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macOS Catalina download problem

My mac has currently the mac OS Mojave 10.14. I downloaded the mac OS Catalina from the APP store. But when I click the Install button, an error message appears :an error occurred. Try later:. When try again, I had to download the OS again, but during installation, same error message appears. Any suggestions how to successfully install the Catalina OS?


Related question - I can't upgrade from my OS 10.11.6 to any recent os on my MacBook pro. Please help.

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 11, 2020 11:54 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 12, 2020 1:03 AM

Make sure you have good verified working backups before trying to upgrade the OS.


FYI, Catalina does not support any 32bit apps.


Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the online Catalina installer. While you can use WiFi, it may be better to use an Ethernet connection if you continue to have issues.


You can also try creating a bootable macOS USB installer.


As for the other laptop with El Capitan you must have a MBP that is 2010 or newer to install any version of macOS beyond El Capitan. If you click on the various macOS versions in the previous link for creating a USB installer you will find the compatible models listed for each OS.

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 12, 2020 1:03 AM in response to Deboaich

Make sure you have good verified working backups before trying to upgrade the OS.


FYI, Catalina does not support any 32bit apps.


Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the online Catalina installer. While you can use WiFi, it may be better to use an Ethernet connection if you continue to have issues.


You can also try creating a bootable macOS USB installer.


As for the other laptop with El Capitan you must have a MBP that is 2010 or newer to install any version of macOS beyond El Capitan. If you click on the various macOS versions in the previous link for creating a USB installer you will find the compatible models listed for each OS.

Jan 12, 2020 11:16 AM in response to Deboaich

Yes, those AV apps are probably the source of your problem. You should never run two anti-virus apps at the same time as they will interfere with each other. Also anti-virus apps are not needed on a Mac unless required by your school or employer. You should uninstall them by following the developer's instructions. AV and other cleaning apps usually cause more problems than they solve and will impact system performance.


I don't use any AV products so I cannot tell you how to deactivate them individually, but you could try booting into Safe Mode which should disable them so that Catalina can finish installing and setting up and allow you to possibly uninstall them.

Jan 12, 2020 10:01 AM in response to HWTech

Did not solve the problem. Using Command + Option + R nothing happened. I had ethernet connection, not WiFi. I could download Catalina all right from the APP store. During installation, when the status bar showed 21 minutes, a popup screen showed up asking me to restart the computer, but when I tried to restart the computer, the error message Said 'An error occurred while preparing the installation, try running the application again". When I tried again, the same thing happened.


Is presence of antivirus apps interfering with it? I have Sophos home and Avira antivirus. If I have to deactivate them first, how I do it?I did not try creating a bootable macOS USB installer yet.

Any new suggestions?

Jan 12, 2020 10:03 AM in response to Deboaich

Did not solve the problem. Using Command + Option + R nothing happened. I had ethernet connection, not WiFi. I could download Catalina all right from the APP store. During installation, when the status bar showed 21 minutes, a popup screen showed up asking me to restart the computer, but when I tried to restart the computer, the error message Said 'An error occurred while preparing the installation, try running the application again". When I tried again, the same thing happened.


Is presence of antivirus apps interfering with it? I have Sophos home and Avira antivirus. If I have to deactivate them first, how I do it?I did not try creating a bootable macOS USB installer yet.

Any new suggestions?

macOS Catalina download problem

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