MacOS Catalina will start to install. 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. The correct way to reinstall macOS Catalina is to use your Mac’s Recovery Mode: Restart your Mac and then hold down ⌘ + R to activate Recovery Mode. In the first window, select Reinstall macOS ➙ Continue. Agree to the Terms & Conditions. If you are stuck with Mail crashing on macOS Catalina, try each of the steps below. Open Activity monitor from Utilities or using Launchpad. Search for anything with Mail, highlight them and click on the ‘X’ at the top left corner of the screen to force quit the app. Open up a Finder app session. When you update or reinstall the macOS, the last thing you want is probably losing data on your computer. To reinstall macOS, including the latest Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, without losing data, you can follow the professional guide to update the OS, which will not cause data loss in most of the case. You can install Catalina on your Mac as soon as the USB installer has been created. To do so, restart your Mac and hold down the Option (⌥) key as soon as you hear the reboot tone.

Apple’s latest macOS, Catalina, has just been released to the public last October 7, 2019 and you can now install it on your Mac, as long as your device meets the hardware requirements. First revealed during the WWDC 2019 conference in San Jose, California, macOS Catalina introduces some new exciting features and functionalities.

As we say goodbye to iTunes, macOS Catalina brings in new apps and features to the table, including Apple Music, Podcasts Books, and TV. Another major feature is Sidecar, which can turn your iPad into another display. For ordinary users, this means getting a secondary display for free. For developers, on the other hand, this secondary screen can be used as a drawing tablet using supported apps.

With the release of macOS Catalina 10.15, a lot of Mac users are enthusiastic to install the newest Mac operating system. Just like the previous versions of macOS, some were able to upgrade without a hitch, but several users encountered various issues during downloading and installation of the update.

Some users experienced slow downloading of the update, while others got error messages when installing Catalina, including:

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• Storage system verify or repair failed
• This copy of the Install application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.
• An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running again.
• Copy of install macOS application is damaged and can’t be used to install macOS.
• There is not enough free space on the selected volume.

This guide will give you a detailed rundown of the most common macOS Catalina installation and update errors encountered by Mac users when upgrading or installing macOS Catalina, along with the instructions on how to deal with these hiccups.

Why macOS Catalina Won’t Install

Various problems can occur during the installation of macOS Catalina. If the installation won’t start, seems to freeze midway , or never seems to complete, then it means that there must be something wrong somewhere.

The first main reason why users can’t install macOS Catalina is compatibility problem. If your Mac doesn’t support macOS Catalina, you won’t be able to proceed with the installation. You need a fairly recent Mac to be able to run macOS Catalina. Here are the Mac models that support the newest macOS:

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• MacBook (2015) and later
• MacBook Air (2012) and later
• MacBook Pro (2012) and later
• Mac Mini (2012) and later
• iMac (2012) and later
• iMac Pro (2017) and later
• Mac Pro (2013) and later

If your device is not on this list, then you’re sure to run into problems when installing Catalina.

Another thing you need to check before installation is your available storage space. You will need around 6.5 GB just to download the installer. Once you’ve downloaded it, the amount of space you will need during the installation depends on whether you’re doing a clean install or an upgrade.

A clean install will eat up around 20 GB of storage. On top of that, you have to make room for apps, user data, and user updates. An upgrade install, on the other hand, will only take up 6.5 GB of space for the installer, plus some installation files that the installer will copy to your startup drive.

If you’re tight on storage space, you should consider removing unneeded apps and files on your Mac. You can uninstall the apps one by one, and delete cache files and data using Mac repair app. Make sure you have at least 25 GB of free space to be able to install macOS Catalina successfully.

Aside from compatibility issues and insufficient storage, poor internet connection, incomplete or corrupted installation files, hard disk problems, and faulty software can also cause issues during the installation of macOS Catalina.

Installation Checklist for macOS Catalina

Before proceeding with the installation, it is necessary to spend some time ticking off the checklist below. These steps will not only prevent errors from happening, but also ensure that your data remains safe in case something goes wrong.

• Back up your Mac, especially your iTunes media library since Catalina will no longer have iTunes.
• Take note of the 32-bit apps on your Mac . You will need to update them to the 64-bit version after upgrading, or find an alternative for them.
• Delete old Install macOS files from your Applications folder. These old macOS installation files may cause error during the upgrade.
• Remove all external drives and accessories.
• Plug in your Mac’s power adapter.
• Connect to a stable Wi-Fi network.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can now proceed with the upgrade.

How to Upgrade to macOS Catalina

The easiest way to download and install macOS Catalina is through the App Store on your Mac. Just open the App Store and search for macOS Catalina. Click the install button to start downloading, then click Continue.

You can also visit the macOS Catalina website and download the installer from there. The installer will be downloaded to the Applications folder on your Mac. Once downloaded, the installer will open by itself. Just follow the onscreen instructions to proceed with the installation. You might be asked to log in using your admin username and password during the process.

As long as your device is compatible with Catalina and you’ve followed the instructions, you’ll be able to successfully install the new macOS on your Mac. But if you encounter any error during the download or installation, refer to our guide below to sort out the issue.

How to Fix Common Download Errors for macOS Catalina

Downloading the installer is the first step of the installation process. The installer takes up 6.5GB of storage, but you will need more space to be able to run the new macOS smoothly. If you have Automatic Updates enabled, the installer might already be downloaded on your device.

If the installer has not yet been downloaded, go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Software Update to download Catalina.

If the downloading process gets stuck or is taking a long time to complete, here’s what you can do:

1. Go to the Apple Server status website and check if the macOS Software Update‘s button is green. If not, then there’s probably some issues with the website, so you might need to try upgrading some other time.
2. If the macOS Software Update is green, but you’re still having download problems, check your internet connection. Consider switching to a wired internet connection if possible.
3. If the download is stuck for a long time, cancel it by clicking the X button.
4. Switch to a different DNS server and retry the download again.

It might take a few attempts for the downloading to be successful, especially in the early days of the release of the update.

How to Fix Errors When Preparing for the Installation of macOS Catalina

Once you have successfully downloaded the installer to your device, the system then prepares your Mac for the installation process. There are users who encountered errors during this stage and came across the Error occurred preparing the installation. Try running the applicationagain message.

The first thing you need to do when you encounter this error is to reboot your Mac. You might need to restart your system a couple of times to deal with this problem. If the error doesn’t go away after rebooting, here are some steps you can try:

Check Your Mac’s System Date and Time.

An incorrect system time usually gets in the way of a lot of system processes, including updates. To make sure your Mac’s date and time are correct, follow the instructions below:

1. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Date & Time.
2. Tick off Set Date and Time Automatically.
3. If the option is already checked, uncheck it then reboot your Mac.
4. Go back to the Date and Time panel and check the option again.
5. Next, try re-installing macOS Catalina.

Re-Download the Installer.

If the step above did not work, you might have to delete the macOS Catalina installer on your Applications folder. Find the Install macOS file in the Applications folder and move it to the Trash. Empty the Trash and reboot. Once your Mac restarts, try downloading the installer and then run the install process again.

Delete the Installinfo.plist File.

If you encounter the Copy of install macOS application is damaged and cant be used to install macOS error during the preparation of the installation, the best workaround is to delete the installinfo.plist from the installer package, then try re-installing.

To delete the installinfo.plist file, check out the steps below:

1. Go to the Applications folder and look for the installer package for macOS Catalina. It is usually named Install macOS.
2. Right-click on the file and select Show Package Contents.
3. Click on Contents > SharedSupport.
4. Delete the Installlnfo.plist inside the folder.
5. Type in your admin password to confirm the action.
6. Click on the installer to run it again.

How to Fix Catalina Installation Errors on Mac

After preparing your Mac, the system then proceeds to the installation process. There are different errors you might encounter at this stage, so you need to take note of the error message and at which stage it happened.

Here are some of the errors you may encounter during the installation process.

Stuck at Setting Up Screen

When you’ve been stuck with the Setting up your Mac message for several hours or you encounter the dreaded spinning wheel, the best way to deal with this is to restart your device. Press the power button to shut down your Mac, then press it again to reboot.

Storage Space Problems

If you failed to optimize your storage space before the installation, you might come across errors related to insufficient storage space. You might see the macOS Could not be installed, the target disk is too small message or the There is not enough free space on the selected volume error.

This happens because you do not have enough space on your Mac. Free up some storage first before proceeding with the installation. You might need around 20GB to 25GB of space for macOS Catalina to run efficiently on your Mac.

Network Access Error

If you see a Code=551 error anytime during the installation process, you need to check your network settings. This error happens to devices with overactive firewall or those installed with third-party security software, such as VPN and antivirus. If this happens, disable this software first before trying to reinstall macOS Catalina.

Installation Doesn’t Complete

Sometimes, your Mac gets stuck with the x minutes remaining screen during the installation. When you encounter this problem, click the X button to exit the installation process and check your console logs. It is possible that your user account is corrupted, preventing your system from completing the installation process.

The only way to deal with this is to create another admin user account and install macOS Catalina using that account.

Mac Fails to Start After Update

You might think that everything is over once you finish the installation process and your Mac restarts. But sometimes, errors can still happen even after the installation has been completed. Some users reported getting stuck with a black screen, while others encounter the spinning wheel during the restart following the update.

This error is usually caused by incompatible or corrupted kext files. Kext or Kernel Extension files are the drivers for macOS. To check whether kext files are causing the error, move all of them out of your Extensions folder before rebooting your Mac.

To move your kext files, follow the steps below:

1. Boot your Mac into Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key until you see the Apple logo.
2. Open Terminal under the Utilities folder, then copy-paste the following command:

mkdir ~/Extensions-Backup && sudo mv /Library/Extensions/* ~/Extensions-Backup/

Once done, restart your Mac in normal mode and see if it goes through.

If All Else Fails, Do a Fresh Install.

If you’re still having issues despite following the guide above, you may need to do a fresh install of macOS Catalina. To do this:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press Power + Command + R keys to bring up the macOS Utilities screen .
3. Click Reinstall macOS.
4. Select Disk Utility > Erase HDD.
5. Install the macOS Catalina from here.

Remember that erasing your HDD will delete all of your files and settings, so make sure you have a backup before doing a fresh install. This should hopefully take care of common macOS Catalina installation problems.

I’ll admit it: I’ve gotten a little used to working at smaller companies, where there’s no monitoring of company computers, and it’s the Wild West as far as what you can install on them.

That’s no longer the case for me. I now work at Auth0, a company with a headcount that’s quickly approaching 800, with unicorn status and Series F funding, and it’s in the security industry. Naturally, there’s a full-fledged security team that monitors company-issued computers.

In my excitement to take the new version of macOS — Big Sur — out for a spin, I’d forgotten that the Security team hasn’t yet approved it for use. They very quickly (and I should add, nicely) contacted me and let me know that I needed to reinstall macOS Catalina as soon as possible.

There are other reasons why you might need to go back to Catalina after installing Big Sur:

• It’s still very new, and very new versions of operating systems always have some set of issues, whose effects can run the gamut from mildly annoying to catastrophic. If you can’t afford to lose time dealing with these issues, you should wait for the updates.
• There are reports that the current version can “brick” MacBook Pros from the 2013 / 2014 era. This isn’t a problem if you’re keeping your old 2013 / 2014 machine around as a backup, but more serious if you’re still using it as your main computer (and yes, a 2013 / 2014 Mac is still a perfectly good machine, even for development work).
• If you’re a DJ or music producer, Big Sur currently has compatibility problems with some of the hardware and software. If you want to keep DJing, producing, or mixing on your Mac, stay on Catalina for a little bit.

For the benefit of any who need to downgrade, here’s a step-by-step guide to reinstalling Catalina after you’ve installed Big Sur. You’ll need a USB key and the better part of an afternoon.

Catalina Install Usb

Step 1: The preliminaries

1a: Start downloading the Catalina installer from the App store

The first thing you’ll need is the macOS Catalina installer.

It’ll take up around 9 gigabytes of space on your hard drive, and the App Store will put in your Applications folder.

Once it’s completely downloaded from the App Store, the installer will start automatically. When this happens, close the installer. You’ll make use of it later.

The installer will take some time to download. Apple’s servers will be busier than usual, as many users are downloading Big Sur and other upgrades.

1b: Back up your files!

In the process of reinstalling Catalina, you’ll need to completely erase your Mac’s hard drive. If you have any files that you can’t live without, this is the time to back them up.

I didn’t have to worry about this, since:

Catalina Installer Download Dmg

• All my work product is either code (which lives on GitHub) or content (which lives on GitHub or Google Docs), and
• I’ve been at Auth0 less than a month, and between onboarding and offsites, there just hasn’t been that much of a chance for me to accumulate that many files on my hard drive!

1c: Get a nice fast USB key that stores at least 16 GB

Catalina Install Stuck At 2 Minutes

The process will involve booting your Mac from a USB key containing the macOS Catalina installer, so you’ll need a key with enough space. An 8 GB USB key won’t be big enough. Because digital storage is all about powers of 2, the next size up will be 16 GB.

I strongly recommend that you use a USB 3 key, especially one with read speeds of 300 megabits/second or better, such as the Samsung Fit Plus. Doing so will greatly speed up the process. Don’t use a USB key that you got as conference swag — it may have the space, but more often than not, they tend to be slow, because they’re cheap.

If the USB key contains files that you want to keep, back them up. You’re going to erase the key in the next step.

Step 2: Make a bootable USB key containing the macOS Catalina installer

2a: Format the USB key

Plug the USB key into your Mac, then launch Disk Utility.

Select the USB key in Disk Utility’s left column, then click the Erase button:

You’ll be presented with this dialog box:

Enter MyVolume into the Name field, and for Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click the Erase button. This will format the USB key with the volume name of MyVolume.

2b: Install the macOS Catalina installer onto the USB key

In Step 1a, you downloaded the macOS Catalina installer and closed it after it started automatically. In this step, you’ll transfer it to your freshly-formatted USB key.

Open a terminal window and paste the following command into it:

(The command above assumes that you gave the USB key the volume name MyVolume.)

Once you’ve provided sudo with your password, you’ll be asked if you want to erase the USB key. Entering Y in response will start the process of making the USB key a bootable drive and copying the macOS Catalina installer onto it:

Catalina Reinstall Stuck At 25

The Erasing disk process will be relatively quick, but the Copying to disk process may take a while. This is where using a nice, fast USB 3 key will pay off.

Be patient and let it get to 100%, and wait for the Install media now available message to appear and the command line prompt to return.

2c: If your Mac is from 2018 or later, set it up to boot from external media

Catalina Install Mac

Check the year of your Mac’s manufacture by selecting About This Mac under the Apple menu:

• If your Mac year is 2017 or earlier, you don’t need to follow the rest of this step. Proceed to Step 3.
• If your Mac’s year is 2018 or later, you’ll need to change its security settings to allow it to boot from an external drive.

Here’s how you change the security settings:

1. Restart your Mac and hold down the ⌘ and R keys when you see the Apple logo. This puts the computer into recovery mode, which provides many setup options.
2. In the menu bar, select Utilities, and then select Startup Security Utility from the list that appears.
3. The Startup Security Utility window will appear:
   1. Under the Secure Boot section, select Medium Security. This will allow you to install Catalina without having to connect to a network.
   2. Under the External Boot section, select Allow booting from external media. This will allow you to install Catalina from a USB key or disk drive.

Step 3: Install macOS Catalina

Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key while it restarts. Your Mac will present you with a choice of startup disks.

Choose the USB key. Your Mac will boot up and you’ll be presented with the macOS Catalina installer screen:

Go ahead and install Catalina.

Once Catalina is installed, you can proceed reinstalling your other software.

Once that’s complete:

• If your Mac’s year is 2017 or earlier, you’re done installing Catalina. You can now go about reinstalling your software and restoring your backed up files.
• If your Mac’s year is 2018 or later, you’ll need to restore its original security settings. The process is described in Step 4, below.

Step 4: If your Mac is from 2018 or later, restore the original security settings

If your Mac is from 2018 or later, follow these steps to restore the original security settings once Catalina has been installed:

1. Restart your Mac and hold down the ⌘ and R keys when you see the Apple logo. This puts the computer into recovery mode, which provides many setup options.
2. In the menu bar, select Utilities, and then select Startup Security Utility from the list that appears.
3. The Startup Security Utility window will appear:
   1. Under the Secure Boot section, select Full Security.
   2. Under the External Boot section, select Disallow booting from external media.