macOS Catalina (10.15) is now available

[MacInWin]

OK, so I tried to install Catalina to an external thumb drive. Downloaded the installer, made a bootable USB with the installer on it. Let's call that Little Thumb. Then detached all of my external devices to make it simple and booted from the USB installer. Inserted a 256GB USB3 thumb drive (Let's call that Big Thumb) to a USB port, formatted it HFS+ just to make sure it had GUID as well, then pointed the installer to Big Thumb and let it install. About 45 minutes later it wanted to know if I wanted to migrate and I said yes, then pointed to the internal drive of the MBP for the source. Let it run overnight. In the morning, had a long series of messages about files that couldn't be moved and one message that said the user name (of my account) couldn't be created. Cue the ominous music. Answered some questions about iCloud, Siri, etc, then the system finished booting from the Big Thumb. It had my user name to log in, so I'm feeling slightly better. Got it booted, but when I went to Documents, nada. Tried Applications, none of my third party software was there, no music, no pictures, no files, nothing.

So, at that point I quit. I'm not going to risk any upgrade to this can of worms until I have some concrete evidence that it will actually migrate data. Given it takes a full day to do the migration, I'll give it a go about once a week, maybe.

This is the first time Migration Assistant has failed for me. I was surprised, as none of the files listed in the warnings were things I would have though critical--files in trashcan, some plists, a few configuration files. Nothing about any applications or any data files from my account.

Has anybody done a clean install and then used Migration to get their data to the drive on an external drive? Is there something hidden that I need to do/check/uncheck/fix/sprinkle fairy dust on?

[chscag]

I can't explain what happened with your installation, but I can relate that I have never seen such a large amount of macOS installation failures and glitches with any other macOS installation. The MacRumors forum is filled with stories about things going wrong when installing Catalina. And you're not alone concerning the MA failure.

The various computer rags have already termed Catalina as Apple's Vista. Might be wise to wait on this one Jake. I know I am even though I did install it to an external SSD.

[ferrarr]

@MacInWin, why did you format The “big thumb” as HFS+? You should have used APFS.


Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums

[MacInWin]

Bob, it was just the first option on the list, frankly. Either way, the install was going to change what was there. It had been APFS, so reformatting to HFS+ guaranteed that there was nothing left on the drive before starting.

EDIT: As I said, the important thing was to make sure it was GUID.

[pjhutch]

hmmmm. Hearing problem re MS Office 2016, can anyone confirm that it works on Catalina?

Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps lists it as a ??? at the moment.

G

I tried Office 2016 Standard v16.16 and it does not work - the programs are marked with No Entry signs, so they are 32 bit so they won't work.
However, Office 365 or Office 2019 does work.

[Lifeisabeach]

OK, so I tried to install Catalina to an external thumb drive. Downloaded the installer, made a bootable USB with the installer on it. Let's call that Little Thumb. Then detached all of my external devices to make it simple and booted from the USB installer. Inserted a 256GB USB3 thumb drive (Let's call that Big Thumb) to a USB port, formatted it HFS+ just to make sure it had GUID as well, then pointed the installer to Big Thumb and let it install. About 45 minutes later it wanted to know if I wanted to migrate and I said yes, then pointed to the internal drive of the MBP for the source. Let it run overnight. In the morning, had a long series of messages about files that couldn't be moved and one message that said the user name (of my account) couldn't be created. Cue the ominous music. Answered some questions about iCloud, Siri, etc, then the system finished booting from the Big Thumb. It had my user name to log in, so I'm feeling slightly better. Got it booted, but when I went to Documents, nada. Tried Applications, none of my third party software was there, no music, no pictures, no files, nothing.

So, at that point I quit. I'm not going to risk any upgrade to this can of worms until I have some concrete evidence that it will actually migrate data. Given it takes a full day to do the migration, I'll give it a go about once a week, maybe.

This is the first time Migration Assistant has failed for me. I was surprised, as none of the files listed in the warnings were things I would have though critical--files in trashcan, some plists, a few configuration files. Nothing about any applications or any data files from my account.

Has anybody done a clean install and then used Migration to get their data to the drive on an external drive? Is there something hidden that I need to do/check/uncheck/fix/sprinkle fairy dust on?

Egad! I had originally planned on doing a clean install and migrate my user data back on my iMac, but since it went so well as upgrades on the mini and MBA, I went ahead and did the same on the iMac also. Glad I did now.

[MacInWin]

The various computer rags have already termed Catalina as Apple's Vista. Might be wise to wait on this one Jake. I know I am even though I did install it to an external SSD.

I'm not quite ready to call it Vista, yet. Just disappointed that MA didn't work, didn't give any reason for not working. That experience now argues against a nuke/pave installation, just an overlay. But my printer drivers are still 32 bit and I need them for business purposes, so I'll wait. No more experimenting.

[chscag]

I tried Office 2016 Standard v16.16 and it does not work

Office 2016 standard does work, however, you must update it to 64 bit. You can do that for free from Microsoft. Just check for updates while in Office 2016 and you should be offered an update from Microsoft. I believe it will update your copy to 16.35. No need to buy Office 365.

[Lifeisabeach]

Ok, so I was able to run a 32-bit game (GNOG by Double Fine) in a Mojave vm under VMWare Fusion 11.5 on Catalina. This same game definitely will not run under Catalina. It ran very sluggishly, but my MBA isn't well specced for something this demanding. I tried running a couple Wineskinned apps but never got their UI to open up. But that may be due to my system getting sluggish from all the overhead from the VM. It's silly anyway to run a Windows app using Wineskin in a macOS vm.... may as well just use a Windows vm to run the app.

Ok, this is tripping me out. I very specifically tried GNOG in the Mojave vm because Catalina showed it as a 32-bit app and wouldn't run it (or so I thought). Catalina is now showing that game as compatible and I can play it. It's the same file, no updates to it (got it from the Epic Game Store when it was the freebie of the week). Most likely I got confused, but maybe there's the chance there's some weird bug where Catalina was falsely flagging apps as 32-bit initially?

Anyway, I double checked what is certainly a 32-bit game (Unstoppable Gorg) and it plays fine in a VM, as well as Beat Buddy.

I've tried a couple apps and an older Windows game (Duke Nukem Manhattan Project) in a Win10 vm under VMWare and I was stunned over how well they performed on my MacBook Air (2012 with only 4 GB RAM altogether). I'm going to try some more games to see how far I can push it.

[georgelza]

My Office 2015 is at the 16.16.14 level and def working.

G

[georgelza]

My upgrade went with no glitches. I'm not going to point to 3rd party apps thats been long in the tooth now not working as they were still 32bit and OS is only 64, buts to be expected, and thats on those app vendors to have brought out a new update prior to this upgrade that got it correct/64 bit.
only glitches is as I said Garage Band and iPhoto that was still there that don't work, Apple supplied/maintained products.

What I have seen is some sluggishness in Finder though.
g

[IWT]

My Office 2015 is at the 16.16.14 level and def working.

G

No disrespect; but I was unaware that there was an Office for Mac 2015. Was this a typo and did you mean 2016? Assuming so, then your result is as expected because, as Admin chscag stated: the 2016 version does work following a simple update.

Ian

[georgelza]

... neither was I, I will ask my fingers why when I told it to type 2016 it went and typed 2015...
if you look earlier in the thread, it seems I was the first one that did the upgrade and actually came back here... and confirmed yes
G

[Slydude]

... neither was I, I will ask my fingers why when I told it to type 2016 it went and typed 2015...if you look earlier in the thread, it seems I was the first one that did the upgrade and actually came back here... and confirmed yes
G

ROTFL. When you get the answer let us know. My fingers must be working on the same principle.

[georgelza]

so seems I've got 2 problems... Wonder if anyone else has seen this.

#1 QTorrent suddenly does not want to download, just sitting on download, but not starting, using torrent files previously used so know they are good.... My check is to go to the Raspberry Pi org download page and try and download the newest version of Raspbian using their torrent option.

#2 Virtual Box crashes, I can open the Management console, start a VM, As long as my mouse point stays inside the VM, focused on the VM all is good, but when I try and change display (I run Virtual box full screen) to a MAC OS screen, then VirtualBox crashes.
Anyone hear anything of these.

G