how to rollback to Catalina from Ventura

Do you have a backup? Time Machine? Carbon Copy Cloner?

The process would be to follow these two Apple Support documents to download Catalina then burn it to a flash drive.

How to download macOS - Apple Support

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

1. Shutdown the iMac completely
2. Insert flash drive on back of iMac
3. Hold Option key while powering on
4. Choose the flash drive to boot from
5. Go to Utilities menu and Disk Utility
6. Click the View menu and select Show All Devices
7. Highlight the internal disk and Erase it, choose APFS
8. Quit Disk Utility
9. Install macOS Catalina
10. During installation there is the option to restore from a Time Machine Backup
11. Attach the Time Machine backup disk and select it
12. Go eat dinner and by the time you come back it should be right back to where you were before you upgraded.

Now if you do not have a backup, well that's a problem. It will be far more difficult. It is doable but it's far more complex.

Whenever you upgrade an operating system you need to check your software to see if it is compatible as well as your hardware accessories such as an old printer, etc.

Also it's not recommended to leap frog multiple operating system versions. There isn't much testing for an upgrade from N-3 (current minus 3 versions).

macOS Catalina -> macOS Big Sur -> macOS Montery -> macOS Ventura

└──────────────────────────┘

Apple releases macOS upgrades once a year every fall and then patches them with dot releases. It is typically wise to wait a few months after a new macOS version becomes available and to check forums like this one and others to see if people are reporting a lot of problems.

Since all of this is rather painful, what specific make/model printer do you have? What software is not compatible?

We may be able to offer some assistance fixing that or working around the issues, etc.

timkenneymarketing wrote:

That's fine. I do my own technical support anyway. It is MUCH more important to have an OS that is compatible with my professional software.

dialabrain didn't say anything about technical support. They were pointing out that Catalina will not receive any security updates. So, if someone discovers a vulnerability, it may end up not being patched on your computer. You may decide that the risk is worth it.

There seems to be quite a few changes since Monterey impacting printers and scanners. Not exactly sure what's changed under the hood to break all these printers but it seems to require manufacturers to update drivers. The problem is the manufacturers have moved on with newer models and it is to their benefit that you buy a newer model. They aren't going to allocate developer resources for an old product that isn't currently generating revenue. That printer might be working just fine, but when the manufacturer drops driver support. You get left behind. Reminds me quite a bit of the dark days of Android fragmentation where the manufacturers customized Android and therefore had to release an updated Android with their customizations. Then the carriers had to agree to release the update. Neither the manufacturers nor the carriers saw any incentive to actually do that. It was profitable to release new models and make consumers replace their old phones.

I really miss simpler days of 5-6 tiny files to setup a printer and they lasted decades. Heck, I just decommissioned an actual honest to goodness, HP LaserJet II printer that had a Centronics to USB cable. It was still working 36 years later! It whistled and whined and squealed and it was slow but it did actually still print. HP really made those early LaserJets far too well. I think they sold for $2,695 back in 1987. I believe it was the very first small desktop LaserJet. The previous models were enormous departmental sized printers.

At least the Epson EcoTank printers are inexpensive and scanners have come down in cost as well. It's a shame when you have to discard a piece of hardware that's still working perfectly fine when the manufacturer abandons the product support.

Just to add, macOS Catalina is no longer supported so there will be no more security updates or fixes.