How to Download MacOS Catalina Without the App Store
If you’ve owned a Mac for a while, you’re well-aware of the fact that updating macOS to the latest version is a pretty straightforward procedure. However, if you’re looking to create a bootable USB drive, a full installer file is necessary, and the update you download from Apple’s servers might not always be the full installer, particularly with Catalina and Mojave (Big Sur does not seem to have this issue, for what it’s worth). Fortunately, downloading a full installer of macOS Catalina is a lot more easier than you might think, and we’re going to show you one quick and easy way to do this.
This could come in handy for many situations, be it to make boot media, or to run Catalina on various Macs (supported or otherwise). Or, if you don’t have a reliable internet connection to download the update directly. A macOS installer in DMG format could prove to be quite useful if your Mac isn’t booting up and you’re attempting recovery.
Interested in learning how you can download the full Catalina installer file, but without going through the App Store? Then read along, as we’ll be showing you a simple method to do so that works on just about any modern MacOS release.
How to Download a Full MacOS Catalina Installer Without the App Store
We’ll be using the third party macOS Catalina patcher tool to download the full installer on to your Mac. Simply follow the steps below to get started.
- Head over to the dosdude1 website and click on “Download Latest Version” to begin downloading the macOS Catalina Patcher on to your system. Once the download is complete, click on the download manager at the top-right corner of the Safari window and double-click on the file.
- This will open up a new window. Click on “macOS Catalina Patcher” to proceed further.
- Click on “Continue” to begin with the macOS Catalina installation procedure.
- Next, click on “Download a Copy” to download macOS Catalina from Apple’s servers.
- Now, click on “Start Download”. You might get a pop-up requesting access to files in your Downloads folder. Choose “OK” to continue.
- Depending on your internet connection, the download could take a while.
- Once the download is complete, you’ll have the option to create a bootable installer or make an ISO image of macOS Catalina.
That’s pretty much all you need to do. You’ve successfully download macOS Catalina without having to use the App Store.
Although we were primarily focusing on macOS Catalina in this article, you can follow the same procedure to download macOS Mojave via the Dosdude tool and older versions on to your computer. DosDude1 also offers a similar utility for High Sierra and Sierra.
Thanks to this patcher tool, you will still be able to install macOS Catalina on an unsupported Mac, as long as you meet the hardware requirements for the update. Also, if you have multiple Macs but limited internet data, you can download the full installer as a one-time step, transfer it to a USB flash drive and use it as bootable media for installation on other Macs.
Not sure how to create a bootable USB drive for installing macOS Catalina? We got you covered. You can follow these instructions to create a bootable Catalina media with Terminal. Or, you can just choose the “Create a Bootable Installer” in the macOS Catalina patcher tool.
Obviously we’re focusing on macOS Catalina here, which is still quite popular despite being an older OS release, and this is just one method to download the full installer without using the App Store. If you want more options and you’re actively running Catalina or later (including Big Sur), you can use the command line to download full MacOS Installer applications with this handy approach.
We hope you were able to download macOS Catalina on to your computer without having to rely on the Mac App Store. What’s your reason for resorting to this method? Do share your valuable thoughts and experience in the comments section down below.
I have my new macbook air 2012 so i want to install macos catalina right now no os is install how can i install do i first intall another or direct start on catilina guide me
use internet recovery
Thank you!
Why doesn’t Apple simply provide this? What are they, stupid?
So far, it doesn’t work. Can’t get around the “can’t open cuz we don’t recognize it” police
Can I install it with my macos high sierra?
I’m running 10.14.6 Mojave on a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) and want to upgrade to Catalina
I have followed your instructions but when the Catalina installer starts and I pick the hard drive to install to I get the message
“You must be running “macOs Catalina — 10.15″ or later to install onto this volume”
Its the same error that ultimately led me to find this article.
What can I do?
Mark
Thank you so much for making my life easy
Thank you so much. I wasted hours trying to download the installer and then had the good fortune to find this article. It was very frustrating to find the roadblocks Apple has installed for what should be a simple, straightforward process for those of us who have no interest in becoming programmers. Much obliged!
Thank you! I have no interest in becoming a programmer, and can never understand why the answer is always terminal. So, osxdaily is a real-time life-saver.
Thank you so much. I wasted hours trying to download the installer and then had the good fortune to find this article. It was very frustrating to find the roadblocks Apple has installed for what should be a simple, straightforward process for those of us who have no interest in becoming programmers. Much obliged!
This no longer works as Apple is actively blocking the download because “it cannot verify it for malware”
This still works fine, I just confirmed it yet again.
I am not sure what you are experiencing. Apple does not block downloads, Safari may request to allow the download however. Maybe you have a third party tool installed in your web browser?
You can also learn how to download macOS Catalina from here:
https://osxdaily.com/where-download-macos-installers/
Or from Terminal, use the following syntax:
softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.7softwareupdate <<< nope, does not work
download some sketchy software from some guy dosdude1 <<< nope, does not work, and who would be stupid enough to do this in this day and age
nobody has a clean way of obtaining installer files from apple, no mention of md5sum for security, just "trust me bro" nonsense. f this, I'm out. ebay this last few macs, and i'm moving to linux 100%. Should have done it a long time ago.
softwareupdate does work to download installers directly from Apple, it requires using the terminal with proper syntax.
The dosdude1 tool also works to download the installer for Catalina.
You can also get the Catalina installer through the Mac App Store.
More info is here: https://osxdaily.com/where-download-macos-installers/
You have to open “System Preferences” and click on “Security and Privacy” and click open any way toward the right lower part. After this the program should open with no problems. This is just Apple trying to force their consumers to only download from their market. They force this on the iPhone, but this allows you to bypass this on the iMac with out any code editing.
I have gotten by by just downloading Catalina from within the recovery / internet recovery mode.
IMO, there exists a better method: https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS
Hi Alex, can you share how to use this download from github? My sister has a Macbook air 2013, but her boyfriend restarted it and now we can’t log into App Store since we need to upgrade to the latest OS. now I’m trying to find a way to install like Catalina outside of App store.