macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[jackluke]

Hi, I did the tips you suggested, but nothing changed. I installed BS on a new 250Gb external USB disk formatted as APFS by Catalina. Stage2 completed successfully (less than a minute lasted 55 minutes) and again stage3 failed bootlooping on "apfs_get_firmlink_target_vnode". Again when I applied the Legacy USB fix and the iSight fix no new snapshot was created with the same ARV error. The bless command didn't return any error, while removing PlatformSupport.plist returned that the file doesn't exist.

Try this, boot from "BaseSystem fix", first disable and delete any snapshot, then apply "BigSurFixes snapshot booting", you should at least make a new "patched snapshot", then reboot through OpenCore, select again "BaseSystem fix", from utilities "BigSurfixes opencore Preboot", then reboot and try booting BigSur from OpenCore.

If this still doesn't work, another try, from opencore menu select "Restart fix" and try booting BigSur with alt-option key from apple startup manager.

If neither this work then I should debug this stage3 installer phase for non-APFS external legacy USB target, because on internal SATA it works correctly.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@jackluke ; @Ausdauersportler and all those who helped I thank you all for your kind support with your valuable inputs in getting the Bigger installation on unsupported Macs.
Apparently I got joy with my mid 2011 MacBook Air but got no luck with the iMac mid 2011. (iMac still requires me to use option key to select disk and does not star up in normal basis so I got errors when Bigsur tried to boot multiple times during install)

I may be lucky for the MacBook Air but graphics is not very good .If I click on Safari or open a pdf through preview app it takes ages and the window opens taking long time as if I its being dragged.
Even in dark mode letters are not very well visible and I can't see.

So I have decided to give up on BigSur for now and am going to be using Catalina which really works very well in both the machines.

thanks All.

What a p....

With all systems (even with iMac 11,x using OpenCore) the Big Sur installer was able to set the startup partition automatically during the 3 or 4 reboots. There was no user intervention necessary. The iMac with this card will be likely the best option you own to run Big Sur smoothly.

iMac 11,x user should make simply sure in advance that their OC device is the default start object set in the system preferences. Everything else works automatically.

 

[air.man]

Try this, boot from "BaseSystem fix", first disable and delete any snapshot, then apply "BigSurFixes snapshot booting", you should at least make a new "patched snapshot", then reboot through OpenCore, select again "BaseSystem fix", from utilities "BigSurfixes opencore Preboot", then reboot and try booting BigSur from OpenCore.

If this still doesn't work, another try, from opencore menu select "Restart fix" and try booting BigSur with alt-option key from apple startup manager.

If neither this work then I should debug this stage3 installer phase for non-APFS external legacy USB target, because on internal SATA it works correctly.

While disable and delete the existing snapshot work, the "snapshot booting" fails with the usual ARV error, so no snapshots are in the system. Any subsequent boot attempt returns the previous known errors.
Thanks for all your support!

 

[jackluke]

While disable and delete the existing snapshot work, the "snapshot booting" fails with the usual ARV error, so no snapshots are in the system. Any subsequent boot attempt returns the previous known errors.
Thanks for all your support!

That's issue ARV error it's weird because "csrutil auth root" is disabled (even if I still using a patched boot.efi from previous beta, maybe I should use the new 724 KB boot.efi), ignoring this ARV issue, another attempt, after you used disable snapshot (or delete snapshot), rebooting BigSur with CMD+S from its shell type:

mount -P 1
mount -P 2
mount -uw /
kmutil install --update-all
kcditto
reboot

then reboot targeting BigSur with CMD+S, type "mount -P 1 ; mount -P 2 ; mount -uw / ; exit"

 

[Dilli]

What a p....

With all systems (even with iMac 11,x using OpenCore) the Big Sur installer was able to set the startup partition automatically during the 3 or 4 reboots. There was no user intervention necessary. The iMac with this card will be likely the best option you own to run Big Sur smoothly.

iMac 11,x user should make simply sure in advance that their OC device is the default start object set in the system preferences. Everything else works automatically.

I accept and acknowledge what you wrote apparently I did many trials but lost out. Unless my imac boots normally to my login screen with existing catalina I cant proceed to install Bigsur when everytime for normal start i have to press option key to get to my login screen.
So i would then loose out to my existing OS too.
I managed to make the base system usb fix installer in a new usb stick but am worried about the imac crashing upon me if it gets stuck during multiple boots of the usb installer.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I accept and acknowledge what you wrote apparently I did many trials but lost out. Unless my imac boots normally to my login screen with existing catalina I cant proceed to install Bigsur when everytime for normal start i have to press option key to get to my login screen.
So i would then loose out to my existing OS too.
I managed to make the base system usb fix installer in a new usb stick but am worried about the imac crashing upon me if it gets stuck during multiple boots of the usb installer.

As long as you are using two partitions (not two APFS containers) I see no reason why a Big Sure installation attempt should destroy your Catalina installation....

This is how I did it all the time unless I decided yesterday to do the Big Sur over Catalina installation on my main machine (after endless backup and restore experiments). Looks pretty good right now, but as I wrote before there is no support or guarantee for this method...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

patch-kext.sh for iMac 12.x users:

There is a small error within the patch-kext.sh script of version 0.5.0 script failing to install the backlight correction:

Solution:
Wait until micro patcher 0.5.2 has been released or use the attached corrected version or edit patch-kext.sh and replace line 692 with this line

            INSTALL_BACKLIGHT="YES"

 

[sergiodadi]

Hello,

on my Imac 27 " mi 2011 I have changed my graphic card with a Dell WX4130 an I have installed Catalina with dosdude1 patch and Catalina Loader 0.6.2 , all is OK (you can see my post here) and SIP is disabled.

Now , I try to install Big Sur on a SSD USB disk with micropatcher.

I create the USB key without error message with the last Big Sur package:

When I boot (with my SD card "Catalina loader 0.6.2"), i have the 2 icons "Install macOS Big Sur" and "EFI Boot". I select the "EFI Boot" and the iMac power down .

I reboot and i select the "Install macOS Big Sur" and i have the prohibited/no-entry sign (circle with a line). As described, i try 4 or 5 times to reboot with "EFi Boot" but each time after, I have the prohibited/no-entry sign for "Install macOS Big Sur".

do i have to reboot efi more times or does anyone have an idea of the problem ?

Thank you for your help,

I first post on a bad thread, I have the answer from @Ausdauersportler , I try this afternoon

"Try to use another config.plist (NVIDIA) on the Catalina Loader and move possible in to 0.6.3. This will give you the boot screen, but does not spoof the iMacPro1,1 ID. You can change back to the AMD config after installation and patching, in fact you have to change back or there will be no screen output."

Serge

Thank very much @Ausdauersportler , I use "Catalina Loader 0.6.3" (instead 0.6.2) and with the plist standard for AMD WX4130 (no NVIDIA modification) , I can boot with "Install macOS Big Sur" without problem. Tomorrow , i write a more detailed post . I can say already that Big Sur , on my Imac 27" mi 2011 with WX4130, was installed (clean install, not Catalina upgrade) on a test USB SSD disk without any problem with micropatcher, I confirm that stock WIFI BT and Ethernet works properly patched.

Thank you again 👍

 

[Strathaird]

Will there be an official software update appearing in my system preferences on my MacBook Pro early 2013 at any stage?

 

[Dilli]

As long as you are using two partitions (not two APFS containers) I see no reason why a Big Sure installation attempt should destroy your Catalina installation....

This is how I did it all the time unless I decided yesterday to do the Big Sur over Catalina installation on my main machine (after endless backup and restore experiments). Looks pretty good right now, but as I wrote before there is no support or guarantee for this method...

I will post you the screenshot of the partitions so that you can let me know if its fine by tomorrow. 👍

 

[Bmju]

Will there be an official software update appearing in my system preferences on my MacBook Pro early 2013 at any stage?

Not according to this page: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211238

 

[Langi1977]

Hi
I have installed big sur on my imac Late 2012. i used the barrykn micropatcher. This worked fine.
My Problem is to install the kext for working wifi.
In the attached file you see the terminal answer.
Please help me

And sorry for my horrible english

 

[straycat23]

What version of Big Sur does this software download?

All of them. I tried Beta and Release. None worked for me. I'm doing something wrong. Don't know what.

 

[BigSURfur]

Could you describe the removing process exactly how you did it? I still get Error: -69863: Insufficient privileges
Purgeable: No
Deleting APFS Snapshot 0FFE873F-86C8.....
Started APFS operation
Error: -69863: Insufficient privileges

I’m having the same problem with the public release now. Would you let me know if u were able to fix it?

 

[BigSURfur]

Is my issue to do with this? - with b10 I can't delete the remaining snapshot from Recovery. Even with the BS System volume mounted and R/W, I get 'Error -69863: Insufficient privileges'. I've managed to delete all snapshots manually up to/incl b9.

After I updated b9 to b10, the usual 'com.apple.update...' sort of snapshot was listed - but with 'Purgeable: No' this time around. I added a newer snapshot and zapped the Apple one with Barry's script. The remaining one I added stated 'Purgeable: Yes' but it still just won't delete.

Any thoughts anyone?

EDIT: I just reapplied the full Beta10 Installer over the injected-into-b9 delta b10 update and I 'can' now delete the initial update snapshot from recovery, leaving none (even though it was flagged as 'Purgeable: No').

Yo I can’t even boot into recovery mode. But I tried from another external and internal bootable backup which contains Catalina and still no luck. Getting the insufficient privileges, no matter where I try to run this command “diskutil apfs deleteSnapshot <the disk that has the update snapshot> -uuid <its uuid>” Can I do it in SUM? Appreciate any answer!

 

[Ron_]

Hi everyone,

I have an iMac 21.5 mid 2011 with an upgraded GPU K2100m.
I did a clean install of Big Sur using the Micropatcher 0.5.1 and now I'm having kernel panic.
The first time I boot from EFI Boot, the iMac could boot from my internal SSD but after if I boot again from the Catalina Loader with OC 0.6.2 to restore the brightness. If I restart the computer, it is stuck on a blank screening nothing.
The caps lock key does not even light. I have to boot from Catalina Loader.
The other thing, I can't select other startup discs in the system preferences.

The report is attached and thanks in advance.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi
I have installed big sur on my imac Late 2012. i used the barrykn micropatcher. This worked fine.
My Problem is to install the kext for working wifi.
In the attached file you see the terminal answer.
Please help me

And sorry for my horrible english

/Volumes/ImacSSD instead of /volumes/ImacSSD

The standard mount point is located in a folder named

/Volumes

Unix is case sensitive...

 

[Nobodee]

Hello Hello,
Thanks for the great job you do!
I have a problem I tried an installation on my iMac 13.2 and unfortunately once the installation is complete I think correctly I am encountering a boot loop with a kernel panic. I am stuck after step 14.
Thanks for your help

@Ausdauersportler I see you have helped lot of people did you have any idea about my issue ? 🙏

 

[jameshogg]

I was wondering if anyone could help help, I was able to install BigSur on my wpqw MacBook Pro successfully using the Bigsurpathcer. I then run the app the came with it to patch for WiFi. I restarted it and now I am in a boot loop. When I re ran the usb it would not accept my password. And having boot with the external disk when I run disk utility it will not accept my password for Macintosh Hd - data. I was running file vault. Can anyone help?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@Ausdauersportler I see you have helped lot of people did you have any idea about my issue ? 🙏

All I know is that you made to until step 14. If it fails you likely missed one of the 13 steps before, booting into EFI or setting the NVRAM boot args correctly or a bad USB installer?
Start with step one again.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I was wondering if anyone could help help, I was able to install BigSur on my wpqw MacBook Pro successfully using the Bigsurpathcer. I then run the app the came with it to patch for WiFi. I restarted it and now I am in a boot loop. When I re ran the usb it would not accept my password. And having boot with the external disk when I run disk utility it will not accept my password for Macintosh Hd - data. I was running file vault. Can anyone help?

Right now, no! But I read in the documentation of the micro patcher that disabling file vault during the installation might be a good idea.

FileVault has been buggy throughout the entire Big Sur development cycle. For maximum stability, disable FileVault before upgrading to Big Sur. Once you upgrade to Big Sur, bugs may make it impossible to disable FileVault and may make it impossible to unlock your FileVault volumes when applying updates or booting from the installer USB. (Not to mention, FileVault bugs may also make it impossible to open Terminal on the installer USB.) The best way out of this conundrum is probably to back up the entire Big Sur installation using Time Machine (Time Machine encryption, unlike FileVault, appears to be stable), erase and reinstall Big Sur, and use the Setup Assistant to restore the Time Machine backup.

 

[tinyvee]

I have a 2012 Mac Pro with a Radeon HD 7950 graphics. I have a hard drive ready, GUID partitioned. Mac OS Extended(journaled) format. I downloaded:
https://github.com/BenSova/Patched-Sur/releases/download/v0.0.3/Patched-Sur.dmg

Followed directions. Ended with this:

What am I doing wrong? I've tried it several times

What I did was to download the Install Assistant separately then look for the hidden .patched Sur folder in your user home folder and move the Install Assistant there.

 

[OKonnel]

I easily installed macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 (20B29) in my 27'' iMac (Late 2013 - fully Apple BTO improved) and everything works perfectly. My iMac is equipped with a Fusion Drive which I intend to separate and replace the mechanical HDD with a 2TB Crucial MX 500 SSD.
So, if you have a 27-inch iMac from late 2013, rest assured it's perfectly suited to Big Sur.

I add some details to facilitate the transition, without risking anything, proceeding to do everything BEFORE disassembling the iMac to change the original HDD with the new SDD.
1) I used Micropatcher as suggested by default (without additional flags) to patch the USB Key with Big Sur. I created the USB Key by createinstallmedia.
2) I connected the Crucial SSD via an external USB 3.1 adapter and formatted it as APFS.
3) I restarted the Mac from the USB Key patched with Micropatcher and after having first booted from the "EFI Boot" unit I turned the iMac back on and installed Big Sur from USB key to the external Crucial SSD that I named "Macintosh SD".

The Mac has been running great from two days. I'm stressing him out and he doesn't crash and never freezes.
In the meantime, Finder see perfectly the internal Fusion Drive with Catalina and I take the opportunity to copy my many Internet Accounts to Big Sur (by copying the files contained in My_Home/Library/Accounts/ of Catalina's disk to the identical folder of Big Sur disk.
This worked great right away and after a Logout/Login all of my Internet Accounts appear in Big Sur's System Preferences

Next, I will pass the contents of My_Home/Library/Mail/, the contents of My_Home/Music/Music folder, the Photo's library and everything in between.

At the end, when I have verified with certainty that I have passed everything on Big Sur and that it works fine, I will open the iMac and replace the HDD with the SDD in which Big Sur is.

It was simple and fun

NOTE: in my opinion, maybe Big Sur could also be installed in the Fusion Drive; mine is the 1,128 TB one with 128GB SSD. If I have time I will try to do a clean installation to the Fusion Drive, from zero, to make a comparison with the external SDD; after all, if it goes wrong, I intend to proceed with the replacement of the HDD anyway.

 

[justperry]

Apple Seeds First Beta of Upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.1 Update to Developers

I keep an eye open for the Catalog.

 

[Dilli]

Finally after a lot of perseverance got the BigSur working fully on the iMac mid 2011. Siri Audio works and post patches went well with wifi working. I used the Micropatcher installer of BarryN followed by post patches.sh. Thanks to @jackluke and @Ausdauersportler specially for extra help.

Only major issue I am facing is iMac does not show desktop after startup chime. I have to restart, Start, fresh boot the machine by pressing Option/alt key of the keyboard.
Please provide solution to this ongoing issue. Thanks