(GUIDE) How to downgrade from macOS Catalina back to macOS Mojave

Audiotools November 01, 2019
  2. macOS Catalina is the next major operating system for Mac. If you mashed your fingers all over that install button before considering that you may not be ready for it, you can downgrade back to macOS Mojave. If you follow these steps you'll be back to your old setup in no time.

  5. 1.Important information for Macs with the T2 security chip
  6. Before you try to use a bootable installer on your Mac if you have a 2018 or newer MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini, you may need to make sure to allow booting from external media before you attempt to downgrade. If you've enabled the Startup Security Utility, check to make sure you'll be able to use a bootable external drive. Here's how.
  7. Note: You'll need the firmware password you used to enable the Startup Security Utility. This is different from your administrative password and your Apple ID. Make sure you know the correct password to access the Startup Security Utility before you begin.


  1. Restart your Mac.
  2. Hold down Command+R right when you see the Apple Logo. This will put your Mac into Recovery Mode.
  3. Click Utilities in the Menu Bar.
  4. Click on Startup Security Utility.
    In Recovery Mode, click on Utilities, then select Startup Security Utility
  5. Enter your Administrator credentials.
  6. Tick the box to Allow booting from external media.
    Tick the box for Allow booting from external media
  7. Step 1: Back up your Mac
  8. This process will erase macOS Catalina from your hard drive entirely. That means any files, programs, or documents you've been working on while using macOS Catalina will also be erased if you don't back them up first. Use an external hard drive or a cloud-based program like DropBox, OneDrive, or iCloud. If you don't save these important files somewhere off of your computer you will lose them.
  9. Step 2: Create a bootable drive of macOS Mojave
  10. Before you erase macOS Catalina from your computer, download macOS Mojave from the Mac App Store. You'll need a copy of macOS Mojave on an external hard drive in order to downgrade from macOS Catalina.
  11. Follow the steps linked below to make a bootable installer drive for macOS Mojave.
  1. How to make a bootable macOS Mojave installer drive in case you want to downgrade from macOS Catalina
  2. Note:
  3. Making a bootable installer requires the use of Terminal. If you don't feel comfortable making changes to your Mac with Terminal, you can create a bootable disk using the DiskMaker X program.
  4. Step 3: Erase macOS Catalina
  5. You'll need to erase your hard drive before re-installing Mojave. Remember, back up your Mac before performing this step.
  6. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
  7. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
  8. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.
    Restarting Mac
  9. Hold down Command+R, and keep holding the keys until your computer reboots. This will put your computer into Recovery Mode.
  10. Click on Disk Utility in the OS X Utilities selector.
  11. Click Continue.
    Seleting Disk Utilities from the OS X Utilities Selector
  12. Select your Startup Disk.
  13. Click on the Erase tab at the top of the window.
    Selecting a drive to erase on Mac
  14. Enter a name for the file to be destroyed (Like macOS Catalina or something).
  15. If your Mac is using HFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the format list.
  16. If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map.
  17. Click Erase.
    Erasing a drive on Mac
  18. After the process is complete, quit Disk Utility from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the screen to go back to the OS X Utilities selector.
  19. Step 4: Reinstall macOS Mojave
  20. After you have erased macOS Catalina, you will want to reinstall Mojave.
  21. NOTE: If your Mac came with macOS Mojave, you can restart your Mac while holding down
  22. Shift-Option-Command-R
  23. to simply install the operating system that came with your Mac. Otherwise, follow the steps below to install Mojave back on your Mac.
  24. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
  25. Plug the bootable hard drive you made with Mojave on it into your Mac.
  26. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
  27. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.
    Restarting Mac
  28. Hold down Option while your computer restarts. This will send you to the option to select a startup disk.
  29. Select your bootable drive with macOS Mojave from the list of startup disk options. macOS Mojave will begin installing on your Mac.
  30. Click Continue in the macOS Mojave installation window.
  31. macOS Mojave will install like a standard update. You will agree to the licensing terms before the software reboots on your Mac.
  32. Step 5: Restore settings from an earlier macOS Mojave Time machine backup
  33. If you have a recent backup of your Mac saved via Time Machine (which you should), you can use it to reinstall the settings you have saved from macOS Mojave.
  34. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet
  35. Click on the Apple icon.
  36. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.
    Restarting Mac
  37. Hold down Command+R when you hear the startup chime and keep holding the keys until your computer reboots.
  38. Select Restore from Time Machine Backup in the OS X Utilities selector.
  39. Click Continue.
    Selecting restore from backup from the OS X Utilities Selector
  40. Click Continue after reading the important information about restoring from a backup.
  41. Select the Backup source for where your Time Machine backup is stored.
  42. Click Continue.
  43. Select the most recent macOS Mojave backup on the drive.
  44. Click Continue.
    Steps to restore from backup on Mac
  45. Your Mac will begin restoring from the Time Machine backup and then reboot. This process can take a while, so grab a cup of coffee while you wait.
  46. If you run into any problems while trying to downgrade your Mac operating system, let us know in the comments.
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2 Comments

  1. Unknown5 January 2020 at 10:23

    Can I do this if I have a computer that came with Catalina already installed?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Audiotools16 February 2020 at 04:50

    Yes of cause but please find model u bought support downgrade os or not.

    ReplyDelete