macOS Catalina is Apple's next-generation desktop operating system that comes with tons of improvements and new features. In reality, Catalina is not a significant update over Mojave, but it has a few cool things that we have been demanding for years. macOS Catalina has been available for testing purposes for months, giving users a glimpse of what's including in the final release.
As a beta form, macOS Catalina is still a little bit buggy, but it is still worth your time. If you are thrilled to test out its new features, then you can make a clean install of macOS Catalina manually, which is more challenging than official upgrade. Following this method, all of your data will be wiped and you can set up your Mac as a new device. So, it's a good idea to have a recent backup of your machine before moving ahead.
Part 1: Download macOS Catalina Public Beta
An existing computer with Windows, Linux, or Mac: This is the computer where you will download and set up Hackintosh Catalina. The computer can run either Windows, Linux, or macOS; any operating system will work. A Hackintosh-compatible computer with an empty hard drive: This is the computer where you will install Hackintosh Catalina. Download or under a volume license, maintenance or other written agreement from Apple, you are. Granted a limited, non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a. Single Apple-branded computer at any one time. For example, these single-copy license terms apply to.
Official system upgrade is still not available for Mac users currently so you have to download the macOS Catalina DMG and make a bootable USB for installation. For official upgrade, the process is so much easily, which only takes for 3-5 clicks and wait for the upgrade to be completed. However, in this case, it is more harder for manually installation.
Step 1:Go to Apple Beta Software Program and sign in with Apple ID. You have to agree the terms before proceeding.
Step 2: The next step is choose the beta program you want to enroll. Choose macOS this time. After that, you backup the Mac with Time Machine.
Step 3: Download macOS Public Betat Access Utility, which reuqires time machine devcie to be connected. This makes sure all your data is safe place. Install the utility and complete the enrollment.
Step 4: Go to SystemPreferrence -> Software Update and click Download button to download the release.
Part 2: Create a Bootable macOS Catalina USB Install Drive
Before we begin, make sure you now have a USB flash drive by your side. We recommend you get a USB flash drive with a USB-C port. That makes sense, seeing that all Mac models now support Thunderbolt ports (USB-C).
Method 1: Terminal (Mac Only)
Step 1: Once the download is complete, the installer should automatically fire up. From here, just close the installer on your Mac and proceed with the next steps.
Step 2: Launch Finder, then select Applications, and right-click the Install macOS Catalina Beta file you downloaded earlier.
Step 3: From here, select Show Package Contents from the drop-down menu, then open Contents and hit Resources.
Step 4: Open Terminal, then enter sudo and hit the Space key. After that, drag the macOS Catalina installer file and drop it into Terminal.
Step 5: Enter –volume in Terminal and hit the Space key. Now, head over to Finder >Go >Go To Folder. From here, enter /Volumes in the 'Go To Folder' section and hit Go to proceed.
Step 6: Connect your USB drive to your machine and it should show up in Finder (in macOS Catalina, Apple removed iTunes in favor of 3 separate apps; Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and the Apple TV app).
Step 7: Move your USB flash drive into Terminal and hit the Return key. Input a 'y' and proceed with pressing the Enter key. This will move macOS Catalina installer files to the USB flash drive (the process may take several minutes).
if you encounter any problems during the process, try formatting the USB drive to APFS.
Method 2: UUByte DMG Editor (For PC and Mac)
It is a much more complicated process when using Terminal app. If you don't like or do not have a Mac at hand, then UUByte DMG Editor is the best solution out there. It works on PC and Mac. Also, it has a GUI and easy to get started for creating bootable macOS Catalina USB installer.
Step 1: Download macOS Catalina DMG file from here.
Step 2: Install UUByte DMG Editor on a Windows PC or Mac and insert a USB drive after that.
Step 3: Click 'Next' button at Burn column and you will be lead to a new window. From there, please import macOS Catalina DMG file into it and select the USB drive.
Step 4: Click 'Burn' button and wait for about several minutes. Then you will get a bootable macOS Catalina USB drive.
Part 3: Boot Mac from USB and Start Installing macOS Catalina
Once you have a bootable USB install drive for macOS Catalina, you now can boot from it and then start installing macOS on your mac and set up it as new.
Step 1: Connect the macOS Catalina USB install drive to your Mac and then reboot your machine.
Step 2: Hold down the Option key. Keep the button pressed until you see the boot menu. From here, select the macOS Catalina USB installer drive you created earlier to boot your Mac from.
Step 3: When your Mac finishes booting up, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Once you are done, you will be able to restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.
The Bottom Line
Creating macOS Catalina installation USB is a smart move if you want to use your Mac as a new device and keep it running smoothly. Hope that our guide works for you. Keep in mind that macOS Catalina is still in its early stages, so play it carefully with caution.
Attempting to download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store you may find that a small version of the “Install macOS Catalina.app” file downloads to the “Applications” folder, rather than the complete 8.1 GB installer file.
The tiny (just tens of megabytes) incomplete installer requires an internet connection during usage to download the rest of the Catalina update files. Additionally, it does not allow to create a macOS Catalina USB installer drive for use on multiple computers.
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to download the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file from Apple server using the “macOS Catalina Patcher” app instead of via the Mac App Store.
A similar mini-installer issue occurred previously with some users getting a tiny incomplete macOS High Sierra installer and macOS Mojave installer too and I covered a similar workaround here and here to download the complete installer file from Apple server.
Download And Install Os X Catalina
About the app
In this workaround, we’re going to use the macOS Catalina Patcher app from the dosdude1.com. This app is intended for those with unsupported Macs and Hackintosh users, but any Mac user can use the app to be able to download the complete macOS Catalina installer file from Apple server. For our purposes in this particular walkthrough, we will use the app only to download the complete installer file.
Note! This method relies on a third party app from an unverified third party source. If you are not comfortable with using unvetted and unverified software, do not follow this process.
Let’s begin
Downloading the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file from Apple server using the “macOS Catalina Patcher” app is a really easy process. Now, step by step guide.
Go to the official website of the “macOS Catalina Patcher” app here and download the app.
The download link is labeled as “Download Latest Version” on that page.
Launch the “macOS Catalina Patcher” app.
Note! By default, macOS preventing apps from unidentified developers or sources from being launched. So you most likely will get an alert message that says: “macOS Catalina Patcher.app can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer”. To allow just one specific app to run do the following:
- Hold down the
Control
key and click the app icon. From the contextual menu chooseOpen
. - A popup will appear asking you to confirm this action. Click the
Open
button.
Click the “Continue” button, and then select “Download a Copy”.
Confirm that you want to download the “Install macOS Catalina.app” app to start the download to your hard drive.
![Download Download](/uploads/1/1/9/3/119351929/256195502.jpeg)
Close the “macOS Catalina Patcher” app when the download is complete and locate the “Install macOS Catalina.app” file you downloaded.
Note! The download will be completed when you are prompted to choose an installation method. See the screenshot below.
Conclusion
That’s it, you’re done. Now you have the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file downloaded. So simple isn’t it?
You can confirm that you have the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file by getting info on the file. For this simply select the file and click the
Spacebar
key (or right-click on the file and choose “Get Info”). The complete installer should be around 8.1 GB rather than the tiny (just tens of megabytes) incomplete installer that requires additional downloads.Note! Remember, the “Install macOS Catalina.app” file deletes itself automatically after macOS Catalina has successfully installed. Therefore, you may want to make a backup by having previously copied it to external storage.
Let me know in the comments section if you know another way to download the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file rather than the tiny incomplete installer.
I hope this article has helped you learn how to downloaded the complete “Install macOS Catalina.app” file from Apple server. If this article has helped you then please leave a comment
![Install Install](https://www.codingpursuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/How-to-Download-and-Install-Xcode-11-on-macOS-Catalina.png)
Thanks for reading!
Arthur is a designer and full stack software engineer. He is the founder of Space X-Chimp and the blog My Cyber Universe. His personal website can be found at arthurgareginyan.com.
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