macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Nado1969]

Has anybody tried to install Big Sur on Macbook Pro (mid 2012) will it have HW Acceleration on the nVidia GeForce GT 650M GPU?

EDIT:

I ask, because according to this page:

https://dortania.github.io/GPU-Buyers-Guide/modern-gpus/nvidia-gpu.html

It says the 650M is compatible with latest Big Sur, but this page (at the very bottom) says it isn't:

macOS Sequoia

macOS Sequoia brings effortless window tiling, web browsing with fewer distractions, new iPhone Mirroring, and support for Apple Intelligence.

www.apple.com

I'm wondering the same thing, I just gave my 2012 (MacBookPro9,1) a birthday with new thermal paste, more RAM and SSD, it's running like a trooper on Catalina. I did this recently based on the same info that it would work with Big Sur. Now Apple saying it's not supported?

Also, if you go to https://www.apple.com/au/macos/big-sur/ and scroll to the bottom, it now says "Macbook Pro Late 2013..." when it previously said Mid 2012, however when you follow the link, this states "MacBook Pro models from 2012 and newer can run the latest version of macOS. ". Scroll down on this page, and it doesn't drop back to HighSierro only until 2011.

Mixed messaging!! My Macbook is a great unit and I don't wish to retire it anytime soon! Although to be honest I have no complaints with Catalina and Logic Pro. Rock solid.

 

[m4f1050]

I'm wondering the same thing, I just gave my 2012 (MacBookPro9,1) a birthday with new thermal paste, more RAM and SSD, it's running like a trooper on Catalina. I did this recently based on the same info that it would work with Big Sur. Now Apple saying it's not supported?

Also, if you go to https://www.apple.com/au/macos/big-sur/ and scroll to the bottom, it now says "Macbook Pro Late 2013..." when it previously said Mid 2012, however when you follow the link, this states "MacBook Pro models from 2012 and newer can run the latest version of macOS. ". Scroll down on this page, and it doesn't drop back to HighSierro only until 2011.

Mixed messaging!! My Macbook is a great unit and I don't wish to retire it anytime soon! Although to be honest I have no complaints with Catalina and Logic Pro. Rock solid.

Yeah, I am baffled... I have my Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010) running Big Sur (with RX580) but on the MacBook Pro it's not that easy to upgrade video... And if you think about it, Big Sur will probably be the last macOS with Intel based processor support. So Mac Pro with RX580 would be the cheapest solution to run Big Sur, and I was hoping my MacBook Pro (mid 2012) was the same scenario... I don't really like how Apple is handling this...

 

[BigSURfur]

Has anybody tried to install Big Sur on Macbook Pro (mid 2012) will it have HW Acceleration on the nVidia GeForce GT 650M GPU?

EDIT:

I ask, because according to this page:

https://dortania.github.io/GPU-Buyers-Guide/modern-gpus/nvidia-gpu.html

It says the 650M is compatible with latest Big Sur, but this page (at the very bottom) says it isn't:

macOS Sequoia

macOS Sequoia brings effortless window tiling, web browsing with fewer distractions, new iPhone Mirroring, and support for Apple Intelligence.

www.apple.com

BigSur works like a charm on my Mid-2012 MBP, so do the my 4 other OS installed alongside. However, mine is not an nvidia GPU, it’s intel HD.

 

[BigSURfur]

Try installing on another Mac USB drive and use carbon copy clone to raid0 on destination Mac. I was able to do it that way.

I’ve tried what you’re suggesting at least 10 times with different scenarios with CCC but it always fails at around 52% of the operation. Only succeeds if the disk is not a RAID member. Send a screenshot showing you’re running BigSur off a RAID array. Otherwise, Your answer is a total BS.

 

[Quackers]

@m4f1050 @Nado1969
I have a mid 2012 retina MBP running Catalina.
I created a new partition and installed Big Sur following the guide in this thread together with @barryKN's guide on Github.
The installation went great but had a little problem with the command for the patching but fixed that from the booted Big Sur installation later.
With the retina having 2 graphics chips you'll find that the Nvidia card is the one that it will use by default and no graphics switching is available.
This is fixable with a single terminal command that needs to be run after every reboot (currently) - see post 3255 on page 131 of this thread.
After running the command the system used the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics chip and will switch to the Nvidia card as required by whatever you're running. When demand reduces it will switch back to the Intel chip.

The system works well on my machine and in fact I'm using it constantly and don't currently use Catalina at all.
But as said I'm dual booting both systems and Big Sur was fresh installed on a second partition.

I think I have seen one person on here that has had problems with a non-retina MBP of the same age.

 

[m4f1050]

@m4f1050 @Nado1969
I have a mid 2012 retina MBP running Catalina.
I created a new partition and installed Big Sur following the guide in this thread together with @barryKN's guide on Github.
The installation went great but had a little problem with the command for the patching but fixed that from the booted Big Sur installation later.
With the retina having 2 graphics chips you'll find that the Nvidia card is the one that it will use by default and no graphics switching is available.
This is fixable with a single terminal command that needs to be run after every reboot (currently) - see post 3255 on page 131 of this thread.
After running the command the system used the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics chip and will switch to the Nvidia card as required by whatever you're running. When demand reduces it will switch back to the Intel chip.

The system works well on my machine and in fact I'm using it constantly and don't currently use Catalina at all.
But as said I'm dual booting both systems and Big Sur was fresh installed on a second partition.

I think I have seen one person on here that has had problems with a non-retina MBP of the same age.

Hmmmm, I have the non-retina MBP mid 2012. It does have dual graphics cards, the 4000 and the GT 650M. But the resolution is 1440 x 900 and the GT 650M has only 512MB.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Processor 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk macOS
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

 

[buckrock]

Has anybody tried to install Big Sur on Macbook Pro (mid 2012) will it have HW Acceleration on the nVidia GeForce GT 650M GPU?

EDIT:

I ask, because according to this page:

https://dortania.github.io/GPU-Buyers-Guide/modern-gpus/nvidia-gpu.html

It says the 650M is compatible with latest Big Sur, but this page (at the very bottom) says it isn't:

macOS Sequoia

macOS Sequoia brings effortless window tiling, web browsing with fewer distractions, new iPhone Mirroring, and support for Apple Intelligence.

www.apple.com

I have MacOS 11.0.1 (20B29) on my internal SSD, running fast with no problems on my MBP Retina 10,1 mid-2012 with Broadcom BCM43xx 802.11ac upgrade. Displaypolicyd is enabled, gfxCardStatus v.2.4.4i set on Dynamic Switching.

I had tested Big Sur OS all the way back to Beta3; these were installed on my external SSD. Heating was an issue early on, but Dynamic Switching seems to cure that. At one point I needed to disable displaypolicyd, but not now.

 

[Quackers]

Hmmmm, I have the non-retina MBP mid 2012. It does have dual graphics cards, the 4000 and the GT 650M. But the resolution is 1440 x 900 and the GT 650M has only 512MB.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Processor 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk macOS
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

Hmm not sure the non-retina has both graphics chips tbh.
Click the Apple and select About this Mac
The top line of the display will tell you what your machine is

 

[buckrock]

Let me add that Barry (micropatcher) suggests for the MBP-r, 10,1 use the install-setvars.sh -e command to set the SIP, etc.

 

[m4f1050]

Hmm not sure the non-retina has both graphics chips tbh.
Click the Apple and select About this Mac
The top line of the display will tell you what your machine is

That's where I got the info from that I posted at the end of my message. Doesn't say "Retina"

More info:


Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: 233.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.1f175

 

[Quackers]

That's where I got the info from that I posted at the end of my message. Doesn't say "Retina"

More info:


Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: 233.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.1f175

Apparently the MBP 9,1 is not retina but it does have both graphics chips.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

That's where I got the info from that I posted at the end of my message. Doesn't say "Retina"

More info:


Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: 233.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.1f175

Possibly you better search : About this Mac -> system report -> Graphics / Display (instead of hardware overview).

 

[Quackers]

Really? I must have missed that.
What does the -e argument do? Just set the SIP?

Let me add that Barry (micropatcher) suggests for the MBP-r, 10,1 use the install-setvars.sh -e command to set the SIP, etc.

 

[eVasilis]

And if you think about it, Big Sur will probably be the last macOS with Intel based processor support...

Not really. Think macpro 2019. it cannot become obsolete next year.

 

[buckrock]

Really? I must have missed that.
What does the -e argument do? Just set the SIP?

It does a bunch of stuff regarding security: check Barry's post here.

 

[Quackers]

It does a bunch of stuff regarding security: check Barry's post here.

Damn it! I didn't see that post.
That explains why my volumes are unsealed. Damn again!
Can it be done now, do you know?

 

[buckrock]

Damn it! I didn't see that post.
That explains why my volumes are unsealed. Damn again!
Can it be done now, do you know?in

By far the simplest and safest way is to create a new USB installer and run the micropatcher.sh and install-setvars.sh -e commands. Then proceed as he directs booting EFI and then run the MacOS installer over your existing Big Sur. So much easier than trying to unpatch the USB stick, plus it acts like when we used rerun the combo updater to fix problems. I've "re-installed" a couple of times during the beta testing to solve little problems. Works like magic!

 

[Quackers]

By far the simplest and safest way is to create a new USB installer and run the micropatcher.sh and install-setvars.sh -e commands. Then proceed as he directs booting EFI and then run the MacOS installer over your existing Big Sur. So much easier than trying to unpatch the USB stick, plus it acts like when we used rerun the combo updater to fix problems. I've "re-installed" a couple of times during the beta testing to solve little problems. Works like magic!

I'll set about that shortly.
Thank you!

 

[throwinrocks]

Okay. I have tried to find the downloads but none are there. Can someone please post them here for me?
I'm running an iMac late 2013.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ron_]

Thanks for your help.

I followed your instructions and will keep you posted.

You are simply using the wrong config.plist on your OC - rename the NVIDIA version. Using the AMD version you are spoofing the iMacPro1,1 ID and sleep fails. Move of the 0.6.3 and rename the file. Read the post I made about this.

I wonder how you got it working before with Catalina ....

P.S.: Next time put the panic.log into SPOILER Tags...

No more kernel panic.
Thanks again for your help and providing all this useful documentation.

 

[Veext]

Is it possible to run HD 3000 GPU acceleration on macbook pro 2011?

 

[Phantom-fa]

Just out of curiosity: Did you use the micro patcher?

Bluetooth:
Yes, I can confirm bluetooth connections are coming back after reboot and sometimes get lost after sleep on 12,2. The Apple 2 BT keyboard currently works only with USB cable connected. The mouse only after reboot until first sleep.
After reboot the keyboard works via BT and cable. Guess I have to send it to sleep, again.

Ethernet:
Is working fine with micro patcher 0.5.1 (and older) installation on all iMac 11,x and 12,x.

Wifi:
Stable with 5 and 2.4GHz using a BCM94360CD/BCM943602CDP and also working with the original Atheros card.

I used OpenCore, with the CatalinaBMC5701Ethernet kext
I have original wifi card and it works fine.
I have wired k/b so no problems there.
Mouse doesn't come back after reboot until I used wired mouse to connect it in Bluetooth preferences.

 

[BaggieBoy]

I've twice tried to update my 2012 rMBP 15", both times the patch kext step failed with kmutil error 25. Reverted back to Catalina.

 

[BigSURfur]

Has anyone tried installing Big Sur on any unsupported Macs on a RAID 0 and if so, was it successful? Does it boot?! Does bless fail to make it boot?! I would really appreciate if someone could reply back and let me know if they have a working/bootable Big Sur on a RAID array. I’ve been working on it since the night that it came out and still getting errors installing it normal, with ccc, using ASR manually, etc. Thanks everyone!

 

[grizzzlay]

Hello all,

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1.
3.46Ghz 6-Core Xeon
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB graphics card

I've managed to install Big Sur, but something about it just seems really odd. Every time I reboot, my Mac is unusable for about five minutes after logging in. Everything seems to just freeze, there's no spinning beach ball icon, nothing in Activity Monitor is really sticking out to explain the cause....nothing.

Here's what I did to get to this exact point in time:
- I installed OpenCore 0.6.3 on a 256GB SSD
- I installed Big Sur, patched, to that SSD. Didn't work.
- I formatted the 256GB SSD, no OpenCore this time.
- I installed Big Sur, patched, to that SSD. Didn't work.
- I formatted the 256GB SSD once again. Installed OpenCore.
- I installed Big Sur, unpatched, to that SSD.
- I migrated my data from a 10.15.7 drive that was installed via dosdude1's Catalina Patcher.

I have plenty of backups of that 10.15.7 drive, so I'm not without a working system. Just really confused as to which combination I need to actually go with to get a working install of 11.0.1.

Are there any other 4,1 > 5,1 owners that can chime in with a workflow that worked for them? I feel like I'm just trying different combinations and hoping something works. Maybe I'll just try a clean format with no OpenCore, then Big Sur patched. Maybe I wasn't patient enough for the installer to finish or something. I'll report back if I get something working.

I'm back with a solution! The problem was the SSD. It was experiencing intermittent read/write failures. So I tossed it, bought a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB. I installed Big Sur 11.0.1 using @Barry K. Nathan's Micropatcher, everything is working as smoothly as expected.

I'm choosing to do a completely manual migration, though. I found that previously, Messages and Photos were having a hard time updating from iCloud while working with the data from my migration backup. So I'm just taking this as an opportunity to clean house and get a solid system working. Now that I know the problem was the SSD, I MIGHT go back one day and install OpenCore, but I'm in no hurry to do so.

Thanks for making the Micropatcher, Barry. It works just fine. I just had to get a better drive and stop trying to make this work on a shoestring budget with duct tape and positive thinking.