,959 points

Jan 28, 2021 6:56 AM in response to zuffysh74

See this article: https://www.imore.com/how-downgrade-macos

If you don't have a Time Machine or other backup, you will lose any data you don't have saved to iCloud. You would also have to reinstall any third-party apps.

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Answer 6

Owl-53

Level 10

102,601 points

Jan 28, 2021 6:58 AM in response to zuffysh74

Yes to both questions. Just make sure to have Time Machine Backup while in Catalina and perhaps 2 TESTED Bootable Clones each to separate external drives - Insurance Policy incase one what to revert again. Much easier than re-downloading and re-installing.

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Answer 7

zuffysh74 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 12:34 PM in response to Sharhari

Hi just as an update I’ve managed to update my laptop to Catalina! Thank you so much for the safari link, I followed this method and used Apple support as well! Once again thank you for all the replies!

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Answer 8

zuffysh74 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 7:23 AM in response to Owl-53

Hi! Thank you for your response. Sorry but would you mind writing down the steps on how exactly I would go about this catalina installation and downloading it from the App Store. Thank you very much!

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Answer 9

zuffysh74 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2021 7:24 AM in response to dialabrain

thank you however im not sure what this article means? is there any way I could reinstall catalina without going into disk utility or recovery os? Thanks!

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