macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Aaron2020]

MacBook pro retina early 2013: location services not working.
Location services enabled under privacy setting and the weather app allowed to use it but yet shows location services is off.

 

[Pri-est]

Mac Pro 3.1 (Early 2008)

USB Keyboard and Mouse works with CMD+S, bootloop issue resolved by remove old BlueTooth adapter, BigMac patcher + Micropatcher (in big sur) + repeate BigMac's ./Postinstall.sh - and i get some stable system.

And i Still work on USB Key+Mouse issue.

 

[Dilli]

This might be unrelated, does anyone have out of sync video and voice when playing youtube videos.
It starts of in sync but slowly gets out of sync more and more, I stop the video, the audio stops but the video still plays until the video syncs with the voice, it's easy to see the speakers lips speaking the last word from the audio, if I start the video again all is synced until it start to be out of sync again and gets again worse over time.

Yes I too have similar issues sometimes while watching youtube videos..

i also need some clue as to how to get siri audio back and continuity & handsoff with airdrop going as after installing bigsur these options are not working as my 13 inch macbook air mid 2011 though it all worked for catalina having broadcom chip

 

[Allistah]

Does anyone have H.264 and/or HEVC acceleration working?

 

[hvds]

Just installed final release (20B29) on my Late 2012 Mac mini; like with earlier betas, install went without a hitch using @Barry K. Nathan's method. But I now have the oddest bug occurring with Finder that never occurred with any of the betas (or any earlier version of macOS): In Finder Preferences, there is the option "New Finder windows show:" where a folder name must be entered to designate the default folder that comes into view when Finder is opened. (Like always, I'm using my User folder.)

Now, whenever I click on the Finder icon in the Dock, Finder comes to the foreground as the active window -- but, now, every time, it opens a new tab of the selected "New Finder windows show" choice. Finder is only supposed to open this folder when Finder's being opened from a closed state. Now Finder is opening a new, duplicate tab or window every time it's activated from the Dock, even when Finder is already open on the screen. It's startling to see this happen every time I activate Finder -- and somewhat annoying.

Is anyone else experiencing this behavior since installing the final release? If so, I'll post on the Apple Support forum.

11.0.1 (20B29) on MBP5,2.
I don't observe this behavior when clicking the Finder icon in the Dock. It works like usual, no extra tabs.
Also changed the setting of "New Finder windows show:" with/without a Finder window open, and then using the Dock icon; result always as expected.
(My BS was setup like this: clean install of 11.0.1beta2, with migration from 10.15.7. Then install 11.0.1release over it, which required cleaning of Library/Extensions/ before patch-kexts.sh ran successfully)

 

[throwinrocks]

Bens patcher was pretty easy..

Bens patcher? I had it installed working fine then woke up and turned on my iMac and it booted to a black screen so I reinstalled Catalina plus it shows like 3 drives in Disk Utility plus the update.

 

[jackluke]

I've been having problems with the BigMac patcher (Mac 3,1 2.8 Ghz 8 core) as well and I went ahead and downloaded it again since some minor changes (documentation?) seem to have happened in the last day.

I went ahead and created a boot USB stick according to the instructions and tried to boot this way. It seemed to boot, and then after some machinations during a reboot, it came back to Catalina without seeming to do anything. The target drive is a 500 Gb SSD that's internal to machine, empty and formatted originally for JHFS+. Bottom line....I didn't get to the installer at all so I'm not sure what's going on here.

I had run the preinstall script before and it looked like the nvram settings were ok.

And my video card is a Nvidia GeForce 680, flashed for Mac. It's Metal and should work.

Any ideas?

Probably because your MacPro3,1 it's a non-APFS firmware (with Legacy USB), to skip this reboot to Catalina, you should use my OpenCoreAPFSloader4b setup to detect the hidden stage2 installer "macOS Installer", then installation proceeds through "29 minutes remaining", after there are some some reboot and loop with apple logo that is the stage3 installer.

Since you have a GPU flashed for MacPro , almost surely you have a bootscreen for verbose booting or apple logo, so you can use this as bootloader to detect your hidden APFS volumes: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader4b

Then try to make a "BaseSystem fix" installer, with this: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/post-29170178

after installation (and bootloop) you should apply "BigSurFixes Legacy USB patches".

For "BaseSystem fix" target USB createinstallmedia must be used HFS+ (not APFS).

While for target BigSur installation disk I'd advise instead of erasing as HFS+ , use directly an APFS container.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yes I too have similar issues sometimes while watching youtube videos..

i also need some clue as to how to get siri audio back and continuity & handsoff with airdrop going as after installing bigsur these options are not working as my 13 inch macbook air mid 2011 though it all worked for catalina having broadcom chip

Apple always cut back the functionality of the very same BT/Wifi in your hardware with every upcoming MacOS version since High Sierra.

To get back some of the features in most cases it is enough to mark your Macs Board ID as a supported one as described in this post.

This example is for the iMac12,2 - to find out the board ID of your Macbook use the internet search machines or simply enter this line of code using copy and paste into the Terminal app ioreg -l | grep board-id | awk -F\" '{ print $4 }' and replace the Mac-942B59F58194171B according to the result.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Bonjour together!

Although I am not in charge of this I have reorganised the first post some days ago by hiding the long lists of supported, nearly supported, possibly supported, unsupported systems behind spoiler tags and added three questions to the FAQ

Q: Where/how can I download macOS 11.0 Big Sur?
A: Use this download link to load the 12GB InstallAssistant package. Install the package and you will find the Big Sur installer located in your Applications folder.

Q: Where/how can I download a patcher tool?
A: Currently the first option to install Big Sur on selected machines is the @Barry K. Nathan micro patcher tool. By the way, if you have a Mac Pro, Big Mac by StarPlayrX is another patcher worth considering. For 2008 Mac Pros (MacPro3,1) in particular, Big Mac is clearly a better option than this patcher (at least for now). The last but not least option is the @jacklukeUSBOpenCoreAPFSloader. This patcher allows booting of the Big Sur (Beta) installer on a wider range of older systems without graphics acceleration. Please remember it is highly suggested that you have a backup in place before installing new system software on your main devices, overwriting any stable releases. Unsupported software can cause irreparable hardware damage or irrecoverable data loss and should be used at one's own risk.

Q: Where/how can I download the @dosdude1 Big Sur patcher tool?
A: @dosdude1 commented recently directly on this topic. There will be no such patcher for Big Sur available. Please do not clutter the thread asking for it again and again.

A native speaker may please correct this and possibly also update the download link. Have seen there is a more recent installer available for some hours now.

Writing about support:

There is no! There is no support for Time Machine backup and restore, no support for special hardware features, no support for OTA updates, no support for a hassle free upgrade from Catalina to Big Sur. All this may work right now or in future, but it all depends on the collaboration on this thread. A few will code and most others will be alpha or beta testers. Together we can make this work.

Thanks to @Barry K. Nathan, @jackluke, @khronokernel, @ASentientBot and others making this possible...

P.S.:

This is the reason why I relink to the first post for most of the questions here...

What is still missing is a table or list pointing to the (best) working patcher for each Mac model.

 

[page3]

I can’t have the hardware acceleration function of the Microsoft Remote Desktop work on my iMac 27” 2013 with the latest big sur beta 4 installed. It will crash when i attempt to connect to the Remote Desktop.

Does anyone having the same issue regarding the hardware acceleration? Any solution?

I have tried to run it on my MBP 2017 with also big sur beta 4 and the hardware acceleration function work properly, which I can eliminate the reason of running the app on unsupported macOS

I am getting this error with the Big Sur final release. iMac 27" 2013 also.

Turning off hardware acceleration works, but obviously isn't an ideal fix.

*** Update: Running Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta Version 10.5.0 (1835) and Hardware Acceleration appears to be working ***

 

[MarKur78]

I am getting this error with the Big Sur final release. iMac 27" 2013 also.

Turning off hardware acceleration works, but obviously isn't an ideal fix.

I have the same Problem with my iMac 2010 with K2100 GPU. Metal is working, but Video Accelaration does not work anymore in Big Sur for me, so Apps like PS4-Remote, Steam-Remote, Parsec, RDP are not woring or are using the Software Decoder, which is very bad. I´ve tried several kext and OC Versions, but still the same. I´m switching back to Catalina ...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have the same Problem with my iMac 2010 with K2100 GPU. Metal is working, but Video Accelaration does not work anymore in Big Sur for me, so Apps like PS4-Remote, Steam-Remote, Parsec, RDP are not woring or are using the Software Decoder, which is very bad. I´ve tried several kext and OC Versions, but still the same. I´m switching back to Catalina ...

Known problem for the 2011 iMacs: Currently no iGPU H.264 acceleration possible. You need to make the High Sierra AppleGVA.framework working in the 2011 iMac, no kernel extension.

I was not aware of a 2009/2010 problem having a Metal GPU of this dimension....could you please report a free small and simple software not working any longer on Big Sur to be used as a test case?

Edit:
And I have not seen a single of your described performance issues on the normal desktop while moving windows or the mouse of there dock with NVIDIA Kepler cards in 2009-2011 iMacs with Big Sur.

 

[page3]

I have the same Problem with my iMac 2010 with K2100 GPU. Metal is working, but Video Accelaration does not work anymore in Big Sur for me, so Apps like PS4-Remote, Steam-Remote, Parsec, RDP are not woring or are using the Software Decoder, which is very bad. I´ve tried several kext and OC Versions, but still the same. I´m switching back to Catalina ...

Thanks for the info. This is rather a show-stopper for me Let's hope the wizards here can find a solution.

*** Update: Running Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta Version 10.5.0 (1835) and Hardware Acceleration appears to be working

 

[eVasilis]

Bens patcher? I had it installed working fine then woke up and turned on my iMac and it booted to a black screen so I reinstalled Catalina plus it shows like 3 drives in Disk Utility plus the update.

I had the same issue with my macpro 2010 and rx 580 but after I installed, and after removed, radeonboost.kext and whatever green. I reinstalled big sur on top of the previous installation and so far so good. We'll see. Big sur does not like messing with kexts, I guess.

 

[MarKur78]

Known problem for the 2011 iMacs: Currently no iGPU H.264 acceleration possible. You need to make the High Sierra AppleGVA.framework working in the 2011 iMac, no kernel extension.

I was not aware of a 2009/2010 problem having a Metal GPU of this dimension....could you please report a free small and simple software not working any longer on Big Sur to be used as a test case?

Edit:
And I have not seen none of your described performance issues on the normal desktop while moving windows or the mouse of there dock with NVIDIA Kepler cards in 2009-2011 iMacs with Big Sur.

Hi..

The Performance issues on the normal Desktop (Dock/Windows) was solved. It was caused by the Logitech mouse which was set to 1000hz. Changing the Mouse sensity to 500hz or less helped..

mk

 

[webg3]

Probably because your MacPro3,1 it's a non-APFS firmware (with Legacy USB), to skip this reboot to Catalina, you should use my OpenCoreAPFSloader4b setup to detect the hidden stage2 installer "macOS Installer", then installation proceeds through "29 minutes remaining", after there are some some reboot and loop with apple logo that is the stage3 installer.

Since you have a GPU flashed for MacPro , almost surely you have a bootscreen for verbose booting or apple logo, so you can use this as bootloader to detect your hidden APFS volumes: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader4b

Then try to make a "BaseSystem fix" installer, with this: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/post-29170178

after installation (and bootloop) you should apply "BigSurFixes Legacy USB patches".

For "BaseSystem fix" target USB createinstallmedia must be used HFS+ (not APFS).

While for target BigSur installation disk I'd advise instead of erasing as HFS+ , use directly an APFS container.

is it safe to use your OpenCoreAPFSloader4s1_nospoof and keep it as the primary boot initiator?
I'm using it (it decreases the boot time to 1 second, and I also changed it so as not to show the disk selection screen, it now looks like an authentic MacBook compatible with Big Sur, when turning on or restarting, or even resetting NVRAM, it reads on the hidden partition of the * EFI system and directly reads the OpenCore config.plist and boots correctly, I saw in the System Report, which is maintaining the correct nomenclature of the MacBook Air 2012 which is a MacBookAir5,1

Thanks for all your help and support ever.

 

[jackluke]

is it safe to use your OpenCoreAPFSloader4s1_nospoof and keep it as the primary boot initiator?
I'm using it (it decreases the boot time to 1 second, and I also changed it so as not to show the disk selection screen, it now looks like an authentic MacBook compatible with Big Sur, when turning on or restarting, or even resetting NVRAM, it reads on the hidden partition of the * EFI system and directly reads the OpenCore config.plist and boots correctly, I saw in the System Report, which is maintaining the correct nomenclature of the MacBook Air 2012 which is a MacBookAir5,1

Thanks for all your help and support ever.

For the safer "non spoofing" EFI OC folder use this: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader4b.zip

Even if you read your correct Mac nomenclature this doesn't mean that you are not spoofing to BigSur supported board id, so if you use your custom config.plist (either internal EFI or external USB) check that these lines are set exactly in this way:

<key>PlatformInfo</key>
<dict>
        <key>Automatic</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateDataHub</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateNVRAM</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateSMBIOS</key>
        <false/>

 

[webg3]

For the safer "non spoofing" EFI OC folder use this: USBOpenCoreAPFSloader4b.zip

Even if you read your correct Mac nomenclature this doesn't mean that you are not spoofing to BigSur supported board id, so if you use your custom config.plist (either internal EFI or external USB) check that these lines are set exactly in this way:

<key>PlatformInfo</key>
<dict>
        <key>Automatic</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateDataHub</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateNVRAM</key>
        <false/>
        <key>UpdateSMBIOS</key>
        <false/>

They are exactly like that.

 

[Quackers]

Bens patcher? I had it installed working fine then woke up and turned on my iMac and it booted to a black screen so I reinstalled Catalina plus it shows like 3 drives in Disk Utility plus the update.

I had the same 2 x Macintosh HD Data partitions after a re-install.
It seems it's now necessary to delete any Macintosh SSD HD Data partition before you re-install otherwise you'll get 2 of them. Strange.

 

[panzer06]

I want to thank all the people who put in the hard work to build the wiki on the first post and create a first rate step by step (mostly) tutorial of sorts.

Some of the steps aren't fully explained and as a UNIX admin in a past life I knew how to run the scripts but some users will struggle.

Definitely pay attention to that warning about the using GUID when formatting the USB stick.

My late 2012 Mac Mini is now a mostly (no wifi) fully functional dual boot (Big Sur/Mojave) machine. It sits 10 feet from the router so ethernet is no problem.

Now I will play with getting the eGPU working and test a few games. 😂

 

[panzer06]

Ugh. Dropping the 2012 Mac mini and leaving the 2014. That just seems cruel.

MacOS support is completely arbitrary at this point. I miss when there was some kind of reason to justify dropping the older models.

My late 2012 Mac Mini is now running Big Sur on a separate partition. No wifi but I can live with that and I don't want to bother with the work around. Very easy install. GUID on the USB stick ONLY and it was all good. Now to test the eGPU.

 

[Lardyboy999]

Is there anyway for a MacbookPro5,3 to get Big Sir installed? I’ve tried everything just to see if it’s possible but just wondering if it’s possible. I got Catalina on it running smooth as silk.

 

[webg3]

Is there anyway for a MacbookPro5,3 to get Big Sir installed? I’ve tried everything just to see if it’s possible but just wondering if it’s possible. I got Catalina on it running smooth as silk.

it even runs, but without graphics acceleration it is not feasible, it does not have a GPU Metal compatible.
The best for him at that moment is macOS Catalina.

 

[Dilli]

Apple always cut back the functionality of the very same BT/Wifi in your hardware with every upcoming MacOS version since High Sierra.

To get back some of the features in most cases it is enough to mark your Macs Board ID as a supported one as described in this post.

This example is for the iMac12,2 - to find out the board ID of your Macbook use the internet search machines or simply enter this line of code using copy and paste into the Terminal app ioreg -l | grep board-id | awk -F\" '{ print $4 }' and replace the Mac-942B59F58194171B according to the result.

Thanks @Ausdauersportler I will surely give it a try

 

[mixel]

Thankyou everyone who made this happen.. I didn't realise I was having problems with Catalina on my iMac, I thought my iMac was just.. slowly dying. Big Sur seems to run between 10 and 20 degrees cooler in all circumstances, and a horrible screen burn-in/gpu artifacting issue I've had since Mojave doesn't seem to happen anymore. (i'm keeping an eye on it but it's over a day now.. it was pretty much constant before if i used things like youtube)

Things like Wacom drivers, even all my AU plugins.. Nothing broke. Other than the very slow install - it's been the smoothest OS upgrade I think I've had in recent years re: software.

What the heck did Apple do under the hood with Big Sur? This is by far the biggest performance boost I've seen from a single OS upgrade, and my iMac (and MBP) don't even support it! (27" 3.5GHz Quad i7, 16GB RAM, Late 2013, GTX 780M 4GB VRAM) - things like navigating/zooming photos.. Everything is so slick.. Neither of my Macs should be on the unsupported list.