macOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread

[pkouame]

Good to know! A help page will be incoming sometime in the future to show changes, rather than here.

Excellent! I'm trying to figure out why I no longer receive "normal" updates since upped to PB3 after a very early Sierra Patch to DP1, as are many on this site. None of the softwareupdate gymnastics work for me anymore: massaging the .dist files, resetting catalogs, re-listing, re-starting etc... worked for a little while then stopped. In the meantime, your route is the only effective one for me. Your help page and a little more insight into the entire softwareupdate "protocol" will surely help. I should probably read Apple's docs on setting up "local" softwareupdate distribution channels...But having too much fun beta testing... Whatever I can do to help...Thanks.

 

[GrewUpOnApple]

Hi there,

First post ever here, but have been reading up on the whole 10.12 Sierra thing with the unsupported Mac models.

Long story short, just finished repairing my old iMac24 inch...its an Early 2009 so doesn't make the official support status but I know the current work arounds mentioned here do apparently work for my iMac model.

Thing is, after having a bloody debarkle in putting Win 10 on the iMac (so as to not lose my old license before the free Win10 upgrade offer expired a few weeks back), I really dont want to be fiddling with my Mac's OS setup right now and am happy for the moment with El Cap.

Now having read that Dosdude1's tool is for the Beta of Sierra and that the way I understand it, his future plans with the tool are in the grey... I just can't help and wonder what will happen if I don't decide to upgrade to Sierra whilst it's still in Beta and the tool presently works.

I guess that this is kinda directed at Dosdude1 but I thought it might be better as a public post where others might get the same answer too if they were in a situation like me and not wanting to install Sierra till a bit later down the track after the Beta period.

Cheers and to all who have posted on this thread, thanks too. A lot has been useful across the 75 odd pages

 

[dosdude1]

Hi there,

First post ever here, but have been reading up on the whole 10.12 Sierra thing with the unsupported Mac models.

Long story short, just finished repairing my old iMac24 inch...its an Early 2009 so doesn't make the official support status but I know the current work arounds mentioned here do apparently work for my iMac model.

Thing is, after having a bloody debarkle in putting Win 10 on the iMac (so as to not lose my old license before the free Win10 upgrade offer expired a few weeks back), I really dont want to be fiddling with my Mac's OS setup right now and am happy for the moment with El Cap.

Now having read that Dosdude1's tool is for the Beta of Sierra and that the way I understand it, his future plans with the tool are in the grey... I just can't help and wonder what will happen if I don't decide to upgrade to Sierra whilst it's still in Beta and the tool presently works.

I guess that this is kinda directed at Dosdude1 but I thought it might be better as a public post where others might get the same answer too if they were in a situation like me and not wanting to install Sierra till a bit later down the track after the Beta period.

Cheers and to all who have posted on this thread, thanks too. A lot has been useful across the 75 odd pages

Oh, no, I'm definitely planning on making this work with the final release, no doubt about it. If you're planning on using Sierra as your main OS, then you've made the right choice. Betas are not meant to be used as a main OS. I will always ensure my tool is up-to-date and works on the latest release.

 

[GrewUpOnApple]

Oh, no, I'm definitely planning on making this work with the final release, no doubt about it. If you're planning on using Sierra as your main OS, then you've made the right choice. Betas are not meant to be used as a main OS. I will always ensure my tool is up-to-date and works on the latest release.

Oh Cool!

Good to know

Yeah after the muck about with Win 10... I am not in the mood to touch the iMac as its running beautifully on the new SSD replacements for the dead old HD. Can't believe how fast El Cap has been running on such an old machine TBH.

But yeah I will want to keep my Mums old iMac and my MacBook Pro from the same time-period running as long as I can with money being tight... and not just that. Nothing wrong with using something to death like the old days, not like our planet can cope with way we all are now with the disposable thing.

So kudos for the hacks to keep these older machines alive and kicking )

 

[bbbggg]

I've read every bit of info I can find on installing Sierra on unsupported Macs. What I can't find is a solution that lets me update to the latest Betas (and ideally the GM) as soon as they are released. I have a mid-2009 15" MBP which as far as I can tell has the same hardware as some of the Macs on the other side of the cutoff, so everything should work if I can just get it to install in a way that is "official-ish".

What I have tried:

- Loading MultiBeast to change the system definition. This seemed to do nothing at all besides creating some EFI partitions on my disk. Mac App Store still gave me "This version of macOS 10.12 cannot be installed on this computer." after I changed the system definition to a closely related supported MBP 6,2 (Running El Cap)

- Used @dosdude1 Sierra Patcher to reformat my boot disk and install Sierra. Worked great, except the only copy of Sierra I could find is Beta 1 (I don't have a supported Mac to use to download the latest). After booting into Sierra, I opened up the App Store and tried to download the latest Sierra Beta. I again got "This version of macOS 10.12 cannot be installed on this computer."

Is there any way to permanently alter my Mac so that the Betas (and Final) can be installed normally through the App Store? Surely I don't have to reformat my boot disk every single time I want to install a newer version?

Thanks!
BG

 

[fischersd]

I've read every bit of info I can find on installing Sierra on unsupported Macs. What I can't find is a solution that lets me update to the latest Betas (and ideally the GM) as soon as they are released. I have a mid-2009 15" MBP which as far as I can tell has the same hardware as some of the Macs on the other side of the cutoff, so everything should work if I can just get it to install in a way that is "official-ish".
...
Is there any way to permanently alter my Mac so that the Betas (and Final) can be installed normally through the App Store? Surely I don't have to reformat my boot disk every single time I want to install a newer version?
Thanks!
BG

You have a Mac...you should have come here first, before playing with any of the hackintosh stuff. dosdude1's tools work great. Now you need to use the software update tool http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.html to patch your system to have the updates show up in the Mac App Store.

There isn't yet a permanent fix for this (some are testing out using an alternate software catalog / server - that may be a better solution longer term...the jury's still out. At this point, we use the utility (once it's updated) for each beta release. In time, other solutions may present themselves.

 

[Abby_CZ]

Hi, is any chance for working wifi on Mac Mini Late 2009 and MacBook Pro Early 2008?

And second question - update to final Sierra will be possible?

Thank you.

PS: I am sorry, 75 pages is much more for reading... :-(

 

[pkouame]

Oh, no, I'm definitely planning on making this work with the final release, no doubt about it. If you're planning on using Sierra as your main OS, then you've made the right choice. Betas are not meant to be used as a main OS. I will always ensure my tool is up-to-date and works on the latest release.

Hey dude - have you considered creating a DONATION page?

I for one would gladly drop a tip for the enormous benefit this tool has and will provide to this community. 75 pages now, and if memory serves me right with previous releases, we are very close to Golden Master and eventual release. I and many on this site have contributed little tid bits along the way, but you are the face of Sierra patcher and hopefully many more versions. As a developer, I know that maintaining this is no easy feat.

I'm sure many on this site would eagerly drop a few bucks in recognition and to keep you going...

 

[MrCrispyBacon]

@dosdude1, I have a serious problem, m8...Im on PB5 and the mouse and keyboard SOMETIMES won't respond at all on login and I get stuck and can't do nothing...I have to reboot to my external drive where I have a backup and clone it back to my mac....I tried quite a lot of options to see if I could get the mouse/keyboard working as patching again the Sierra Post install, reseting NVRAM...repairing and rebuilding the mac....nothing works!!! its damn annoying this issue....I have as well a mac wireless keyboard and trackpad and when stuck on login I still cant use it despite of bluebooth being on ....Can you please help me fix it? thanks

I have a macbook 5.1 late 2008

 

[dosdude1]

Hey dude - have you considered creating a DONATION page?

I for one would gladly drop a tip for the enormous benefit this tool has and will provide to this community. 75 pages now, and if memory serves me right with previous releases, we are very close to Golden Master and eventual release. I and many on this site have contributed little tid bits along the way, but you are the face of Sierra patcher and hopefully many more versions. As a developer, I know that maintaining this is no easy feat.

I'm sure many on this site would eagerly drop a few bucks in recognition and to keep you going...

Alright, yeah, I'll probably put a donation link on the main Sierra Patcher page. Thanks for your support!

EDIT: Added link at http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.html
[doublepost=1471615618][/doublepost]

@dosdude1, I have a serious problem, m8...Im on PB5 and the mouse and keyboard SOMETIMES won't respond at all on login and I get stuck and can't do nothing...I have to reboot to my external drive where I have a backup and clone it back to my mac....I tried quite a lot of options to see if I could get the mouse/keyboard working as patching again the Sierra Post install, reseting NVRAM...repairing and rebuilding the mac....nothing works!!! its damn annoying this issue....I have as well a mac wireless keyboard and trackpad and when stuck on login I still cant use it despite of bluebooth being on ....Can you please help me fix it? thanks

I have a macbook 5.1 late 2008

I'll test Sierra on a few unsupported machines and see if I can replicate the issue, but as of now I have not experienced this issue yet.

 

[fischersd]

@dosdude1, I have a serious problem, m8...Im on PB5 and the mouse and keyboard SOMETIMES won't respond at all on login and I get stuck and can't do nothing...I have to reboot to my external drive where I have a backup and clone it back to my mac....I tried quite a lot of options to see if I could get the mouse/keyboard working as patching again the Sierra Post install, reseting NVRAM...repairing and rebuilding the mac....nothing works!!! its damn annoying this issue....I have as well a mac wireless keyboard and trackpad and when stuck on login I still cant use it despite of bluebooth being on ....Can you please help me fix it? thanks

I have a macbook 5.1 late 2008

I saw someone post on another thread that they were having that issue with PB4. They plugged in a USB keyboard and mouse, system saw them, they then rebooted and (strangely) the problem went away (with the USB components then removed). If you have any of these around, give it a shot, see if it makes a difference.
[doublepost=1471616888][/doublepost]

Hi, is any chance for working wifi on Mac Mini Late 2009 and MacBook Pro Early 2008?

And second question - update to final Sierra will be possible?

Thank you.

PS: I am sorry, 75 pages is much more for reading... :-(

I'm actually running Sierra on my early 2008 MacBook Pro (17"). At the moment, I'm using USB bluetooth and Wifi adapters, but I've ordered an mCard (http://www.quickertek.com/products/mCard.html) - version 2 is compatible with mine, per their compatibility matrix: http://www.quickertek.com/manuals/QcardChart.pdf

I'm still waiting for it to arrive (between Canadian Customs and Canada Post, they've added 8 days delay to me receiving it) Now, if you're not comfortable taking your MacBook apart (or if you don't care about continuity or handoff), then you may opt for the USB options or find a local mac repair shop to swap out the original airport extreme for you.

I'll be posting how well the card works after I get it installed (and hopefully get continuity and unlocking via the apple watch working)

Edit: Sorry, my mac mini is 2012...someone else will have to advise you the best solution to get that one up to spec for Sierra.

 

[dosdude1]

Hi, is any chance for working wifi on Mac Mini Late 2009 and MacBook Pro Early 2008?

And second question - update to final Sierra will be possible?

Thank you.

PS: I am sorry, 75 pages is much more for reading... :-(

The only way to get WiFi support on those machines is to upgrade the card. I know the BCM4322 works fine, as well as many other Broadcom and Atheros cards. And yes, I will be sure to keep my tool up-to-date when the final release of Sierra comes out.

 

[pulker]

The only way to get WiFi support on those machines is to upgrade the card. I know the BCM4322 works fine, as well as many other Broadcom and Atheros cards. And yes, I will be sure to keep my tool up-to-date when the final release of Sierra comes out.

Dosdude, just for a reminder for myself... The MacBook 4,1 (early 2008) need to have the card upgrade too? Before making a mess trying to install Sierra i want to know if WiFi can work or not. If can't, I will try to buy a newer card. But, btw I will wait after the release of the GM. Keep up with the good work.

 

[Abby_CZ]

The only way to get WiFi support on those machines is to upgrade the card. I know the BCM4322 works fine, as well as many other Broadcom and Atheros cards. And yes, I will be sure to keep my tool up-to-date when the final release of Sierra comes out.

Thank you. What can I find model of my wifi card? System tell me, that card is "AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x8C) and version firmware is Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.36.16). Will this card working or not? Thank you.

 

[dosdude1]

Dosdude, just for a reminder for myself... The MacBook 4,1 (early 2008) need to have the card upgrade too? Before making a mess trying to install Sierra i want to know if WiFi can work or not. If can't, I will try to buy a newer card. But, btw I will wait after the release of the GM. Keep up with the good work.

The MacBook 4,1 won't work with Sierra at all, unfortunately.

 

[ac2334]

Hi Dosdude - I sucessfully updated to the the PB version 16A238m. Now i have run the patcher to get the update for PB5 to show up in the App Store, but I can't get it to work. I have repaired permissions and the patcher did say it was successful. I tried changing the permissions in the folder "../i/031-72285 to try and edit the .dist file (change all false entries to true), but the best i could do was to make a duplicate file and then drag and copy/replace. Nothing showing in updates. My csrutil is disabled. Please help if you can.

Thank you

 

[dosdude1]

Hi Dosdude - I sucessfully updated to the the PB version 16A238m. Now i have run the patcher to get the update for PB5 to show up in the App Store, but I can't get it to work. I have repaired permissions and the patcher did say it was successful. I tried changing the permissions in the folder "../i/031-72285 to try and edit the .dist file (change all false entries to true), but the best i could do was to make a duplicate file and then drag and copy/replace. Nothing showing in updates. My csrutil is disabled. Please help if you can.

Thank you

Ok, here's what you need to do: Reboot the computer, open the tool, refresh updates twice. Then, reboot the machine again. This time, open the patch tool, select PB5, and click "Patch Update". If it says it was successful, refresh updates ONCE only, and then check the App Store.

 

[ac2334]

Ok, here's what you need to do: Reboot the computer, open the tool, refresh updates twice. Then, reboot the machine again. This time, open the patch tool, select PB5, and click "Patch Update". If it says it was successful, refresh updates ONCE only, and then check the App Store.

It showed up and now I am downloading...

I used the sudo chmod 777 * command prior and I believe that I did it in the correct directory (probably wasn't even necessary) - how can I ensure that I didn't accidentally change permissions on my entire /user/myname folder? Is there a good way to confirm this..? I think I was cd'd into the correct directories, but just want to be sure as I rarely use sudo. thank you

 

[dosdude1]

It showed up and now I am downloading...

I used the sudo chmod 777 * command prior and I believe that I did it in the correct directory (probably wasn't even necessary) - how can I ensure that I didn't accidentally change permissions on my entire /user/myname folder? Is there a good way to confirm this..? I think I was cd'd into the correct directories, but just want to be sure as I rarely use sudo. thank you

The "Fix Permissions" option in the patch tool does exactly what you did, so it should be fine, as long as you ran it on the proper directory.

 

[ac2334]

The "Fix Permissions" option in the patch tool does exactly what you did, so it should be fine, as long as you ran it on the proper directory.

I am now on PB5 - thank you. Yeah, i was just looking for a quick and dirty way to check that my permissions are all correct in my user folder. I *think* I was cd'd into the proper directory but I noticed that terminal doesn't give you the whole path- only the name of the very last folder in the path

Also, is patching the Recovery HD necessary if it is already working?

 

[dosdude1]

Alright, so right now (since I just got another MacBook5,2), I'm trying to figure out why Sierra won't detect the trackpad in the MacBook top case as a trackpad (This is a Mid-2009 non-Unibody MacBook). The kexts (AppleUSBTopCase.kext and AppleUSBTrackPad.kext) are shown as loaded in System Profiler, yet the system won't detect it as a trackpad. Has anyone done any research on this, or may know of some sort of a solution?
[doublepost=1471630855][/doublepost]

I am now on PB5 - thank you. Yeah, i was just looking for a quick and dirty way to check that my permissions are all correct in my user folder. I *think* I was cd'd into the proper directory but I noticed that terminal doesn't give you the whole path- only the name of the very last folder in the path

Also, is patching the Recovery HD necessary if it is already working?

If the Recovery HD boots and works, then there's no reason to re-patch it.

 

[fischersd]

Alright, so right now (since I just got another MacBook5,2), I'm trying to figure out why Sierra won't detect the trackpad in the MacBook top case as a trackpad (This is a Mid-2009 non-Unibody MacBook). The kexts (AppleUSBTopCase.kext and AppleUSBTrackPad.kext) are shown as loaded in System Profiler, yet the system won't detect it as a trackpad. Has anyone done any research on this, or may know of some sort of a solution?

What about AppleUSBMultitouch.kext ? That should be the one that you need (multitouch started with the 2008 MacBooks)

 

[dosdude1]

What about AppleUSBMultitouch.kext ? That should be the one that you need (multitouch started with the 2008 MacBooks)

AppleUSBMultitouch is for the buttonless glass trackpad (or plastic on the Late-'09 Unibody MacBooks).

 

[ac2334]

I just fixed my stuck trackpad - I have a 5,2 model (Mid-2009)

Here are the steps I used:

https://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/

Follow the left side, "Getting back into OS X", hope it helps

Also, I'm still a little nervous that I may have sudo chmod more than I needed - does anyone now a quick way to confirm that my user folder does not have super/incorrect permissions set? The exact command was sudo chmod -R 777 * and while I'm 99% sure I was cd'd into the correct directory before running it, I would just like to confirm that I didn't set the permissions to the entire /Users/myname folder. Thank you

 

[fischersd]

Also, I'm still a little nervous that I may have sudo chmod more than I needed - does anyone now a quick way to confirm that my user folder does not have super/incorrect permissions set? The exact command was sudo chmod -R 777 * and while I'm 99% sure I was cd'd into the correct directory before running it, I would just like to confirm that I didn't set the permissions to the entire /Users/myname folder. Thank you

Yep, go into terminal change to your user directory. Type ls -al

Should look something like this:

drwxr-xr-x+ 18 userid staff 612 15 Aug 19:12 .
drwxr-xr-x 6 root admin 204 3 Aug 19:33 ..
-r-------- 1 userid staff 8 3 Aug 18:24 .CFUserTextEncoding
-rw-r--r--@ 1 userid staff 14340 17 Aug 21:03 .DS_Store
drwx------ 2 userid staff 68 15 Aug 19:12 .Trash
-rw------- 1 userid staff 4715 17 Aug 21:06 .bash_history
drwx------ 160 userid staff 5440 19 Aug 15:32 .bash_sessions
drwx------ 3 userid staff 102 8 Aug 19:41 .ssh
drwx------@ 8 userid staff 272 17 Aug 20:59 Desktop
drwx------@ 5 userid staff 170 10 Aug 09:07 Documents
drwx------+ 15 userid staff 510 17 Aug 09:05 Downloads
drwx------@ 59 userid staff 2006 8 Aug 19:21 Library
drwx------+ 3 userid staff 102 3 Aug 18:24 Movies
drwx------+ 4 userid staff 136 8 Aug 19:21 Music
drwx------+ 4 userid staff 136 6 Aug 10:43 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x+ 5 userid staff 170 3 Aug 18:24 Public

If you had applied 777 to everything below your user directory, it would be rwxrwxrwx for every entry in here.
[doublepost=1471635564][/doublepost]

AppleUSBMultitouch is for the buttonless glass trackpad (or plastic on the Late-'09 Unibody MacBooks).

Well, it's loaded on my 08 MBP