How to install MacOs Catalina on a Unsupported Mac - MacOS 10.15 Catalina

In this video I have my lastest walkthrough guide in how to install macOS 10.15 Catalina on an unsupported Mac.

Using dosdude1 Patcher; I have successfully installed MacOS Catalina 10.15.5 (current version when video was made) onto a 2009 Mac Mini and you can to on your Intel Mac!
You will need a 16GB+ USB stick and a copy of MacOS Catalina 2020 and the patcher.

Remember boot key is the 'Alt/Option' Key on the LEFT SIDE of the keyboard!

To be clear this guide shows you how to install Mac OS Catalina, it is up to you to backup your data first and use Catalina at your own risk, I am not responsible for any loss of data etc...For me as you can see I installed Catalina and it worked for me, however due to unforeseen circumstances I can't help with all install steps if it doesn't work out for you. I also can't support or guide you on the use of additional Apps you may install like for example Office (word, powerpoint, excel), Final Cut Pro, Photoshop etc... they may work - they may not. However do help others in the comments if you get Apps to work what others are struggling with.

The USB stick I have used and works with MacOS Catalina is this one;

You can download this from dosdude1 website;

The same Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini & Mac Pro that were compatible with MacOS Mojave work with Catalina 10.15.5

Again one final note at the time of making this video, MacOS Catalina is currently on 10.15.5 so a newer version might be available but I would still recommend dosdude1 Catalina Patcher with with newer versions and the instructions to this video should be the same..

In summary this video shows you how to install MacOS Catalina on unsupported Mac

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

[kamelberlime]

It worked on my Macbook pro Late 2011.
With graphics disabled.
Thank you.
Definitely not recommended using the direct install to the main drive, always install on a flash drive.

[jrrrrrr]

That correcting the time step is super important. On my first attempt I didn't do that because the time was only about 4 hours off and I figured that didn't need correcting. Finished it up and migration assistant wouldn't migrate. Ran it a second time and corrected the date, no problems migrating.

[vamidicreations]

Thank you for your tutorial! It still worked out for me. I do want to mention for people if they already have an OS on it with data, make sure to make a backup and erase the whole harddrive. I didn't do that at the beginning and it went stuck on the black screen apple logo. After I erased the harddrive, the install went perfectly fine!

[MattTalkTech]

Do you have a old Mac and going to install MacOS Catalina? Let me know your success stories and what Mac you have done this patcher on? P.S Remember boot key is the 'Alt/Option' Key on the LEFT SIDE of the keyboard!

[rawstarmusic]

I installed Catalina on a MBook pro 2009. I bought a 240 SSD drive for $29 and it works like a charm. 8 GB, 240 SSD and 2.66. Like a new free computer.

[mahnoorkhan]

Followed your tutorial to update catalina into my older mac and it worked like a charm! Thank you so so much for such detailed tutorial!!!! 🙏🙏🙏

[cdjxtdn]

First things first, this is a very helpful video, so cheers to you, Matt! My question is about the "Important Info" section of DosDude1's Catalina Patcher web page. Are you saying that, if you own a compatible Mac that is running, say, Yosemite 10.10 - which likely means that it's never had MacOS High Sierra 10.13 installed - that one must either install High Sierra 10.13 or run the BootROM package via the blue "this" link included in the Important Info text? An older gent friend of mine owns an early-2015 MBP 13 Retina model. He bought it brand new and has been happily using it via the OS that it came with, Yosemite 10.10, since he purchased the machine. Unfortunately, he recently ran into an issue when finalizing the purchase on an online item. In short, the software that controls the actual payment process for said item rejected the purchase due to the age of his OS. Obviously, this is a fully compatible machine for macOS Catalina, but I need to know more about the Important Info process before I can help him out. Cheers again, mate.

[JohnDAlessandro]

Hey Matt! Installed Monterey on my beautiful early 2008 MacBook Pro. It took hours to figure itself out 😆 Just wanted to take a moment to thank you! I’ve done many patchers and this was the most fun to wait for! Currently running 4Gbs but plan on getting this unit to 8gbs. Running smooth tho! Thanks again!

[lawmzuala]

Thank you Matt i just install on my MacOS Hight sierra 10.13.6 MacBook Pro 13-inch, Early 2011 it work perfectly.

[eureka]

Amazing!　My old Mac"MacbookPro Retine Mid 2012" works fine. I did this installation with SD card.

[mofrehsarhan]

Thank you so much, much appreciated. My 2009 iMac shines again .thank you to every one contributed to this great effort even by writing a single dot. My best wishes and regards.
Fantastic! Thank you! Install Catalina on my 2009 MacBook Pro with upgraded ssd drive.

[vincentnguyen]

Got my Late 2011 MBP working with Catalina 10.15.5 thanks to you! Great guide!!!!

[kigndarling]

As of today I can confirm this is working 💯💯💯 running on a 2009 Mac book pro lol thank you man 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[brazilianin]

Thanks for your time and effort in making this tutorial. Impressive work!
Saying that (and after reading almost all comments below) I still can't make it happen.
I got this old iMac with OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (which I will need to work from home...)
Can't get the 10.3. High Sierra that actually installs on it. Error message says I need a newer version (?)
Can't get the APFS that works.
I understood that it is possible to install Catalina (it anything else more actual will do) on this OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.
All the best, take care and be good!

[samclarke]

Thank you mate! Everything worked perfect. I’m getting a notification on the top right of the screen saying that there’s updates...shall I install these?

[frizzyomega]

This was a great tutorial and saved me a lot of money. Thanks a lot hope ur channel grows soon!!

[socwyvern]

In this video he looks so sleep deprived, I hope you’re doing good.

[godblessamankwah]

If you having trouble running office after this Catalina install, try downloading Microsoft office from the Apple App store. That resolved the issue for me.

[PedroPizza-pvmh]

Changing the date was the missing link for me. Now I have Catalina installed. But I didn't wipe the hard drive in order to keep the software. THX a lot

[ulrichfodze]

Thanks much for your efforts!  
Got 2 questions: Must the system language be English at all times?
I'm trying to install Catalina on a Mac Pro 5, 1 – Samsung 970evo plus (NVME), and it always fails. Any Ideas or workarrounds?
However, have a wonderful new year!