Reinstall Macos Catalina From Scratch

Posted on 15-09-2021 by admin

Laptop: Macbook 12' early 2016.

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). Use a Mac OS X installation Disc. If you’re unable to use Internet Recovery Mode or create a bootable USB installer, you can still use a Mac OS X installation disc. These discs are available for OS X Snow Leopard, OS X Lion, and OS X Mountain Lion. If your Mac is from 2012 or earlier, there was an installation disc in the original box.

How to erase all data on a Mac, how to factory reset a Mac, and how to reinstall macOS. This works for any Mac Including Macbook, Macbook Air, MacBook Pro, I.

Hello! I know this question is asked so so so many times, and I think that is also the reason why now I feel a bit confused about all of the answers!

I checked out https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251236312, which seemed to be the closest to my question, however the answer provided to the OP is to donwload the latest macOS from the recovery, and I would like to stick to Catalina.

So, my question being: I upgraded to Catalina from El Cap; however all of my files, and some old apps I installed manually (like Outlook and etc etc) have remained the same. I installed these apps manually because on El Cap they weren´t available on the App Store. So now that I have a relatively new macOS, I would like to format my whole disk and system files, and start from scratch.

However, I find myself in the situation that I cannot simply download Catalina as a file, since now that it is in fact installed, my Macbook prompts me to install an upgrade, not Catalina itself.

Where can I find the Catalina installer that will work with my laptop? I am guessing that if I do a system reset, it will either want to go to El Cap or look for the latest (Big Sur) and I would like to keep Catalina.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I did look on the internet, but most stuff points to downloading Catalina installer, and I can´t seem to be able to get a hold of such installer without having to visit shady sites.

Thanks in advance!

MacBook, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 25, 2021 5:30 AM

macOS Catalina is slightly outdated since the release of macOS Big Sur in November of 2020. Nevertheless, many users prefer to stick with it because it's much more familiar visually. And it offers a bunch of expanded features, such as a screen extension with an iPad or the new Apple Podcasts app.
The problem is that it might not always work as intended. Glitches in macOS Catalina are commonplace: in fact, all existing operating systems like Mojave or High Sierra could freeze and crash from time to time. No software is immune.

But what do you do in this case? The surefire way to deal with jaded performance is to reinstall macOS Catalina altogether. Read through our guide below to learn how.

How To Reinstall Mac OS Catalina

It’s important to note that when you reinstall macOS Catalina the process simply updates the operating system and doesn’t affect any files on your hard drive or user files or even settings. That makes reinstalling principally different from performing a clean install, which erases everything.

Here are the proper steps to follow to reinstall mac OS Catalina.

1. Back up your Mac first

By default, the best thing you could do before making any significant changes to how your Mac works is to back it up. Backups are just like saves before encountering challenges in video games — represent the point you can always come back to.

There are lots of great backup solutions on the market to suit every need. If you don’t have the time to search for something specific, your Mac features a decent native option — Time Machine.

To get Time Machine started:

Connect an external USB or WiFi hard drive to your Mac
Go System Preferences ➙ Time Machine
Click on Select Backup Disk…
Press Use Disk

2. Delete junk off your Mac to speed it up

There’s nothing better than the feeling of a brand new Mac with a brand new macOS. If only the latter is new, the experience could be subpar. Trying to get the most out of macOS Catalina on your older machine might be a challenge. But don’t hurry to your local Apple Store just yet — not all is lost.

Just like the dust behind your couch or on the top of your kitchen cupboards, small bits of system files, caches, and hidden libraries tend to aggregate over the years and never get deleted, eventually slowing down everyday processes. While it’s possible to clear out some of them manually, others require specific technical knowledge and lots of time.

Luckily, there’s a professional automatic solution available — CleanMyMac X. Optimizing behind-the-curtain processes on your Mac with CleanMyMac X is no more difficult than clicking a single button:

Download a free version of CleanMyMac X.
Open the app and navigate to System Junk in the left-side panel.
Click Scan and wait for the process to complete.
When done, press Review Details.
Uncheck anything you’d like to keep and click Clean.

Now your Mac is free of all the pointless log files, user caches, language files, old updates, and more. Which directly translates into improved processing power, memory usage, and response time. At last, your Mac is ready to take full advantage of macOS Catalina.

3. Reinstall macOS Catalina in Recovery Mode

With your Mac in top shape, it’s time to get that macOS Catalina download link. Surprisingly, you won’t find it in Software Update or even App Store (where it used to be in macOS High Sierra).

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.
Select the hard drive you’d like to reinstall mac OS Catalina to and click Install.

Automatically update all your software for Catalina

The reinstallation process will start shortly and roughly take 30 minutes. When complete, your Mac will start up as usual. No files should be lost, but it’s always a good idea to check CleanMyMac X’s Applications Updater to see if you can improve compatibility of the new macOS with any of your existing apps:

Reinstall macos catalina from scratch software

Launch CleanMyMac X.
In the left-side panel, navigate to Updater.
View any available updates and their notes and click on Update.

This Updater tool in CleanMyMac X automatically searches for latest available versions of ALL your apps. One or two clicks and everything feels fresh. It even updates the macOS file itself.

How To Reinstall Macos Catalina

Trust in your backup

How To Erase And Reinstall Macos Catalina

Finally, in case you notice any files or apps missing, or settings misconfigured, you could open up Time Machine to restore a specific folder or the whole backup from the step one:

Launch Time Machine from Applications.
Simply scroll all backup versions to find the file you’re looking for.
Click Restore.