How to easily install Catalina (10.15.5) on unsupported Macs in 2020!

A simple guide on how to install Catalina on Mac that is 'officially' too old to run the latest OS.

Thanks to all of you that have both viewed and commented on the video. I’m really thrilled that it has had so many views! If you feel that you have saved a little money (or maybe thousands!) on bringing your old Mac to life for a few more years, could you consider donating using this link :

and showing your support for myself, the channel and the video? There is absolutely no obligation to do this but I would very much appreciate it if you did!

You can download the patcher from dosdude1 website;

At the time of making this video the latest Mac OS is 15.15.5 however that may change. Be sure to check dos dude's website for further updates as newer versions (like the upcoming Big Sur - 10.16)

Click here if you want to learn something new!:

Known compatible devices;
• 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 Mojave. More details are located in the Known Issues section below.)
• iMac12,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Mojave. More details are located in the Known Issues section below.)
• MacBookPro4,1
• MacBookPro5,x
• MacBookPro6,x
• MacBookPro7,1
• 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
• MacBook5,2
• MacBook6,1
• MacBook7,1

• Early-2008 or newer Xserve:
• Xserve2,1
• Xserve3,1

Intro (0:00)
What will you need (1:00)
Backup your mac (1:31)
Catalina Patcher Website (0:43)
Installing Catalina on a USB drive (1:47)
Booting into Mac Recovery (3:38)
Installing Catalina on the local drive (3:44)

-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "How to cancel an Apple TV+ subscription"
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-

[mactwentyfourseven]

It’s a little longer than the Catalina guide but I guide you through step by step just as I did in this one. This one only went live on Saturday so it would be great if you could all take a look, like and share! Please let me know in the comments of that video if you have done both updates!

[damoproductionz]

Ok y’all so he left out an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT detail in this otherwise beautifully explained video. When it’s time to restart. Hold option/alt the ENTIRE TIME it’s restarting. So hold option/alt THEN press restart. You’re still holding. When the screen goes black, you’re still holding. When it comes back on, you’re still holding. Then it’ll pop up,

[goeachitt]

Your fix worked on my Mac Pro 5.1 tower / desktop. Still Amazed running 10.15.5 on one of my drives now.

[adarshwilson]

Great video! Really grateful to the dosdudes team for giving the old macs an opportunity to upgrade to the latest OS. Apart from the outstanding and quick explanation youve given here, theres a couple of points missing. 1) WHILE RESTARTING, MAKE SURE YOU PRESS ALT TILL IT REACHES THE BOOT UP SCREEN ELSE YOU WILL JUST GET A REGULAR USER RESTART. 2) After youve done with the steps up until 4:30 in the video, you will be shown the same macOS utilities screen, which is missed here. Now select macOS post install and APPLY PATCHES in the subsequent window and just wait it out for the pc to do its thing and after a good 5-10mins it should reboot all by itself into your branch new macOS catalina!! Again, thanks for the quick and straight to the point video.

[CloudNne]

On the restart be sure to hold down the option key to get the drives to pop up on screen

[tottenhamteacher]

Legit. I spent hous and days (been doing way too much) scouring through OLD videos I had saved. I got it now thanks to this video!

[soulrebel]

I watched a previous video on the same subject and followed directions and it bricked my iMac. I did it again using your methods and it worked great. Thanks so much !!

[Grdc]

Excellent tutorial!! straight to the point, very clear and simple. Those guys making 20+ minute videos are crazy

[nrod]

Video is awesome .. Easy to follow ... but he forgets to mention, that you must hold down the OPTION key .. before restarting ... besides that very good video - Thanks you saved my life

[robhiggins]

thanks you so much! had a 2008 mac which was borderline useless but with this update i’m going to keep it for a couple more years now, as everything is running smoothly

[vukulusizwemaphindani]

You are a lifesaver. I'm already busy with this process on my Macbook pro early 2011

[Zebra_Paw]

LOL there are several things you should have said:
You have to boot the computer holding down the option key while having the USB stick plugged in
The USB stick must be at least 16GB
Need at least 4GB RAM for it to run correctly, and you better save your datas, open disk utility once you have booted to the USB drive and format the internal hard drive, installing onto a blank drive that isn't currently running an older system will result in better performance, this is called a clean install.

[mactwentyfourseven]

Thanks to everyone who has commented, viewed and liked this video. It was 2 years ago that I created the video (as we were in lockdown) but it's now up to almost 90, 000 views which is mind-blowing! I haven't uploaded anything to the channel for quite a while as work has made this tricky. If anyone would like to see some more hints/tips/reviews please let me know! I am open to any suggestions and if the interest is there I will definitely pick this up again. I read all comments that people add to the video and am grateful from them all good or bad! Please let me know and share the video as and when you can.

[Ronakhussain]

You are really osm,
I'm trying for a month, but i didn't.

but by your videos it's work.

THANK YOU❤

[ermiasamelga]

You made me to love my Mac again plus You saved my money and Feelings thank you a lot God keeps you from every bad feelings God bless you my brother 😇

[officialexemusic]

Who needs geeksquad you are a life saver my friends needed to update system for a long time thank you 🙏

[janlavallee]

Thanks for this video, I was struggling because the downloads would start but then stall. I have high speed internet. I finally decided to lug my 2009 iMac upstairs and connect it directly to the router and voila, Catalina is now installed 😊

[iangmarshall]

Hugely interesting and huge thanks for your thoughtfulness in doing this tuto.
Q? : what happens to the contents of the mac OS previously installed = does the upgrade eliminate all the elements from the HD or do we have to manually trash the elements? Many thanks for a reply.

[DDT.GAMING.PRODUCTIONS]

Mine stuck on “updating dyld shared cacha” during post install patches 😢 I wanna cry so bad I hate to trash this good Mac 🖥️

[TheSwarm]

finally one that actually gives me the mac os installer. All the other ones told me to go to the app store like TF it blocks be from downloading it bc my macs too old.