macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[ribero]

Thanks for the feedback, it's strange. May be the difference is related to the Mac we run. What Mac are you using ?

In my context, I always have this "displaypolicyd" blocking the switch even if I restart with GfxCardStatus set to integrated only.

When I kill manually "displaypolicyd" I can switch without the error notice.

For information : after killing displaypolicyd it does not relaunch automatically. I do not know what is the use of this process.

Update : I found that the settings "Automatic Graphic Switching" in Battery Panel is not ticked by default. If I set GfxCardStatus to force use of NVIDIA (discrete) then ticking this preference set the GPU to intel ! (So it's possible to switch back and forth between Intel and NVIDIA using macOS BS) but the settings is not saved and when I restart the Mac it's always the NVIDIA card that is used.

 

[ribero]

I have done some additional testing about GPU switching. Here are the results of my findings :

• On my setup (MBP 15 Retina mid-2012) GPU switching by macOS is not working (clean install of BS using Barry's micro patch). MBP starts on NVIDIA card and never switch back to Intel BUT :
• if I kill the process "displaypolicyd" then macOS BS is able to switch back and force between Intel / NVIDIA. It the same thing with GfxCardStatus which start to work only when this process is killed.
• In macOS BS: if setting "Automatic Graphic Switching" is on (and the displaypolicyd has been killed before) then the Intel card is used, launching an application that requires a more powerful GPU (ex: Unigine Valley Benchmark) will switch the GPU to NVIDIA. Quitting the application that requires the powerful GPU allows macOS BS to switch back on Intel -> same behaviour than in Mojave/Catalina !

So in resume:

• GfxCardStatus does not seems to be mandatory, even if it is very useful to stick macOS BS on the Intel or NVIDIA GPU (or let it do is automatic switching)
• process diplaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching. This process (launched during macOS startup) also exists in previous macOS versions but does not block switching. Why is it blocking GPU switching ? What is the impact of killing this process ?
• GPU Switching settings in macOS BS (Battery / Power settings panel) are working (switch and save preferences) once you have killed the displaypolicyd process. But will revert to NVIDIA at restart.
• GPU Switching is efficient -> Once culprit process killed, macOS BS runs on the intel chipset but switches to the NVIDIA GPU when power is required by apps.
• The whole Macbook Pro temperature is back to normal (compared to Mojave/Catalina) after switching to Intel GPU

It is very promising !! I still need to understand why displaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching on my setup and why other people like @avisavis are not facing the issue.

EDIT :

• sudo launchctl stop com.apple.displaypolicyd -> restore macOS BS GPU switching capabilities
• sudo launchctl start com.apple.displaypolicyd -> NVIDIA GPU becomes the only one GPU used by system, no more switching possible

 

[iMac-Oldschool]

I just updated the "BigSur BaseSystem fix" for any stock createinstallmedia USB BigSur Installer , now this script should work from any macOS (doesn't require more an already BigSur installed), first requirement is that from a macOS Recovery terminal set csrutil disable

then get an "Install macOS Big Sur Beta.app" (currently beta4 12,3 gb) making a stock apple USB BigSur installer with this method:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/ createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/YourUSBLabel

then apply the "BigSur BaseSystem legacy usb fix" , after unplug and plug again your USB drive and apply the "BigSur BaseSystem legacy usb fix2" .

After made you can boot from a non-APFS or legacy USB Mac the USB BigSur Installer from apple startup manager, and to upgrade or install it, open an Utilities terminal and type:

/V*/I*/H*

(that is abbreviation for /Volumes/Image\ Volume/Hax3.sh )

(example picture attached) then close, and open the "Install macOS" (little circle BigSur icon) directly from the Utilities recovery environment and it should install or upgrade on eligible volumes.

Currently you can only install on internal SATA disk with a non-APFS or legacy USB Mac (while recent USB Mac can install also on external USB disk), but the advantage is that you can update a previous BigSur Installation and also having an USB BigSur Installer (working on legacy USB Mac) you can use the ASentientBot fix apfs_systemsnapshot and diskutil apfs deleteSnapshot to fix "sudo mount -uw /" (or instead the weird method to skip the stage3 installer).

For non-APFS or legacy USB Mac to boot BigSur desktop after installation you could use this: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader3b.app.zip or this updated: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader4.app.zip

making it with the option "Near an USB device without erasing" and selecting the USB BigSur Installer label as target.

edit:
From my earlier tests you can use a previous /BaseSystem/BaseSystem.dmg even to boot a recent BigSur "Install macOS.app", so I'd advise to keep a copy of the patched BaseSystem.dmg (size 840 MB) that you can reuse.

Because apple with BigSur uses "two BaseSystem.dmg" (three considering the APFS Recovery), the second one is unpackaged from SharedSupport.dmg during the stage1 installer and copied here /Volumes/YourBigSurLabel Data/macOS Install Data/ to start the stage2 installer (that's why non-APFS or legacy USB Mac can only install it on internal SATA disk).

@jackluke This procedure appears to be quite comprehensive, is it still valid?
Installed the Big Sur Public beta on an iMac8,1 early 2008, as described above. After 2 or three attempts, the installation completed successfully. Big Sur will not boot, however, and produces a kp.
I'm having trouble with the apps USBOpenCoreAPFSLoader (3b and 4).
Where are they meant to be run? Should one of the apps be run before installing Big Sur on the SSD? Running them from Catalina, or another macOS version on the SSD, generates an error You haven't selected an external USB or there are no USB drives plugged.
The USB created for the installation is definitely plugged in. Dosdude1's APFS ROM Patcher was installed some time ago and appears to be working correctly.

 

[jackluke]

@jackluke This procedure appears to be quite comprehensive, is it still valid?
Installed the Big Sur Public beta on an iMac8,1 early 2008, as described above. After 2 or three attempts, the installation completed successfully. Big Sur will not boot, however, and produces a kp.
I'm having trouble with the apps USBOpenCoreAPFSLoader (3b and 4).
Where are they meant to be run? Should one of the apps be run before installing Big Sur on the SSD? Running them from Catalina, or another macOS version on the SSD, generates an error You haven't selected an external USB or there are no USB drives plugged.
The USB created for the installation is definitely plugged in. Dosdude1's APFS ROM Patcher was installed some time ago and appears to be working correctly.

To make an USBOpenCore (you should use 3b for that machine) rename the USB for the Installer (or any USB drive) without contain whitespaces example "InstallBigSur" or "AnyUSBLabel", the USBOpenCore is mainly required for non-APFS firmware to continue the stage2 "macOS Installer".

The kp is due to telemetry plugin but with snapshot booting if you already installed BigSur you can use directly this (without opencore): BigSur Penryn beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip

 

[iMac-Oldschool]

To make an USBOpenCore (you should use 3b for that machine) rename the USB for the Installer (or any USB drive) without contain whitespaces example "InstallBigSur" or "AnyUSBLabel", the USBOpenCore is mainly required for non-APFS firmware to continue the stage2 "macOS Installer".

The kp is due to telemetry plugin but with snapshot booting if you already installed BigSur you can use directly this (without opencore): BigSur Penryn beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip

Thanks for getting back so quickly. I'll have a go as suggested.

 

[jackluke]

hallo guys,
is there anybody having the same problem as me: I am running BS DP 4 on a mid 2012 MBp 13,3“. All is working fine also Airdrop and Handoff after patching with jackluke‘s prelinked kernel. After applying the command and reboot also WIFI is working but after rebooting or shutdown and restart WIFI won‘t work until applying the command again. Any idea? Any Solution?

For that machine you should use this: BigSur IvyBridge beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip

after a reboot without Wifi, try this from terminal: open /S*/L*/P*/Network.prefpane
and select your Wifi network.

 

[amgff84]

I wonder if this operating system will be easier for machines to run because of the switch to ARM?

I know this OS isn't well received yet, but I like what I have seen so far.

Does't ARM require simpler instructions?

 

[iMac-Oldschool]

Thanks for getting back so quickly. I'll have a go as suggested.

@jackluke,
Big Sur now boots from EFI boot.
WiFi and sound are still not working.
Other issue is that the boot screen now shows 10 icons, most of which are just called EFI boot.

Thanks for your support.
I'm not going to invest more effort in an early Beta. The team on this thread will no doubt fix all the issues before the final release. Replacing a 12 year old iMac can be put off for a bit longer, at least until there is an alternative with a new look.

 

[jackluke]

@jackluke,
Big Sur now boots from EFI boot.
WiFi and sound are still not working.
Other issue is that the boot screen now shows 10 icons, most of which are just called EFI boot.

For non-APFS firmware Mac the "EFI Boot" could represent an APFS Preboot or an EFI bootloader (example the apfs loader shell), either my external USBopencore (EFI Boot with icon) or "prelinkedkernel fix" doesn't produced any additional EFI Boot that weren't already present on your disks, so those probably are the APFS Preboot for Catalina and BigSur or some removable "macOS Installer" that hasn't completed its installation, anyway you can rename "Preboot" labels from Catalina or BigSur example:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/post-28710470

While to remove any BigSur "com.apple.installer" (stage2 installer "macOS Installer") for me this worked directly from BigSur:

sudo bless --folder /System/Volumes/Preboot/*/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi /System/Volumes/Preboot/*/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

From USBopencore you can notice some EFI Boot labels , but even if you rename in wrong name the system still boot correctly.

 

[nandor690]

well not sure how that doesn't make sense I think what I asked was pretty simple. I need the model of your computer and asked for screenshots during boot up. I need to add the model of the computer and your dsdt which is unique to what ever system your using in order for it to work. If you don't know what that is or doesn't make sense don't try it! If you open system extensions and open any one of the graphics kexts you'll see in the plist models of Macs. These drivers don't have that. They were never finished hence development driver. My buddy had to show me how they wrote the plist files when they were compiled I'm then having to pull of the mach_kernel to add the system specific dsdt so that it boots with the development drivers rather then the stock and kexts.....so you would replace your mach_kernel in root directory and then rename the old kexts to kext.old so Mac OS doesn't try to boot it and then my modified kernel boots my system specific developmental kexts. If that's to much or you don't know id read through the forums...but like I said I really only want someone to try that has little bit of terminal/plist editing because I really don't want to go back and forth especially if 100 people are going to ask at the same time. Not to be rude man. I just don't have a lot of time and most of the time I'm responding from my phone. I was really hesitant on posting this because I don't want to maintain something that people will get mad at me when apple updates come out and my patcher breaks for the Mac pro. God bless dosdude I just don't have that time to maintain it if something breaks. And I'm married so those who know the married life know what I'm talking about

I understand all that but specifically to the comment I said that too, you were simply asking for people to send their model identifier IE Mac Pro 5,1 4,1.
You can just add that to the kext. It wouldn’t be individual to a certain device.

 

[apfelbaum]

use the screenshot app and grab a shot of your terminal window. I wanna see were your stuck

Thanks again for offering to help, here is a screenshot of my terminal. As recommended in the Readme from the
barrykn / big-sur-micropatcher I simply did drag and drop the micropatcher.sh file into the terminal window which is located in the big-sur-micropatcher-main folder in my user directory. Right after that I always drag and drop the USB-drive into the same window which is the Big-Sur install drive I created via the createinstallmedia command:

The drive is named Install macOS Big Sur Beta which is the name it got automatically after using the createinstallmedia tool and as also recommended in the Readme of the big-sur-micropatcher I did not change it. I also tried just using the micropatcher.sh command without specifying the path to the USB-drive but this also didn't help:

I tried this now on two different Macs multiple times, on my late 2012 iMac (I want to install the Big Sur public beta on) and a 2018 Mac Book Pro still running Catalina.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong or what I could try?

Thanks in advance

 

[buckrock]

I have done some additional testing about GPU switching. Here are the results of my findings :

• On my setup (MBP 15 Retina mid-2012) GPU switching by macOS is not working (clean install of BS using Barry's micro patch). MBP starts on NVIDIA card and never switch back to Intel BUT :
• if I kill the process "displaypolicyd" then macOS BS is able to switch back and force between Intel / NVIDIA. It the same thing with GfxCardStatus which start to work only when this process is killed.
• In macOS BS: if setting "Automatic Graphic Switching" is on (and the displaypolicyd has been killed before) then the Intel card is used, launching an application that requires a more powerful GPU (ex: Unigine Valley Benchmark) will switch the GPU to NVIDIA. Quitting the application that requires the powerful GPU allows macOS BS to switch back on Intel -> same behaviour than in Mojave/Catalina !

So in resume:

• GfxCardStatus does not seems to be mandatory, even if it is very useful to stick macOS BS on the Intel or NVIDIA GPU (or let it do is automatic switching)
• process diplaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching. This process (launched during macOS startup) also exists in previous macOS versions but does not block switching. Why is it blocking GPU switching ? What is the impact of killing this process ?
• GPU Switching settings in macOS BS (Battery / Power settings panel) are working (switch and save preferences) once you have killed the displaypolicyd process. But will revert to NVIDIA at restart.
• GPU Switching is efficient -> Once culprit process killed, macOS BS runs on the intel chipset but switches to the NVIDIA GPU when power is required by apps.
• The whole Macbook Pro temperature is back to normal (compared to Mojave/Catalina) after switching to Intel GPU

It is very promising !! I still need to understand why displaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching on my setup and why other people like @avisavis are not facing the issue.

EDIT :

• sudo launchctl stop com.apple.displaypolicyd -> restore macOS BS GPU switching capabilities
• sudo launchctl start com.apple.displaypolicyd -> NVIDIA GPU becomes the only one GPU used by system, no more switching possible

Thanks so much for this info. I have the same MBP and need also to kill displaypolicyd for the graphics switching to work. Heating isn't an issue for the computer, but my Crucial X8 drive which I'm booting BSur from runs pretty hot. It is new to me, so I'm not sure it is running normally or not. Thanks again for your work.

 

[buckrock]

YouTube video not loading/playing information:

Just found that Ad Blocker extension in Safari was the culprit. Disable in Safari-->Preferences-->Extensions and uncheck. Reload the page and your videos will load and play.

This info was out for some time now; some videos worked and others didn't. Culprit is that Ad Blocker's blocking algorithm disables some videos but not all. I thought I'd post it here just in case you guys are having video problems like I was.

FYI: MacBook Pro mid-2012, 802.11 ac card, used BarryKN patcher 0.0.20.

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

For that machine you should use this: BigSur IvyBridge beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip

after a reboot without Wifi, try this from terminal: open /S*/L*/P*/Network.prefpane
and select your Wifi network.

Thanks, I´ll test that tomorrow

 

[avisavis]

I have done some additional testing about GPU switching. Here are the results of my findings :

• On my setup (MBP 15 Retina mid-2012) GPU switching by macOS is not working (clean install of BS using Barry's micro patch). MBP starts on NVIDIA card and never switch back to Intel BUT :
• if I kill the process "displaypolicyd" then macOS BS is able to switch back and force between Intel / NVIDIA. It the same thing with GfxCardStatus which start to work only when this process is killed.
• In macOS BS: if setting "Automatic Graphic Switching" is on (and the displaypolicyd has been killed before) then the Intel card is used, launching an application that requires a more powerful GPU (ex: Unigine Valley Benchmark) will switch the GPU to NVIDIA. Quitting the application that requires the powerful GPU allows macOS BS to switch back on Intel -> same behaviour than in Mojave/Catalina !

So in resume:

• GfxCardStatus does not seems to be mandatory, even if it is very useful to stick macOS BS on the Intel or NVIDIA GPU (or let it do is automatic switching)
• process diplaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching. This process (launched during macOS startup) also exists in previous macOS versions but does not block switching. Why is it blocking GPU switching ? What is the impact of killing this process ?
• GPU Switching settings in macOS BS (Battery / Power settings panel) are working (switch and save preferences) once you have killed the displaypolicyd process. But will revert to NVIDIA at restart.
• GPU Switching is efficient -> Once culprit process killed, macOS BS runs on the intel chipset but switches to the NVIDIA GPU when power is required by apps.
• The whole Macbook Pro temperature is back to normal (compared to Mojave/Catalina) after switching to Intel GPU

It is very promising !! I still need to understand why displaypolicyd is blocking GPU switching on my setup and why other people like @avisavis are not facing the issue.

EDIT :

• sudo launchctl stop com.apple.displaypolicyd -> restore macOS BS GPU switching capabilities
• sudo launchctl start com.apple.displaypolicyd -> NVIDIA GPU becomes the only one GPU used by system, no more switching possible

@ribero Sorry if I didn't provide the info clearly.
I didn't test gfxcardstatus in big sur yet. The posted screenshots are from Catalina.
Due to some other issues, I couldn't install big sur yet.

When someone posted that gfxcardstatus is not working properly for them from Mojave onwards, I pointed another fork of it which has been working fine for me in Mojave and Catalina. And I'm not killing displaypolicyd to switch the gpu manually.

 

[ribero]

@ribero Sorry if I didn't provide the info clearly.
I didn't test gfxcardstatus in big sur yet. The posted screenshots are from Catalina.
Due to some other issues, I couldn't install big sur yet.

When someone posted that gfxcardstatus is not working properly for them from Mojave onwards, I pointed another fork of it which has been working fine for me in Mojave and Catalina. And I'm not killing displaypolicyd to switch the gpu manually.

Ok thanks for the clarification. When you will be able to install BS I'm interested to know if you have to kill the process too.

Yes gfxcardstatus works well under Mojave/Catalina without killing any process but not in BS...

 

[apfelbaum]

I finally managed to install the Public Beta 1 on my late 2012 iMac, since I upgraded the WiFi/Bluetooth card a few years ago so that my iMac supports unlocking with the Apple Watch WiFi worked out of the box

However one thing that doesn't work (yet?) is Filevault which is a feature I generally would like to have enabled on all my machines. Not a big issue yet since I did a complete fresh install, but the idea is of course to make this machine a few years longer usable ?

When I try to enable Filevault in the settings I get the following error message after copying the recovery key, it says that an "internal error" occured.

I tried anabling it in the terminal by entering the command "sudo fdesetup enable" but after entering username and password I get this error message:

Error: A problem occurred while trying to enable FileVault. (-69596)

Is this a generall error with Big Sur or something that happens only on unsupported Macs?

 

[ribero]

Thanks so much for this info. I have the same MBP and need also to kill displaypolicyd for the graphics switching to work. Heating isn't an issue for the computer, but my Crucial X8 drive which I'm booting BSur from runs pretty hot. It is new to me, so I'm not sure it is running normally or not. Thanks again for your work.

You are welcome.

@Barry K. Nathan, I wonder if the patch can circumvent this issue or if it is related to the GPU drivers installed by the patch ? Any clue ?

 

[ribero]

However one thing that doesn't work (yet?) is Filevault which is a feature I generally would like to have enabled on all my machines. Not a big issue yet since I did a complete fresh install, but the idea is of course to make this machine a few years longer usable ?

When I try to enable Filevault in the settings I get the following error message after copying the recovery key, it says that an "internal error" occured.


View attachment 944699


I tried anabling it in the terminal by entering the command "sudo fdesetup enable" but after entering username and password I get this error message:

Error: A problem occurred while trying to enable FileVault. (-69596)

Is this a generall error with Big Sur or something that happens only on unsupported Macs?

Got exactly the same issue on a MBP 15" Retina mid 2012 (unsupported). The File Vault setup fails with the same error message at the same step but the drive is marked as protected by File Vault which prevented me to reboot on it... At the end I had to format and reinstall all to get out of this situation.

 

[Phillthedrill]

If I have a mid 2010 macbook pro 6,2 dual core i7, boot room 96.0.0.0.0, SMC 1.58f17 with both an Intel HD graphics built in and Nvidia GeForce GT 330M PCIe, it's still not going to be able to have BigSur installed because of the Intel Dual-core i7 limitation, right? It has Catalina installed right now from DosDude.

 

[apfelbaum]

Got exactly the same issue on a MBP 15" Retina mid 2012 (unsupported). The File Vault setup fails with the same error message at the same step but the drive is marked as protected by File Vault which prevented me to reboot on it... At the end I had to format and reinstall all to get out of this situation.

I noticed by now, that there is no up to date recovery partition on my 2012 iMac anymore, when I boot while holding CMD+R I end up in a recovery mode from Mountain Lion which is probably somehow built into the iMac. Of course a recovery mode from those days knows nothing about APFS oder SIP (which I can't turn back on from there), so I guess this is related to the issue with Filevault.
How about the 2012 MBP, is there also just a very old recover mode available?

Is there a way to reinstall an up to date recovery mode?

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

Thanks, I´ll test that tomorrow

thanks jackluke, working now

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

For that machine you should use this: BigSur IvyBridge beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip

after a reboot without Wifi, try this from terminal: open /S*/L*/P*/Network.prefpane
and select your Wifi network.

Thanks, I´ll test that tomorrow

thanks @jackluke, working now

 

[macmangr]

Well after the installation of Big Sur which went like a charm I had terrible fan noise each time I opened the back up iCloud section on photos ( iMac 27 late 2012 ) so I decided to go back to the safety of Catalina until further notice . So the issue I ran to right now is that even after a clean install of Catalina I don’t get the iMac model year on the tab about this Mac it states only iMac no model year . So if anyone can help me on this one I would highly appreciate it.

 

[maxsp97]

Well after the installation of Big Sur which went like a charm I had terrible fan noise each time I opened the back up iCloud section on photos ( iMac 27 late 2012 ) so I decided to go back to the safety of Catalina until further notice . So the issue I ran to right now is that even after a clean install of Catalina I don’t get the iMac model year on the tab about this Mac it states only iMac no model year . So if anyone can help me on this one I would highly appreciate it.

Don’t do or change anything.
This is happened to my cMP 5,1. After few days using it and the model/year displayed.