macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[internetzel]

Am I speaking in riddles?? To break out of this endless circle:

You can try to use OCLP with Catalina and Mojave, you just need to

1. enable the patching on Catalina or Mojave using the patcher settings
2. enable moderate spoofing just during the initial installation phase (go back to minimal after installation)
3. use the VMM flags enabled to get OTA upgrades offered on Catalina (but you have to turn them off when booting other OCLP based macOS versions like Big Sur and Monterey)

using the TUI version and give it try. But I cannot guarantee that it will work with real old macs. Every change within OCLP needs a rewrite of the new config to the disk, just running the OCLP app changes nothing!

You will not get support. There will be no enhancements, not add ons, no fixes. Read the docs.

On my particular iMacs OCLP supports both Mojave and Catalina perfectly just because we do not need any root-volume-patches unlike all other pre 2012 systems. Therefore I do not know what to expect on other systems with OCLP.

I'm using Catalina as main OS (and have been using Mojave until end of support), always using OCLP moderate spoofing. That way I can run the installers without issues and I also get the OTA updates.
Are there any known drawbacks versus using the VMM flags? Those flags used to reduce CPU performance a little bit...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I'm using Catalina as main OS (and have been using Mojave until end of support), always using OCLP moderate spoofing. That way I can run the installers without issues and I also get the OTA updates.
Are there any known drawbacks versus using the VMM flags? Those flags used to reduce CPU performance a little bit...

Not really!

There are some purists around avoiding any mitigation introduced by OpenCore and claim less spoofing is the way to go.

Yes, when I started using OpenCore with Catalina I used the moderate spoofing, too. It is completely valid, you may run in licensing issues because the identity of your iMac changes from Late 2009 (minimal) to iMacPro1,1 (moderate), but I am not sure if this causes such problems.

 

[theblueberru]

Successful update to Security Update 2021-008 on 2011 MacBook Pro, using OTAswufix!

 

[honeycombz]

Is OTAswufix alone sufficient for a Mac Pro 3,1 running Catalina via dosdude patcher or does this machine require all Opencore stuff.

 

[lcubed]

Is OTAswufix alone sufficient for a Mac Pro 3,1 running Catalina via dosdude patcher or does this machine require all Opencore stuff.

requires the OC to install the security updates. dosdude1 is sufficient for 10.15.7 baseline. one of my earlier posts (modified by k two) has all the necessary step.

 

[HowowcanIgo]

Hi, new here.
First of all I'd like to say I’m very grateful for all the hard work everyone’s been doing to make this possible and I'm glad to say I installed Catalina without problems because of you guys.

I did a clean install and manually got my files back from a TM back-up. I tried migration assitant to no avail (seems normal?) and I learned that TM doesn't enable me getting files back from my El Capitan install, which seems to be because of the different formatting between the OS's? In case I'm mistaken, feel free to react .

I used a separate partition on my external hard drive to use as bootable disk. Now everything is installed I hoped to make 2 partitions out of this 1 partition without deleting said partition in order to keep the bootable installer but that seems impossible (grayed out). So formatting it is, but:
Q1: Can the bootable installer be copied to my internal SSD and back, after I created the separate partitions? Does the fact that the internal SSD is formatted as APFS and the external drive is formatted as Mac OS extended create a problem?
Q2: If Q1 is a problem: is the bootable installer dependant on the OS it was created on? Or Mac?

I tried to find the answer in this forum but did'nt find the answers I felt comfortable with executing.

Thanks!

 

[K two]

Hi, new here.
First of all I'd like to say I’m very grateful for all the hard work everyone’s been doing to make this possible and I'm glad to say I installed Catalina without problems because of you guys.

I did a clean install and manually got my files back from a TM back-up. I tried migration assitant to no avail (seems normal?) and I learned that TM doesn't enable me getting files back from my El Capitan install, which seems to be because of the different formatting between the OS's? In case I'm mistaken, feel free to react .

I used a separate partition on my external hard drive to use as bootable disk. Now everything is installed I hoped to make 2 partitions out of this 1 partition without deleting said partition in order to keep the bootable installer but that seems impossible (grayed out). So formatting it is, but:
Q1: Can the bootable installer be copied to my internal SSD and back, after I created the separate partitions? Does the fact that the internal SSD is formatted as APFS and the external drive is formatted as Mac OS extended create a problem?
Q2: If Q1 is a problem: is the bootable installer dependant on the OS it was created on? Or Mac?

I tried to find the answer in this forum but did'nt find the answers I felt comfortable with executing.

Thanks!

Y??? The hack is intended to be used from a USB. And is PROVEN reliable.

Also, fix your sig s/b v.1.4.4

 

[K two]

Is OTAswufix alone sufficient for a Mac Pro 3,1 running Catalina via dosdude patcher or does this machine require all Opencore stuff.

Is Catalina the only macOS installed on the cMP? Always useful to cite relevent info in your sig, prevents attempts at mind-reading.

 

[honeycombz]

Is Catalina the only macOS installed on the cMP? Always useful to cite relevent info in your sig, prevents attempts at mind-reading.

Yes

 

[K two]

Yes

Stick w/ @dosdude1 Catalina Patcher and CatalinaOTAswufix.app, if unpatched BOOTROM suggest USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3.app to see the macOS installer to complete the updates.

 

[HowowcanIgo]

Y??? The hack is intended to be used from a USB. And is PROVEN reliable.

Also, fix your sig s/b v.1.4.4

Believe it or not, I was about to change that .
And thanks for answering.
In the mean time I've enabled OTA updates thanks to jackluke.

I have another noob question then. When a new OTA update presents itself, do I need to go trough the whole process again? Including the USBOpencoreAPFSloader?
I saw multiple posts in this thread of you showing a successful update and mentioning the process so I'd like to say yes, but I still prefer to check.

Thanks again!

 

[honeycombz]

Stick w/ @dosdude1 Catalina Patcher and CatalinaOTAswufix.app, if unpatched BOOTROM suggest USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3.app to see the macOS installer to complete the updates.

Thanks for this. There is so much information out there and so many diff. configurations it is a bit confusing to get up to speed on all of this. I have always found the dosdude1 patch very straightforward and fullproof and the OTAswufix process also seems intuitive but I guess getting into the USBOpenCoreAPFSloader stuff in combo with this other stuff maybe was getting a little bit much for me.

 

[philk34]

Hello, I have a Macpro 3.1 from 2008 which runs on Mojave that I upgraded with SSD and GTX 680. What is the last stable OS version that will work on it… with which process? Thank you

 

[K two]

Thanks for this. There is so much information out there and so many diff. configurations it is a bit confusing to get up to speed on all of this. I have always found the dosdude1 patch very straightforward and fullproof and the OTAswufix process also seems intuitive but I guess getting into the USBOpenCoreAPFSloader stuff in combo with this other stuff maybe was getting a little bit much for me.

Posting more info about the cMP will help other cMP users to assist. If Catalina updates complete w/o interruption the extra tool is not necessary. And you have it right.

 

[K two]

Hello, I have a Macpro 3.1 from 2008 which runs on Mojave that I upgraded with SSD and GTX 680. What is the last stable OS version that will work on it… with which process? Thank you

Big Sur via OCLP_033. First, go here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-11-big-sur-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/ Then, go here: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/INSTALLER.html#downloading Also, if reading adverse: https://mrmacintosh.com/ under YouTube. He also posts installers.

 

[K two]

Believe it or not, I was about to change that .
And thanks for answering.
In the mean time I've enabled OTA updates thanks to jackluke.

I have another noob question then. When a new OTA update presents itself, do I need to go trough the whole process again? Including the USBOpencoreAPFSloader?
I saw multiple posts in this thread of you showing a successful update and mentioning the process so I'd like to say yes, but I still prefer to check.

Thanks again!

🚧 I always do, just in case. 🤞

 

[joevt]

Hello, I have a Macpro 3.1 from 2008 which runs on Mojave that I upgraded with SSD and GTX 680. What is the last stable OS version that will work on it… with which process? Thank you

Monterey with OCLP (including post install for GTX 680 driver) is ok. I think I've been getting Spotlight issues (metadata, mdutil, mdwrite, md etc.) where a process may hang on some kind of metadata locking mechanism (mach_msg_??? or whatever) but that's an issue for a different thread.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...n.2327507/page-11?post=30750930#post-30750930

 

[philk34]

Thanks for yours responses
I'm trying to install BigSur on my SSD which is installed on a PCI card but it failed
I use the OCLP 0.2.4 scheme with this tutorial but it hangs 13 minutes from the end of the installation and reboot on the "BigSur installer recovery" window.
I downloaded the terminal version (TUI) of OCLP (activate verbose mode and SIP duo mode (enable both) and left the AMFI on "false" having a metal compatible card).
In short, I do not see where it is blocking? IF someone succeeded on an MP 3.1 please specify the process used to make everything work. thanks

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thanks for yours responses
I'm trying to install BigSur on my SSD which is installed on a PCI card but it failed
I use the OCLP 0.2.4 scheme with this tutorial but it hangs 13 minutes from the end of the installation and reboot on the "BigSur installer recovery" window.
I downloaded the terminal version (TUI) of OCLP (activate verbose mode and SIP duo mode (enable both) and left the AMFI on "false" having a metal compatible card).
In short, I do not see where it is blocking? IF someone succeeded on an MP 3.1 please specify the process used to make everything work. thanks

This is (again) the wrong thread, try to stay on topic using the correct one and follow the online OCLP docs. One developer owned a MacPro3,1, so we can assume Big Sur will work fine.

You might consider adding a signature to your account showing your current hardware - otherwise we all have to guess it.

 

[philk34]

ouuppsss… yep sorry wrong thread.

 

[jackoverfull]

I’m trying to install on a 2009 13 MBP. I used to have a snow leopard & High Sierra dual boot system on this machine but in the last month or so it has shown a few issues, so I’ve decided to wipe everything and have a Snow Leopard & Catalina mac instead, hoping it will solve the issue.

Anyway, I booted in the SL installer and wiped out everything, making two 60GB partitions, then installed, all went smoothly. Then I booted in the dosdude Catalina installer and tried to install on the second partition. Now the mac keeps rebooting up to the black screen “6 minutes left” (or 10 or it depends), goes on for a bit and reboots.

Any suggestion?

 

[lcubed]

did you update the firmware for APFS? there's a link to it on dosdudes catalina page under important information

 

[jackoverfull]

did you update the firmware for APFS? there's a link to it on dosdudes catalina page under important information

That’s not necessary (or possible, actually) on machines that don’t support High Sierra natively.

Anyway, it took over three hours but the installation finished eventually. We’ll see how it goes in the next few days.

 

[lcubed]

That’s not necessary (or possible, actually) on machines that don’t support High Sierra natively.

Anyway, it took over three hours but the installation finished eventually. We’ll see how it goes in the next few days.

hmmm, maybe i shouldn't have installed that on my macpro3,1 which was officially supported to el capitan
(now running catalina 2021-security update 008). the impossible has been accomplished

 

[jackoverfull]

hmmm, maybe i shouldn't have installed that on my macpro3,1 which was officially supported to el capitan
(now running catalina 2021-security update 008). the impossible has been accomplished

Can you see the name of your startup partition in the boot selector that you get while booting while holding the option key or you get a “EFI Boot” option instead?

Because according to dosdude:

So either you did something that he didn’t anticipate or document or you remember wrong.