Wipe laptop and install Catalina?

[1060120]

Hello! First of all, I apologise for the truly dumb and simple question, however, thing have changed so much ,and so many answers going around on the internet; that I am really at loss when it comes to understanding what I am supposed to do. Also some articles telling me to download installers from some shady sites... hmm..

I have a Macbook 12" early 2016. It's always had El Cap, however after so many years I see myself forces to upgrade. Mojave didn´t quite work for me, and Big Sur is a bit daunting since I have the idea that this OS is mostly for M1.
I'm in the mood for testing Catalina. However after the update, I see that all of the old apps that I had to manually download for El Cap, are still there. So I would like to wipe the entire SDD and and reinstall Catalina.

Only problem being: If I wipe the SDD, my suspicion is that I will most likely be offered to reinstall El Cap or download the latest OS (Big Sur), so how do I do donwload Catalina to a USB stick?

I followed these steps: How to create a bootable installer for macOS
However when I open the link, it takes me to the App Store and then it tries to download Catalina 10.15.7 or something like that.
How do I do to download Catalina 10.15 plain on an USB stick?

Thanks in advance!

 

[_AppleUser]

Hi there,

When it shows the macOS Catalina update in the App Store, it actually downloads an application with that version on it.

So what you have to do is first install that update from the App Store that you see, then once it finishes and pops up with an application, that is when you then follow the steps to create a bootable installer with that link you found from Apple.

Then once you finish making that bootable installer on an external drive/USB stick, make sure any files you really need after the system wiped is backed up somewhere else, it will all be erased in these steps I’m about to say, that’s when you…

1. Shut down your MacBook
2. Once it is shut down, you then need to hold the power button for about 1-2 seconds, then hold the “option” key to enter the boot picker
3. Once you are in the boot picker (you’ll know because you‘ll see your main startup disk, and another disk that will most likely read “Install macOS Catalina”), press your right arrow key until you are selected on that or hover your cursor over it. Then, press the arrow key or enter key to enter into the installer.
4. When you are booted into there, you should see a window showing the title “macOS Ultilities” along with other buttons there like “Restore from Time Machine Backup”, “Install macOS Catalina”, and “Get help online”.
5. Go ahead and double click the disk utility button until you are in disk utility app.
6. Select the internal SSD on your MacBook you see under the “internal” section on the left sidebar and then press erase. (make sure that any documents or files you still need are backed up somewhere before you erase). Confirm you want to erase the disk, and continue.
7. Once it finishes erasing, saying something like “process was successful”, then you can quit disk utility, putting you at the main screen, then double click onto the “Install macOS Catalina” button.
8. Follow the steps through the installer, making sure to install on the internal disk you just wiped, then once it finishes installing, you should be greeted with the setup assistant with the gray background and the window with what country you’re in shows up (see my attached file of what screen you should see when you’re done installing).

Once you’re through the setup process, you should be done and at the Catalina desktop with the wallpaper and a new blank slate!

Hope that helped and if there are any questions or information I left unclear, let me know!

 

[DeltaMac]

Just to answer your last question in your opening post -- if you download Catalina from the App Store, you get the most recent full installer, which is version 10.15.7 . That is NOT just an updater, but is the full system install.
(you would likely need to have a developer account to get 10.15, but I'm not sure if you can still download that from Apple. You don't need it, unless you have some unusual needs, as the download will include that latest 10.15.7 version.)
Download that, follow the steps to make a bootable USB installer.
Boot to that USB installer, erase your drive, if you like, with Disk Utility, then install that macOS Catalina.
There will still be a security update or two, and your newly installed system will then be as update as it can be, then move forward with whatever other apps you want.