22 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2019
MACUSER CREATE A BOOTABLE CATALINA INSTALLER DRIVEmore about Catalina. When you’re ready
to download the software, click the
Download button under the icon on the
upper left. (If you’ve already downloaded
the installer, the button will say Install
instead of Get.)
Once the download is complete, the
installer will launch automatically. But don’t
continue with the installation. Instead,
press Command-Q on your keyboard to
quit the installer.
The Catalina installer app will be in
your Applications folder, so you can go
there and launch it later to upgrade your
Mac to the new operating system.
MAKE A BOOTABLE INSTALLER
DRIVE: THE QUICK WAY
I used a free app called Install Disk Creator
(go.macworld.com/dkcr) to make the
installation drive. Download Install Disk
Creator by clicking on the link. When the
download is done, you can move it over to
your Applications folder. Then follow these
steps to create your bootable macOS
Catalina drive.
- Connect your drive to your Mac.
- Launch Install Disk Creator.
- In the main window, you’ll see a
pop-up menu under Select the volume to
become the installer. Click on the menu
and select your drive. - Under the pop-up menu, you’ll see
Select the OS X installer. (macOS used to
be called OS X.) If you have only the
Catalina installer on your Mac, Install Disk
Creator will automatically select it. If you
have other macOS installers, you need to
click on Select the OS X installer and
select the Catalina installer.- When you’re ready, click Create
installer. Your Mac may tell you that Install
Disk Creator wants to make changes, and
you need to enter your user name and
password. After you do this, the app will
take a few minutes to create the boot
drive. A progress bar. appears at the
bottom of the Install Disk Create window.
If you try to start the process and you
The main window of Install Disk Creator.