macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Barry K. Nathan]

Downloaded Beta 5, prepared a USB using MicroPatcher 0.1.0 and attempted an install on my MacPro 5,1 on a freshly formatted SSD. Unfortunately, I have bootlooping. I did notice something this go around, however (I was paying better attention to the whole process). The install process proceeds until about the 13 minute left mark and the machine reboots. I think this is normal and I'll check that wen I get home where I have a newer MacBook Pro that is a supported machine. It is at this reboot that it starts to load, the bar goes about 1/4 of the way across the screen and then it reboots.

Depending on the speed of your hard drive or SSD, rebooting at 13 minutes remaining can be normal, or reaching "less than a minute remaining" and not rebooting until 30-60 minutes after that. I've seen both of those on my MacBookPro8,1 (the former on the internal SSD, the latter on an external SSD connected using USB 2.0).

Thanks for the extra info on the reboot problem. I don't have any Mac Pros myself, so I don't think I'll be able to do anything to help figure out what's going on. (Unless anyone can get a clear, sharp video recording of verbose boot messages during the boot loop, or something like that.)

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

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?

Command-Option-R will boot into Internet Recovery. (I've heard that on at least some Macs, it won't work if you've upgraded the WiFi card, however.) It's also a good idea to create and hold onto some USB installers for older versions of macOS (or at least the most recent supported version for your Mac, which in this case would be Catalina 10.15.6 with the supplemental update).

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

question on change default startup after install:
I was able to install public beta on my 2013 imac using micropatcher. Now how do I make the startup disk default to Big Sur? I tried to change it in setting -> startup disk. Big Sur would show up as an option for a couple second and disappears. Is there a way that I can change from bash?

Boot into Big Sur developer beta 3 or later (either a full installation or an installer USB), then use Startup Disk from there.

It might be possible to patch /usr/sbin/bless on Catalina and earlier to work with Big Sur beta 3-and-later volumes -- this should also fix Startup Disk -- but I haven't had a chance to actually try doing this yet.

 

[maxsp97]

My cMP mid 2012 12 core 5,1 is working fine, no problem to install Big Sur from beta 1 to now, see post #3349.
Big Sur Beta 1 I created USB installer with Catalina, and after that all USB installer created with Big Sur.
I updated not installed.
Could write down steps you did? I want to compare with mine.

 

[EdGlassgow]

My cMP mid 2012 12 core 5,1 is working fine, no problem to install Big Sur from beta 1 to now, see post #3349.
Big Sur Beta 1 I created USB installer with Catalina, and after that all USB installer created with Big Sur.
I updated not installed.
Could write down steps you did? I want to compare with mine.

Sure....
Download the DP5 installer and assure that it is in the Applications folder
Create USB installer using "createinstallmedia" from terminal
When that completes, drag "micropatcher.sh" into terminal and execute
After that completes (and it reports that it completed) then boot from USB
After USB boots, run terminal and execute "/Volumes/Image\ Volume/set-vars.sh"
After that completes (and it reports that it completed) then quit terminal and run installer

Everything proceeds fine from here, until the bootloop with 13 minutes remaining

Catch anything wrong?

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

My cMP mid 2012 12 core 5,1 is working fine, no problem to install Big Sur from beta 1 to now, see post #3349.
Big Sur Beta 1 I created USB installer with Catalina, and after that all USB installer created with Big Sur.
I updated not installed.
Could write down steps you did? I want to compare with mine.

In case it's somehow CPU related, it might be worth posting the CPU model. Run this command:
sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
then copy-and-paste the ENTIRE output of that command (it should be 1 line of text), and post it here.

Edit: In case it wasn't clear, this is directed at everyone with a MacPro5,1 or flashed 4,1. Maybe some pattern will show up in the data... maybe. This is currently my best stab-in-the-dark for trying to figure out what might be going on here.

 

[maxsp97]

See post #3366

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

yes i already tried this & still the same
note that my home connection working fine in wifi with no problems at all but work wifi connection the wifi keeps searching and asking for wifi password & search again although the wifi working g8 on catalina the problem i use wifi a lot in my office

If you used the micropatcher, which version did you use?

 

[maxsp97]

In case it's somehow CPU related, it might be worth posting the CPU model. Run this command:
sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
then copy-and-paste the output, and post it here.

Barry thank you so much for your micropatcher.
Here is my CPU of both my cMP.

E5645 @ 2.4GHz

X5690 @ 3.47GHz

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

Hi!

My Mid-2012 MacBookPro works well, but loses WiFi if it hibernates, i.e if I close the lid, as others have reported.

However, the WiFi restarts correctly when I reboot the machine. I never have to re-send a command.

I would have thought that all these machines would behave the same?

Thanks for the "BigSur IvyBridge beta3 prelinkedkernel fix.command.zip" but I think I will leave my machine as is, because rebooting occasionally is hardly a great problem!!

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this thread.

View attachment 945094

IB

Which version of the micropatcher did you use?
[automerge]1597898732[/automerge]

Barry thank you so much for your micropatcher.
Here is my CPU.
X5690 @ 3.47GHz

This may sound pedantic, but please copy and paste the entire output of that command.

 

[maxsp97]

Which version of the micropatcher did you use?
[automerge]1597898732[/automerge]

This may sound pedantic, but please copy and paste the entire output of that command.

Last login: Wed Aug 19 21:50:39 on ttys000
LB04052019@LBs-Mac-Pro ~ % sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5690 @ 3.47GHz
LB04052019@LBs-Mac-Pro ~ %

 

[vince22]

tried beta 5 today for first time on my Mid 2012 MacBook pro 13, its feels faster than catalina.

 

[maxsp97]

Sure....
Download the DP5 installer and assure that it is in the Applications folder
Create USB installer using "createinstallmedia" from terminal
When that completes, drag "micropatcher.sh" into terminal and execute
After that completes (and it reports that it completed) then boot from USB
After USB boots, run terminal and execute "/Volumes/Image\ Volume/set-vars.sh"
After that completes (and it reports that it completed) then quit terminal and run installer

Everything proceeds fine from here, until the bootloop with 13 minutes remaining

Catch anything wrong?

One step is different such as "When that completes, drag "micropatcher.sh" into terminal and execute" see step #2.

Here is my note.

1. Obtain a copy of the macOS Big Sur Developer.
Open package and Install macOS Big Sur Beta must be in “Applications” folder.

Create bootable USB, I used 32GB "I don't have smaller one".
Name: Untitled
Format: Mac OS Extended Journaled)

Terminal type as below.

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

Follow the screen’s instructions.
After the “Install macOS Big Sur Beta” USB created.

2. Open micropatcher x.x.xx folder on desktop.

Drag the file “micropatcher.sh” into Terminal and drag “Install macOS Big Sur Beta” USB on desktop to Terminal, then press Return.
In Terminal will look like this.

/Users/YOUR NAME/Desktop/big-sur-micropatcher-main\ 0.0.20/micropatcher.sh /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur\ Beta

After it successfully created.

4. Boot from the USB installer with “Option” key hold down.

5. In Recovery, if you need to do any partitioning/formatting with Disk Utility, and you didn't do it yet. iI’s best to do it now with APFS

6. Open Terminal (in the Utilities menu), then type

/Volumes/Image\ Volume/set-vars.sh

After it’s showing patchers succeeded.

7. Quit Terminal then select “Install maOS Big Sur Beta”.

This will take less than 1 hour to get to "Select Your Country or Region"

 

[lowercaseman]

Install of dev beta 5 with 0.1.0 micropatcher gives nvram boot arg errors for data not found in the terminal.

Script gives okay for install however.

After 13 minutes of install, iMac late 2013 shuts down, no reboot. Gives NO OS symbol.

Go back to USB via normal boot & single user boot to "nvram boot-args=-no_compat_check" which gets set with no errors.

Reboot again. Same NO symbol. Booting to single user from disk for verbose boot gives the above output in the photo.

Maybe Apple working on blocking us in plist?

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

@jackluke it seems to me that your prelinked kernel fix for Beta 3 doesn't work anymore on beta 5 (Mac Mini 2010) ... Could you check and update it, if obsolete? (And it would be nice if it could also be launched from Catalina). Thank you!

 

[GSXB]

Both are 2010 12-core...

I take issue with the "All you need to do step 1 to 8, that all". I have other machines that I use MicroPatcher with and the installations proceed fine and I have functional installs of Big Sur running. I am well versed in exactly how to use the utility. This is specific the the MacPros and it is driving me crazy.

Will others with MacPro 5,1 (especially the 12-core varieties) let me know of your success or lack of?

Quad core Macpro 5.1 beta 2 installed no problems, all other betas installed as per steps 1-8 and all they do is bootloop. The files are there but the installer will no complete

 

[amaze1499]

@Barry K. Nathan

MBP 2012 13", micro patcher 0.1.0 - Installation went without any issues. 20A5354i incl. Wifi is up and running after booting up from USB again and applying patch-kexts.sh.

In this case this time I got an BIerrordomain error2 instead of error3. (FYI)
Seemingly this installer looks for 30GB free space on the disk. I could not proceed with the installation, until Time Machine snapshots were deleted manually (to make space obviously). Installer reported 22GB free space but internal ssd become not available until then.

Cheers!

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

@Barry K. Nathan

MBP 2012 13", micro patcher 0.1.0 - Installation went without any issues. Wifi is up and running after booting up from USB again and applying patch-kexts.sh.

In this case this time I got an BIerrordomain error2 instead of error3. (FYI)
Seemingly this installer looks for 30GB free space on the disk. I could not proceed with the installation, until Time Machine snapshots were deleted manually (to make space obviously).

Cheers!

That's useful to know. (I didn't realize before that the disk space error could show up as BIerrordomain error2.)

That reminds me, for anyone who's doing an upgrade from a pre-Catalina release of macOS, upgrading to Catalina first then upgrading from Catalina to Big Sur requires much less disk space than upgrading directly to Big Sur. (A fresh install is going to require less space than any kind of upgrade, of course.)

 

[GSXB]

One step is different such as "When that completes, drag "micropatcher.sh" into terminal and execute" see step #2.

Here is my note.

1. Obtain a copy of the macOS Big Sur Developer.
Open package and Install macOS Big Sur Beta must be in “Applications” folder.

Create bootable USB, I used 32GB "I don't have smaller one".
Name: Untitled
Format: Mac OS Extended Journaled)

Terminal type as below.

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

Follow the screen’s instructions.
After the “Install macOS Big Sur Beta” USB created.

2. Open micropatcher x.x.xx folder on desktop.

Drag the file “micropatcher.sh” into Terminal and drag “Install macOS Big Sur Beta” USB on desktop to Terminal, then press Return.
In Terminal will look like this.

/Users/YOUR NAME/Desktop/big-sur-micropatcher-main\ 0.0.20/micropatcher.sh /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur\ Beta

After it successfully created.

4. Boot from the USB installer with “Option” key hold down.

5. In Recovery, if you need to do any partitioning/formatting with Disk Utility, and you didn't do it yet. iI’s best to do it now with APFS

6. Open Terminal (in the Utilities menu), then type

/Volumes/Image\ Volume/set-vars.sh

After it’s showing patchers succeeded.

7. Quit Terminal then select “Install maOS Big Sur Beta”.

This will take less than 1 hour to get to "Select Your Country or Region"

As far as I can see the only step difference in what you have suggested is that the micropatcher folder with it contents be placed on the desktop
How and why will that make a difference ???

 

[vendini]

Can somebody help me to download the bigsurtool 0.1.3 zip file because the link on Barry's site doesn't work for me :
https://parrotgeek.com/dl.php?file=bigsurtool0.1.3.zip
Thanks in advance!

 

[dustin2002zh]

Late 2013 iMac updated from beta4 to beta5 successfully by using big-sur-micropachter!!!!

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

As far as I can see the only step difference in what you have suggested is that the micropatcher folder with it contents be placed on the desktop
How and why will that make a difference ???

It shouldn't make a difference. If it does, then there's a bug, and there will almost certainly be error messages, and you won't be able to get as far as the installer actually starting the installation. (Edit: I just remembered that there used to be a bug like this, and the locations which would/wouldn't work were pretty unpredictable, but I fixed it in v0.1.0, so that bug is history now. However, if the installation process gets far enough that there's a boot loop, or it actually manages to finish, then you were absolutely not affected by the bug in question.)

Which brings me back to post #3359, which I have edited for clarity.

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

Does anybody know whether jacklukes prelinkedkernel for Ivybridge still works under DP5?

 

[macosdon]

@Barry K. Nathan

Successfully clean installed beta5 on MacBook 2010 White with big-sur-micropachter version 0.10. Great! only a little sluggish since no acceleration.

 

[startergo]

As far as I can see the only step difference in what you have suggested is that the micropatcher folder with it contents be placed on the desktop
How and why will that make a difference ???

Why don't you switch to verbose mode you may get some clue there?