macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[Starplayr]

On a fresh install from a supported mac this is were things start at with the stalls:

Booting from a MP3,1

A lot of this gets cleaned up except for either IOUSBInterface or HIDDriver depending if you have USB hubs plugged in.
[doublepost=1560478883][/doublepost]I am doing 3 fresh installs to play around with. One new fresh install of Mojave and two USB install disks for future.
[doublepost=1560481803][/doublepost]

Pretty much after the second boot the kext stall is this or HiDDevice if no hubs are connected

 

[ASentientBot]

I quickly scanned your stub functions and their real implementation in Catalina SkyLight: actually implementing the missing functionality is a tall order my friend. The rabbit hole gets very deep very fast. I humbly suggest the first step be a static analysis and dependency tree analysis of the functions your are stubbing out to 0. That may give you a better idea of what to focus on. One thing for sure, if some are widely used the expected result may not simply be 0 (especially worrisome if it's structured data or the functions actually update some local or global data or even send notifications to other frameworks). Still , amazing you got this far...

Yeah, reimplementing the functions that aren't basically already there, like the login one, is definitely way above my current skills. But... what if we just find the function names/signatures and then keep a copy of the Cat SkyLight and dlsym() and use its functions. It sounds clever to me, but I'm sure I'm missing something. Can you or some other experts tell me if this is stupid? If not, I'll give it a try.

Edit: Or... I just thought of this. What if we do the opposite! Make a wrapper around the current SkyLight and then override the critical acceleration-related stuff with Mojave SkyLight functions? Is that even possible? With a wrapper binary, dyld re-exporting, and heavy use of dlsym(), I don't see why it'd be impossible. But I'm not sure if it's a terrible idea to have two versions of the thing loaded at once...

What do you guys think?

 

[nandor690]

Rastafabi's Catalina loader

It took me a while, but finally I managed to create a "Catalina loader", which enables you to install macOS 10.15 Catalina on unsupported Macs with compatible hardware. It's meant for Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1 and iMac 2010/2011 systems, which have a Metal compatible GPU. A upgraded WiFi/Bluetooth card might be necessary to have OOB support. I have not yet looked into audio, though on my Mac Pro 4,1 it works OOB. The download includes an installation guide with additional details.
It is not meant for systems without a Metal GPU or with Core2 Duo (based) CPUs.

The loader is based on rEFInd and OpenCore, which spoofs the Mac to be a compatible model.
View attachment 842732

Download the Catalina loader.zip

————————————

Some might be reminded of my old Mavericks download enabler.

————————————

Dual CPU Mac Pros also require to be running non x55xx CPUs to omit audio stuttering. Thanks @tsialex

I am trying this out and I get a message,
OC: Missing GOP entirely - Not Found

Im messing around with it now to try and see what it is but was wondering if you have any input. Thanks!

 

[ASentientBot]

I am reimagined my main drive. I either get IOUSBInterace or HIDDriver lending what I have plugged in at boot.
Mi used to get accelerometer or actuator, a bunch of stuff in the stall or time out. So not out of the woods yet.

What happens if you boot into and then exit single-user mode? Strangely this prevents timeouts from ever occurring on my MacBook7,1 -- hence my sloppy IOHIDFamily.kext isSingleUser() patch to trick it that's always what's happened.

...the rest of the world was black & white, but we were in screaming colours

 

[Starplayr]

I updated my 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 patch shell script and included:

1. Replaces Telemetry script with the one from High Sierra.
Only run this on Catalina, Do not run this on Mojave.

2. Gets Sound to work on MP3,1

3. Gets WiFi to work on MP3,1

I have not found a fix for a 60s IOUSBInterface delay (it does this three times).

If I find a USB delay fix for the MP3,1 I will include it.

I am using this script myself to setup and test fresh systems. It is not meant to be a replacement for dosdude1's patch tool. It is a good example of how one could maintain their own script for a specific system. I take no credit for the Kext's used in this script, nor its findings. Use at it your own risk.

This script is currently bare bones meaning it is the absolute least stuff it can do to get Catalina to run and operate relatively normally.

This can be can augmented with Dosdude's Patch Update app (the one with blue the circular arrows). Which will install other things that this script does not.

 

[ASentientBot]

For Mac Pro 3,1 users who are waiting for a patch from an install of a Supported Mac.

I wrote a relatively simple shell script for Audio and WiFi only.
You can get the Kext's from Dosdude1's patcher or from 2 versions of macOS
Kext version #s and macOS version #s are listed in the comments.

Terminal needs Full Disk Access
and command needs to run with sudo

Copying /Users/Todd/Desktop/MacPro31Kexts/AppleHDA.kext
Copying /Users/Todd/Desktop/MacPro31Kexts/corecapture.kext
Copying /Users/Todd/Desktop/MacPro31Kexts/coreCaptureResponder.kext
Copying /Users/Todd/Desktop/MacPro31Kexts/IO80211Family.kext
Mac-Pro ~ %

I made this to get a fresh system up an running quickly and may add to it.
Other patches can easily be obtained using Dosdude1's Patch Updater. I included them as a separate upload and take no credit for them. This was a fun expertise for me as I have not written a shell script in the long time. I tried to keep the code as original as possible.

If for some reason you still can't get WiFi working, you can fall back to Ethernet and Firewire networking. I have them running on my system and it is linked to a 2006 Mac Mini via Internet sharing. Works great when you don't have WiFi.

What's the corecapture.kext for?

 

[Starplayr]

I am trying this out and I get a message,
OC: Missing GOP entirely - Not Found

Im messing around with it now to try and see what it is but was wondering if you have any input. Thanks!

Interesting, They are purposely leaving out the Mac Pro 3,1 which only needs Telemetry removed. I'm going the other way with EFI. I am going to remove EFI partitions if I can because they clutter up my macOS boot screen. I used to spoof a Mac mini in the past, but I feel strongly against this now. people are working hard to get a patch installer made without having to make mods to their computers. And only the first version of Catalina is out and I am sure by the time it hits GM, there will be an official installer and we will be able to eliminate many workarounds. I wrote a script for the Mac Pro 3,1 so I would not have to go through manual steps on a new system.
[doublepost=1560484626][/doublepost]

What's the corecapture.kext for?

It seems to be part of 802.11 WiFi. It was part of Dosdude1's Mojave patcher. They do load. And pass signing.

 

[nandor690]

Interesting, They are purposely leaving out the Mac Pro 3,1 which only needs Telemetry removed. I'm going the other way with EFI. I am going to remove EFI partitions if I can because they clutter up my macOS boot screen. I used to spoof a Mac mini in the past, but I feel strongly against this now. people are working hard to get a patch installer made without having to make mods to their computers. And only the first version of Catalina is out and I am sure by the time it hits GM, there will be an official installer and we will be able to eliminate many workarounds. I wrote a script for the Mac Pro 3,1 so I would not have to go through manual steps on a new system.
[doublepost=1560484626][/doublepost]
It seems to be part of 802.11 WiFi. It was part of Dosdude1's Mojave patcher. They do load. And pass signing.

What exactly does missing GOP entirely mean?
[doublepost=1560484866][/doublepost]

Interesting, They are purposely leaving out the Mac Pro 3,1 which only needs Telemetry removed. I'm going the other way with EFI. I am going to remove EFI partitions if I can because they clutter up my macOS boot screen. I used to spoof a Mac mini in the past, but I feel strongly against this now. people are working hard to get a patch installer made without having to make mods to their computers. And only the first version of Catalina is out and I am sure by the time it hits GM, there will be an official installer and we will be able to eliminate many workarounds. I wrote a script for the Mac Pro 3,1 so I would not have to go through manual steps on a new system.
[doublepost=1560484626][/doublepost]
It seems to be part of 802.11 WiFi. It was part of Dosdude1's Mojave patcher. They do load. And pass signing.

Iv been using clover, but I would prefer not too you know

 

[Starplayr]

What exactly does missing GOP entirely mean?
[doublepost=1560484866][/doublepost]
Iv been using clover, but I would prefer not too you know

I know. Clover does work. I was able to install Mojave with it. And may have kept using it but at the time I had an AMD GPU and we did not know about Telemetry back then.
------
For MP3,1 I think the OS is a little effected with without telemetry. I think it is used to determine where you are for the time zone. It's probably an anonymous way to figure out approx. where you're at. cuz time zone is screwy. And United States is not at the top when signing in for the first time.
[doublepost=1560485586][/doublepost]

What happens if you boot into and then exit single-user mode? Strangely this prevents timeouts from ever occurring on my MacBook7,1 -- hence my sloppy IOHIDFamily.kext isSingleUser() patch to trick it that's always what's happened.

...the rest of the world was black & white, but we were in screaming colours

That used to work for me early on. And having networking on did too. But when you hook up different hubs or devices, it seems to change. Let me sign in to my developer account and see if that helps; mainly to see if it's trying to phone home. I will try with -x too.
----

Least this time you know were I am starting at. I will try to remove hubs for now as well. I have lots of USB devices. Not are all needed, but stuff for USB 2.0 is so cheap these days. My Logi Web cam does work with dosdode's iSight Webcam patch and also fixes my iPhone video in Quicktime. It did the same in Mojave. If I remove hubs and get HID stall, I will try your HID fix again.
The other error is IOUSBHostInterface if my memory serves me correct.

I am gonna have three fresh systems of Catalina to mess around with. All on 500GB SSDs. And I am putting a fresh copy of Mojave on another. and will have two USB Installer partitions for emergencies if needed or future installs. I noticed the real Macs are making EFI partitions. I find them to be very annoying in the Startup screen cuz they are all the same. They are handy if you do with a Bootloader but that's about it.
[doublepost=1560486632][/doublepost]I know we've just been removing Telemetry on Core2Duo and MP3,1 systems, but I did look on the Core.pkg of High Sierra and there was a telemetry plugin. So I am going to install that one and see if it helps with Time Zone and the startup screen on older systems.

 

[PixelmonGalaxy]

Rastafabi's Catalina loader

It took me a while, but finally I managed to create a "Catalina loader", which enables you to install macOS 10.15 Catalina on unsupported Macs with compatible hardware. It's meant for Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1 and iMac 2010/2011 systems, which have a Metal compatible GPU. A upgraded WiFi/Bluetooth card might be necessary to have OOB support. I have not yet looked into audio, though on my Mac Pro 4,1 it works OOB. The download includes an installation guide with additional details.
It is not meant for systems without a Metal GPU or with Core2 Duo (based) CPUs.

The loader is based on rEFInd and OpenCore, which spoofs the Mac to be a compatible model.
View attachment 842732

Download the Catalina loader.zip

————————————

Some might be reminded of my old Mavericks download enabler.

————————————

Dual CPU Mac Pros also require to be running non x55xx CPUs to omit audio stuttering. Thanks @tsialex

Can this run on other devices without acceleration tho?

 

[Rastafabi]

I am trying this out and I get a message,
OC: Missing GOP entirely - Not Found

Im messing around with it now to try and see what it is but was wondering if you have any input. Thanks!

I've fixed this. This was due to an experimental flag I have set.

Can this run on other devices without acceleration tho?

Properly not, as I think the installer will complain about not having a metal compatible GPU. Feel free to test and report.

 

[jackluke]

I've fixed this. This was due to an experimental flag I have set.



Properly not, as I think the installer will complain about not having a metal compatible GPU. Feel free to test and report.

I don't think it will complain about Metal GPU, and neither Core2Duo (Penryn), the major risk is only that spoofing as a supported Mac during Installation it will issue an EFI/SMC firmware update, at 99% incompatible with the machine (except I guess MP5,1), if there is a way to properly patch the "Distribution" OSInstall.mpkg (inside the InstallESD.dmg) to exclude all those pkg references to SecureBoot.pkg and *Firmware*.pkg then your method should work also on other unsupported Catalina Mac.

I meant deleting these inside the OSInstall.mpkg's Distribution file:

   <choices-outline ui="firmware">
        <line choice="FirmwareUpdate"/>
    </choices-outline>

<pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.EmbeddedOSFirmware" auth="Root" packageIdentifier="com.apple.pkg.EmbeddedOSFirmware">EmbeddedOSFirmware.pkg</pkg-ref>
<pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.SecureBoot" auth="Root" packageIdentifier="com.apple.pkg.SecureBoot">SecureBoot.pkg</pkg-ref>


And this:

    <choice id="FirmwareUpdate" title="SU_TITLE" start_enabled="true" start_selected="true" visible="false">
        <pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.FirmwareUpdate" auth="Root" packageIdentifier="com.apple.pkg.FirmwareUpdate">FirmwareUpdate.pkg</pkg-ref>
    </choice>


And also this:

<pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.FirmwareUpdate" installKBytes="0" version="10.15.0.1"/>
<pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.EmbeddedOSFirmware" installKBytes="62130" version="10.15.0.1.1.1559284795"/>
<pkg-ref id="com.apple.pkg.SecureBoot" installKBytes="338" version="10.15.0.1.1.1559284795"/>

 

[Rastafabi]

I don't think it will complain about Metal GPU, and neither Core2Duo, the major risk is only that spoofing as a supported Mac during Installation it will issue an EFI/SMC firmware update, if there is a way to the properly patch the OSInstall.mpkg to exclude all those pkg references to SecureBoot.pkg and Firmware.pkg then it should work.

This is all mentioned in the README. Especially the firmware update issue.
While the macOS 10.15 installer might not complain about Core2 Duo, it may not boot due to the known telemetry issue. Therefore I do not support this, as the loader is meant to "just work" with unexperienced users in mind. You imply that Apple did remove the metal checks they had in place in the Mojave installer. Feel free to test on a Mac Pro 3,1 or similar machine to confirm it would work nonetheless.

I do not alter the OSInstall.mpkg at all, as the Catalina Loader basically just enables you to run the legit unmodified Catalina installer. If a way to patch the installer is published, I might provide instructions. To my understanding it does not work due to software signature issues.

 

[jackluke]

This is all mentioned in the README. Especially the firmware update issue.
While the macOS 10.15 installer might not complain about Core2 Duo, it may not boot due to the known telemetry issue. Therefore I do not support this, as the loader is meant to "just work" with unexperienced users in mind. You imply that Apple did remove the metal checks they had in place in the Mojave installer. Feel free to test on a Mac Pro 3,1 or similar machine to confirm it would work nonetheless.

I do not alter the OSInstall.mpkg at all, as the Catalina Loader basically just enables you to run the legit unmodified Catalina installer. If a way to patch the installer is published, I might provide instructions. To my understanding it does not work due to software signature issues.

Yes, I just read your pdf well explained, about telemetry just booting in single user mode can be removed, but another little risk is that, even if Mac are similar, I guess you spoof it as a supported Catalina MacPro, if you could spoof it also as a supported MacBookPro then maybe could also work a bit safer and ignoring the firmware updates.

But of course a full OSX installation is the same for any Mac, so the only risk is an unwanted EFI/SMC update.

 

[Rastafabi]

Yes, I just read your pdf well explained, about telemetry just booting in single user mode can be removed, but another little risk is that, even if Mac are similar, I guess you spoof it as a supported Catalina MacPro, if you could spoof it also as a supported MacBookPro then maybe could also work a bit safer and ignoring the firmware updates.

But of course a full OSX installation is the same for any Mac, so the only risk is an unwanted EFI/SMC update.

I spoof an iMac Pro 14,2 as they are known to be widely compatible for hackintoshs and feature Intel (hidden) and NVIDIA GPUs. What you propose indeed would ignore iMac firmware updates, but not MacBook Pro ones, and as Apple tends to batch release firmware updates, I do not think it's a win and would defeat the One-to-rule-them-all approach. Also remember, that I do not support any MacBook for named reasons and that you theoretically only should boot with the patcher once. However feel free to customise the loader for your own needs.

 

[jackluke]

I spoof an iMac Pro 14,2 as they are known to be widely compatible for hackintoshs and feature Intel (hidden) and NVIDIA GPUs. What you propose indeed would ignore iMac firmware updates, but not MacBook Pro ones, and as Apple tends to batch release firmware updates I do not think it's a win and would defeat the One-to-rule-them-all approach. Also remember, that I do not support any MacBook for named reasons and that you theoretically only should boot with the patcher once. However feel free to customise the loader for your own needs.

On non-mac hardware, of course, there is zero risk, simply because they don't have the EFI and SMC EEPROM chips.

I wrote before that perhaps deleting all those firmware.pkg references your method could work for any unsupported Mac, but I understood is expressly for MP5,1 or similar machines , just thought of another alternative way of installing.

 

[Rafael.Oliveira]

Anyone knows if works on macbook Air 2017?

 

[Rastafabi]

On non-mac hardware, of course, there is zero risk, simply because they don't have the EFI and SMC EEPROM chips.

I wrote before that perhaps deleting all those firmware.pkg references your method could work for any unsupported Mac, but I understood is expressly for MP5,1 or similar machines , just thought of another alternative way of installing.

Thank you for providing additional input. As I said: If you found and successfully tested with another approach feel free to share it!
[doublepost=1560507673][/doublepost]

Anyone knows if works on macbook Air 2017?

No need! Your Mac is officially supported!

 

[jackluke]

To those who read my previous post: Dashboard widgets as standalone apps on Catalina

I forgot to say that you need also the Mojave /Library/Widgets/*.wdgt folder to be copied inside your Catalina /Library/ (or inside /Volumes/APFS Data/Device/Library/ if you are doing this step from another macOS)

meanwhile you may have noticed that some core Widgets (Weather, World Clock, dictionary, unit converter and few other) don't worked properly, I have managed to fix them just copy the folder WidgetResources (attached) inside your Catalina /System/Library/

Now all the original apple's Dashboard widgets (as standalone apps) will work properly and they show also the little bottom-right "i" to customise them, just for example changing the Sticks.app colours, or changing the time-zone or weather zone.

You can also drag and drop my previous uploaded "Catalina widgets apps" folder on the dock (bottom right).

I guess this is good workaround to continue use dashboard widgets as standalone apps launcher.

Have fun!
[doublepost=1560513400][/doublepost]The very interesting aspect of these wdgt converted in apps (launcher), is that after you close them, they will still remind their original space/place where you moved them and left on desktop (as it was for the original Dashboard).

I've checked on Activity Monitor (memory tab) that "dashboard binary process" took about 25 MB RAM (with the main 4 widgets loaded) as background service, so I really don't understand why they dropped from Catalina.

Anyway another thing this time about HighSierra/Mojave , for years I didn't noticed the (Mojave) picture attached. Hence it was been possible to use the Dashboard as it was in Snow Leopard as overlay screen.

But at each Mac boot I often as instinct put three-fingers on the trackpad and swipe right (x-axis) to hello the Dashboard.
Usually took a glance to weather, world clock time zone, calculator, unit converter, dictionary, I mean to me it was useful.

 

[mocteo]

Hello, i tested the installer from rastafabi and it work on my MacBook Pro late 2011.
No sound, no wifi, no graphics acceleration but it boots.
(I didn’t use a supported Mac as i don’t own any.)
I can test on my late 2009 27 iMac if needed, and i have a early 2008 mbp lying around too.

 

[chris1111]

To those who noticed my previous post: Dashboard widgets as standalone apps on Catalina

you may have noticed that some core Widgets (Weather, World Clock and few other) don't worked properly, I have managed to fix them just copy the folder I attached inside your Catalina /System/Library/

Now all the original apple's Dashboard widgets (as standalone apps) will work properly and they show also the little bottom-right "i" to customise them, just for example changing the Sticks.app colours, or changing the time-zone or weather zone.

Have fun!
[doublepost=1560513400][/doublepost]The very interesting aspect of these wdgt converted in apps, is that after you close them, they will still remind their original space/place where you moved and left on desktop as it was for the original Dashboard.

I've read somewhere that the previous "apple core dashboard process" took about 20 MB RAM as background service, so I really don't understand why they dropped from Catalina.

Anyway another thing this time about HighSierra/Mojave , for years I didn't noticed the (Mojave) picture attached.

So it was been possible to use the Dashboard as it was in Snow Leopard as overlay screen.

But at each Mac boot I always as instinct put three-fingers on the trackpad and swipe right (x-axis) to hello the Dashboard.
Usually took a glance to weather, calculator, world clock time zone, unit converter, dictionary, I mean to me it was useful.

A lot of Usefull infos here about Widget from MR Andew Hedges
https://andrew.hedges.name/widgets/#getdilbert

 

[jackluke]

Hello, i tested the installer from rastafabi and it work on my MacBook Pro late 2011.
No sound, no wifi, no graphics acceleration but it boots.
(I didn’t use a supported Mac as i don’t own any.)
I can test on my late 2009 27 iMac if needed, and i have a early 2008 mbp lying around too.

This is interesting, so @Rastafabi if your "Catalina loader" spoof the bootloader as a Catalina supported "iMac Pro 14,2", then how the MacBookPro as @mocteo showed here has automatically avoided/ignored the EFI/SMC firmware.pkg upgrade.

Probably there is some sub-check during the stage2 Catalina Installer that detects that it's a MacBookPro and doesn't prompt any firmware update to it since it's not an "iMac Pro 14,2".

 

[mocteo]

This is interesting, so @Rastafabi if your "Catalina loader" spoof the bootloader as a Catalina supported "iMac Pro 14,2", then how the MacBookPro as showed here has automatically avoided/ignored the EFI/SMC firmware.pkg upgrade.

Probably there is some sub-check during the stage2 Catalina Installer that detects that it's a MacBookPro and doesn't prompt any firmware update to it since it's not an "iMac Pro 14,2".

In fact, my MacBook did or tried to install a smc update but it has rebooted before the installation (i think it hasn’t installed it) and didn’t tried another time.
But at the first boot of catalina, it was recognized as an iMac in « about this mac ».

 

[jackluke]

In fact, my MacBook did or tried to install a smc update but it has rebooted before the installation (i think it hasn’t installed it) and didn’t tried another time.
But at the first boot of catalina, it was recognized as an iMac in « about this mac ».

Well done, but you took an high risk!

Or the stage2 of Catalina installation, detects an incompatible previous SMC and so refuse to upgrade it.

 

[roddy20]

But the method you used is more reliable with Catalina.

it's outside of this topic but it is interesting if we can install Sierra or Mojave to unsupported Mac that way?