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This question arises from an earlier question in which the top answer suggests 32-bit support in Catalina is "disabled" but possible to re-enable with the help of library files copied over from Mojave.

For those who have implemented the workaround, does your experience (OS stability, performance of legacy software such as CS6 and MS Office 11, etc.) suggest this is a viable alternative to running an older 32-bit supporting macOS in virtualization under Catalina?

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  • To which of the two work arounds are you referring? It’s best to quickly summarize what you did here and reference back. The idea being the question can stand on its own without requiring a jump to another page (even if here on AD/SE)
    – Allan
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 2:57
  • This question solicits the experience of those who have implemented the workaround in the top answer in response to the above-linked question. I am not going to summarize "what I did" because A) I have never tried this workaround, B) I have never run any virtualization, C) I don't have Catalina (yet), and D) I have attempted to "quickly summarize" my reason for asking questions in the past, only to be told to edit so as to avoid going off topic.
    – Adobe_User
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 3:07
  • All valid points, but it still doesn’t help the question stand on it’s own. Please post an edit with a quick summary of what you’re interested in and link back rather than forcing the reader to jump back to the question you’ve linked.
    – Allan
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 3:35
  • This piqued my interest, as it's something I'd love to be able to do - however, the link-only answer has suffered link rot, so becomes no answer at all.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 6:30
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    @ benwiggy Earlier this month, I debated buying/connecting two Mac Minis to a single display, one old, one new., the older one to retain access to legacy software under an older macOS. Q&A was hidden over a comment objecting to what I thought was essential context (was told it might lead off topic). So I ditched the idea and tried to learn from that feedback to strip this Q&A down to the bare bones, only to prompt questions re: a back story (reason for asking). In a nutshell: Research suggests the 2020 27" i9 3.6Ghz 5K iMac won't run Mojave. Choice is to return, virtualize or this "workaround"
    – Adobe_User
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 23:08

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The linked answer suggests copying "the 32-bit libraries from Mojave" and changing a kernel boot argument in NVRAM to enable 32-bit processing.

I haven't tried this, but I'd suggest that it's not a viable alternative to virtualization.

Firstly, correctly identifying all the necessary files to copy over from Mojave is not without risk of error or omission. (The link that might provide some guidance is dead.)

Secondly, while Mojave and Catalina may have been similar enough for this to work, incompatibilities and problems will increase as new OSes grow apart.

Even assuming that you got the 32-bit apps running, there's also no guarantee that other changes to the OS won't cause serious or 'fatal' problems.

Obviously, none of this will work on M-series Apple Silicon Macs.

If, as you say, you haven't upgraded from Mojave, then I'd consider setting up a VM before you upgrade, to see whether it works with sufficient performance. VMs work best on hardware with lots of cores and RAM. (I used CS6 for a while on my 2012 Mini in a Parallels VM, and it worked OK.)

Otherwise, you need to make a decision about whether to keep up to date with progress, or whether to stay where you are. Why the sudden desire to upgrade to Catalina, after 3+ years? One question to ask yourself is: if your Mac died tomorrow -- e.g. Logic board failure; or got stolen, caught fire, etc -- and you had to buy a new Mac, what would happen?

Some other thoughts about running old software versions:

Microsoft Office can be updated to a 64-bit, up-to-date version at reasonable cost. You can buy a standalone, one-time payment version, rather than the subscription.

There are plenty of modern alternatives to Adobe's apps, such as Affinity suite, or GIMP/Inkspace/Scribus. VivaDesigner will open InDesign files natively. CS6 is now 11 years old.

But of course, it won't be long before Catalina is too old to run the latest apps, either.

If you need to update your Mac, but neither alternative software nor virtualization are a sufficient strategy for your legacy files, then I suggest buying a vintage Mac on eBay or similar, just for your legacy apps, which ideally you should start to migrate away from.

Some additional costs are inevitable, whether they be hardware or software.

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  • [Sorry to get conversational on this, but] even though a lot of software is replaceable, Adobe, Office etc, this becomes a hardware trap too. I have audio gear, perfectly serviceable but obsolete, which relies on 32-bit drivers. The cost to replace with modern gear will be about 10k [& still not actually be as good as what I would have to abandon.]
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 8:34
  • @Tetsujin Driver support for audio hardware is traditionally appalling. (And Apple's own "class-compliant" drivers are pretty awful.) For much less than 10k, you could pay someone to write new drivers -- and then sell them to others with the same kit!
    – benwiggy
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 8:41
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    Great idea, in theory - & if I tried really, really hard I might even be able to get the original source code, as I used to work for the company that owns it. Trouble is… I don't have anything like 10 grand to spend on this :\
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 26, 2023 at 8:57
  • "One question to ask yourself is: if your Mac died tomorrow -- e.g. Logic board failure; or got stolen, caught fire, etc -- and you had to buy a new Mac, what would happen?" Funny you should ask. I go back to the early '90s with Apple (did my own HD upgrades, memory installs, etc. back in the day). Since then, I have fallen behind on the desktop front (2009 iMac still in use!). Just purchased a NIB 27" iMac with Catalina (2020 model). Doubt Apple will drop macOS security updates for ~4 years, ESR browser from Firefox potentially ~6yrs. MBP will be replaced with Apple Silicone Macbook in ~2yrs.
    – Adobe_User
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 8:11
  • "Why the sudden desire to upgrade to Catalina, after 3+ years?" It's actually the other way around: Catalina represents a long overdue jump forward — so much so that until I began reading up recently I didn't appreciate how much had changed from Mojave (which is installed on my MPB). So it occurred to me that since the question I linked to was from 2020, there may be updates on how well the 32-bit workaround works. If good, I would test on a separate Catalina partition. If not, use VMware or similar. Meanwhile, I take it not many people have tried this workaround for the reasons you describe.
    – Adobe_User
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 8:25

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