Update: Screen shots didn't work. I will try again.


OK, so now I am going to upgrade my older Mac to Catalina because Sierra won't work with my bank site now!

I included screen shots of Disk Utility so you could see that there is nothing on it but Sierra and no partitions.

Does this mean I can just d/l Catalina without all the complicated stuff I did before? I am not going to put it on a backup disk as I only use it for paying bills and as a backup if my newer Mac takes a dive.

Screen Shot 1

Screen Shot 2

Be sure that your older Mac can run Catalina. Which model is it? You can check it yourself with Mactracker if you like. You should also check out macOS Catalina - Technical Specifications

Update: I went to Imgur and uploaded my screen shots as usual. Clicked "copy Link" and posted it in the Insert link section here. I don't know why it isn't working.



Screen Shot 1

Screen Shot 2

I looked and I meet all the specs so I believe it's safe to d/l.

Since you are not saving anything there is no need for all the gyrations we went through before. All you need to do is...

1. Shut down your computer completely
2. Press the power button then hold Option+Command+R (⌥⌘R) until you see a rotating globe icon to boot from the Internet Recovery Drive.
3. If prompted, enter the password for your account on the computer you are upgrading
4. If prompted, click at the far right end of the menu bar to select your network and enter your network password
5. When the Internet Recovery Drive completes booting, select the option to Upgrade/Install MacOS. This will install the latest version of MacOS that is compatible with your computer
6. Follow the on screen instuctions. Your computer will download the update and install it. Your computer will reboot multiple times during the installation so don't get anxious, don't unplug, don't restart, until you see the logon screen and you are "good to go".

Well I did what you said and it caused me to have questions:

When I choose network, my only choice is Direct-vS-FireTV.9fe4 which is my Firestick. If it's okay to use that I will, but when you say password, do you mean my administrative password for my Mac or the router password?

I don't know why it isn't giving me the name of our network, but the last time I tried this years ago it gave me no network choices at all, so this may be better somehow.

There are two places where you may be asked for your password...

1. You may be asked for the password for an account on this computer which would be your administrative password
2. When you are establishing a connection to your WiFi network for access to the internet which would the password for your WiFi network, If your WiFi network is not secured then it will not prompt for this password and may have joined it automatically. If you do not use WiFi to connect to the internet then there is no reason to logon to the network and you can skip that step. I would not recommend using the Firestick network.

I do use wi-fi. I'm wondering why I can't just go to the App Store and d/l catalina w/o going through recovery which obviously isn't going to work for me.

Have you looked in System Prefs > Software Update, Rita?

Technically, it should offer you Catalina,

All it offers is Kindle, iPhoto and PDF OCRX Community Edition. I can find Catalina on The App store though. Maybe because I have Sierra 10.12.5. I think I need 10.12.6 so I may have to go up in Sierra and then Catalina? If I remember correctly, I had to have at least 10.12.6.

It doesn't. I only need OS 10.9 or later and I have 10.12.5. So I maybe should go straight to the App store and then to Catalina.

According to macOS Catalina - Technical Specifications, you're correct about needing only OS X 10.9, so I don't see any reason why not.

Recovery is really a sort of emergency tool and isn't meant to replace the regular upgrade process.

How to upgrade to macOS Catalina directs you to a Catalina d/l in item 4.

More: It may be that you need 10.12.6 before Software Update kicks in, but it's apparently not a technical necessity for installation.

Thank you. I've started the download. We shall see how it all goes.



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All went well. Had a little trouble because my Apple ID wasn't being recognized for awhile but now it's fine. Had trouble staying connected to the internet too. Not sure what that was about. Seems to be working fine now, though.