Reinstall App Store Mac Catalina

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Luckily, there is a utility called macOS Catalina Patcher, which lets you download the complete setup file from Apple’s servers. Here is how you can use this app to get a copy of macOS Catalina.

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Recently switched to macOS 11 Big Sur? This means you’re in for some huge enhancements and a completely redesigned look. It's fair to say Big Sur is not a perfect fit for everyone, though. Can you go back to previous macOS if that's the case? Sure. In this article, we describe how to downgrade from macOS 11 and continue using your previous macOS without any data loss.

Scratch
  • Check the App Store for any available updates, or the app's website. You can also try restarting your Mac to see if that helps. If it doesn't, force-quit any apps that appear to be taking up a lot.
  • Select Reinstall macOS from the options. If performed correctly, this method will reinstall the latest version of macOS from Apple’s servers. As of the writing of this article, that means you’ll get macOS Catalina. Mike Peterson (Senior Writer).
  • Mac and iOS users needing to install previously purchased Apple App Store programs just need to know where to look. Here's how to reload such apps on new and reformatted Macs, iPhones, and iPads. This has been a feature in macOS Recovery since macOS Sierra 10.12.4, and it should reinstall whatever version of the macOS your Mac shipped with.

Toolkit for safe macOS downgrade

Easily switch between macOS versions with Setapp. Get access to the apps that will keep your Mac invincible and your data protected.

Before you make a decision to uninstall Big Sur, check out some common macOS 11 problems and fixes. Maybe, the problem that is hampering your flow is on the list — and you can easily solve it. Also, if your Mac runs macOS Big Sur beta, you should know the public version available starting November 12 fixes most of the problems.

If you go like 'All right, thanks, just tell me how do I uninstall Big Sur from my Mac' — fair enough. The good news is it's easy to roll back macOS update. Follow the guide below.

How to downgrade from Big Sur step by step

Just to clarify the process a little bit, a downgrade from Big Sur covers five important steps — from backing up all the files you've acquired since upgrading, to restoring those on macOS Catalina. There are a few tools you'll need to use to downgrade safely: Primarily, a backup utility (Apple's native Time Machine or a more advanced third-party app like Get Backup Pro) and CleanMyMac X for keeping things tidy. Now when you're all set, let's get into it.

Best backup app for Mac

Reinstall App Store Mac Catalina Download

Before you roll back to the old macOS, create a secure backup of all your data with Get Backup Pro. So that there’s nothing to lose.

1. Backup your data (pretty please)

Even if you've just recently upgraded and haven’t managed to accumulate lots of data on macOS Big Sur, don’t skip this step. Downgrading means you erase everything from your hard drive. So whatever you’ve been working on since installing macOS 11 will be gone. Make sure you avoid the trouble and create a quick backup. You can do this with Time Machine, but we recommend Get Backup Pro for creating a bootable backup. This will give you an exact copy of your drive, with all saved settings — so that you can pick up where you left off.

Here’s how to back up data before you uninstall Big Sur:

  1. Open Get Backup Pro from Setapp

  2. Hit the plus button at the bottom to create a new backup

  3. Name your backup project

  4. Pick a backup destination and customize settings if necessary

  5. Choose files, folders, and apps data you want to add to the backup

  6. Hit Start.

It’s a good idea to use CleanMyMac X for a system cleanup before you create a backup. This way, you’ll avoid backing up unneeded files and duplicates, and therefore run a smooth and quick backup process. Plus, the app is generally a good tool to keep at your fingertips to remove any clutter. Believe me, your Mac has a lot of it. Here’s how CleanMyMac X works:

  1. Open the app and hit Scan

  2. Wait for CleanMyMac X to finish the scanning process

  3. Hit Run if you want to remove all the junk, or Review if you want to select the files that should be deleted manually

  4. That’s it! You’re all set for a clean backup.

2. Install macOS Catalina on a bootable drive

It might seem a bit counterintuitive, but you have to install macOS Catalina on an external drive before you erase Big Sur. This requires some Terminal work, which we’ll guide you through in a minute. Before that, make sure your Mac can boot from external media.

Allow booting from external media on new Macs

If you own a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini with the T2 security chip (2018 models and newer), you might experience problems with booting files. To avoid this, you should allow booting from external media before you run downgrade to Catalina:

  1. Restart your computer and boot in Recovery Mode (hold down Command + R once the Apple logo appears)

  2. Access Utilities > Startup Security Utility

  3. Enter your firmware password (note that this is the password you used to enable Startup Security Utility and it’s different from your admin and Apple ID credentials)

  4. In External Boot, check the box next to “Allow booting from external media.”

Once you’re all set, it’s time to get Catalina back. First, download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store, the usual way. While installers of the latest macOS versions are available only before the official release of the new one, you should do this as early as possible.

Then, install macOS Catalina on an external drive. Start with formatting the drive (you can skip this step if you have a formatted drive):

  1. Get an external drive with minimum 12GB of free space

  2. Connect it to your Mac via USB

  3. Open Finder > Applications

  4. Navigate to Utilities > Disk Utility

  5. Click Erase next to your drive (make sure you name it if you have more than one)

  6. Select APFS or macOS Extended format > Erase.

Reinstall app store mac catalina downloadReinstall app store mac catalina download

Install macOS Catalina on a formatted drive:

  1. Open Finder > Applications

  2. Launch Terminal from Utilities

  3. Type the following command

sudo /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia--volume /Volumes/MyVolume

Note that “MyVolume” in the command above is the name of your drive, so you should change it accordingly.

  1. Click Enter/Return

  2. Confirm your action by entering the admin password > Y

  3. Click Return

  4. Once Terminal says “Done,” you can quit it and eject the hard drive.

3. Remove macOS 11 from hard drive

Now is the time for goodbye. Here’s how to downgrade from Big Sur to Catalina by removing macOS 11 from your hard drive:

  1. Click on the Apple logo and select Restart from the menu

  2. Hold down Command + R to reboot in Recovery mode

  3. Open Disk Utility > Continue

  4. Select your Startup Disk > Erase

  5. Select APFS or macOS Extended format and confirm your action.

4. Reinstall macOS Catalina on your Mac

Next thing, run a downgrade to Catalina by reinstalling it on Mac:

  1. Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet

  2. Connect your bootable external drive

  3. Click on the Apple logo and select Restart from the menu

  4. While your Mac restarts, hold down Option

  5. Once the list of startup disk options appears, select the bootable drive with macOS Catalina installer

  6. Hit Continue, agree to the licensing terms, and wait for macOS Catalina to reinstall.

5. Restore data from backup

The last step is to bring back all the data you’ve compiled since upgrading to Big Sur. Again, a backup is essential since it will help restore both your files and saved settings. You can restore everything with the same tool you’ve used previously to create a backup.

Here’s how to restore a Time Machine backup:

  1. With your Mac connected to the internet, restart the system

  2. Hold down Command + R to enter Recovery

  3. Access Utilities > Restore from Time Machine Backup > Continue

  4. Select the backup source > Continue

  5. Select your backup > Continue

  6. After Time Machine restores data from the backup, your Mac will reboot.

If you used Get Backup Pro for your backup, restoring data is even easier. All you have to do is launch the app, select your backup from the list, and hit Restore. Select a custom location for your files and once again click on the Restore button. That’s it. All your data and settings will be back on macOS Catalina in a minute.

Reinstall app store mac catalina update

That’s about it. Whenever you’re wondering how to go back to previous macOS, you can use the guide described above. All the instructions are pretty universal, except you should adjust the Terminal command when installing old macOS on a bootable drive.

In case your Mac is slowing down or else behaving strangely after the downgrade, we recommend to get iStat Menus for advanced system performance monitoring. This app will help you understand the source of the problem — whether it’s login items, network problems, or disk activity — and fix them accordingly.

iStat Menus is available on Setapp, along with the useful utilities like CleanMyMac X and Get Backup Pro. So you can use it all from one place for 7 days free. Hopefully, this toolkit will help you with how to downgrade macOS Big Sur, as well as keep your Mac in perfect shape, anytime.

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Easy way to Clean Install mac OS Catalina

Reinstall App Store Mac Catalina Os

macOS Catalina is Apple’s shiny new operating system for the Mac and it’s got a ton of great features and improvements. You’re probably keen to get started and install it straight away. Before you do, consider whether you want to install it over the top of your current OS, or as a completely clean install of macOS Catalina. The benefits of the latter are that it will be like a completely new Mac, with all your settings wiped out, and junk files gone. It should make your Mac run faster. The rest of this article will explain how to clean install macOS Catalina.

Before the clean installation of macOS 10.15 Catalina it’s recommended that you first delete junk and dusty files from the current macOS. There are many free and paid tools to clean junk but the quickest option is to run CleanMyMac X. You can expect to free up tens of gigabytes of space, including old apps, and their leftovers.

Here’s how it works.

  1. Download and install CleanMyMac — try a free edition of the app here
  2. Choose the System Junk tool.
  3. Press Scan.
  4. When it’s finished either press Remove to get rid of all the files it recommends, or choose Review to look through what it’s found and decide for yourself what to delete and what to keep.

Backup your Mac

I can’t stress how important this is. You must backup your Mac before you do anything else. You’re going to be erasing your startup drive completely, so you need a complete backup of everything. You can use Time Machine, another backup app, or a cloning tool. Just make sure you have a complete, preferably bootable, copy of your current installation.

You should also make notes of settings for apps you use regularly – screen grabbing them is a good way to do that. And you should make sure you have a copy of any licence codes that you’ll need when you reinstall applications. You can use Apple’s Notes app to make notes, as long as you sync them with iCloud.

Create a bootable installer of macOS Catalina

Catalina

If you’re reading this after Catalina ships, you can download it from the Mac App Store and then choose Quit when the installation starts. If you’re clean installing the beta (and, by the way, that’s not something I would recommend. It’s much better to create a dual boot system when you run the beta.

  1. Grab a USB stick with a capacity of at least 16GB, or an external hard drive or USB.
  2. Go to Applications>Utilities and launch Disk Utility.
  3. Launch Disk Utilities and Erase the Drive or USB stick, formatting it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS and selecting GUID partition map if a selection is available.
  4. The easiest method for creating a bootable installer is to use DiskMaker X. However, if you’re comfortable using Terminal, you can do it like this:
    1. Launch Terminal from Applications>Utilities
    2. Type: sudo /Applications/Install macOS Catalina Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Catalina Beta.app where ‘Untitled’ is the name of your USB stick or external hard drive
    3. Press Return and wait for the word Done to appear in Terminal.

Once you see ‘Done’ in Terminal you can quit it. Your USB stick or external hard drive is now a bootable Catalina installer, so keep it safe. Now, it’s time to clean install macOS Catalina.

How to Clean install macOS Catalina

Now you've made a backup and created a bootable installer, it's time to actually install the new macOS. Follow these easy steps to clean install macOS Catalina on your Mac.

  1. Plug your USB stick or external hard drive into your Mac, if it’s not plugged in already.
  2. Restart your Mac while holding down the Option key.
  3. When you see the options for booting appear on screen, choose the installer disk you just created.
  4. When you see the macOS Utilities screen appear, choose Disk Utility
  5. When Disk Utility launches, choose the Eras tab then select your startup volume (probably called Macintosh HD).
  6. Give your startup disk a name, then choose a format. If you have a recent Mac with an SSD startup disk, select APFS. If you have an older Mac with a mechanical hard drive or Fusion Drive, choose whichever one you want to use.
  7. Choose Erase.
  8. When Disk Utility has finished erasing the disk, quit it to return to the macOS Utilities screen.
  9. Choose Install macOS.
  10. Press Continue and choose the drive you just erased and re-formatted as the destination.
  11. MacOS Catalina will start to install.
  12. When it’s finished, your Mac will restart and it will look like a brand new Mac. Go through the set-up process to set up a user account, add your wifi network, choose a language, and log in to iCloud.

Once you’ve set up your Mac, you can eject the installer disk and remove it. Remember to keep it safe. You can now restore files you backed up earlier from Time Machine or whichever backup tool you used. Remember to restore files and folders individually, don’t, for example, restore your entire user directory otherwise you’ll copy back all the junk files you just got rid of. Reinstall applications and go through them adding license details where necessary. Check that everything works as you expect it to and use the screen shots you made earlier to configure settings.

How To Reinstall Macos Catalina

There are lots of good reasons why you might want to clean install macOS Catalina, but the most important one is that it should make your Mac feel like new and keep it running smoothly. For ultimate Mac refresh you can also download CleanMyMac X and play with its cleanup tools. Getting rid of old junk feels great.