DOSDudes Install Catalina Patcher

TidBITS Talk
1

I used DOSDudes Catalina Patcher to install Catalina on a MacBook Air that was runing High Sierra. Works fine. I used the same USB drive to install Catalina on my 5,1 MacPro running Mojave. I get the error message that the Install copy is “damaged” and can’t be used to install MacOS. Since it’s the same USB drive that I used before, it appears it has something to do with the MacPro. Anybody have an idea what’s going on? Thanks.

{ I rebuilt the USB drive several times using the download the Patcher link has. Same result. }

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Not sure if this might help but this article mentions some issues with the “damaged” installers:

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If it’s due to an expired certificate, then the best solution is to re-download the installer from Apple, which will have an updated certificate. Here’s Apple’s page you can use to get it:

That article directs you to an app store link for downloading the Catalina installer.

If there is a specific reason why you can not do this and must use the installer you already have (e.g. you explicitly don’t want 10.15.7, but want some other prior release of Catalina), then the usual workaround will be something like:

  • Disable networking
  • Set your clock to a date before the certificate expired
  • Run the installer

After the installer finishes, be sure to reset your clock and network settings.

4

Thanks. That got me to a second error message - “Important components need to downloaded and can’t be at this time. Try again later”

I did both things mentioned in the article. Strange stuff

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You might try a different USB drive. For this specific task I’ve always had good success with SanDisk Ultra Flair 32 GB USB 3.0 drives, which are inexpensive. The no-name drives that lurk at the bottom of my bits box, in contrast, have often worked but sometimes not, so there may be an element of randomness between different Macs as to which drives they will accept.

When using dosdude1’s patchers I generally take advantage of the built-in option to download a fresh image from Apple.

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