How to Install macOS 10.15 Catalina on an Unsupported Mac

What's the difference between your patch software and open core legacy patcher?

Btw, I just installed Catalina on my late 2011 13 inch MBP and it runs great with your method, not even a clean install. Occasionally I'll notice some tiny graphical bugs, far from messing with user experience and it seems to run a bit better than High Sierra.

Will my data be erased when I do this?

Great. Just converted to APFS. Now can't install because doesn't support installing to firewire. Now I'm stuck. Should have done more research. Your High Sierra to Mojave video was awesome and after that had no fear upgrading to the next version. Oh well. You live and you learn. Don't do this upgrade people if you are booting off an external drive via firewire. Mid 2015 iMac here. You really think the internal drive would have lasted this long. Nope, had to install to SSD via Firewire awhile back. Thanks anyhow.

Ok, so the only issue I seem to have is my backlit keyboard no longer lights up, I have a 13in mid 2010 MacBook7,1. Is there a fix for this that anyone knows about?

CAN i after pull thé usb driver after finish thé installation

Do you lose your data when you update this ?

An error occurred while downloading macOS. Please check your Internet connection and try again.

Thank you!!

is a macbook air7,2 2017 compatible? im asking because i dont see it in the list of compatible macbooks air, thank you

Colin, thank you for creating and sharing this. I had tried everything to get my mid-2010 iMac with a GTX 765M upgraded beyond High Sierra. This works a treat, but I do have an issue with video lag when moving dialog panels. I tried the post-install patches but that has not fixed it. Is there anything you can suggest please. I'm using dark mode.

I used this method to install Catalina to a new drive and it worked great! I then migrated my stuff over from Mojave. I seem to have lost the patch updater. It's they any way to get the patch updater on its own?

This is great! Will it also work on a 2012 MacBook Pro 9,2 with Raid 0?

Could not join the network could not be found

My wifi its trouble,. How i can fiks it after upgrade OS catalina,. Can you help me,. My MacBook is MacBook pro 8.5 late 2011

First and foremost, a trillion thanks for the extraordinary guidance—truly, you've worked wonders. Managing to upgrade to Catalina on my vintage Mac Pro 5.1 was nothing short of a revelation. I've yet to encounter a single hiccup; it's smooth sailing all the way and astoundingly, it's outperforming High Sierra. Monumental kudos to you for that!

The tutorial you provided was nothing short of a masterclass. One attempt was all it took to get everything in order. It’s absurd how Apple overlooks the potential of older models when, clearly, these systems are perfectly capable of running more modern software. As someone knee-deep in 3D modeling and web development, I can definitively say their 'incompatibility' claim holds no water. So, really, an ocean of gratitude for dispelling that myth and for making my work and life remarkably easier and better.

Hi Collin,
My Mac pro 3,1 with Ati Radeon 5870 successfully installed Mac Os Catalina . However, on Apple settings the monitor detection is not able to detect my second monitor. Please advise.
Thank you
Best regards

Excellent tutorial very clear! Thank you very much @dosdude1

hey what do it wont open

Mine doesnt want to work on iMac 8,1

thank you for the video, I'm in the middle of trying to upgrade to catilna but when i try to format my flash drive i don't get the APFS option in my menu. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Fantastic video!!
Only I have a problem using Migration Assistant after the upgrade. It starts up and then after entering the password for the user account it freezes! I have to force quit and log back in then restart MA and it will start at the point of force quitting. But then it will freeze again after it asks for the user password again. If I keep force quitting and restarting it seems to progress. I wonder what could be going on. Seems like it might be a graphics issue. What do you think?

Is there a way after install to be able to remove usb and install directly to hard drive

you make it so easy, finally i revived my old mbp THANKS MAN

If I install directly onto ssd the installation gets stuck at arround 80% all night

I cannot thank you enough Colin for all your hard work and how much easier it is for my old 2011 MacBook Pro to keep up! Cheers!

So good , very good, thanks (on MacBook Pro 4,1)

Alright mate ( @dosdude1 ), I installed this patcher on my old late 2011 High Sierra MacBook Pro, but now the screen is on full brightness and will not adjust. I tried to boot into recovery mode but the screen just goes white. Any help or advice at all would be welcome as I can't use my mac due to the blinding brightness of the screen... cheers

Hello Dosdude1, Thank you for your job ! I just installed Catalina on my Macbook Pro 5.1 successfully. There is only one point : I'm unable to configure my embedded trackpad, and in the system settings, it waits for a blutooth trackpad version, which is not detected, of course... Do you know if there is patch for that, or maybe a way to configure manually by changing a preference file somewhere in the system ? Thank you !

Mine is getting stuck after the final bar loads how do u assist

I have a prohibited (circle with the slash) after I restart and boot the usb. It gives me the grey screen with prohibited icon about half way through the boot up. Can you help? Thank you

Time machine still work after the installation?

Esto es verdaderamente asombroso! Mil gracias

HI
Can You tell me if I will be have a problem with graphics card which is Radeon HD 6770 on My iMac 2011 ? Thanks

Have tried it on two macs and it has not worked properly. Catalina does install and start, but then has various small and big glitches, such as backlight adjusting not working or none of the internet browsers starting up. Not usable, bad job.

Thank you, saved me some serious money by not having to upgrade to a newer computer.

Thank you so much for this video and the tool you created.
Followed your video up to the point where I installed Catalina on my MacBook Pro 5,1. I did APFS upgrade, then MacOS reinstall not erase as I wanted to keep my data. After couple reboots it’s now sitting at 30% with Apple logo and a message “Estimating time remaining…” for the past 24 hours. What can I do? If I press (not hold) the power button a different message appears “Your Mac will restart when update completes” then in a min goes back to “Estimate…”

I've followed the instructions to install Catalina on a Mac Pro 5,1, but it will only boot to the USB stick created to install Catalina.

If I attempt to apply patches which should already be installed, I get the following error:

The Volume"2TB DRIVE" does not appear to contain a vaild copy of macOS Catalina. Are you sure you want to apply patches to this volume?

If I boot with only the drive I've installed Catalina on, I get a flashing folder with a Question Mark.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks! I tried with many videos, tutorials, OS, boots and others but finally this worked. The Patch worked in iMac 21.5 inch, Mid 2010 upgraded from HDD 500 GB to SSD 1 TB and from 4 to 12 GB RAM. The old mechanical HDD eventually died but I will try to recover that info later on. Keep up the good work.

Thank you very much Collin! This Patch tool is great. But I have one problem. My MacBook Pro 15-inch from 2009 doesn’t connect to wifi when i start the Mac. I have to do a restart. but sometimes this doesn’t work too. Do you know this issue? Is there a solution? Or did I something wrong?

Thank you Collin, my mac book pro 2009 is running Catalina without problems since a year now. Today I wan to install windows 10 using bootcamp. Do you think that it will work on my system ?

does the usb drive have to be completely empty?

What about Mac 14.1 it’s a 2013

Thank man, You’re a Wizard and I mean that in a Great way

Worked fine. However having an issue with Cleanmymac X, it keeps crashing. starts back up and runs for a while but crashes again?

Much appreciated!! Just did this on a Late 2009 Macbook 6.1! Do you plan on upgrading the tool for Monterey or Ventura?? Is it even doable?

Just did Catalina on a 2009 late iMac 27. At installed it said to disable SIP. After install everything seems to be working. How or do I need to enable SIP?

Hello, the process doesnt fulfill. When I press "download a copy", it says "ERROR - COULD NOT LOCATE THE CORRECT ENTRY IN THE CATOLOGURL. CANNOT CONTINUE." What do I do in this situation? Can you help me?

I have a AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1024 MB in my Imac '27 inch mid-2011. Will i be able to run Catalina smoothly or do i need to upgrade the videocard..?