macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[xMooN_]

Hi! I wanted to install macOS Catalina on my MacBook Air from 2009 (just for testing purposes) and had a question.. Is it possible to install Windows on a second partition, when I have Catalina installed (which needs a patch on older machines to boot from APFS partitions)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[hvds]

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...jnd04cq31p4jk91dceh8/InstallAssistantAuto.pkg

Why don't you simply use MDS to download the full installer. It will create a .dmg file in which you will find "Installer macOS Catalina.app".
It's very easy to use, start MDS, select "Download macOS" in the bottom left corner, select the catalog (Production, CustomerSeed, DeveloperSeed, PublicSeed), click "Download" button, choose where to save... and wait... after many minutes you get a .dmg file in which you will find in one of the 2 folders, the complete installer.

View attachment 1676663

Updated my MBP5,2 to 10.15.7 (build 19H15, version 15.7.03).

MDS for download, make full installer app from it, use @dosdude1 's patcher 1.4.4 to make a bootable USB installer.
Install with it over 19H2. Apply patch updater for Library Validation Disabler Patch as proposed, and for re-installing Night Shift Patch.
Catalina 19H15 running as smoothly as 19H2. Thanks dosdude for the excellent and lasting results of your work.

Will be good to keep the installer for a probably long time with Catalina on this old machine with non-Metal GPUs.

 

[trifero]

Updated my MBP5,2 to 10.15.7 (build 19H15, version 15.7.03).

MDS for download, make full installer app from it, use @dosdude1 's patcher 1.4.4 to make a bootable USB installer.
Install with it over 19H2. Apply patch updater for Library Validation Disabler Patch as proposed, and for re-installing Night Shift Patch.
Catalina 19H15 running as smoothly as 19H2. Thanks dosdude for the excellent and lasting results of your work.

Will be good to keep the installer for a probably long time with Catalina on this old machine with non-Metal GPUs.

At least two more years of official support.

 

[roysterdoyster]

My MBP4,1 17-inch Early 2008 is running flawlessly on 10.15.7, build 19H15.
Time Machine stopped working.
I erased my external USB drive I used so far for Time Machine, but the problem persists.
It's not the USB drive, it works as Time Machine drive with other Macs.
Help anyone? Thanks in advance.

 

[Macbookprodude]

New topic - Big Sur on unsupported Macs.. anyone ?

 

[K two]

New topic - Big Sur on unsupported Macs.. anyone ?

Start here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-11-big-sur-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/ Enjoy

 

[K two]

Updated my MBP5,2 to 10.15.7 (build 19H15, version 15.7.03).

MDS for download, make full installer app from it, use @dosdude1 's patcher 1.4.4 to make a bootable USB installer.
Install with it over 19H2. Apply patch updater for Library Validation Disabler Patch as proposed, and for re-installing Night Shift Patch.
Catalina 19H15 running as smoothly as 19H2. Thanks dosdude for the excellent and lasting results of your work.

Will be good to keep the installer for a probably long time with Catalina on this old machine with non-Metal GPUs.

MDS installs a lot of stuff and the included Uninstaller misses a few items plus the "phoning home" feature is annoying. There are reliable less intrusive alternatives but the slight learning curve deters some. https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS/archive/master.zip All three 10.15.7 full installers and the Big Sur installer can be found and built, as well as the installers found on the @dosdude1 patchers.

 

[hvds]

MDS installs a lot of stuff and the included Uninstaller misses a few items plus the "phoning home" feature is annoying. There are reliable less intrusive alternatives but the slight learning curve deters some. https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS/archive/master.zip All three 10.15.7 full installers and the Big Sur installer can be found and built, as well as the installers found on the @dosdude1 patchers.

Thank you - I had not tried the gibMacOS before. Just now downloaded it, executed gibMacOS.command then BuildmacOSInstallApp.command and obtained the installer app for 10.15.7 (19H15) again in minutes.
You are right, that is very transparent, plus the Py scripts provide some insight into how the installer app is composed.

Edit: I liked the MDS as well, had also used it for the first time now. It may be too powerful for the simple task to obtain one installer app for a single computer. - I liked the idea of using an Arduino for automating some install workflows. A nice computer game for the elderly, and useful for the professionals.

 

[telepati]

Some apps need camera access but when I open the Preferences cant see the app in the Camera section in the Security&Privacy. How can I fix this?

Edit: Fixed it with removed amfi_get_out_my_way=1 from nvram.

Thank you. ?

 

[GreyLotus]

Hi guys,

After installing 10.15.7 on my iMac 2010, my internal CD/DVD drive no longer seems to work.

I never really needed it, but I would really like to install Windows7 on the machine, and I think the only way to do that is to boot from the install DVD (correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the iMac 2010 won't boot from USB).

First I thought I might have forgotten to plug it back in when doing a general hardware cleaning & upgrading the GPU.
But in the system panel, under SATA/SATA Express, the drive still gets listed under "Intel 5 Series Chipset" (HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N).

Anyone experiencing the same / Is there a fix I might not have discovered while browsing this forum?

Thanks in advance

UPDATE: I booted into Safemode, then booted back into normal mode, now the Superdrive is showing normally. Weird, but ok. Next problem, it won't accept the empty DVD-R. Just spitting it out again immediately.

 

[K two]

Hi guys,

After installing 10.15.7 on my iMac 2010, my internal CD/DVD drive no longer seems to work.

I never really needed it, but I would really like to install Windows7 on the machine, and I think the only way to do that is to boot from the install DVD (correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the iMac 2010 won't boot from USB).

First I thought I might have forgotten to plug it back in when doing a general hardware cleaning & upgrading the GPU.
But in the system panel, under SATA/SATA Express, the drive still gets listed under "Intel 5 Series Chipset" (HL-DT-STDVDRW GA32N).

Anyone experiencing the same / Is there a fix I might not have discovered while browsing this forum?

Thanks in advance

UPDATE: I booted into Safemode, then booted back into normal mode, now the Superdrive is showing normally. Weird, but ok. Next problem, it won't accept the empty DVD-R. Just spitting it out again immediately.

Unused DVD-Rs inside iMacs get dirty lenses. Maybe the problem?

 

[Caesar_091]

Hello, I'm running 10.14.6 on a 5,1 Mac Pro with a RX480. Should I expect any issue?
I mean are SIP, no boot video, etc etc... already contemplated in the latest dosdude patch or should I prepare an old video card for video output during the first boots?

Any known issues on my config? Sorry for asking but 521 tread pages are just too much

TIA

 

[AlexyFoxy]

Thank you - I had not tried the gibMacOS before. Just now downloaded it, executed gibMacOS.command then BuildmacOSInstallApp.command and obtained the installer app for 10.15.7 (19H15) again in minutes.
You are right, that is very transparent, plus the Py scripts provide some insight into how the installer app is composed.

Edit: I liked the MDS as well, had also used it for the first time now. It may be too powerful for the simple task to obtain one installer app for a single computer. - I liked the idea of using an Arduino for automating some install workflows. A nice computer game for the elderly, and useful for the professionals.

Can you elaborate more on the Arduino thing please?

 

[hvds]

Can you elaborate more on the Arduino thing please?

When starting MDS, on the main page under Tools/Automatons it mentions Arduino.
I did not try this yet, but I will as I'm used to Arduinos for a few steering tasks in the house.
I think several Arduino types will do, probably no need for what they call Arduino-based Mac Automaton device.

BTW for talking to Arduino from older Macs, one needs an older (High Sierra) version of AppleUSBACM.kext, since Mojave I think, and it still works in Catalina. ASentientBot has found that out. Copy attached.

 

[GreyLotus]

After the update to Catalina, my iMac's internal Mic seems dead.
No input at all. I did install Dosdude's Audio Patch as part of the initial installation.
Only patch I didn't install was "Volume Control Patch". Do you think this could solve the issue? I don't want to install it if it's not necessary. I did reset PRAM, and I did check all the permissions, etc - there's simply no input, I think the system doesn't support the mic.

Regarding the superdrive - I figured it gets detected randomly, and then disappears again. It does recognize Audio CD's, als long as they are inserted at boot up. Once ejected, after a few minutes, the superdrive is no longer detected... In system preferences, the CD/DVD icon is there, and then disappears... Even when detected, it won't let me burn anything Just says "please insert empty CD/DVD" and then when I do, takes a minute, spits it out again...
I never had this issue before, so is this something DosDude's patcher might be able to fix?

 

[ae2664]

Dear community,

I have a problem I can't fix.

My MacBook 5,2 (Catalina 19H15) mistakenly detects second⁠—non-existing!⁠—VGA display.
Does anyone know how to get rid of it?

I’ve been trying to correct the bug for the past three months, but to no avail.

Any help on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

 

[joevt]

Dear community,

I have a problem I can't fix.

My MacBook 5,2 (Catalina 19H15) mistakenly detects second⁠—non-existing!⁠—VGA display.
Does anyone know how to get rid of it?

I’ve been trying to correct the bug for the past three months, but to no avail.

Any help on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

What do you have connected to it?
What is output of AGDCDiagnose command?
What is output of ioreg command?

 

[ae2664]

What do you have connected to it?
What is output of AGDCDiagnose command?
What is output of ioreg command?

Hello,

I've never connected any external displays to this machine since Catalina installed.

For AGDCDiagnose and ioreg commands output, Displays Preference Pane please find files attached.

Thank you very much for your responsiveness.

 

[joevt]

Hello,

I've never connected any external displays to this machine since Catalina installed.

For AGDCDiagnose and ioreg commands output, Displays Preference Pane please find files attached.

Thank you very much for your responsiveness.

Your MacBook5,2 (Early 2009) has old Nvidia graphics which AGDCDiagnose doesn't work with very well.

If you install SwitchResX, does the SwitchResX menu have a "Display is enabled" menu option that you can deselect?

What you you connect a display? Does it work? Then disconnect it. Does it go away?

Have you researched WhateverGreen + Lilu? Maybe it has an option that applies.

 

[overclockerq9550]

Hi!

I have a late 2009 iMac 27" (i5-760, HD4850) with two drives, one for High Sierra, and the another with Catalina (installed with Catalina Patcher). Everything works perfectly, except the audio.

With the same external speakers plugged in, the audio quality with high Sierra is much better (I can hear the difference easily), and the max volume is also higher(at the same volume level, eg.: 4bars, the HS is nearly two times louder than Catalina).
In high Sierra, the microphone is working perfectly, but in Catalina I can't make it work, no input at all.

Tried NVRAM reset, no luck.
Im kinda newbie to this community, is there a way maybe to use "my own" drivers from high Sierra in Catalina for the audio?

 

[GreyLotus]

In high Sierra, the microphone is working perfectly, but in Catalina I can't make it work, no input at all.

Hi - Exactly the same problem here on my iMac Mid 2010, posted just a few days earlier. Noone was able to help yet.
I was in fear that I simply had forgotten to plug the Mic cable back into the Logic Board after the GPU upgrade, so opened the iMac to check - But it's all fine plugged in :-/

 

[overclockerq9550]

Hi - Exactly the same problem here on my iMac Mid 2010, posted just a few days earlier. Noone was able to help yet.
I was in fear that I simply had forgotten to plug the Mic cable back into the Logic Board after the GPU upgrade, so opened the iMac to check - But it's all fine plugged in :-/

My mic is perfectly working when i boot into high sierra. Btw i also have a 24” 2008 imac, and i have the same problem there too.

 

[serafin79]

My mic is perfectly working when i boot into high sierra. Btw i also have a 24” 2008 imac, and i have the same problem there too.

this was discussed earlier in the thread about permissions not being set for applications using the mic and camera. search the thread for tccplus wrapper

 

[KennyW]

I have been testing the WX4130 in my iMac 2010 with OC 0.63 for more than a week in a freshly installed Catalina in my internal SSD via DosDude1 Catalina Patcher without the Legacy Video and Legacy Wifi/BT Patch, for daily usage of web browsing, playing Youtube videos, testing my beloved game of Diablo III, and some Office documents etc. It runs cool and the GPU temp never goes excessive. It sleeps and wakes well as I don't shut it down at night.

This morning when it woke up, the BT & wifi suddenly weren't working. While the Finder interface was still responsive, I tried to restart it but it hanged at the desktop screen. So, I needed to hard shut it down by long press the power-on button. However, despite the boot sound on power-on, it will after a minute or so automatically shutdown again. I was puzzled since there would be no boot screen (both internal nor external display) with these modded AMD GPUs, I have to install back the old GPU to see what happened. This boot screen with Stop Sign was noted before its automatic shutdown after rebooting.


Initially I worried of my BootROM EFI being messed up due to spooled MacID from OC. Luckily, I was able to bring up the BootPicker with my old GPU and selected my another internal Catalina SSD for booting. Disk Utility couldn't identify any error in the non-working Catalina SSD. All files (visible) in that disk are still accessible, just not bootable. Putting back the new GPU had no problem in booting and running the working disk of Catalina.

I am still looking for the underlying problem why the disk is no longer bootable. Could that be related to a corrupted prelinked kernelcache (which should not give the Stop Sign) or EFI partition ? I am curious to know the underlying cause though I can wipe and reinstall Catalina from fresh. Does anyone experience similar situation before ? Now I can appreciate the importance of a native Boot screen in troubleshooting

 

[GreyLotus]

this was discussed earlier in the thread about permissions not being set for applications using the mic and camera. search the thread for tccplus wrapper

Checked that, but the mic doesn't get ANY input, independant on applications.