User profile for user: McGene47
McGene47 Author
User level: Level 1
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downgrading OS on 2013 MacBook Pro

Background: I have an old 2013 MacBook Pro that had Catalina on it. I read that I could update the OS to Ventura by jumping through a ton of hoops. I did it -- but hate how slow it makes the system.


I have Catalina saved on the HD but can't seem to get it copied to a thumb drive -- I'll keep trying.


I have managed to get into the reinstall setup by using the Shift + Alt/Option + Command +R configuration. Once there the system wants to download and install Mountain Lion to the location of my choice.


Here's the issue: No location is ever listed...


Am I just being impatient? Is the system downloading the OS but there's no evidence of activity? Why is it opting for Mountain Lion when I have Catalina saved on my HD?


I'm not a MAC person (I'm much more comfortable on a PC) but, I'm trying to learn.


Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.


Posted on Apr 26, 2023 02:57 PM

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
30,971 points

Posted on Apr 26, 2023 03:57 PM

Because the Mac was hacked to install Ventura, it's likely that the recovery partition for Catalina was compromised and so the ability to reinstall that OS, for the time being.


As you can boot into Recovery on that Mac, you will need to launch Disk Utility and erase/format the internal startup drive. To install Mountain Lion, the drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition scheme and named Macintosh HD. With that done, you can proceed to select the drive and install the OS. Once ML is installed and the Mac is found to be running properly, you can move forward to install newer OS up to Catalina.


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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
30,971 points

Apr 26, 2023 03:57 PM in response to McGene47

Because the Mac was hacked to install Ventura, it's likely that the recovery partition for Catalina was compromised and so the ability to reinstall that OS, for the time being.


As you can boot into Recovery on that Mac, you will need to launch Disk Utility and erase/format the internal startup drive. To install Mountain Lion, the drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition scheme and named Macintosh HD. With that done, you can proceed to select the drive and install the OS. Once ML is installed and the Mac is found to be running properly, you can move forward to install newer OS up to Catalina.


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downgrading OS on 2013 MacBook Pro

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