MacOS Catalina Patcher (formerly macOS Mojave Patcher, macOS High Sierra Patcher and macOS Sierra Patcher) is a small yet powerful tool that can help you create a bootable USB drive that can be used to install macOS Catalina on Mac computers older than mid 2012, basically acting as a macOS Mojave. Guide for Mojave (Also the patcher download page) Guide for Catalina (Also the patcher download page) When you done with the patcher you can comeback to this page again for the next step. Installing macOS Mojave/Catalina. To install macOS Mojave or Catalina you can choose to doing a clean install or doing a direct upgrade. MacOS Catalina Patcher. APFS BootROM Support: If you have a machine that supports High Sierra natively, you MUST ensure you have the latest version of the system's BootROM installed. If you have NOT previously installed High Sierra, you can download and install this package (if running OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later) to install the latest BootROM. Patch Catalina or Mojave macOS Installer App for Unsupported Machines Often for economic reasons, Apple prevents the Installer.app for its latest macOS from installing on older machines perfectly capable of running it eg macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread. I decided to update my 2010 Macbook Pro with the new Catalina patcher by Dosdude1. I wanted to show the process I went through in this video. Process was str.
Important Notes:
- Using APFS is REQUIRED in Mojave in order to receive system updates via the normal Software Update method. If you choose to continue using macOS Extended (Journaled) as your filesystem type, you will NOT receive System Updates via System Preferences. If you are not using APFS, you can follow the 10.14.1 installation steps below.
- After applying ANY system update via Software Update, re-applying post-install patches using your Mojave Patcher installer volume will most likely be necessary. If you install a software update and the system fails to boot afterwards, this is what needs to be done.
10.14.610.14.6 can be updated normally via Software Update if using an APFS volume, and will need to be patched using an installer volume created with Mojave Patcher version 1.3.2 or later after installing.
10.14.5
10.14.5 can be updated normally via Software Update if using an APFS volume, and will need to be patched using an installer volume created with Mojave Patcher version 1.3.1 or later after installing.
10.14.4
10.14.4 adds new changes that ARE NOT patchable by the post-install tool of Mojave Patcher v1.2.3 and older! Before updating to 10.14.4, you you will need to use the latest Mojave Patcher version to create a new installer volume, using the 10.14.4 installer app. Then, update to 10.14.4, either by installing via Software Update, or by just using the installer volume you've created to install.
10.14.3
If you are currently running 10.14.1 or 10.14.2, you can simply use the Software Update pane of System Preferences (if using APFS) to apply the 10.14.3 update. Once the update is installed, you will most likely need to re-apply post-install patches to get the system to boot again. This process is detailed in steps 8 - 10 above. If you are currently running 10.14.0, you'll need to proceed with the 10.14.1 update method described below.
10.14.2
If you are currently running 10.14.1, you can simply use the Software Update pane of System Preferences (if using APFS) to apply the 10.14.2 update. Once the update is installed, you will most likely need to re-apply post-install patches to get the system to boot again. This process is detailed in steps 8 - 10 above. If you are currently running 10.14.0, or are using a non-AFPS volume, you'll need to proceed with the 10.14.1 update method described below.
Catalina Patcher Recovery Mode
The Mojave 10.14.1 update does NOT install properly on unsupported machines, and could result in an unbootable OS. If you want to install the 10.14.1 update (and are not currently running 10.14.1), perform the following steps:
• Download the latest version of Mojave Patcher
• Download the installer using the Tools menu of Mojave Patcher
• Create a patched USB installer
• Boot from that, and install 10.14.1 onto the volume containing an older release.
• Once done, apply the post-install patches, and you should now be on 10.14.1.