In the fabled Good Old Days, figuring out how long it would take to get your hands on the discs containing the latest Mac OS X upgrade involved either determining how long it would take you to drive to the nearest retail outlet selling the package, or monitoring a delivery tracking page in your Web browser to see where the shipment you ordered containing the discs currently was on its journey to your eagerly awaiting Mac.

In these Good New Days, however, the latest upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will be available only from the Mac App Store, which means you can get your hands on it instantly — where “instantly” means as fast as your Internet connection to Apple’s servers can download it.

To install Mac OS X Lion on a virtual machine, we're going to use Virtualbox, which is a free and open-source virtualization suite. It's important to note that Windows virtualization programs do not 'officially' support Mac OS X, so you will not be able to enable full graphics support. This tutorial should only be taken as a proof of concept. Now for over 18 hours, I'm waiting on OS X Mavericks to finish installing on my computer which is under 2 yrs old. Oh, after the initial stage of 'installation', the download and install, which took like 4 hrs, the computer rebooted (as was expected according to videos on yt). Mac os x lion free download - Apple Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 Supplemental Update, R for Mac OS X, OpenJDK 7 for OS X Lion, and many more programs.

For most of us, “instantly” will still mean a considerable wait, so you probably don’t want to purchase Lion if you have to walk out the door with your laptop a few minutes later. But how long will you have to wait as the rough beast slouches its way onto your hard disk? It’s not hard to come up with a reasonable estimate.

First, you need to find out how much throughput you get from your Internet connection — not how much throughput your service provider says you get, but how much you actually get, which may vary with time of day. (Early evening is often the worst time for residential Internet connections, as everyone heads to Netflix to stream videos.) Fortunately, there are a number of Web sites that can test your connection, such as Speedtest.net. You can run a quick test on that site (it only takes thirty seconds or so) to find out the throughput of your connection in Mbps (megabits per second).

Once you know that, you need to know how big the download is. Fortunately, that is not a big secret: the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion installer is known to be 3.76 GB. With that information, you can whip out a number 2 pencil and a pad of paper and do some quick ciphering — or you can go to another site that will do it for you, such as Derek Tsang’s Download Time Calculator. Simply plug in the size of the download, and the throughput of your connection, and hit the Get Download Time button. You’ll get a reasonable approximation of how long it will take for the Lion installer to make it onto your Mac. (For a sense of how long the download would take on various standard Internet connections,check out the Gaijin Download Time Calculator.)

Of course, the estimate you get is only provisional: The download speed also depends on the throughput of the Mac App Store servers and Internet connections, along with the route between you and the Mac App Store. As we all know, those variables can vary. But at least you’ll know the least amount of time it might take, and be able to plan your day accordingly.

macOS Catalina gives you more of everything you love about Mac. Experience music, TV, and podcasts in three all-new Mac apps. Enjoy your favorite iPad apps now on your Mac. Extend your workspace and expand your creativity with iPad and Apple Pencil. And discover smart new features in the apps you use every day. Now you can take everything you do above and beyond.

Check compatibility

If you're using one of these computers with OS X Mavericks or later,* you can install macOS Catalina. Your Mac also needs at least 4GB of memory and 12.5GB of available storage space, or up to 18.5GB of storage space when upgrading from OS X Yosemite or earlier.

MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
MacBook Air introduced in 2012 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
iMac introduced in 2012 or later
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later

* To upgrade from Lion or Mountain Lion, first upgrade to El Capitan, then upgrade to Catalina. To find your macOS version, Mac model, memory, and storage space, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu . If your Mac isn't compatible with macOS Catalina, the installer will let you know. View the complete list of compatible computers.

Make a backup

Before installing any upgrade, it’s a good idea to back up your Mac. Time Machine makes it simple, and other backup methods are also available. Learn how to back up your Mac.

Get connected

It takes time to download and install macOS, so make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. If you're using a Mac notebook computer, plug it into AC power.

Download macOS Catalina

If you're using macOS Mojave, get macOS Catalina via Software Update: Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

Or use this link to open the macOS Catalina page on the App Store: Get macOS Catalina. Then click the Get button or iCloud download icon.

Begin installation

After downloading, the installer opens automatically.

Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. You might find it easiest to begin installation in the evening so that it can complete overnight, if needed.

If the installer asks for permission to install a helper tool, enter the administrator name and password that you use to log in to your Mac, then click Add Helper.

Allow installation to complete

Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart, show a progress bar, or show a blank screen several times as it installs both macOS and related updates to your Mac firmware.

Stay up to date

After installing macOS Catalina, you will be notified when updates to macOS Catalina are available. You can also use Software Update to check for updates: Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

Or get macOS Catalina automatically

If you're using OS X El Capitan v10.11.5 or later and your App Store preferences or Software Update preferences are set to download new updates when available, macOS Catalina will download conveniently in the background, making it even easier to upgrade. A notification will inform you when macOS Catalina is ready to be installed. Click Install to get started, or dismiss the notification to install later. When you're ready to install, just open the file named Install macOS Catalina from your Applications folder.

Learn more

Os X Lion

• If the installer shows a list of apps that are not optimized for your Mac, learn about 32-bit app compatibility, then choose whether to proceed with the installation.
• For the strongest security and latest features, upgrade to macOS Catalina. If you have hardware or software that isn't compatible with Catalina, you might be able to install an earlier macOS, such as Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, or El Capitan.
• You can also use macOS Recovery to reinstall macOS.