macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Barry K. Nathan]

Sorry I was gone from the MacRumors Forum for so long. Over the next few days I'll try to catch up on the posts that I missed (although I probably won't reply to any of them).

I'm working on v0.2.0 of the patcher. I'm hoping to have it done this weekend. The big change is that I've reimplemented the nvram/csrutil stuff using EFI directly -- this fixes a TON of problems -- so (at least for now) it's going to require creating a second USB stick (although this one can be small -- I've been testing with a 128MB stick, and it's possible even 16MB will be large enough). I'll probably add an installer trampoline too, like what ParrotGeek's patcher used, so that you can run the installer directly after booting, without having to run Terminal commands first.

None of the new code is up on GitHub yet, although I'll be committing to the dev-v0.2.0 branch later today.

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

Hello
I need a direct download link for Mac Big Sur Beta 7
Like this link for beta 6:

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/60/31/001-36806-A_B85TYDOSMI/sode5v0ps0767kq54klqanh09mrcted2kw/InstallAssistant.pkg

There is no full installer for beta 7. I'll try to look into update installation when I get a chance, but that may not be until after the weekend; I need to finish the next version of my patcher first.

 

[Pinarek]

stopp !! is the old DP6... excuse me

 

[NotSoClever]

Is there a way for Unsupported macs to update through Software Update?

 

[buckrock]

Hello
I need a direct download link for Mac Big Sur Beta 7
Like this link for beta 6:

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/60/31/001-36806-A_B85TYDOSMI/sode5v0ps0767kq54klqanh09mrcted2kw/InstallAssistant.pkg

That link is for beta5

 

[buckrock]

It appears according to this that b7 will have a delta updater (b6--->b7), 3.61GB; and a combo updater (b1...b5--->b7), 3.95GB. We will see!

 

[n0rt0nthecat]

It appears according to this that b7 will have a delta updater (b6--->b7), 3.61GB; and a combo updater (b1...b5--->b7), 3.95GB. We will see!

Be interesting to hear/see how we might apply a delta updater from b6 -> b7 to an existing installation

 

[Caeed]

That link is for beta5

Tnx
Prolem solved

 

[Dilli]

Have not seen @jackluke for a long time ?

 

[sinbad21]

I cannot update to B7, it says "no update available" on my MBP mid 2012 not retina. I have actually B6.

This will be a real problem in the future, if delta updater is the only way to update.

 

[ghost82]

I had the same problem, unenroll and roll again for the beta.
After this the update was showing.
Search on google about how to do it.

Note that you need a sealed os for the ota update, if you broke it you need to reinstall beta 6 and then update.

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

I had the same problem, unenroll and roll again for the beta.
After this the update was showing.

I tried this on my MacBookPro8,1 running Big Sur beta 6... and it didn't work.

 

[Desjek-T]

I tried this on my iMac 13,2 running Big Sur beta 6... and it didn't work, too.

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

I had the same problem, unenroll and roll again for the beta.
After this the update was showing.
Search on google about how to do it.

Note that you need a sealed os for the ota update, if you broke it you need to reinstall beta 6 and then update.

on which machine?

 

[MacHacJac]

Hi @MacHacJac

Try this: https://www.zoneactu.fr/category/apple/mac/os-x-beta
I use this website to download Beta versions since a long time...

WOW! Thanks!

 

[MacHacJac]

Sorry I was gone from the MacRumors Forum for so long. Over the next few days I'll try to catch up on the posts that I missed (although I probably won't reply to any of them).

I'm working on v0.2.0 of the patcher. I'm hoping to have it done this weekend. The big change is that I've reimplemented the nvram/csrutil stuff using EFI directly -- this fixes a TON of problems -- so (at least for now) it's going to require creating a second USB stick (although this one can be small -- I've been testing with a 128MB stick, and it's possible even 16MB will be large enough). I'll probably add an installer trampoline too, like what ParrotGeek's patcher used, so that you can run the installer directly after booting, without having to run Terminal commands first.

None of the new code is up on GitHub yet, although I'll be committing to the dev-v0.2.0 branch later today.

YAY! Barry's back! By the way, Barry, in case you didn't see, I'm developing an automated Big Sur patcher now. It is extremely unreliable now, though. We appreciate your work, BarryKN!

 

[bige12]

How is Mac OS Big Sur Beta 7 running for everyone? I think its a little faster now than beta 6. I just wonder how many more betas or Big Sur we will see.

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

I cannot update to B7, it says "no update available" on my MBP mid 2012 not retina. I have actually B6.

This will be a real problem in the future, if delta updater is the only way to update.

To the best of my knowledge, post #2756 from @jackluke is the closest that anyone has gotten to an automated fix for Big Sur delta updaters. (My recollection is that it kind-of more-or-less worked in beta 2 but stopped working in beta 3 or 4. Tonight I tried it in both beta 2 and 6; it didn't work in beta 6, and in beta 2 it started downloading the beta 6 full installer, so that wasn't much of a help.)

In any case, macOS 11.0 will certainly be a full installer, and if Apple sticks to their historical behavior from Lion onward (so almost a decade now), 11.0.1 through 11.0.6 will also be available as full installers. So there's some time yet.

 

[vince22]

How is Mac OS Big Sur Beta 7 running for everyone? I think its a little faster now than beta 6. I just wonder how many more betas or Big Sur we will see.

feels a bit snappier with my supported MacBook Pro 2015, hoping apple will release a final version with full installer for all of us having unsupported Macs.

 

[furdi]

How is Mac OS Big Sur Beta 7 running for everyone? I think its a little faster now than beta 6. I just wonder how many more betas or Big Sur we will see.

Hey! Do you have a download link for the installer? Thank you!

 

[bige12]

I have a July 2019 13 inch MacBook Pro and its running Catalina support mac, but I'm running Big Sur on a USB 4 TB external hard drive and it dose seem a little more snappier than beta 6- that is reason why I put big sur on a external hard . I just wonder how many more betas we will see for Big Sur: Here is like a list of all of Big Sur betas with the build numbers

• 7. Big Sur 11 Beta 7 (20A5374g) - 09/17/20 Current Release
• 6. Big Sur 11 Beta 6 (20A5364e) – 09/03/20
• 5. Big Sur 11 Beta 5 (20A5354i) – 08/19/20
• 4. Big Sur 11 Beta 4 (20A5343i) – 08/04/20
• 3. Big Sur 11 Beta 3 (20A5323l) – 07/22/20
• 2. Big Sur 11 Beta 2 (20A4300b) – 07/07/20
• 1. Big Sur 11 Beta 1 (20A4299v) – 06/22/20

 

[bige12]

I say the build numbers are kind of strange because look at the end letter the first was a V, B, L, I, I, E, G

 

[jackluke]

To the best of my knowledge, post #2756 from @jackluke is the closest that anyone has gotten to an automated fix for Big Sur delta updaters. (My recollection is that it kind-of more-or-less worked in beta 2 but stopped working in beta 3 or 4. Tonight I tried it in both beta 2 and 6; it didn't work in beta 6, and in beta 2 it started downloading the beta 6 full installer, so that wasn't much of a help.)

I get even a bit closer with another customised USBopencore setup: https://github.com/jacklukem/USBOpenCoreAPFSloader/releases/tag/4.2

This should allow to correctly detect the beta 7 update and using the "OTA update fix" from BigSurOTAswufix.app.zip should continue the stage2 installer on unsupported BigSur Mac, otherwise just targeting from apple startup manager the linked USBopencore should continue the staged installer, anyway I'd not yet advise to install in this way (that is spoofing to a supported Mac).

If you try this USBopencore version don't forget that after exiting from opencore it resets the nvram and csrutil .

But I'd advise to wait for a beta full installer and using your micropatcher that is a reliable method to install and patch BigSur on unsupported Mac.

Currently only issue is making a valid kernelcollection BKE for allow booting non-APFS or legacy USB Mac, because prelinkedkernel method worked only till 20A5343i (beta 4) or 20A5343j (public beta 1).

 

[Earl Urley]

To the best of my knowledge, post #2756 from @jackluke is the closest that anyone has gotten to an automated fix for Big Sur delta updaters. (My recollection is that it kind-of more-or-less worked in beta 2 but stopped working in beta 3 or 4. Tonight I tried it in both beta 2 and 6; it didn't work in beta 6, and in beta 2 it started downloading the beta 6 full installer, so that wasn't much of a help.)

This worked for me, thanks.. I had used one of the numerous install scripts to download a beta 6 version of InstallAssistant, then when SoftwareUpdate failed to bring up the beta 7 delta update, I used the fix to get beta 7 to download in Software Update.

Now at 5374g.

I did have to force quit the fix app before it would update, though, but no biggie.

 

[haralds]

I have been updating the Big Sur system disk for my Mac Pro 5,1 on a MacBook Pro using a USB drive. But I am having trouble updating to Beta 7 this way. It starts updating but never gets anywhere. The update on the system disk of the MacBook Pro worked fine. All previous installs just used a full installer.
Any ideas?