macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[FixerMX]

Long-time lurker, running 10.15.2 on a MacBookPro5,1 with APFS. Three questions that I'm having trouble wading through the 414 pages to sort out:

If I want to upgrade to 10.15.4, are there any gotchas that I need to worry about or is it safe to simply make a new installer USB with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3?

Are there any new configuration changes that I'll need to make? Does "amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1" apply to me?

Will the new Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 actually create a recovery partition where there was none before?

 

[jackluke]

SafeMode doesn't work with OC? I always get a Prohibited sign.

For fix safe mode on unsupported APFS macOS (opencore or apple startup manager), I also made a script based on this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-15-catalina-on-unsupported-macs.2183772/post-27876807

About your previous method removing "amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1" from opencore config, I guess even if that makes works tccutil, Chrome.app (and other third party app as Office) crashed with codesigning, so I still use that in my config.

For fix Chrome codesigning issues, this worked: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-15-catalina-on-unsupported-macs.2183772/post-28373444

 

[reneroeten]

recovery works great on my MBP 5.3 thanks Dosdude1 nice work !

 

[hvds]

It works just like it does on a supported Mac. Just hold Command + R when booting if your Catalina volume is set as the startup disk, or hold the same keys while selecting it in the boot picker.

Thank you dosdude for the 1.4.3.

I have applied the 1.4.3 post-install patches to the 10.15.5b2 installed OTA with the help of jackluke apps, on an external SSD.
I tried the two CMD+R ways but get booted to the normal macOS. Would it be necessary to install full 10.15.4 with 1.4.3 rather than only doing the post-install patches. Can easily do that and then go again to .5b2 OTA.
It would be rather for a test. I don't need the Recovery partition given your bootable USB installer, plus I can boot OK into Recovery from OpenCore EFI made with jackluke's USBOpenCoreAPFSloader2.

(MBP5,2 17" mid 2009, 2.8GHz T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840/860 EVO with APFS. Catalina 10.15.5b2)

EDIT: already answered - thanks.

 

[jackluke]

Thank you dosdude for the 1.4.3.

I have applied the 1.4.3 post-install patches to the 10.15.5b2 installed OTA with the help of jackluke apps, on an external SSD.
I tried the two CMD+R ways but get booted to the normal macOS. Would it be necessary to install full 10.15.4 with 1.4.3 rather than only doing the post-install patches. Can easily do that and then go again to .5b2 OTA.
It would be rather for a test. I don't need the Recovery partition given your bootable USB installer, plus I can boot OK into Recovery from OpenCore EFI made with jackluke's USBOpenCoreAPFSloader2.

(MBP5,2 17" mid 2009, 2.8GHz T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840/860 EVO with APFS. Catalina 10.15.5b2)

With CMD+R after an OTA (public or beta) update you can't boot to a patched Recovery (I guess only to a stock one), because OTA update re-installed also the stock APFS Catalina Recovery (BaseSystem.dmg size about 500 MB), the dosdude1 one size is about 700 MB (that includes the post-install patches).

So to use the dosdude1 Recovery you should re-install 10.15.4 from his USB Catalina Patcher.

Instead if you want fix CMD+R for the stock 10.15.5 beta 2 (or for any Catalina Beta update) recovery try this that should fix CMD+R only for those who used Catalina OTA update fix: apfsrecoveryfix.command.zip

 

[jhowarth]

With CMD+R after an OTA (public or beta) update you can't boot to a patched Recovery (I guess only to a stock one), because OTA update re-installed also the stock APFS Catalina Recovery (BaseSystem.dmg size about 500 MB), the dosdude1 one size is about 700 MB (that includes the post-install patches).

So to use the dosdude1 Recovery you should re-install 10.15.4 from his USB Catalina Patcher.

Instead if you want fix CMD+R for the stock 10.15.5 beta 2 (or for any Catalina Beta update) recovery try this that should fix CMD+R only for those who used Catalina OTA update fix: apfsrecoveryfix.command.zip

Has anyone gotten a usable Recovery partition on a APFS ROM patched machine with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3? On my MacPro 3,1, option selecting the installed volume with command-R only produces a hang at the gray Apple icon splash screen with no progress bar ever appearing.

 

[jackluke]

Has anyone gotten a usable Recovery partition on a APFS ROM patched machine with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3? On my MacPro 3,1, option selecting the installed volume with command-R only produces a hang at the gray Apple icon splash screen with no progress bar ever appearing.

It should work, I guess your issue is the Metal GPU, I mean with Metal GPU you should use a stock APFS Recovery or maybe try this: https://github.com/chris1111/Catalina-Recovery-HD-Partition

 

[tommyprevatt]

I used this http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/ guide to patch my Late Model 2011 Macbook Pro (https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...4-15-late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html) to run Catalina. But it never ran very well, and a lot of applications didn't work properly without the use of Metal, so I decided to go back down to High Sierra. But not the MacBook is effectively crashed. It won't boot after reformatting and recovering to High Sierra.

I get get the recovery to run just fine, but after the first boot into the new OS it hangs when setting up the "user" and password for the Mac. Then if I reboot again, it hangs on the load screen with the bar below the Apple symbol.

I tried resetting the NVRAM through the Command-Option-P-R. I also tried reapplying those gpu-power-prefs settings.

Please, any suggestions would be amazing!
Thanks.

 

[jhowarth]

It should work, I guess your issue is the Metal GPU, I mean with Metal GPU you should use a stock APFS Recovery or maybe try this: https://github.com/chris1111/Catalina-Recovery-HD-Partition

It would seem rather unusual for Metal support to actually cause a problem rather than solve it.

 

[jackluke]

It would seem rather unusual for Metal support to actually cause a problem rather than solve it.

Metal seems the main requirement for newer macOS, but on MacPro not sure, on non-metal mac laptops and iMac (that are in some way big laptops), CMD+R worked.

Try to set in nvram "-no_compat_check" but from a recovery environment.

I made also a script to download stock Recovery and fix CMD+R on 10.15.4: apfsrecoveryfix10154amfi.command.zip

 

[hvds]

Has anyone gotten a usable Recovery partition on a APFS ROM patched machine with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3? On my MacPro 3,1, option selecting the installed volume with command-R only produces a hang at the gray Apple icon splash screen with no progress bar ever appearing.

Works on MBP5,2 which has (non-metal) Nvidia 9600M GT, has APFS ROM patch.
[automerge]1587215921[/automerge]

With CMD+R after an OTA (public or beta) update you can't boot to a patched Recovery (I guess only to a stock one), because OTA update re-installed also the stock APFS Catalina Recovery (BaseSystem.dmg size about 500 MB), the dosdude1 one size is about 700 MB (that includes the post-install patches).

So to use the dosdude1 Recovery you should re-install 10.15.4 from his USB Catalina Patcher.

Instead if you want fix CMD+R for the stock 10.15.5 beta 2 (or for any Catalina Beta update) recovery try this that should fix CMD+R only for those who used Catalina OTA update fix: apfsrecoveryfix.command.zip

Thank you jackluke and dosdude.
It is just as you said. CMD+R lead to the recovery, directly or via opt/alt boot selector.

On my external SSD which has 10.15.5b2 installed OTA, I applied the apfsrecoveryfix for it to work.
On my internal SSD which has 10.15.4supp, I applied the 1.4.3 post-install patches for it to work (and including the post-install option in recovery).

 

[deeveedee]

About your previous method removing "amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1" from opencore config, I guess even if that makes works tccutil, Chrome.app (and other third party app as Office) crashed with codesigning, so I still use that in my config.

I am currently running my MBP6,2 with -no_compat_check and amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1. Does amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 expose any security vulnerabilities, or is it safe to run with this?

 

[jackluke]

I am currently running my MBP6,2 with -no_compat_check and amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1. Does amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 expose any security vulnerabilities, or is it safe to run with this?

Not much less than SIP disabled, but these are required to boot an unsupported macOS with legacy non-metal patches.

About AMFI you could remove it from nvram, but for some apps you need to use this:
codesigning Chrome, Office and any third party app when using only disablelibraryvalidation.plist

in this way you can use also the stock tccutil for allowing app permissions.

But even if re-codesigning the apps worked, I still prefer to use amfi in nvram and tccplus.

 

[deeveedee]

Much less than SIP disabled, but these are required to boot an unsupported macOS with legacy patches.

About AMFI you could remove it from nvram, but for some apps you need to use this:
codesigning Chrome, Office and any third party app when using only disablelibraryvalidation.plist

Thank you for the quick reply! I use amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 to resolve MS Office issues. I haven't yet tried @Larsvonhier 's code signing trick here, but it looks like a very clever solution to the MS Office issue.

 

[hvds]

On 10.15.5b2 and 10.15.4supp, the Displays prefpane doesn't have the brightness slider. I think it was still there with 10.15.4 but I'm not sure.
If I remember well that was reported a while ago but fixed with ASentientBot wrappers.
There is no slider with or without NightShift (re-)installed.

I don't really need this slider, F1/F2 are working well. Just to report.

(MBP5,2 17" mid 2009, 2.8GHz T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840/860 EVO with APFS)

 

[jackluke]

On 10.15.5b2 and 10.15.4supp, the Displays prefpane doesn't have the brightness slider. I think it was still there with 10.15.4 but I'm not sure.
If I remember well that was reported a while ago but fixed with ASentientBot wrappers.

I don't really need this slider, F1/F2 are working well. Just to report.

(MBP5,2 17" mid 2009, 2.8GHz T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840/860 EVO with APFS)

Try these attached from @indiawallah : Displays.prefpane fixes for Catalina

 

[zfrogman]

Hmm, I'll look into that. It definitely works on the non-APFS native Macs.

EDIT: It seems to be an issue with the machine's system firmware. Booting using the boot picker, and holding the Command + R keys while selecting your Catalina volume, works just fine.

Hello Dosdude and everyone posting similar issues. Following Dosdude's advise and directions, I successfully accessed Recovery on MBP with 1) the boot picker ("Option) at boot up and 2) CMD +R selecting my Catalina volume. Thank you so much Dosdude for enabling all the vintage machines out with a second wind and to perform still strong after all these years.
BTW firmware info on my 8,2:
Boot ROM Version: 82.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.69f4

 

[deeveedee]

On 10.15.5b2 and 10.15.4supp, the Displays prefpane doesn't have the brightness slider. I think it was still there with 10.15.4 but I'm not sure.
If I remember well that was reported a while ago but fixed with ASentientBot wrappers.
There is no slider with or without NightShift (re-)installed.

I don't really need this slider, F1/F2 are working well. Just to report.

(MBP5,2 17" mid 2009, 2.8GHz T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840/860 EVO with APFS)

Seems like the "Unsupported Mac" and "Hackintosh" worlds are starting to merge

 

[Analias]

Sounds much like a gpu issue to me. I have alot of experience with the pesky 2011 15", and have found the gpu failure to manifest itself in lots of bizarre and unexpected ways. The best option is dosdude1's "MUCH better, PERMANENT solution". If you can't do it yourself or find someone local he accepts mail ins. If you're in Australia I can do it.

 

[telepati]

@jackluke I am getting this error on OC while trying to CMD+R. (I used dosdude1 recovery patch btw) is your script could fix this issue?

 

[jackluke]

@jackluke I am getting this error on OC while trying to CMD+R. (I used dosdude1 recovery patch btw) is your script could fix this issue?

View attachment 907068

Currently my script can only fix stock APFS Catalina Recovery (Basesystem.dmg size 500 MB).
Moreover I am using stock boot.efi files for any Catalina Volume (Preboot, Recovery, System, Data).

 

[tommyprevatt]

Sounds much like a gpu issue to me. I have alot of experience with the pesky 2011 15", and have found the gpu failure to manifest itself in lots of bizarre and unexpected ways. The best option is dosdude1's "MUCH better, PERMANENT solution". If you can't do it yourself or find someone local he accepts mail ins. If you're in Australia I can do it.

That would be very annoying. It was working perfectly fine before I decided to disable it for the upgrade patch. Granted, this thing is almost 9 years old...

Any chance I'm just not properly reversing the nvram variable process? I would just just an nvram reset or `nvram -d` would do the trick.

 

[BjarneDM]

Applying the macOS 10.15.4 Supplemental Update

When trying to apply this the normal way on my MacPro5,1, the installer complains about the HW not being supported. Using Pacifist gives the error, that the System disk is ReadOnly.

Now, I solved the problem this way:

1. boot from another full 10.15.4 Catalina install
2. apply the update to the non-bootet Catalina using Pacifist; !!!BUT!!! you'll have to start Pacifist from Terminal this way : sudo open <path>/Pacifist.app
3. boot from a dosdude USB drive & apply the dosdude Patch Update again

 

[jhowarth]

Applying the macOS 10.15.4 Supplemental Update

When trying to apply this the normal way on my MacPro5,1, the installer complains about the HW not being supported. Using Pacifist gives the error, that the System disk is ReadOnly.

Now, I solved the problem this way:

1. boot from another full 10.15.4 Catalina install
2. apply the update to the non-bootet Catalina using Pacifist; !!!BUT!!! you'll have to start Pacifist from Terminal this way : sudo open <path>/Pacifist.app
3. boot from a dosdude USB drive & apply the dosdude Patch Update again

Or you could have just used a fresh download of the 15.4.02 full installer, that has the Supplemental Update rolled into it, to create a new patched installer.

 

[hvds]

Try these attached from @indiawallah : Displays.prefpane fixes for Catalina

I tried this, as I did a while ago successfully (against 10.15.2 or .3?).
This time with 10.15.4supp I wasn't successful: empty Displays prefpane. Maybe I made a mistake,
Then went back to 10.15.4(19E266) by installing this over supp with patcher 1.4.3. Displays prefpane populated again but without the slider. Maybe it was before 10.15.4 that it worked.