macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[Glujaz]

Hello, thanks for the patchers guys !

I have some issues though, with my 5,2 (5.2) white MacBook. I can't just the screen brightness. No patcher update solves this like it did before when the Mac was running on High Sierra. Any Idea where I might come from ?

By the way, you should add Julian's menu patchers, as both the background and menubar are showing up perfectly now on bright UI settings !

 

[jackluke]

I created an unpatched installer and installed Catalina over the previous installation (not a clean install). This fixed the Recovery partition.

I use Disk Arbitrator.app to mount Recovery partition to examine the contents.

Before, with the patched installer, the the contents of the Recovery partition and it's BaseSystem.dmg file look like this (you can see a patcher file in macOS Base System):



After reinstalling (not a clean install) using the unpatched installer, they look like this (no more patcher file or other changes):


I noticed the UUID in the Recovery partition changed. This matches the UUID of my Catalina partition:



I don't think the reinstall would change the UUID, so maybe the UUID in the patched Recovery partition was wrong? I didn't check the Catalina UUID until after the Recovery partition was fixed. I don't know where that old UUID came from.

Anyway, this is a lesson to check the UUIDs if problems occur (in the root folders of the Preboot and Recovery partitions and in the volume info of the partitions). The "Booter Disk" and "Recovery Disk" should also be correct.

diskutil info -all

I made a script some days ago (it still works with the current 10.15 release): https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-15-catalina-on-unsupported-macs.2183772/post-27830096

I did exactly that, since for now there is no a way to boot a custom Recovery with CMD+R, a minimal script to replace the patched APFS Recovery BaseSystem.dmg with an apple stock one, replacing also the immutablekernel Recovery needed for machines with very legacy IOUSB and Wifi.

My script keep the same UUID without need to re-adjust, however re-adjusting manually the UUID for an APFS installation is relatively simple:
diskutil apfs changeVolumeRole diskXs3 R
diskutil apfs updatePreboot diskXs1

 

[voltyr]

Catalina GM installed without hitches on 2011 MacBook Pro 17 (dGpu software disabled).

Looking for a way to increase vram om the HD3000 in Catalina. This trick no longer seems to work.

How to increase vRAM for HD3000 graphics

Terminal command to increase vRAM for HD3000 graphics (Mac mini 2011 or MacBook Pro 2011) From *MB - The amount of vRAM you currently have. You can find it in System Profiler. From 256MB to 384MB From 256MB to 512MB From 384MB to 1GB From 384MB to 512MB From 512MB to 1GB (Thanks to...

forums.macrumors.com

I was able to install Catalina on my 2010 MacBook Pro 7,1 using dosdude's patcher without a hitch and it runs well. I tried to install it on my Mac Pro 2012 5,1 and kept getting the message that the installer was damaged. Looking for ideas.

 

[MacDefender]

Hello everyone here and thanks a lot for all the work that went into the patcher

I have Catalina installed with the patcher on my MacPro 4.1->5.1 (with Metal GTX770) and everything is working perfect. I used it for a day with several restarts, installed all the apps and even disabled several (about 25% or so) or the LaunchAgents/Daemons as I don't want to use all the iCloud/PhoningHome stuff.

So the system itself is working perfect and really fast/nice.

But i have some issues though with the bootloader/EFI or whatever is causing problems here. After several reboots that were just fine the next start it just won't boot and presents a 'Unsupported Mac-F221BEC8' and won't do anything for 30 seconds to just shut down.

I already reinstalled Catalina with the patcher from an external stick several times (10+) to different APFS disks (encrypted) and each time it will start fine a few times and without doing anything special the next time it won't boot because my Mac is unsupported. If I than just install Catalina again on that disk everything is fine again (for the next few reboots).

Edit: I just resolved my issue with one(ore more) of the following steps:
- I ran the macOS Post Install application from the Catalina USB install disk and reapplied the PlatformCheck patch

- I mounted the Preboot volume and added my BoardID and ModelProperty to the .../System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist file

- I added -no_compat_check to the boot-args with nvram

So any of these fixed the problem, possibly the -no_compat_check was enough and I still have to learn more about EFI. Maybe I don't need the compat_check boot-arg now anymore as my PlatformID is included in the plist

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

Anyone has the CPU at 40% IDLE like me with Macmini 2010, with other old macs?
Do you think that an external SSD via USB 2.0 or an internal SSD could improve the performance?

I suppose that the low performance is dued to the new file system, because with @dosdude1 patched Mojave on the same hardware, the system is perfecty usable also using Plex server and other heavy apps and services.

 

[MacDefender]

Do you think that an external SSD via USB 2.0 or an internal SSD could improve the performance?

Do you currently use a normal HDD? Than I strongly would recommend to install a SSD internal. With USB2 an external SSD would be limited to the 50MB/s realistically possible with USB2 and so using about 10% of the possible transfer rates a SSD has to offer when internal installed.
Using APFS on a HDD is still not recommended as far as I know although it is possible. But it will fragment the files all over the disk which isn't a good thing for performance and hardware lifetime.

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

Do you currently use a normal HDD? Than I strongly would recommend to install a SSD internal. With USB2 an external SSD would be limited to the 50MB/s realistically possible with USB2 and so using about 10% of the possible transfer rates a SSD has to offer when internal installed.
Using APFS on a HDD is still not recommended as far as I know although it is possible. But it will fragment the files all over the disk which isn't a good thing for performance and hardware lifetime.

Thank you, now trying a fresh install on a different USB disk APFS partition of Cat final with patcher 1.1.7, to understand If there is an esternal cause slowing down my system. For you, It worth to install an internal SSD to a 10 year old MacMini 2010?

 

[Glujaz]

Anyone has the CPU at 40% IDLE like me with Macmini 2010, with other old macs?
Do you think that an external SSD via USB 2.0 or an internal SSD could improve the performance?

I suppose that the low performance is dued to the new file system, because with @dosdude1 patched Mojave on the same hardware, the system is perfecty usable also using Plex server and other heavy apps and services.

Mac OS is doing some photo collecting stuff for a day or 2 depending on the photo library size. I suggest keeping it running for some time

 

[MacDefender]

For you, It worth to install an internal SSD to a 10 year old MacMini 2010?

I would say yes to this $100 investment. I have a MacMini 2011 for my basic work when I don't want to waste the 200W+ power of my MacPro just to read mails or surf the web. Upgraded the internal HDD there to a 860 EVO and the improvement was noticeable. Way faster booting and app start compared to the old HDD.

Depending on your data amount you can get a 250GB internal SSD just for macOS and all the apps and a 4TB external HDD for your data. Or for the same $100 an internal 500GB SSD.

 

[Bacchinif]

Hi everyone! I own an iMac 21'' Mid 2010 this configured:

Mid 2010
21''
Model 11,2
Intel Core i3 - 3,2 Ghz
16 GB of RAM
512 SSD
1 TB HDD
ATI Radeon HD 5670 - 512 MB


I was wondering if my machine would have supported Catalina. On the first page I'm reading this:

iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable due to the lack of acceleration)

 

[Glujaz]

Hi everyone! I own an iMac 21'' Mid 2010 this configured:

Mid 2010
21''
Model 11,2
Intel Core i3 - 3,2 Ghz
16 GB of RAM
512 SSD
1 TB HDD
ATI Radeon HD 5670 - 512 MB


I was wondering if my machine would have supported Catalina. On the first page I'm reading this:

iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable due to the lack of acceleration)

It means no. Or use it as a server and screen less .

 

[Bacchinif]

It means no. Or use it as a server and screen less .

Pretty crazy that it is installable on older iMacs ad not on mine, isn't it? Has anyone tried on my machine?

Do you think Mac Os Mojave could run on my iMac?

 

[Glujaz]

Yes. It's a glu issue. Mac OS will boot, but only the cpu will render the graphics, making the use of the Mac very slow.
So it's doable, but not recommended.

 

[Pluda]

Hello, can someone confirm if there is a problem with the 1.7.7 @dosdude1 patcher or with the downloadable catalina installer?
I can’t make the creation of the usb stick.
My system just crashes.
Is the problem with my machine?
Details in this post #5,224 .
Since its weekend I would love to try catalina in my mac.
Thanks!

 

[Fangio]

fq

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Well as far as I can tell there are no ill effects so far using the Catalina Patcher USB on a supported machine. There was no Patch Updater installed, NightShift is original by Apple, and the MBP gets point updates via Software Update like any other supported Mac, i.e. 10.15.1 DP1.

 

[antony34]

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Well as far as I can tell so far there are no ill effects using the Catalina Patcher USB on a supported machine. There was no Patch Updater installed, NightShift is original by Apple, and the MBP gets point updates via Software Update like any other supported machine, i.e. 10.15.1 DP1.

it is because your machine is officially support 10.15

• MacBook 2015 and later
• MacBook Air 2012 and later
• MacBook Pro 2012 and later
• Mac mini 2012 and later
• iMac 2012 and later
• iMac Pro 2017 and later
• Mac Pro 2013 and later

 

[Fangio]

it is because your machine is officially support 10.15

I know. We are discussing the need to create two installer USBs for supported & unsupported Macs, or not. My Mac Pro is unsupported, see #4907.

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

Uch! Simply removing the USB pendrive on new Cat installation CPU usage Is incredibly down!

 

[hrc3]

My iMac 9,1 has been running Catalina for a while thanks to dosdude1's Installer and Patch Updater for Catalina. Yesterday, Patch Updater offered me two patch updates. One was the Legacy USB Support Injector. I did not get the name of the other. I installed both yesterday someitme and, this morning, I restarted.

Now, I cannot login. On the login screen, I enter my password and it appears that the login is working. I see the spinner, but after about 1.5 seconds, the small spinner "freezes" and a larger spinner appears. After a second or two, the entire screen goes black for 1-2 seconds and then the login screen reappears.

Anyone else experiencing these symptoms? Need to get this resolved ASAP as I depend on my iMac every day...

 

[jhowarth]

Look back in this thread. nVidia GTX6x0 series cards lost DisplayPort output from around Catalina b7. We don't know if deliberate deprecation or simple mistake by Apple.

I believe there is supposed to be problems with thunderbolt to DisplayPort adapters on supported machines. So if we are lucky, it may be the same bug.

 

[joelw135]

Does 10.15.1 Beta (19B68f) work with the latest patcher?

 

[Jack Neill]

Cloned my 10.14.6 on my MB7,1 and ran the .0 release. Runs awesome, even faster than Mojave actually. I have problems on my MB5,2 tho. Its slow af and some of the patches won't work even on clean installs.
[automerge]1570888995[/automerge]

I would say yes to this $100 investment. I have a MacMini 2011 for my basic work when I don't want to waste the 200W+ power of my MacPro just to read mails or surf the web. Upgraded the internal HDD there to a 860 EVO and the improvement was noticeable. Way faster booting and app start compared to the old HDD.

Depending on your data amount you can get a 250GB internal SSD just for macOS and all the apps and a 4TB external HDD for your data. Or for the same $100 an internal 500GB SSD.

Its night and day having a SSD in my mid 2010 MB. I have a 512 and am looking at going to a 2TB like I have in my Hackintosh.

 

[Pluda]

Does 10.15.1 Beta (19B68f) work with the latest patcher?

How do we know what OS vertion is downloade from the patcher?

 

[crjackson2134]

Good to know, I have 2009 flashed to MP5,1 and have not been successful in upgrading to Catalina. How/what method did you use to do the upgrade?

The first thin I did was disable SIP, and used nvram boot-args="-no_compat_check"

then I booted to Mojave on my primary drive, and downloaded the latest dosdude1 patcher tool. Let the tool grab Catalina GA for me. Then proceeded with the patcher and opted-out of all additional patches From the menu bar.

I selected the “install directly to this machine” rather than a USB stick, and pointed the installer to a backup NVMe drive that had a fully configured Mojave install that already had all BT functions enabled, as well as trim.

From there, I just let the installer run and it upgraded from Mojave to Catalina and everything just worked. I’ve done this a couple of times without any problems.

 

[joelw135]

How do we know what OS vertion is downloade from the patcher?

Usually the link in the patcher is to the latest release.