This commodity guides you through the process of performing a make clean installation of macOS ten.fifteen Catalina using the bootable USB bulldoze method, rather than upgrading your Mac using Apple's standard installation package, which retains existing user information and any user-installed apps.

macs macos catalina
Creating a bootable USB drive provides you with a user-friendly way to install a fresh copy of macOS Catalina on multiple Macs. Performing a clean install can also remove annoying quirks and strange behaviors that your Mac may take inherited over fourth dimension, and often helps to reclaim disk space acquired past junk files left past third-party apps.

To follow the steps in this commodity, yous'll need an empty 16GB or larger USB pollex drive (USB-C or USB-A, depending on your Mac) and an hour or 2 of downtime while the installation procedure completes.

Also, be sure to perform a full backup of your Mac beforehand using Time Machine, so that you tin restore your original system from the Recovery partition if something goes wrong.

Compatibility Check

macOS Catalina is a major update that introduces a range of new features and changes including cantankerous-platform app support for third-political party apps, no more iTunes, iPad as a second screen functionality, Screen Fourth dimension, and more.

Every Mac that can run macOS Mojave will run macOS Catalina, with the exception of the mid-2010 and mid-2012 Mac Pro models. The full listing of compatible Mac models is as follows:

  • MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
  • iMac (Belatedly 2012 or newer)
  • ‌iMac‌ Pro (2017)
  • ‌Mac Pro‌ (Belatedly 2013)

To bank check if your Mac is compatible, open the Apple tree () menu in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen and select Near This Mac. Expect only beneath the OS X version number in the Overview tab – if the Mac model name is the same or a later model year than the ane shown in the compatibility listing higher up, your Mac is compatible with macOS Catalina.

How to Perform a Make clean Install of macOS Catalina

  1. Download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store [Direct Link].
    Mac App Store
  2. Once the download is complete, close the installer window by selecting the Quit Install macOS choice in the menu bar or using the keyboard shortcut Control (⌘) + Q.
  3. Launch the Last app (found in Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
  4. At the Terminal command prompt, type sudo followed past a infinite.
    mojave clean install 2
  5. Side by side, open a Finder window, navigate to your Applications binder, right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the macOS 10.fifteen installer, and select Prove Parcel Contents from the contextual dropdown carte.
  6. Navigate to Contents -> Resources inside the installer parcel.
  7. Elevate the createinstallmedia file into the Concluding window.
    mojave clean install 4
  8. Still in the Concluding window, type /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/XXXXX but replace XXXXX with the name of the USB drive you lot intend to use as a bootable installer.
  9. Once you've replaced XXXXX in the last step with the proper noun of the USB bulldoze, press the Enter cardinal on your keyboard to run the completed Concluding command.
  10. Enter your ambassador countersign when prompted.
  11. Type Y and press Enter when prompted, and the command will create your bootable Catalina installer on the USB bulldoze. This will take a few minutes to complete, so go out it running until you run into the message "Install media now available." Annotation that if you're asked whether you want to install Xcode during the process, yous can safely click Non Now and the process will complete successfully regardless.

Restart and Install

Yous can install Catalina on your Mac as soon as the USB installer has been created. To do and so, restart your Mac and concur downwards the Option (⌥) key equally soon as you hear the reboot tone. Then follow these steps:

  1. Use the mouse arrow or the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the disk called Install macOS Catalina in the drive list that appears on the screen.
  2. In one case the USB bulldoze has booted, select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, choose your Mac'southward startup bulldoze from the list, and click Erase.
  3. When your Mac'south startup deejay is formatted, return to the Utilities window and select Install macOS, choose your freshly erased startup bulldoze when asked where to install the Os, and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

To install Catalina on another Mac, first make sure it's powered off, then simply plug in the USB installer you created and plough the Mac on. When you hear the kicking tone, hold down the Selection (⌥) key and follow the iii steps in a higher place.

(Cheers to Angus for the new Terminal command!)

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