macOS Catalina (10.15) is now available

[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.

 

[honestone33]

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?

That's certainly bothersome, Jake, as I depend upon that Migration/Copying process as part of an OS installation. If I have time, I will try and install Catalina on my external Samsung 860 EVO SSD tomorrow, and see if the migration/copying still works. Of course I cannot proceed with any further testing, as 1) there are too many bugs in this initial version of Catalina, and 2) not all of my third party software is compatible with Catalina yet. But at least I can see if the migration still works.

 

[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.

 

[honestone33]

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?

I made an initial post earlier today in response to this, but have not seen it. Also, I hope I am not waisting my time with the following information. So, here goes.

First, let me say that I am posting this in my Catalina "environment". After doing my usual weekly tasks with Onyx, Tech Tool Pro, and SuperDuper! earlier for both of my Macs, I started the process to try and answer Jake's last question there, from my Mojave Mac Mini. That is, after copying all the TV Series files I had on my Samsung 860 EVO 500 gig external SSD to a flash drive, I launched Disk Utility on the Mini to Erase and Format that Samsung External SSD as APFS. No problemo, as Arnie says! When I then "asked" Disk Utility to partition that SSD, a dialogue popped up, suggestion that it is easier to just add another Volume to that SSD, as all such APFS volumes share the space. So, that is what I did, and voila, the SSD had two volumes on it, both the same size, 500 Gig (remember, the size of the SSD is 500 gig).

I renamed one of those volumes to "Catalina Test". I next downloaded the complete OS 10.15 Installation file from the App Store, and quit the process when the download was done. I made a copy of that Installation file to another location on my MIni, and removed the one inside the Applications Folder (no sense waisting space). I then launched that installation file, and did a clean, fresh, "virgin" installation of Catalina onto that external volume "Catalina Test". At the completion of the installation, (as expected) it asked me if I wanted to migrate information from another Mac, a Time Machine Backup, or another backup. I chose that, selected the internal SSD inside my Mac Mini, and away it went. Took a little time, but it successfully completed. All my apps, files, settings, etc. transferred fine (even my 2 32 bit apps Quicken 2007 and Magic Number Machine, although they are kind of "greyed out" on my Doc (no surprise there)).

I have tested some applications, and they seem to work fine: Google Chrome (the browser I am using for this post), Thunderbird, and VLC. "iTunes" is fine. I printed a document from LibreOffice, and my printer is happy!

I might run a few more apps, but I prefer to wait until at least the .1 version of Catalina arrives. What I would appreciate is if someone could explain the benefits, drawbacks, etc. of just adding another volume to an APFS formatted device instead of doing an actual, old fashioned partition.

 

[honestone33]

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?

I made an initial post earlier today in response to this, but have not seen it. Also, I hope I am not waisting my time with the following information. So, here goes.

First, let me say that I am posting this in my Catalina "environment". After doing my usual weekly tasks with Onyx, Tech Tool Pro, and SuperDuper! earlier for both of my Macs, I started the process to try and answer Jake's last question there, from my Mojave Mac Mini. That is, after copying all the TV Series files I had on my Samsung 860 EVO 500 gig external SSD to a flash drive, I launched Disk Utility on the Mini to Erase and Format that Samsung External SSD as APFS. No problemo, as Arnie says! When I then "asked" Disk Utility to partition that SSD, a dialogue popped up, suggestion that it is easier to just add another Volume to that SSD, as all such APFS volumes share the space. So, that is what I did, and voila, the SSD had two volumes on it, both the same size, 500 Gig (remember, the size of the SSD is 500 gig).

I renamed one of those volumes to "Catalina Test". I next downloaded the complete OS 10.15 Installation file from the App Store, and quit the process when the download was done. I made a copy of that Installation file to another location on my MIni, and removed the one inside the Applications Folder (no sense waisting space). I then launched that installation file, and did a clean, fresh, "virgin" installation of Catalina onto that external volume "Catalina Test". At the completion of the installation, (as expected) it asked me if I wanted to migrate information from another Mac, a Time Machine Backup, or another backup. I chose that, selected the internal SSD inside my Mac Mini, and away it went. Took a little time, but it successfully completed. All my apps, files, settings, etc. transferred fine (even my 2 32 bit apps Quicken 2007 and Magic Number Machine, although they are kind of "greyed out" on my Doc (no surprise there)).

I have tested some applications, and they seem to work fine: Google Chrome (the browser I am using for this post), Thunderbird, and VLC. "iTunes" is fine. I printed a document from LibreOffice, and my printer is happy!

I might run a few more apps, but I prefer to wait until at least the .1 version of Catalina arrives. What I would appreciate is if someone could explain the benefits, drawbacks, etc. of just adding another volume to an APFS formatted device instead of doing an actual, old fashioned partition.

 

[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

 

[Lifeisabeach]

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.

Welp, I'm ready to call it Apple's Vista, at least as far as nags are concerned. Despite going through this last week on my iMac after first installing Catalina, I am now once again being prompted to update my Apple ID settings. I literally just spent the past 5 minutes alternately clicking "Continue", "Continue" once again; enter my iCloud password; and enter my iMac's user account password. Over and over and over. This is insane.I had an app I was using the other day that I had to acknowledge "Yes, I want it to access my Downloads". "Yes, I do want it to access my Desktop". "Yes, I do want it to access my external drive". Aaaaaarrrrghhhh!!

 

[pine man]

I think Vista is a bit strong, I seem to have been relatively lucky with Catalina so far.

After a couple of days fiddling, and courtesy of updated printer drivers from Canon, I only have one outstanding issue left - when I print onto the surface of a disc it misses it completely and prints on the tray!! I suppose it would be easier to just write on the disc.

 

[ferrarr]

So, I experienced only one issue and it was with Reminders not syncing to Catalina.

Trying to solve the issue, Sunday I erased the drive and installed Catalina. When I used MA to get all my info/data/files/etc from Time Machine, it worked, but ended with an error stating that one of my User accounts couldn’t be created. It then asked me to create a password for the admin account (which is the account it told me was not created). I gave it the same password as I was using, and it finished and everything was working. Except for Reminders still weren’t syncing.

So I erased the drive again On Monday, and just did a clean install of Catalina. Then I copied the files and data I needed. Reminders is still not syncing, and I noticed that iCloud has lost all my Reminders Lists as well. They only exist completely on my iPhone. So yesterday, I started a ticket on a call into Apple Support, and I should be getting a call Bach either today or tomorrow.

 

[chscag]

Apple is already testing 10.15.1 and recently released a supplemental update to Catalina. Many of the reported problems - nags, reminders, notes, mail, - are being looked at. I don't know whether Apple will get them fixed all in one update though. We will have to wait and see.

In the meantime.... Hasta La Vista Baby!