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macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
makra said:
Just to be sure: You applied the root patches, didn't you? Because "very sluggish" is not really what I would call the Big Sur and Monterey machines...
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What do you mean by root patchens?
To be honest my experience is ~>1 year ago. I updated witout OCLP and the system really was not usable for me.
Has there been progress in GPU acceleration?
It seams like that by reading https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html and https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/issues/108
 
treee111 said:
What do you mean by root patchens?
To be honest my experience is ~>1 year ago. I updated witout OCLP and the system really was not usable for me.
Has there been progress in GPU acceleration?
It seams like that by reading https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html and https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/issues/108
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I do not have such a system operating on the HD3000 myself. But the OpenGL will work in same way as it works on Mojave and Catalina (since it based on the very same program parts).

The main difference is this: The more recent the macOS is you are using the more Apple and third party apps rely on metal instead of OpenGL (partly or completely).

There are a lot of MacBookPro8,x users moving to Big Sur and later, especially because the AMD 6xxx GPU got acceleration on Big Sur and later while it was *never* supported on this patcher here (neither with Mojave, nor with Catalina).
 
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treee111 said:
What do you mean by root patchens?
To be honest my experience is ~>1 year ago. I updated witout OCLP and the system really was not usable for me.
Has there been progress in GPU acceleration?
It seams like that by reading https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html and https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/issues/108
Click to expand...
There definitely has been tremendous progress since a year ago! When I started testing, there were quite a few things, that didn't work properly. For non-metal MacBooks I'ld still recommend Big Sur. Just as an example: I've just realized that MacFUSE doesn't work on my 8,1 with Monterey whereas there aren't any problems using Big Sur on our older Macs. But speed is not really a big deal comparing Catalina with more recent OSes.
 
Thanks for your answers, that was really new for me.
Maybe I try out Big Sur or Monterey on my 8,1 again! :)
 
treee111 said:
Thanks for your answers, that was really new for me.
Maybe I try out Big Sur or Monterey on my 8,1 again! :)
Click to expand...
Beginn to read the instructions on the OCLP site and in the very first post of the Big Sur or Monterey thread carefully. It's important to follow them step by step. Good luck!
 
Hello there, a little question, what is the name of that utillity program who allows us to change system things like the default font used or the color or even the startup message per example? I had that ( read about it here in this or in the mojave thread ), but now I can’t find it and I need to make some accessibility adjustments to my new system.
Also, now relatted to supported montrey ( I now have a new(for me) used 2018 mac mini), is there a fix for slow/lagging mouse?

Thanks!
 
Pluda said:
Hello there, a little question, what is the name of that utillity program who allows us to change system things like the default font used or the color or even the startup message per example? I had that ( read about it here in this or in the mojave thread ), but now I can’t find it and I need to make some accessibility adjustments to my new system.
Also, now relatted to supported montrey ( I now have a new(for me) used 2018 mac mini), is there a fix for slow/lagging mouse?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Are we talking about TinkerTool? But really, this question is not placed correctly in this thread...
 
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i need external link to download iWorks (pages, numbers &keynote version 12.0) for catalina patched. Unable to get it from apple store.
could anyone provide an external link . tks
 
Dilli said:
i need external link to download iWorks (pages, numbers &keynote version 12.0) for catalina patched. Unable to get it from apple store.
could anyone provide an external link . tks
Click to expand...
IS 12.0 the latest? I'm sorry I don't have an answer. I'm in the same position but have also lost some backups recently. So I'll be following this post closely.

W/out derailing your post, can I ask (if using dosdude), if your backup strategy includes having a bootable clone of your patched Catalina drive?
 
Alpha Centauri said:
IS 12.0 the latest? I'm sorry I don't have an answer. I'm in the same position but have also lost some backups recently. So I'll be following this post closely.

W/out derailing your post, can I ask (if using dosdude), if your backup strategy includes having a bootable clone of your patched Catalina drive?
Click to expand...
yes 12.0 is the latest update for pages, numbers & keynotes. I have never cloned my Catalina drive, but I do take time machine backups to ext hdd
 
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Hi,

I have an iMac 7.1, Penryn CPU T9500, 6 GB DDR2 RAM, SATA SSD with El Capitan. Do you know whether the iMac 7.1 would run wit a quadcore CPU Penryn Q9000 or Q9100?

Thx for an answer, if you know.
 
Considering that all reports seem to indicate that Catalina will run terribly on a MacBook early 2011 8.2 with a working non disabled 6750m because of hardware acceleration issues Im left scratching my head because it seems to be working fine for me. I can hardly notice any difference between HS and Catalina on this Mac, mind you I only tried Netflix, YouTube, and google/word type apps so far.

EDIT: I found an interesting scenario to do with airdrop. After install I could not get any system to see or be seen by the 2011 MacBook 8.2, after applying all of jackluke's patches still the 2011 MacBook would not show up anywhere, I went back to the post install patches and disabled wifi legacy patch and enabled BCM4231 wifi support patch. Now I can airdrop from MacBook to iPhone and to a newer iMac but only when I unlock my iPhone. Its like the iPhone acts as a catalyst to force the MacBook to respond to airdrop, when I lock the iPhone the airdrop to iMac will stay persistent for a minute. So its a one way street unfortunately as the iPhone and 2013 iMac will not see the 2011 MacBook even when setting the 2013 iMac to search for older Macs, but hey something is better than nothing.

Double Edit: Actually airdrop on the 2011 MacBook relies on both the iPhone and iMac to be both on, it seems that the iPhone to iMac handshake activates the MacBook handshake so in order to airdrop in a one way direction to either the iPhone and/or iMac all 3 devices need to be on and logged in so to speak.

Searching for older Macs breaks the connection either on the 2011 MacBook or the 2013 iMac which I patched to search for older Macs.
 
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markj3000 said:
Many Thanks TigerA for that additional info for installing on a non APFS native machine. That totally worked and I am now updated to (19H1824).

It might be a minor niggle but I'm now getting a persistant warning on startup that "apfshelperd" cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.

I'm happy to click cancel and carry on but other users of this machine might get worried about it. Can I do anything about it? Clicking move to bin doesn't work & it seems to be part of DosDudes install.
Click to expand...
I have a MacBook Pro 6,2 that has been running Catalina via DosDude1 almost flawlessly.

I have tried to run the Security Updates using CatalinaOTAswufix.app and apparently been able to download the update, but after restarting my Mac nothing happens, except that when Catalina finishes loading and I am offered to do the same Security Update again and again (2021-004).
If I click install, the computer reboots instantly (seems the update has already been downloaded) and after waiting a longer time than before, I get the same login screen and the System Update panel loads again... and again.

I tried to follow all the procedures and tried to create an USB with USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3.app, but, to be honest, I could not find a clear set instruction on how to proceed to do the security updates once I restart from the USB.

Any help will be appreciated.
 
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TigerA said:
I am very sympathetic with you for the dosdude1 Catalina update issue. It took me six months to finally understand the process. Like you, I went to OCLP Big Sur first because I just couldn't get the Catalina update going. But dosdude1 Catalina is a far better OS for your Mac.
My understanding is that your Mac needs USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3 app. The trick is to select the USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3 at step-9 first, and select macOS install (or something equivalent) for installing the update. This will let you go further by showing an update window after around 12 min. But the update may seem to be stuck at 2/3 mark with a spinning cog slowing grinding to a halt at the end of the update process. You then long press the power button to turn off your Mac, then continue from step-9...
Click to expand...


After downloading the update for the nth time and restarting, I booted from USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3 and saw a few options to boot from.
I chose "MacOs Install," and an install window showed up and it took about 12-15 minutes to install something.
But I never got the process stuck. When it ended, I got a login window to enter my iCloud credentials. I did and the computer froze.
So i restarted and run the patcher. Once it finished and after a new restart the update shows as being available again.

I am lost.
 
After a few rounds I got 19H1922 installed. :)
Now if i could avoid that red dot inviting me to upgrade to Monterey...
 
vebaev said:
Hi all,
I'm trying to make installer on a USB (on mac mini 2011, to install it on the same).
I got strange error when installer starts "An error occurred while restoring BaseSystem.dmg. Ensure that your target installer volume is formatted as "macOS Extended (Journaled)" (HFS+), then try running the tool again." but mu USB (brend new) was just forrmatted on macOS Extended (Journaled)?!



Can anyone have similar experience and hot how to solve it?
Click to expand...
bro i have this problem too, can u fix it?
 
0403979 said:

How to update Catalina​

Updating Catalina has become quite a ride since Apple stopped delivering full installers in summer 2020. Without additional tools the software update process is broken, too. So there is no direct way to apply security updates.

You need to use tools provided by @jackluke from GitHub or this post and to follow this documentation. Pre APFS systems without an APFS patch installed need an an additional step using the USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3 available on GitHub.

Apple offers official updates and during development and test phase so called beta versions. You can switch between the normal seed and the developer seed offering beta versions of updates using this Apple tool .

Fair warning: Please do not jump onto each available beta version unless you have a stable fall back to boot from. All this is entirely unsupported.

Machine Support​

MacPro3,1​
MacPro4,1​
iMac8,1​
iMac9,1​
iMac10,x​
iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Mojave. More details are located in the Current Issues section below.)​
iMac12,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Mojave. More details are located in the Current Issues section below.)​
MacBookPro4,1​
MacBookPro5,x​
MacBookPro6,x​
MacBookPro7,1​
MacBookPro8,x​
MacBookAir2,1​
MacBookAir3,x​
MacBookAir4,x​
MacBook5,1​
Macmini3,1​
Macmini4,1​
Macmini5,x​
MacBook4,1*​
MacBook5,2​
MacBook6,1​
MacBook7,1​
Xserve2,1​
Xserve3,1​

Video Card Support​

Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.)
Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older without acceleration, GeForce 3xx Series and older with acceleration i.e. 8600M(GT)/8800M(GT), 9400M/9600M(GT), 320M/330M)
Pre-Metal Intel video cards (Intel HD Graphics 3000 and Intel HD Graphics Arrandale)

Installation​

macOS Catalina Patcher​

To install on your machine, you can download and run @dosdude1's macOS Catalina Patcher application, which will let you download a copy of the latest installer app from Apple and create a bootable installer drive for use on unsupported Macs. It contains all the patches necessary to achieve the hardware support listed above. The installation guide can be found here and an installation guide video here.

MacOS patcher (discontinued)​

More advanced users may consider using macOS Patcher, which is a command line-based tool that provides the same hardware support, while also adding support for MacBook4,1 systems. Please note that this project is no longer supported by the developer.

APFS ROM Patcher​

Warning: This tool could irreversibly brick your EFI chip. Please exercise caution with machines that have multiple EEPROM definitions. Relevant information can be found here and here. The APFS ROM patcher can be found here. Use the password apfs to decrypt the ZIP.

Known Issues​

Currently, it is not possible to get full graphics acceleration when running Catalina on a system with a Radeon HD 5xxx or 6xxx series video card. Catalina will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration. This includes the 15" and 17" MacBook Pro systems (MacBookPro8,2 and 8,3). If you want to enable GPU acceleration on these machines, you'll need to disable the AMD video card (This will work on MacBook Pro 8,2 and 8,3 systems ONLY. You CANNOT disable the AMD GPU in an iMac.) Weird colors will also be produced when running Catalina with one of these video cards installed/enabled. To disable the AMD GPU on a 2011 MacBook Pro 8,2 or 8,3, follow the guide found here.​
In the Photos app, there is no tab for "All Photos." However, if you right-click any photo, you can choose, "Show in All Photos" and the expected "All Photos" functionality is displayed.​
You can also set up a smart album, call it "All Photos" and use search criteria "Date Captured is after 1/1/1970".​
The Intel GMAx3100 in the MB4,1 is not fully supported (framebuffer only, no acceleration). Catalina will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration.​

Builds and Installer Versions​

2019/10/07 10.15.0 Final, build 19A583, installer 15.0.33
2019/10/29 10.15.1, build 19B88, installer 15.1.03
2019/12/10 10.15.2, build 19C57, installer 15.2.02
2020/01/29 10.15.3, build 19D76, installer 15.3.00
2020/03/24 10.15.4, build 19E266, installer 15.4.01
2020/04/09 10.15.4 supplemental, build 19E287, installer 15.4.02
2020/05/26 10.15.5, build 19F96, installer 15.5.01
2020/06/01 10.15.5 supplemental, build 19F101, installer 15.5.02
2020/07/xx 10.15.6, build 19G73, installer 15.6.00
2020/08/13 10.15.6 supplemental, build 19G2021, installer 15.6.00
2020/09/24 10.15.7, build 19H2, installer 15.7.02
2020/11/13 10.15.7 supplemental, build 19H15, installer 15.7.03

2019/06/04 10.15.0 beta 1, build 19A471t, installer 15.0.11​
2019/06/17 10.15.0 beta 2, build 19A487l, installer 15.0.15​
2019/07/02 10.15.0 beta 3, build 19A501i, installer 15.0.17​
2019/07/16 10.15.0 beta 4, build 19A512f, installer 15.0.18​
2019/07/31 10.15.0 beta 5, build 19A526h, installer 15.0.21​
2019/08/19 10.15.0 beta 6, build 19A536g, installer 15.0.23​
2019/08/28 10.15.0 beta 7, build 19A546d, installer 15.0.25​
2019/09/10 10.15.0 beta 8, build 19A558d, installer 15.0.27​
2019/09/23 10.15.0 beta 9, build 19A573a, installer 15.0.30​
2019/09/30 10.15.0 beta 10, build 19A578c, installer 15.0.31​
2019/10/03 10.15.0 beta 11, build 19A582a, installer 15.0.32​
2019/12/17 10.15.3 beta 1, build 19D49f​
2020/01/14 10.15.3 beta 2, build 19D62e​
2020/01/24 10.15.3 beta 3, build 19D75a​
2020/02/05 10.15.4 beta 1, build 19E224g ​
2020/02/19 10.15.4 beta 2, build 19E234g ​
2020/02/26 10.15.4 beta 3, build 19E242d ​
2020/03/03 10.15.4 beta 4, build 19E250c ​
2020/03/10 10.15.4 beta 5, build 19E258a​
2020/03/18 10.15.4 beta 6, build 19E264b​
2020/04/01 10.15.5 beta 1, build 19F53f​
2020/04/16 10.15.5 beta 2, build 19F62f​
2020/04/29 10.15.5 beta 3, build 19F72f​
2020/05/08 10.15.5 beta 4, build 19F83c​
2020/05/20 10.15.5 beta 5, build 19F94a​
2021/04/15 10.15.7 Security Update 2021-002 beta, build 19H1027​
2021/04/20 10.15.7 Security Update 2021-002 beta, build 19H1030​
2021/04/22 10.15.7 Security Update 2021-003 beta, build 19H1208 <do not install! SMB networking faulty>​

Credits​

@ASentientBot - Achieved full graphics acceleration, achieved semi-acceleration, fixed IOHID timeout, fixed AirPort, fixed Xcode 11 Metal crashes
@jackluke - Fixed brightness control under semi-acceleration, fixed Wi-Fi AirDrop option, fixed Continuity with a dongle, fixed AirDrop with Broadcom cards
@parrotgeek1 - Developed LegacyUSBInjector, developed SIPManager, developed NDRVShim, source
@Czo - Fixed SUVMMFaker, source
@oliveira131 - Developed script to apply patches for AirDrop with Broadcom cards and Continuity with a dongle (from jackluke)
Apple - Fixed IOHID timeout, fixed Xcode 11 Metal crashes, fixed Siri Metal crashes, fixed Photos Metal crashes.
Don't know why you did it, but, thanks Apple.

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Unsupported Macs Discord server
macOS Catalina (10.15)
macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs - @0403979

macOS Mojave (10.14)
macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread - @dosdude1

macOS High Sierra (10.13)
macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread - @foxlet

macOS Sierra (10.12)
MacOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread - @redheeler

OS X El Capitan (10.11)
OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and El Capitan - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Yosemite (10.10)
OS X Yosemite on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X Yosemite - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Mavericks (10.9)
[Guide] Installing 10.9 Mavericks on older Macs. - @Wayne_819
Mac Pro 2,1 and OS X Mavericks - @5050

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

​

Click to expand...
Bro have can i go to recovery mode in macos 10.11 El captain
 
Hello!

I have an iMac Late 2009, 21.5Inch, and i have installed catalina. But now the DVD Drive dont work. I try something and when i restart the mac with the dvd in the dvd can be reading. but when the mac starts without dvd and i put one in nothing happs only i hear spinning.

what is the problem? can anyone help me pleathx
 
novawaves said:
Hello!

I have an iMac Late 2009, 21.5Inch, and i have installed catalina. But now the DVD Drive dont work. I try something and when i restart the mac with the dvd in the dvd can be reading. but when the mac starts without dvd and i put one in nothing happs only i hear spinning.

what is the problem? can anyone help me pleathx
Click to expand...
I've got a similar problem with Catalina on my late 2009 - and it happens only on Catalina, not on earlier or later macOS versions. However I've installed a Blu-Ray drive as a replacement and I've always thought the problem to be related to the fact that Blu-Ray drives aren't necessarily 100% supported in macOS.
My workaround in order to not have to restart is unloading and reloading a certain kernel extension via Terminal:
Code: 
sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice.kext
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice.kext
This method hasn't always been working reliably - but since a couple of months it used to work 100% for me.
 
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ok i tried your solution but i get an error for the command kextunload
failed to unload kext is in use or retained

what else can i do?
 
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