How to Install MacOS Catalina on Unsupported Macs
Want to run MacOS Catalina 10.15 on a Mac, but that computer isn’t on the official list of Catalina supported Macs?
Then you may be interested in a third party tool that allows advanced uses to patch the MacOS Catalina installer so that it works on otherwise unsupported Macs.
Whether or not you should install MacOS Catalina onto an unsupported Mac is another question entirely, as performance may not be up to par, and some things may not work as expected (or at all, since features like Sidecar are compatible with specific Macs only), but if you’re an advanced user who is interested in running macOS 10.15 on unsupported hardware this patcher utility makes it easy to do so.
If this sounds interesting to you, check out the link below to learn more about the DosDude Catalina Patcher utility, and you can view a video tutorial further below showing how it works.
If you’re going to attempt to run this patcher and install MacOS Catalina on an unsupported Mac, be sure you have full complete backups of the computer and understand that running unsupported system software on an unsupported Mac has obvious risks.
DosDude has been tweaking with the MacOS system installers for a while, and you may recall a past article discussing running macOS Mojave on unsupported Macs too using a similar patch.
Which Unsupported Macs Can Install MacOS Catalina with the DosDude Tool?
According to DosDude, the MacOS Catalina Patcher will work to install MacOS Catalina on the following list of otherwise unsupported Macs:
- Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro:
- MacPro3,1
- MacPro4,1
- MacPro5,1
- iMac8,1
- iMac9,1
- iMac10,x
- iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
- iMac12,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
- MacBookPro4,1
- MacBookPro5,x
- MacBookPro6,x
- MacBookPro7,x
- MacBookPro8,x
- Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:
- MacBookAir2,1
- MacBookAir3,x
- MacBookAir4,x
- MacBook5,1
- Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook:
- Macmini3,1
- Macmini4,1
- Macmini5,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina.)
- MacBook5,2
- MacBook6,1
- MacBook7,1
- Early-2008 or newer Xserve:
- Xserve2,1
- Xserve3,1
As you can see, that list is significantly broader than what is on the list of MacOS Catalina compatible Macs.
It goes without saying that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, and some Macs may not perform well, and not all features may work as expected if trying to run MacOS Catalina on unsupported hardware. This is very much a third party tweak, and is of course not supported by Apple in any way.
The video below demonstrates a tutorial walking through the process of using the DosDude Catalina patcher tool to install the macOS 10.15 system software on an unsupported Mac.
If you’re going to attempt to install MacOS Catalina on an unsupported Mac, do so at your own risk, and let us know how it goes in the comments below.
Dear,
I installed on my imac mid2011 the catalina Patcher… It worked well but then I discober the incompatibility with the radeon cards. I tryed downgrade to High Sierra but when the mac starts the process for install it, after a while it freezes and nothing happens after that… I just can install the Catalina patcher or Mojave patcher… Tryed Mountin Lion also, but freezes like High sierra. Tried install by internet, It happens the same thing as the Sierra. It seems that I just can install Catalina and mojave. I ask if the catalina patcher updates the Bios or something else in the chips and not just in the SSD? My computer worked fine before and this happened just after install the patcher… Can someone help me to let me downgrade?
Thank you
YOu might want to remove the video card and put the stock card in, then revert back… See if it works
How do you get 32g ram on a 2008? I have a late 2011 macbook pro 13″ and only get 16gb. I also have not been able to install catalina.
Hi.
Sorry for the longish post but it will probably help having a little context.
So have been updating my Mac Pro 5,1 maxed out to 128gb ram, Sapphire RX580, originally from High Sierra to Mojave and now thanks to this tut over to Catalina.
Right, all went flawlessly. I have migrated all my files and all seems to be working a part from one thing. Bluetooth Magic Mouse and keyboard.
Ever since having the MacPro both the BT devices needed another Bluetooth source to be connected to as the original Mac Pro one goes in conflict with my USB 3 sockets. The keyboard would kind of work but the mouse would be a total pain because of some kind of interference with the USB 3 PCIe cards.
So I found an interesting article some time ago in Italian where a guy had used an external BT stick paired with a terminal command to get it all working through the stick bypassing the original BT on the Mac Pro motherboard. And yes it worked. But ever since upgrading to Catalina, the system doesn’t recognise both wireless keyboard and mouse from the boot and have to manually select them using wired keyboard and mouse which kinda defeats the purpose of having wireless ones in the first place.
Has anyone experienced a similar issue and maybe has a fix to share?
! / I have to back up my MAIN HARD=DRIVE using “Super-duper” app.
2 / I have formatted my 2 TB start-up SSD
3 / I have installed Mojave with NO issue.
4 / I have Upgraded to Catalina with NO issue.
5 / Using Apple migration app, I have transferred all back to my 2 TB SSD start-up drive.
All works like a Swiss watch. Mac Pro 2008 with NVIDIA GTX-680 and 32 Gig RAM
Reading the FAQ on DosDude’s site I see it says:
“AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series graphics acceleration: Currently, it is not possible to achieve full graphics acceleration under Catalina on any machines that use a Radeon HD 5xxx or 6xxx series GPU.”
I have an ’09 upgraded to Mojave with a Radeon RX 580. I know very little about the nuance of all these graphics chips. Is my RX 580 in the same category as these HD 5XXX and 6XXX series chips?
The patch works fine with an RX580 (for me). The only issue I have is that I can’t get anything iCloud related to work – no email, no drive, messages – I’m finding that the biggest downfall.
BROOOO!!!! It actually worked! I completely forgot about your post and literally not find an answer anywhere else on the Internet. Thank you SO MUCH!
Your OS took an update and broke the efi with updated system files. Replace the system files with the patched ones that were there previously and it may boot again depending on the changes made by the update that was administered. Careful with updates, some will rewrite sys files to values that kill the patch values even though they’re for something you think is completely unrelated.
Hi,
I upgraded my Macbook 2008 aluminum unbody with the Catalina patch since March.
Everything has been working well until 2 weeks ago. If I power Macbook on, when it gets to the Apple logo it will freeze(get stuck). It will be like that forever.
Please how can I fix that?
Thanks
Christopher.
Try booting holding down the OPTION V key for verbose mode and see what is holding it up
The instal process won’t complete on my 5.1 mac pro running El Capitan. I get to a point where a big green tick appears, and a message saying the installation will now commence, except it doesn’t. Nothing happens. Any idea?
Exact same issue with my Mac Pro 5.1
I believe you have to upgrade to High Sierra first.
Hi,
Thanks for providing this patch. I have used your el capitan and high sierra patches in the past.
I have created to bootable USB as per your instructions. I am able to boot off it using my macbook air. When I try to boot off it on my Mac Pro 3,1 it doesn’t go to recovery or disc utility, it just boots from my usual drive
Yesterday I upgraded my iMac early 2008 from Yosemite to Catalina without any problems. I put in a 500gb ssd and 6gb ram. The filesystem conversion runs automatically when you reinstall macos. The performance isn’t significant downgraded compared to Yosemite. Thanks for the great job!
Last week I did the usb bootable creation process with Catalina Patcher…everything was okay.When the time arrive for booting with the usb flash the process starts and goes while 30 secondes and a incompatible icon installation appears like a white wheel with a bar on it.
No possibility to do an install of Catalina.Im on on Mac mini 2010.My mac seems to be okay to do this(compatibility chart).
what to do ??
I have read that it may be necessary to disable the SIP first.
Have a 2009 MacBook Air was running 10.6.8. Upgrade to Catalina was going fine till I couldn’t find utility menu to install new OS on utility menu. They don’t even look the same. Stuck! Any help appreciated!
When i applied the recommended driver which i have a mac pro 5,1 12 core etc.. its said the recommendations was to install patches for auto dimming and for audio in and out once that did update my system rebooted and never came back.. i had to reinstall everything but this time i refused to install recommend patches
Hello,
Im running MacBookPro 5,3.
Ran the patcher, installed OS X Cat on bootloader… install went great. I go to log in for the first time and nothing… just stuck with spinning wheel. I need help.
Thanks.
If you have installed Catalina but cannot login….
First thing I would do is go to macOS Utilities and perform first aid on your Drive volumes. In case you don’t know the process follow these instructions.
Make sure you still have the external drive “macOS Base System” plugged in that you used to install Catalina using dos dudes instructions.
Turn off the machine. Turn it on and hold the Option Key down until the screen shows all the Drives you have. At minimum it should show the hard drive in your machine and the Catalina. Choose the Catalina logo.
After briefly seeing a screen called macOS Recovery you will end up with the macOS Utilities screen which you should have seen already when you completed the installation of Catalina.
Anyway, here is a list on this screen.
1- Restore From Time Machine – For me this would not work and I had to figure out how to get access to my Time Machine backups another way.
2- Reinstall macOS – I have not had to do this.
3- Get Help Online — forget about it!
4- Disk Utility — This is what you should try first. Open it and use the First Aid choice to verify each volume is okay.
5- MacOS Post Install — This you should have done already. If not do it now.
Once done with these operations start up the machine normally and see if you can login.
Hello everyone! Ok I have a Mac Pro 5.1 totally maxed out. 12 cores, 128gigs of ram at 1333mhz, AMD 580. With a m.2 raid drives.
When I try the Dosdudes patch. It tells me the installation source is damaged! I have tried to downloading several new copies. And nothing is working. I currently am running Mojave.
Try to copy the catalina on your dektop, and select it at this location
I have a 2009 Macmini3,1. When I run it, it loads up, takes a while, but then when it should start it just stays stuck on the booting up screen with the Apple and progress bar.
I’m wondering if I upgrade my hard drive to an SSD if this will fix this.
A friend thinks it’s the processor.
Any ideas?
Boot in recovery and run the patch. Let it finish and reboot on its own.
Re-read instructions and watch YouTube video.
SSD will improve boot time and data transfer.
My MacBook Pro A1278 with 240Gb SSD / 2+2Gb ram boots in 8 sec Catalina 10.15.4
Below are some tips below on how You can bypass this issue for (Sierra & above):
1. At the top right hand side, enter “terminal” then click on the selected apps that You want.
2. Key in “sudo spctl -master-disabled” then click enter.
3. Go back to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > in the General tab, Figure 1 as per above will appear.
Hi roxey,
What issue does this bypass?
Hi, does have anybody this issue? When i try to sleep mode my system fail and reboot, but this happen just sometimes? Sometime it goes to sleep mode wihout problem. I am running on Macbook pro late 2008 unibody. Everythings works fine only this issue :(
Hi, is there a chance that apple tv app could be running on it? Recently, i can not play Apple tv apps on my machine with catalina patched.
Hey i got a Macpro 3,1 and the loading does not finalize.. ( at 18:18) is stuck at : “Less than a minute remmaining.
Hi,
I have an early 2011 Mcbook Pro 15 inch, 2GHz, Intel Core I7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, Graphics AMD RADEON HD 6490M 256MB, SSD 1TB Samsungs Evo 850.
Do you think the Catalina patch would work on my computer?
My ‘09 Pro has 16 GB of RAM. Works Great.
Catalina 10.15.3
I upgraded last year to Catalina and all works fine, but I cannot update to 10.15.3 (tells me will not work on my machine). Also the Combo Update does nor work.
Any ideas?
If I do the patch again, will it download the latest version (10.15.3)?
i have same problem.
Doesnt work os update. If i os update, cant do this..
** I was installed 10.15.
** Android file transfer app not working 10.15 version.
** I was try clean installation 10.15.3.
Use Dosdude1 patch again and create a stick with latest version. Use it following the same instructions …will do a nice upgrade.
I installed Catalina on my late 2008 MacBook Pro -2.4Ghz C2Duo 8GB Ram & SSD as a fresh install and so far everything seems to be working fine. Boot time is about 70secs inclusive of the black code & progressive bar indicator screen. Trackpad works in all modes as does the keyboard lights & brightness keys. Thought I would try it with a few browsers open, email, a movie playing, music playing and working on an excel file and it is working effortlessly – swiping between screens is smooth with no delay which I am so surprised as it certainly wasn’t like this when I was running Mavericks. I will report back later after some working time and see if the performance has changed.
Hi
I would be grateful if you can give your opinion.
i have IMAC 27 inch core 2 duo late 2009 with ATI radeon graphic card. Currently on high sierra.
hoping to update with 2 TB SSD and 16 GB RAM. will catalina work on my computer. I think i have latest BOOT ROM too.
Hi Anthony,
Did you get an answer for this question? I am in the same situation, with the same hardware as you spoke of.
hi
Everything is working well but… but Imovie preview has a black screen for movie or pictures.
@Obon, based on your comments I actually do not see you as an “advanced user”. Her question was valid, obviously this will void any warranty and of course it will not be supported. I think everyone understands that, not sure why you keep repeating that, that’s not “advanced user” jargon. ;)
I don’t think warranty considerations matter on these old machines.
How to I get into recovery mode after catalina has been installed..I need to run a time machine recovery and everytime I press command + R it doesnt do it
No, I managed to upgrade from High Sierra to Catalina no problem on my Macbook Air late 2011. It retained all my apps and everything worked like a charm.
Only once did I get a worrying error on boot. Left it powered off overnight and the next day it booted off just fine… Maybe it needed to sort stuff out on its own… 😅
Can you clarify how you upgraded? I have a macpro5,1 running the latest mojave (10.14.6). Unclear to me how to upgrade to catalina (10.15.3), as the installer says “Install a new version of the OS” (or similar) as opposed to “upgrade or install new” from the normal installers.
Hey man, I have the same machine but I can’t install. Setup starts but at the end, it returns to the installation page and the system doesn’t start. Why?
Installed on MacBook mid 2010. Works great, upgraded from High Sierra. Stock 250 gb hd. But has 9 gb memory. Lost a few 32 bit apps like iPhoto and iDVD.
I didn’t even know that mid-2010 Mac’s can support that amount of RAM. I though it was maxed out at 4 gb.
Good to know.
So all my files will be lost, do I need a backup? can I use time machine ?
macbookpro8.1 13″ late 2011 not installed update Night shift patch
install clean catalina 10,15,2 —ok
Am I correct in believing this dosdude workaround is for fresh installs only, and not for upgrades from Mojave to Catalina?
Im wondering the same thing as I’m on a patched 10.15.1 and can’t see any updates but am aware there is an update for 10.15.2.
There is a log update for the patcher that supports .2 but can’t seem to get it to work with out the need for full install.
if anyone has a way to update would be great.
Thanks :)
Indirectly related observations I am putting here in case some else can benefit. In the pursuit of getting Catalina Patcher to work, I have downgraded to the Sierra patcher and in doing that, these two things are noted:
1. The installation said it could not proceed because there were no valid project files. Well, go to Terminal, set time with “date 0115124517” and then the installation will proceed further. I don’t know if it will complete because I am still waiting.
Another interesting tidbit, if you are running the installer in a language you cannot read, click on the back button after booting up and you will find a language selection menu. Both of these tips have been very useful to me today.
Do the set date works? My patcher install and when remain 4 minutes it restart and doesn’t work.
So let me get this straight, I SHOULD NOT do this on my mid 2011 imac if I have a AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1024 MB graphics card?
Lisa, this is for advanced users only. If you don’t know the answer to your question then the answer is that you should not do it, that’s as straight as you can get. This is installing an unsupported MacOS Catalina OS onto a Mac that is not meant to run it. If you personally don’t know why or how it works, why would do something that could break your computer? Don’t take the risk.
Yes, I get that. I am an advanced user and have used Mac exclusively since the early 90s. I just purchased a new 2019 iMac, but I have an old 2011 iMac on which I would like to run Catalina. However, I don’t want to take the chance if I don’t have a compatible graphics card. It appears I could possibly do this with my model, but there is a side note about the graphics card. I will probably just hang with what I have for now and use for storage.
From my own experience, don’t try to run the unsupported OS software when an important hardware module is not fully compatible, it’s a real pain when something like that does not work.
Obon, why do you bother to post here?
This site is for people who know how to do a back-up, etc, and want to try something outside of the bounds set by Apple.
MeThinks I am offering my opinion about the unsupported Catalina systems, I do not think most people are well suited for that. If you use it and it doesn’t support your hardware, what do you get? A broken system? I do not recommend that and I think Apple would not recommend it either.
What a strange thread with Lisa’s question. The answer is obvious and simple: Load Catalina on a separate drive and test it. Run it, install all your favorite programs on it, push it any way you want. Option 1: Are you happy with the results? Great! You have a new OS. It may not last updates but you’re happy. Option 2: You don’t like it? No problem! Just reboot while holding the option key, choose a different drive, and load up your last system.
There you go, Lisa. The only answer you need.
You asked a straightforward question and got a really snippy oh-she’s-a-girl answer, which I think is pretty lame.
The answer you deserved was “Yes, that’s right.”
Bob this is an advanced topic about installing system macOS Catalina on unsupported Macs, that means the Mac won’t support the software on its own and that decision as made by Apple, it has nothing to do with whatever weird rant you’re on, maybe you watch too much TV. Why would you want to install unsupported software if you don’t know how? Do you want to brick your Mac or lose your disk data? If you don’t know that and instead you’re getting distracted by other comments then maybe you should not try to use Catalina on a Mac that can’t run it. If this topic is over your head please don’t try to use this software as you will not find it workable for you.
I do NOT run Catalina this way because I do not want the problems. This is tech support nightmare, think of that.
Are you slow buddy? This site is for people that are looking to do something unofficially.
I think Bob got it right. It is an old thread, Obon should have calmed down by now. For anybody else: metal support is the issue. It will be slow, I`ll be trying in a few days, also gonna switch from 6970 to r9m290x. Maybe Obon comes on and says thats a terrible idea:-) Well, after two times in the oven (hd6970 heat treatment), it is time to upgrade or move on.
Some of the 2011 MacBook Pro computers had a GPU that went bad this is a tool that tries to help that but I don’t know about how it works with Catalina
https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0
Once you have installed Catalina, you have to reboot to the installer and run the appropriate post-install script to install the patches required by your particular Mac. (Dosdude’s installer now detects you Mac’s model and suggests the required patches… quite slick indeed!) Once that has been done, you can shut down, eject the installer and boot to your new installation. Brilliant!
I like the way this worked. It was simple and it worked, but, can MacOS be updated once it is patched? It seems I will be stuck on 10.15 with no patches or updates available for me.
You only get updates if you change your HDD/SSD format to APFS, if you stay in the old format you don’t get software updates from the AppStore.
Hector,
I run Catalina on a maxed MacMini 2009. Runs quite well. But no updates on MacOS. If I really want an update I download DosDude1 files on a stick, and do a clean install. Gets easy the more you do it.
Have same issue, downloaded patcher today and reboots to install menu not Catalina
MacPro early 2008 3,1 – NVIDA 8800
Catalina patch fails. About 4 minutes left on the installer, then reboots and shows the same options again. (I tried both updagrading to APFS and reformatting to APFS)
I’ve upgraded my Macbook Pro Late 2008. I followed doddude1 instructions and everything went smoothly. Everything’s fine about this Mac version.
That’s great to read. Which OS did you have installed previously? Were you with El Capitan or did you update with the workaround to High Sierra? Do you use Adobe CS6 by chance on Catalina?
I upgraded my MacBook Pro 13″ Mid-2010 which is a MacBookPro7,1 with an NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB graphics card. I believe since I had High Sierra installed prior to my upgrade, my installed programs were mostly 64-bit which is a must for the Catalina upgrade. My main reason for updating was getting Xcode 11.2.1 installed which required macOS Catalina.
Hello! Im planning to do the same on my Macbook 7,1, how is it working for you, any mayor issues?
i’m french, sorry in advance for my english !!! i installed catalina 10.15.1 on my MacPro 3.1 with the last dosdue1 patch and it works like a charm ! with a flashed AMD R9 270X graphic cards,. I mount the os on a NVME samsung SM951 256gb with 16g RAM. opencl score 26911 , metal score 25385 on geekbench 5. I m just trying to fix the pci line bloqued on 8X and 2.5 GT/s
Hi Arnaud,
You are a lucky man, I have a MacPro 3.1 and I wanted those that you but the Post-Install Patches, after detecting the Mac tyoe automatically, starts a message: An Error occured while appliying patches(1), after the Apply the wheel moves (left lower corner) Rebuilding Caches continuosly until hours…I have no idea resolving this.
It works great, but I can’t access recovery mode, any idea how I can get it working?
Command+option+R
Mac mini 2011. i5 8GB RAM. 500GB hard drive. Can’rt start install of Catalina. I’m getting:
“an error occurred while preparing the installation macos catalina. Please run application again.”
Dis anybody see this error? Any ideas? I made USB 3 times. HighSierra is updated no updates left.
Any progress?
I can’t even burn the package on the USB, it gives and error at the end saying the format of the media is not right, but that can’t be the case as I formatted it with GUID scheme, Journaled.
please help I have an iMac (late 2009) I want to install it on.
On my Early 2009 MacMini only worked when I change the format to APFS.
Just I talked Catalina on 2010 Mac book pro 6,2. Runs absolutely fine. Had 512gb ssd and 8gb ram so is a good spec for this model.
Chuffed to bits!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello Roger,
Ive tried this way of installing mojave on my Macbook Pro 8,1 but cant get pass installation.
“OS X could not be installed on your computer.
No packages were eligible for install”
Using terminal change the date to anywhere in 2017 and try again.
Hi Roger,
how do the apps photo and maps work? Are you using continuity tool? Does it work?
I’m thinking of upgrading my MacBook Pro 6,2 to Catalina.
I’ve read there are problems with usb-drives using exfat, that there are problems by switching from MacOs to Win with bootcamp.
Sorry for my bad English.
Hello Roger
I have a 2011 MacBook Pro 8,1 upgraded with 16gb of ram, a new battery, and a ssd.
I can not get this installed, Ive followed all steps and it just doesn’t install. It says i dont have a valid copy of macOS on the ssd, any ideas?
Hi all
Updated my MBA 2011 and the iMac 2009. Both with SSD Harddisk are running with the newesr version of the patcher better than before. Thanks
macbook white 5.2 santa rosa work very well with Catalina OS. Just the trackpad don’t work the double tap (need external mouse to use right button)
I don’t even want to run Catalina on my 2017 MacBook pro. Why would anyone put this buggy version that can’t even run 32-bit software on anything old where you could have use for compatibility? No thanks, My 2009 MacBook will keep its High Sierra
Works fine on my late 2008 MacBook unibody.
I see no downside at all.
It’s been a while since you posted. Are you still happy with your decision? I have a 2009 and are seriously considering to get Catalina.
Yet another reason to stick with PC
That makes no sense, having a PC is not going to impact your ability for a Mac to run Catalina.
There always will be OS versions that arent’ supported on your system and won’t install or work properly. For full freedom and tinkering, one could go Linux but there a distributions that run an a Mac as well. But those can be less stable and the problems you might run into that are pain the you know what to solve.
Thank you. Helpful. Does anyone know why Sidecar is chip specific?
Probably because of the shareholders.
because side car uses a newer vesion of blue called low power bluetooth, and if you were to use sidecar on older macbook it would die very quickly.
Im running a top spec mid2010 MPB (2.66 i7, 8GB RAM, 512 GT330M & SSD) – and have been battling with for over a year to resolve an issue with my icloud doc syncing as it stopped around the time 10.14 came out.
I decided to try this on a second drive for fun and not only was the install faultless, it also resolved the issue couldn’t seem to fix for over a year… FLM
Performance at the moment is a tad slow, but as it is carrying out all the sync and app downloads its only to be expected – But so far very happy.
Will post an update later on if anyone is interested
So after letting the machine collect its thoughts overnight, it seems to run fine speed wise, temp wise its running warm – but its been running warm lately even on older versions of OS.
Safari appears to run better on this version as on 10.12 &10.13 when scrolling down on some webpages it would stutter and stop – not anymore.
Only issue I’m having is I’m getting an ‘authentication error (0)’ when signing into podcasts and Music apps.
If anyone has a fix for that would be great.
Hi Josh,
how do the apps photo and maps work?
I’m thinking of upgrading my mac to Catalina. My mac is mid 2010, too.
I’ve read there are problems with usb-drives using exfat, that there are problems by switching from MacOs to Win with bootcamp.
Sorry for my bad English.
Testing 10.15 on an old mechanical HDD linked to a 2016 MBPro. It is SO slow. Don’t think I’ll bother patching my iMac 8.1 which is already struggling with 10.13. 👴🏻
Using Dosdude1’s patches,
&
For the record, an SSD Hard Drive Should be installed in any of these machines with 8GB RAM …then they work perfectly fine. The Air and iMac 27 below came with SSD’s. The other’s were upgraded.
I have the following configurations using the patcher.
Catalina on (3) Late 2009 Mac mini’s, buttery smoothly.
Catalina on (1) Late 2009 iMac, buttery smoothly.
Catalina on (1) 2011 MacBook Air 13″, buttery smoothly. Only 4GB’s but works buttery smoothly.
Catalina on (1) 2008 iMac 24″, internet, mail photo’s, and all default apps work fine, but only 4GB ram so it can be a tad slow. 8GB’s might be better
Catalina on (1) Late 2012 iMac 27″, buttery smoothly (officially supported machine)
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have Late 2009 iMac to upgrade and hence I benefit from this post prior to executing it. Cheers.
I have the following configuration: iMac 21.5 Mid 2010 upgraded to 16 GB ram and 1TB SSD (ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB). Downloaded Catalina patcher and tried to restore it directly to the machine without a boot disc. Got the message that Catalina could not be installed. Wondering of my machine will run Catalina or maybe I need to try again and boot from a separate boot disk?
As one of the people involved in this project, I’d suggest mentioning our MacRumors thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-15-catalina-on-unsupported-macs.2183772/ (which has a Discord server linked on the first page) so that users can get support if something breaks (which it will).
It’s cool to see us mentioned here, thanks for the shoutout! I’ll send this link to dosdude1 himself as well.
This is all great information. A very helpful resource is the Discord server link for running Mac Catalina on unsupported Macs hardware:
https://discord.gg/XbbWAsE
Good work team.
I upgraded my 2012 Mac Mini and it would lock up every night. Since the most recent patch to fix a metal issue, the system has been rock solid, and even things that are reported as not working in Catalina on my model, work perfectly.