My wife needs a backup machine at home so I’m rehabilitating her old MB Air (2017). Problem: I cleaned it off with the intent of selling it but never did. The recovery / reinstall from Command-R does not work (I keep getting a “cannot contact the server” message) and the Time Machine backup also stalls at the very end. My last resort is a clean install from a bootable USB but I cannot find a copy of Catalina online. When I do to the App Store with my own Mac I get the “not compatable with this Macbook” message.
Does anyone know where I can get a downloadable copy of Catalina?
Have you tried Option Cmd R and Shift Option Cmd R? If none of that works, and if you keep getting the connection error message in Recovery Mode, there’s something wrong with the network connection on that Mac.
I don’t think Catalina is available as a DMG, as it was only distributed via the App Store. A 2017 MBA will run Monterey, and your wife will keep getting security patches with it, so unless there’s a particular reason why you prefer Catalina, I’d go with the latest OS that the machine can run. I have a 2014 Mac mini stuck on Monterey now, and it just got an OS update the other day.
An update: You might not believe this but on the One Last Try it actually got all the way through the reinstallation! Didn’t have to do the bootable USB route. Everything working great.