macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[pyedog]

FWIW, I have a 2012 Mac mini i7 2.3 w/ 16GB RAM driving 2 1920x1080 24" displays and performance in Catalina is (more or less) the same as in Big Sur beta 6 ...

Possibly part of the problem might be the fact that MrWeenus has a discrete GPU (GT 650M) in addition to the built in HD4000 video?

 

[startergo]

Bonjour,

macOS Big Sur refuses to boot with OpenCore (and I need it), crashes almost directly to the apple display, but no problem without it, does anyone have an idea?

I'm at the last 0.6.2, but it produced the same thing with 0.6.0

I also didn't understand why it doesn't offer me an upgrade to beta 8, I tried different methods without success, but this one is optional for me, I'd like to understand, knowing that it didn't cause any problem with my supported iMac 2015.

Thank you very much.

Try securebootmodel as disabled

 

[StephN999]

Bonjour,

@startergo, Thank you very much problem solved! ?

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

FWIW, I have a 2012 Mac mini i7 2.3 w/ 16GB RAM driving 2 1920x1080 24" displays and performance in Catalina is (more or less) the same as in Big Sur beta 6 ...

Possibly part of the problem might be the fact that MrWeenus has a discrete GPU (GT 650M) in addition to the built in HD4000 video?

The first report I got of this was on a Late 2012 13" Retina MBP, which does not have a discrete GPU, for what that's worth... (but it doesn't happen on my own Late 2012)

 

[MrWeenus]

One little update. I've switched to fully dGPU mode and animations are back to Catalina levels of smoothness. Apparently Intel Graphics 4000 are too slow for Big Sur's UI and this is probably one of the reasons they've dropped support from it (weird though they still include the drivers for this GPU)

 

[startergo]

Bonjour,

@startergo, Thank you very much problem solved! ?

How did you install BigSur? Did you use the micropatcher?

 

[webg3]

Using @jackluke opencore 4.2, I upgraded my MBP 9.2 mid 2012 to B8, the only trouble I encountered was adding to NVRAM the boot-args="-no_compat_check" parameter 'cause opencore delete it, to solve, I hit CMD+r to get into Internet Recovery and from its terminal add NVRAM parameter that was missing to boot without the opencore USB, after that I used a USB with B6 patched with @Barry K. Nathan v0.2.0 patch to get the WiFi working again.

Please, You can post the EFI folder created by opencore 4.2,
I couldn't get this to start the system.
MacBook Air 11 2012

 

[Barry K. Nathan]

One little update. I've switched to fully dGPU mode and animations are back to Catalina levels of smoothness. Apparently Intel Graphics 4000 are too slow for Big Sur's UI and this is probably one of the reasons they've dropped support from it (weird though they still include the drivers for this GPU)

At least in my experience, Intel HD Graphics 4000 is fast enough on the 13" Retina (in fact it was faster under Big Sur than Catalina in my testing this morning). It's possible that things might be different with the 15" Retina Display.

 

[jeffreyg]

I... don't understand what this means. Do you mean installing to an APFS container that has just one volume vs an APFS container that has multiple volumes?

Yep, that was it, I was just trying to shake out why my earlier attempts at the install were't working. My initial install attempts were to a partition, so in trying to get it working I changed to a volume. It also failed there, so I think there was something wrong with the old Big Sur beta install or USB stick I was using. I'm just happy that it worked really, but wondered whether there was a compelling reason to use a volume or a partition

 

[eric89074]

At least in my experience, Intel HD Graphics 4000 is fast enough on the 13" Retina (in fact it was faster under Big Sur than Catalina in my testing this morning). It's possible that things might be different with the 15" Retina Display.

I’m betting HD 4000 couldn’t handle retina resolutions in BS. BS runs great on a late 2013 21.5 iMac with an SSD.

 

[Armere Caruso]

Again, you can delete both and it won't affect your use of the beta MacOS you have already installed.

However, I think it would be wise to keep a copy of the InstallAssistant.pkg and the micropatcher since you can use these to recreate a new patched installer and reinstall the beta OS if you ever have problems. I, in fact, had to do just that when something happened to my MacOS Big Sur beta 5 installation after several days of using it with no problems. I simply reinstalled Big Sur beta 5 right on top of the existing BS beta 5.

As an aside, you can see why it is crucial to have a standalone installer, not just the delta or combo installer that seems to be all Apple is offering for Big Sur beta 7. I am sure Apple will finally, someday, make a Big Sur installer pkg available.

thank you but yesterday I ended up getting a brand new 2019 250 GB SSD MacBook Pro Thank You for ur help tho but I am confused I have a 4tb wd my book external ssd and since everything is soldered in my new computer how do I use the backup on the WD for external storage for my new Mac bc. I have over 2 tb of stuff on ther backup and the new MacBook can only use external hard drives now

 

[buckrock]

thank you but yesterday I ended up getting a brand new 2019 250 GB SSD MacBook Pro Thank You for ur help tho but I am confused I have a 4tb wd my book external ssd and since everything is soldered in my new computer how do I use the backup on the WD for external storage for my new Mac bc. I have over 2 tb of stuff on ther backup and the new MacBook can only use external hard drives now

You confused me a little bit. Are you saying you have your old internal 4TB WD drive and would like to convert this to an external drive using usb c connection to your MacBookPro? If so, several suppliers sell an enclosure to use your old internal SATA-connected SSD as an external drive. Try this Elite Pro Mini.

Oh! I just read your question at another thread. I am guessing you really did mean external 4TB drive which is probably USB A connected? In that case, just get yourself a USB-A to USB-C adapter like this one that Apple sells. They also sell a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 (same thing as USB-C) adapter if your drive is Thunderbolt 2.

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

At least in my experience, Intel HD Graphics 4000 is fast enough on the 13" Retina (in fact it was faster under Big Sur than Catalina in my testing this morning). It's possible that things might be different with the 15" Retina Display.

Also my MBP mid 2012 non retina works smoothly without Lags neither Safari nor GUI. When I read the whole 178 sites of this forum I believe to see that there are problems mostly with 2012 retina. Thanks Barry. I will wait for the GM. Also may cMP works without any problems since DP4.

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

One little update. I've switched to fully dGPU mode and animations are back to Catalina levels of smoothness. Apparently Intel Graphics 4000 are too slow for Big Sur's UI and this is probably one of the reasons they've dropped support from it (weird though they still include the drivers for this GPU)

On iMac 2013 the Intel Iris Pro is perfect: fast and with acceleration (at least with Beta 3)

 

[buckrock]

At least in my experience, Intel HD Graphics 4000 is fast enough on the 13" Retina (in fact it was faster under Big Sur than Catalina in my testing this morning). It's possible that things might be different with the 15" Retina Display.

I have a MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid-2012 MBP 10,1 running Catalina 10.15.7 on internal SSD and Big Sur beta 6 on an external Crucial SSD. I notice no difference between 10.15.7 and 10.16 beta 6 as far as graphical performance.

For BS beta 6, I did temporarily disable "displaypolicyd" using Activity Monitor to stop that process. In the end I used Terminal to permanently disable "displaypolicyd":

sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.displaypolicyd

[Edit] change "disable" to "enable" to reverse

Also be sure to check: System Preferences-->Battery-->turn on "Automatic Graphics Switching".

I use gfxCardStatus, v2.4.4i to set to dynamic switching which I need to do after every restart.

 

[jackluke]

Please, You can post the EFI folder created by opencore 4.2,
I couldn't get this to start the system.
MacBook Air 11 2012

To check if my setup worked, could you try from opencore menu to boot the Recovery 11.0 ? After selecting it allow on blank screen till 5 minutes.

While the fact you can't start the system depends from another issue that is a BootKernelExtensions.kc build for another snapshot (opencore has another layer for snapshot).

Then to boot a spoofed BigSur from USBopencore 4.2 try this, boot first outside of opencore with CMD+S your BigSur, then from single user mode type:

mount -P 1
kmutil install --update-all
kcditto
reboot

now you should boot from opencore with spoofed system.

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

To check if my setup worked, could you try from opencore menu to boot the Recovery 11.0 ? After selecting it allow on blank screen till 5 minutes.

While the fact you can't start the system depends from another issue that is a BootKernelExtensions.kc build for another snapshot (opencore has another layer for snapshot).

Then to boot a spoofed BigSur from USBopencore 4.2 try this, boot first outside of opencore with CMD+S your BigSur, then from single user mode type:

mount -P 1
kmutil install --update-all
kcditto
reboot

now you should boot from opencore with spoofed system.

It's really similar to Linux, being both UNIX-based. I'll remember that if Apple will seal mac ARM with SIP, SSV and TP2 and I'll be forced to switch back to it applying the last macOS theme

 

[jackluke]

It's really similar to Linux, being both UNIX-based. I'll remember that if Apple will seal mac ARM with SIP, SSV and TP2 and I'll be forced to switch back to it applying the last macOS theme

For ARM they will use this and a new Recovery environment:

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/25/apple-silicon-macs-new-startup-recovery-options/

while for T2 they already used this on newer Intel cpus: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

 

[StephN999]

How did you install BigSur? Did you use the micropatcher?

Bonjour,

Yes, I used the latest version (0.2.0).

Have a nice day.

 

[Pachnes]

Children, let the developers make the work without disturbing them. When the final Big Sur will get relesed, I am sure they will soon have a working (easy to use) installer for us. It is now still to early, when even at a MacMini 2018 some functions do not work (such as backup of system partition with CCC).

 

[MacHacJac]

Ok, guys. I just heard from a friend of mine how to get beta 8 using jackluke's usbopencore and Barry's patcher, with airdrop enabled. I will be testing it out this weekend, and will post steps if it works. He even said that hardware acceleration is working on his 2012 13" MBP, but I need to fact-check that with my 2011 13" MBP. The process is quite long, so I might not be able to post results until Sunday, or even Monday. Fortunately, I have Monday off from school, so until evening, when I have practice, I should be able to test it. Fingers crossed on the hardware acceleration tho!!!
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I will be testing it on a separate partition, and if the results are good, I'll repeat the process on my main drive!

 

[MacHacJac]

For ARM they will use this and a new Recovery environment:

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/25/apple-silicon-macs-new-startup-recovery-options/

while for T2 they already used this on newer Intel cpus: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

Jeez patching macOS will be impossible soon. I'm glad I'm making a patcher while I still can.

 

[MacHacJac]

On iMac 2013 the Intel Iris Pro is perfect: fast and with acceleration (at least with Beta 3)

Try beta 4. I find it even faster.

 

[MacHacJac]

I’m betting HD 4000 couldn’t handle retina resolutions in BS. BS runs great on a late 2013 21.5 iMac with an SSD.

Oh, yes it can. HD4000 is actually doing pretty good, in my humble opinion. I think that the Intel HD3000 and HD4000 are the only integrated cards where you'll see the least loss in performance in Big Sur
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Ok, guys. I just heard from a friend of mine how to get beta 8 using jackluke's usbopencore and Barry's patcher, with airdrop enabled. I will be testing it out this weekend, and will post steps if it works. He even said that hardware acceleration is working on his 2012 13" MBP, but I need to fact-check that with my 2011 13" MBP. The process is quite long, so I might not be able to post results until Sunday, or even Monday. Fortunately, I have Monday off from school, so until evening, when I have practice, I should be able to test it. Fingers crossed on the hardware acceleration tho!!!
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I will be testing it on a separate partition, and if the results are good, I'll repeat the process on my main drive!

BTW, the friend told me he was using it for a few days, and is still working great.

Also, my elementary school used to use iMacs and MacBook Pros, until they became old and slow. Then they switched to chrome books . For the past 4 years, they've just been lying around in a closet. In that closet there were: 16 iMacs (2009-2013), 50 2010 MacBooks, and about 25 MacBook Airs, between 2008 and 2014. They now want to get rid of them, and I offered to take a few. I will send some to my friends, and I will repair the others myself. The exciting thing is that all of them work, so I'll be able to use them to test my patcher! I might even turn a 2013 iMac into my primary machine, as it has USB 3.0, dual GPU, and a 2 TB SSD (not SSHD). I'm really excited for this!

 

[MacHacJac]

The first report I got of this was on a Late 2012 13" Retina MBP, which does not have a discrete GPU, for what that's worth... (but it doesn't happen on my own Late 2012)

I've been getting many reports of this too. (Maybe this is some hope for possible hardware acceleration??? I will test this on my patcher.)
(Sorry for posting so much, I wanted to catch up on some of what I missed this week.)