2011 MacBook Pros can support Handoff/Continuity

[galapas]

Ok so I hope dokterdok doesn't mind but I modified his tutorial to clarify a little and to remove the find/replace option since I think that is screwing things up a little.


7. Go to Terminal, and type: (exactly as below)
Code:
ioreg -l | grep "board-id" | awk -F\" '{print $4}'
8. Your result should look like : Mac-742912EFDBEE19B3, (yours might be different.). Copy it to your clipboard (Select and CMD+C). Don't close terminal yet.

I got through step 6, but when I tried step 7 the terminal didn't show anything.

After following step 3 I got a message about the danger of improper use of the sudo command and that I should enter my password to continue. Did that.

After restarting the terminal showed a grey line saying [Restored]. Followed by "Last Login: Fri Oct 17 13:36:28 on console"

Tried to enter code from step 7 but the next line in terminal was blank.

 

[Lem3ssie]

To clarify, are the steps you outlined different than the process in post #609?

What i've posted is a quick tutorial, quick cause i sent an already modified .kext, so it was just a delete/copy plus 4 Terminal Commands.

It's been 2 days now since I'm a bit pissed off, sorry, I tried to help as many people as I can but dudes kept on coming asking : "help me it doesn't work", without reading post just above.

The first thing I told anyone when i made the tutorial is "read, then read, and when you're done reading then read again".

I've been asked to stop sending already modified .kext, that's why self editing has been chosen.
The most difficult part of this tutorial is replacing the card, everything else is just reading and learning.

To be honest this mod is no hack at all, it's a clever understanding of how Apple tweaked its driver.

So, Apple made 2 lists, a white list that allows some Mac equiped with BT 4.0 card handle Continuity.
The other list is a black list, which prevents some Mac from handling continuity.
This list isn't an exaustive one, meaning are not listed Mac not equiped with BT 4.0. Only 4 or 5, some are BT4.0 able, which is weird... But Apple didn't try to kill this mod at any cost.

What you do when you mod your driver ? : Terminal helps you find your Mac id, then you edit the white list, adding your Mac id or replacing a legacy white listed Mac id with yours.
After that, you prevent your Mac from hanging while booting with a Terminal command :

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

Cause Yosemite is not allowed to load modified .kext, this command fixes it.
You finally clear cache and repair permissions with 4 Terminal command.

When it is asked to reboot, it is mandatory !!!! Do it !!!

Some black listed Mac needs the black list to be edited : MacBook Air 4.1, 4.2 and Mac mini 5.1, 5.2, 5.3. If you have a different Mac, don't mind those steps.

 

[domrego]

Ok so I hope dokterdok doesn't mind but I modified his tutorial to clarify a little and to remove the find/replace option since I think that is screwing things up a little.

TUTORIAL

1. Download and install 0xED in your Applications folder, you can get it from here:
http://www.suavetech.com/0xed/

2. Download and install KextDrop in your Applications folder, you can get it from here:
http://www.cindori.org/software/kextdrop/

3. Open Terminal and type :
Code:
sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"
4. Restart your machine.

5. Open Finder, type CMD+Shift+G and go to /System/Library/Extensions/

6. Copy the files below to your desktop and then delete the originals. Make an extra backup copy of the 2 files in a separate folder just in case.
Code:
IO80211Family.kext
IOBluetoothFamily.kext
7. Go to Terminal, and type: (exactly as below)
Code:
ioreg -l | grep "board-id" | awk -F\" '{print $4}'
8. Your result should look like : Mac-742912EFDBEE19B3, (yours might be different.). Copy it to your clipboard (Select and CMD+C). Don't close terminal yet.

9. Open Finder and hit CMD+Shift+G, go to ~/Desktop/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/Plugins/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS
Note: if you have a different OS language, you might need to replace "Desktop" in the path with your local translation.

10. Right Click on AirPortBrcm4360, and choose OPEN WITH: OTHER: 0XED

11. In the upper right hand corner under “search text" search for "Mac-" (without the quotes).

12. Look at the first result, for example, it might be Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86

13. Delete the numbers after Mac- and Manually type your Mac- numbers (from step 8 be very careful not to delete anything else just the numbers.

14. Press down arrow till you get to the last Mac- (should look like Mac-2E6FAB96566FE58C)

15.Delete the numbers after Mac- and Manually type your Mac- numbers (from step 8 be very careful not to delete anything else just the numbers.

16. Click Save (the red circle)

17. Open Finder and hit CMD+Shift+G to open the "Go to" popup, and go to ~/Desktop/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/MacOS

18. Right Click on IOBluetoothFamily, and choose OPEN WITH: OTHER: 0XED.

19. In the SEARCH field (upper right corner) type:MacBookAir then enter.

20. You will find a block of text containing
Code:
'MacBookAir4,1''MacBookAir4,2''Macmini5,1''Macmini5,2''Macmini5,3'
Manually replace the numbers with ones only so they all look like:
Code:
'MacBookAir1,1''MacBookAir1,1''Macmini1,1''Macmini1,1''Macmini1,1'
Important: Be careful not to add any character while doing the replacement.

21. Click SAVE (the red circle button) and quit 0xED.

22. Open KextDrop, and Drag and drop the IO80211Family.kext that you modified into the window.

23. Click INSTALL.

24. Repeat steps 23 and 24 but for your modified IOBluetoothFamily.kext

25. Go Back to Terminal, and type the following commands. Wait for each one to finish.

Code:
sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
Code:
sudo kextcache -system-caches
26. Reboot. Make sure you have an Internet connection for the next steps.

27. Go to > SYSTEM PREFERENCES> GENERAL, at the bottom click ENABLE HANDOFF.

28. Go to > SYSTEM PREFERENCES> ICLOUD, click on SIGN OUT.

29. On your iOS Device, go to SETTINGS> ICLOUD and SIGN OUT.

30. Restart your Mac and iOS device.

31. Go to > SYSTEM PREFERENCES> ICLOUD, and enter your credentials to sign in.

32. On your iOS Device, go to SETTINGS> ICLOUD and SIGN IN.

If I follow these instructions I will be able to get this working with my early 2011 macbook pro 15" correct?

And just to clarify because I haven't begun the process yet, but step 24 says to repeat steps 23 and 24, should it be referring to other steps?

 

[galapas]

I got through step 6, but when I tried step 7 the terminal didn't show anything.

After following step 3 I got a message about the danger of improper use of the sudo command and that I should enter my password to continue. Did that.

After restarting the terminal showed a grey line saying [Restored]. Followed by "Last Login: Fri Oct 17 13:36:28 on console"

Tried to enter code from step 7 but the next line in terminal was blank.

Right now it's saying no hardware installed for wi-fi. I read and read, but I guess not enough, could someone lend a hand?

 

[MrSimmo]

Great stuff thanks, yes I've been using find/replace using the program till now - I'll type manually and give it a go


Cheers

Right all done and it works a treat. Thanks for the advice all. im on Mac Mini mid-2011. I'll leave it a week to make sure the OS is stable and then I'll upgrade my 2011 Macbook Air and see how that goes...


I found I needed to add a couple of steps to the original post (https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20015070/)

- I copied and modified the Kexts (steps 5-22) before I rebooted
- I backed up and then deleted the original kexts from /System/Library/Extensions, enabled dev mode (step 3), then ran the kext cache refresh (step 26) and then I rebooted. I lost wifi but my bluetooth keyboard + mouse still functioned (but they lost some of the scroll functions etc).
- I then installed the new kexts (step 23-26) and then rebooted again.
- I noticed the location arrow appeared briefly in the top menu bar after the reboot
- I then signed out of icloud on the mac, rebooted and signed back in. I rebooted my iphone and ipad but didnt bother signing out of icloud on them.
- All works fine. Tested Safari handoff between my iPhone and Mac Mini without problems.

One really helpful piece of advice I followed was NOT to use find/replace in 0xED. For some reason it screwed up my kexts. I did 'find' and then put 0xED in Overwrite mode (opposite to Insert mode - you can select this from the menu), turned Caps Lock on and typed in the 16 character alpha numeric string into the text section.

I also found if I didn't delete the kexts before applying the new ones, OSX ignored the new ones for some reason (even when I cleared the cache).

Anyway, hope it helps to anyone else who may be struggling.

Cheers, Simmo

 

[UncleSchnitty]

Ive put all my finding and modified instructions in one thread Handoff Breakdown

I wanted a place where all the facts could be put together. Im deleting all my other thread subscriptions except for that (hah too many email alerts) If anyone needs my help Ill be helping people there.

 

[MrSimmo]

Ive put all my finding and modified instructions in one thread Handoff Breakdown

I wanted a place where all the facts could be put together. Im deleting all my other thread subscriptions except for that (hah too many email alerts) If anyone needs my help Ill be helping people there.

Excellent work, good man thanks UncleSchnitty.

 

[kwiky]

Do the kext changes persist through updates?

It depends on if apple updates the kext in that update. If they do, then yes. If they don't make any changes to that kext then no.

 

[TommyCardello]

Hello. Thanks for you guide a lot. But unfortunately it don`t work for me. I`m sure I`ve done all like in guide. 2 times. But no luck. Can someone help how to get a success in it? I have MacBook Air mid 2011 11".
Number:
Mac-C08A6BB70A942AC2

Thank you.

Edited: *I have such error: kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67061 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA0B for kext IOBluetoothFamily.kext

Can someone help?

 

[bookemdano]

Right all done and it works a treat. Thanks for the advice all. im on Mac Mini mid-2011. I'll leave it a week to make sure the OS is stable and then I'll upgrade my 2011 Macbook Air and see how that goes...


I found I needed to add a couple of steps to the original post (https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20015070/)

- I copied and modified the Kexts (steps 5-22) before I rebooted
- I backed up and then deleted the original kexts from /System/Library/Extensions, enabled dev mode (step 3), then ran the kext cache refresh (step 26) and then I rebooted. I lost wifi but my bluetooth keyboard + mouse still functioned (but they lost some of the scroll functions etc).
- I then installed the new kexts (step 23-26) and then rebooted again.
- I noticed the location arrow appeared briefly in the top menu bar after the reboot
- I then signed out of icloud on the mac, rebooted and signed back in. I rebooted my iphone and ipad but didnt bother signing out of icloud on them.
- All works fine. Tested Safari handoff between my iPhone and Mac Mini without problems.

One really helpful piece of advice I followed was NOT to use find/replace in 0xED. For some reason it screwed up my kexts. I did 'find' and then put 0xED in Overwrite mode (opposite to Insert mode - you can select this from the menu), turned Caps Lock on and typed in the 16 character alpha numeric string into the text section.

I also found if I didn't delete the kexts before applying the new ones, OSX ignored the new ones for some reason (even when I cleared the cache).

Anyway, hope it helps to anyone else who may be struggling.

Cheers, Simmo

Yep that was the key for me as well. Followed the steps 3 different times last night to no avail. Today I didn't even mod them again, just used your additional instructions to delete the original kexts, clear cache, reboot (lost wifi and bluetooth), kext dropped the ones I modified last night, cleared cache again and rebooted. After it rebooted I finally saw:

Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Handoff Supported: Yes
Instant Hotspot Supported: Yes

Hallelujah! So my kext edits were in fact done properly--the system just wouldn't take one or both when using the steps in dokterdok's tutorial (not sure why it did work for others).

Anyway, might be worth updating the tutorial to incorporate these additional steps as that was definitely the key for several of us with the 2011 MBA.

Thanks so much to all who contributed to getting this working. Personally I am pretty pissed that Apple artificially restricted this feature from 2011 MBA/MM users who already had the correct hardware to use it.

 

[fcbraji]

Thanks so much to all who contributed to getting this working. Personally I am pretty pissed that Apple artificially restricted this feature from 2011 MBA/MM users who already had the correct hardware to use it.

i also wish to thank everybody who helped making the tutorial! It worked first time trying for me on my mid 2011 MBA.
I did have trouble initially on my girlfriends account on my computer after successfully adding my account first but i thought i might add that handoff didn't work until i allowed keychain access when adding the iCloud part of the tutorial, as she normally never used it.

Thanks again i am loving this feature so so so much.

 

[cbrr]

Hello.
I have do different steps 3 times and didn't work on my Macbook Air Mi-2011.

Can someone help me please ??

My id : Mac-742912EFDBEE19B3

Thanks....

edit - i have test last time and it's OK now !
Thanks for the instructions everyone.

 

[jatt123]

help with card selection

Hello can someone help me choose the correct card? There were a couple of them on this thread but the listing are closed. I have my file ready, I got it from member here on page 33. My macbook is early 2011 pro and board is Mac-94245B3640C91C81. So I just need to get the correct card.

 

[Izzard]

Good news for 2011 MacBook Air and 2011 Mac mini owners, here's a refreshed tutorial that enables Continuity on those machines as well….

Just want to say, dokterdok, thank you for taking the time to get these instructions together and making corrections. I've just followed them and got Handoff and Airdrop working (finally!) on my 2011 Mac mini. My Mac isn't "obsolete" anymore - yay!

 

[r.f.glsp13]

UncleSchnitty and whomever else figured this out... Thank You so much. Job well done. Post 848 worked for me... The second time. Works great on my MBP Late 2011 with a card from a MBA that I got from eBay. Job well done guys. I'm new to the forum but always a follower. Very impressive on your parts. Thanks again.

 

[johny979]

There´s an option I can function

In Airdrop, I can send images from my MBA to iphone, but from iphone to mac, impossible

Handoff function ok, but if I try pair the bluetooth between iphone and MBA is impossible

Why?

 

[UncleSchnitty]

If I follow these instructions I will be able to get this working with my early 2011 macbook pro 15" correct?

And just to clarify because I haven't begun the process yet, but step 24 says to repeat steps 23 and 24, should it be referring to other steps?

I have a new thread Here that I update and follow. If you look the 2011 Macbook pro needs a card update it will not just work with a kext edit.

 

[ohkr2000]

I have a MacBook Late 2009, Is there any solution?

 

[DJMeat]

I hate to be another guy chiming in saying that this isn't working, but here I am.

I have a mid-'11 MacMini. It has the LE chip, so these instructions ought to work, but they just aren't. I've followed them to the letter, checking and double checking that I'm edited the .kext files accurately, which I am.

Still, nothing.

When running the...

Code:
sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

...part, I get much the same as this.

I've gone back through and checked, but can't see that I've edited the .kext file incorrectly.

If anyone could help, that would be awesome, because it's driving me mad. I want to learn how to do what it is I'm trying to do, but I'm just going around in circles...

 

[mike817]

It depends on if apple updates the kext in that update. If they do, then yes. If they don't make any changes to that kext then no.

Are the kext changes required to make the replacement bluetooth card work or just to make the handoff functions work?

 

[ualdayan]

Yep that was the key for me as well. Followed the steps 3 different times last night to no avail. Today I didn't even mod them again, just used your additional instructions to delete the original kexts, clear cache, reboot (lost wifi and bluetooth), kext dropped the ones I modified last night, cleared cache again and rebooted. After it rebooted I finally saw:

Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Handoff Supported: Yes
Instant Hotspot Supported: Yes

Hallelujah! So my kext edits were in fact done properly--the system just wouldn't take one or both when using the steps in dokterdok's tutorial (not sure why it did work for others).

Anyway, might be worth updating the tutorial to incorporate these additional steps as that was definitely the key for several of us with the 2011 MBA.

Thanks so much to all who contributed to getting this working. Personally I am pretty pissed that Apple artificially restricted this feature from 2011 MBA/MM users who already had the correct hardware to use it.

Same here - did it 3 times with no luck, and then tried the additional step of deleting cache, and restarting BEFORE doing kextdrop, and that did it for me.

 

[hyperskier96]

Could someone help me get the right Bluetooth 4.0 card to get handoff/airdrop to work? I have a MacBook pro early 2011. I found this in the thread, http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=140968486547 I'm not sure if it will work? Thanks.

For you and all newcomers looking for the right bluetooth card, here is the link i used.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281462221916?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I've bought 2, both for early 2011 MBP's, and both work fine

also it isn't coming from hong kong, which is a plus even though it is a bit more. It arrived within 4 days, and it went from west all the way to east coast

(when i bought it, price was 29.95. but that was before Yosemite was released. Now the price is $35. so the seller is probably realizing the new demand for the card, and upping the price. i would buy sooner rather than later, he might raise the price as more people realize they can de-obseletize their 2011 MBP's)

 

[bigdog5142]

Everything works like a charm here. Now that iWork has been updated...it's like it's supposed to work!

FYI, running a 15" MBP, early 2011 with the CAX Bluetooth 4.0/LE card.

 

[kweevuss]

Alright so don't want to be "that" guy, but I have followed the tutorials and handoff is working great. The only thing is bluetooth seems to be acting weird between my macbook pro and my 6+.

When I got to pair the devices my macbook sees my phone, I click pair, the confirmation code comes up on both, I confirm. Then on my phone it says not connected right away, if I click on my macbook's name, it just says "this macbook is not supported" and disconnections.

Is this a result of the bluetooth file edited incorrectly?

Edit: I am able to connect my iPad 3 to my macbook over bluetooth, and AirDrop even sees my phone but I can't do anything with it. The weird thing is I have two devices listed under my bluetooth now, and the one version of my macbook's name I can't delete. This may be an issue with my phone

 

[wizmaster]

Same here - did it 3 times with no luck, and then tried the additional step of deleting cache, and restarting BEFORE doing kextdrop, and that did it for me.

This is exactly what worked for me as well! Until i did this step where i deleted the kext and then going to debug mode and booting with no wifi/bt worked for me.