Catalina on a 2011 MacBook Pro?

[Kathsr]

Can I install Catalina on a late 2011 MacBook Pro with upgraded 8GB RAM and a brand new 256GB hard drive?

 

[CoastalOR]

The maximum Apple supported OS for your late 2011 MBP is High Sierra (10.13.6).

 

[saudor]

Yeah with the dosdude1 patcher. It’s unofficial though

 

[Banglazed]

Here is the thread and his website if you want to do it unofficially

macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

How to update Catalina Machine Support Video Card Support Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.) Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older without acceleration, GeForce 3xx...

forums.macrumors.com

macOS Catalina Patcher

 

[Dom46]

I used the DosDude patch and it worked great on my MBP from October 2011. But there is one issue...

I am unable to boot into the OS X utilities using the <Command+R> on boot up.

@dosdude1
My compliments on your series of patches allowing us to install more current operating systems on older Macs. As I mentioned above, I successfully installed Catalina on my MacBook Pro from October 2011.

I wanted to re-enable SIP, but have since learned that SIP must remain disabled for the patch to continue working. I've also discovered that I am unable to use the <Command+R> feature to boot into OS X utilities. Is this a byproduct of the patch install?

Can this be corrected?

Thank you,
Dom

 

[dosdude1]

I used the DosDude patch and it worked great on my MBP from October 2011. But there is one issue...

I am unable to boot into the OS X utilities using the <Command+R> on boot up.

@dosdude1
My compliments on your series of patches allowing us to install more current operating systems on older Macs. As I mentioned above, I successfully installed Catalina on my MacBook Pro from October 2011.

I wanted to re-enable SIP, but have since learned that SIP must remain disabled for the patch to continue working. I've also discovered that I am unable to use the <Command+R> feature to boot into OS X utilities. Is this a byproduct of the patch install?

Can this be corrected?

Thank you,
Dom

Yes, SIP MUST remain disabled while running the patched copy of Catalina (and disabling SIP normally will not have any affect to SIP status in Catalina due to other patches). You can get into Utilities by just booting off the Catalina Patcher USB installer, it has the exact same functionality.

 

[Dom46]

Yes, SIP MUST remain disabled while running the patched copy of Catalina (and disabling SIP normally will not have any affect to SIP status in Catalina due to other patches). You can get into Utilities by just booting off the Catalina Patcher USB installer, it has the exact same functionality.

I'm concerned about SIP being disabled. Should I be?

 

[Hombre53]

I'm concerned about SIP being disabled. Should I be?

Read this article, and then decide for yourself... https://www.securitynewspaper.com/2016/12/29/disable-system-integrity-protection-shouldnt/

 

[Dom46]

Read this article, and then decide for yourself... https://www.securitynewspaper.com/2016/12/29/disable-system-integrity-protection-shouldnt/

@Hombre53 - Thank you; that was a great read and very helpful.

Now that I have a better understanding of SIP, I feel that with caution, I can continue to use the system without SIP enabled.

I've always been a careful user and mind where I visit and the links I click on, both on websites and in email. So I feel my current habits will protect me form the things the causal user may be vulnerable to without SIP enabled.

Thank you again,
Dom