macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Ausdauersportler]

This is what it returns

          Card Type: AirPort Extreme  (0x14E4, 0xF4)
          Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.190.34 AirPortDriverBrcm4360-1325.3)

Do you have any ideas about my High Sierra issue? Shouldn't I be able to boot High Sierra from another disk? I want to have a clean install of 10.13.6 in case of emergency. I might try to reinstall it without any modifications.

No idea about the issues with High Sierra, I have nearly the same setup with a second HDD or SSD having High Sierra installed.

The interesting lines are the two above, the first will be enough I guess. Which wifi mode you have chosen in the end?
I can just include a command asking for the card above and then I need to know which wifi patches (if any) have been applied to your installation. Getting the board-id and do the patches is five more lines of code.

I would send you and modified patch-kext.sh - you need to call patch-kext.sh -u to revert to the installation state and then reboot. After reboot call just patch-kext.sh as usual...and reboot and check your card and Hand Off and Continuity...

 

[S-Tronic]

Hi Il-Rollino,

I was at home by a friend. Corona-Related exit lock, I have to be at home at 8pm. Before I start driving, I've closed my Macbook and drove less than 10 min home. At home I opened my MacBook ....and..... it unlocks by watch. Strage behavior.....

 

[johnrak]

Which wifi mode you have chosen in the end?

My first successful attempt was with --wifi=hv12v-old. Later I called patch-kext.sh again with no parameters and followed the same steps. So it worked again with mojave-hybrid.

 

[Bustycat]

Updated OpenCore in my MacBookPro9,2 (spoofed to MacBookPro11,1) to the release version 0.6.5 successfully. Most of things generated from OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.0.7 got replaced during the process.

OpenCanopy got some nice improvements.

Firmware version is spoofed from 427.0.0.0.0 to 429.0.0.0.0

 

[MrMacintoshBlog]

Updated OpenCore in my MacBookPro9,2 (spoofed to MacBookPro11,1) to the release version 0.6.5 successfully. Most of things generated from OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.0.7 got replaced during the process.

OpenCanopy got some nice improvements.
View attachment 1707320

Firmware version is spoofed from 427.0.0.0.0 to 429.0.0.0.0

oh that's NICE! I had a video all setup for opencore but stopped when the bricking reports of the 11.1 update came out. I'm trying to figure out how to handle that. I know the readme now mentions that those models are no longer supported. hmm

 

[Tockman]

I can just include a command asking for the card above and then I need to know which wifi patches (if any) have been applied to your installation. Getting the board-id and do the patches is five more lines of code.

Might that be a reason of Personal Hotspot failure in my case, when my iPhone network is behaving normally and seen by any other devices but only iMac can not connect to it? Plus to it, Continuity works in one-way mode: I can copy on iMac and paste on iPhone but never vice versa.

 

[MacHacJac]

Updated OpenCore in my MacBookPro9,2 (spoofed to MacBookPro11,1) to the release version 0.6.5 successfully. Most of things generated from OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.0.7 got replaced during the process.

OpenCanopy got some nice improvements.
View attachment 1707320

Firmware version is spoofed from 427.0.0.0.0 to 429.0.0.0.0

Beautiful! I will update my OpenCore ASAP too

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Might that be a reason of Personal Hotspot failure in my case, when my iPhone network is behaving normally and seen by any other devices but only iMac can not connect to it? Plus to it, Continuity works in one-way mode: I can copy on iMac and paste on iPhone but never vice versa.

We made the code working and I will release it in an upcoming version. Basically it is a command line flag that will to the additional patching regardless which card has been installed and which kernel extension will be used.

I cannot comment on the features of this particular BCM94331CD compared to BCM94360CD and BCM943602CDP since I do not own one.

HandOff is working in both directions with my iMac/Big Sur 11.1/BCM943602CDP and iPhoneXS and iPad Pro in both directions if you know which buttons to press on the iPhone

 

[Tockman]

HandOff is working in both directions with my iMac/Big Sur 11.1/BCM943602CDP and iPhoneXS and iPad Pro in both directions if you know which buttons to press on the iPhone

Surely I know - just because it worked in the run of prior 6 years on half a dozen OS versions. So the point is in patched 4331 kext specifically.

 

[Bustycat]

oh that's NICE! I had a video all setup for opencore but stopped when the bricking reports of the 11.1 update came out. I'm trying to figure out how to handle that. I know the readme now mentions that those models are no longer supported. hmm

Some people with Mac mini also faced the firmware issue so that’s why the team warns to stop using Legacy Patcher.

To clarify, FW version is not spoofed by config.plist— OpenCore itself spoofs it. Maybe the possible workaround would be generating files from Legacy Patcher and updating to 0.6.5 before copying to ESP.

 

[MrMacintoshBlog]

Some people with Mac mini also faced the firmware issue so that’s why the team warns to stop using Legacy Patcher.

To clarify, FW version is not spoofed by config.plist— OpenCore itself spoofs it. Maybe the possible workaround would be generating files from Legacy Patcher and updating to 0.6.5 before copying to ESP.

Thanks! Oh wait, just to clarify. Two versions of opencore exist right ?

OpenCore version 0.6.5
OpenCore Legacy Patcher

 

[naylom11]

Thanks! Oh wait, just to clarify. Two versions of opencore exist right ?

OpenCore version 0.6.5
OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Eh not quite, OpenCore is just OpenCore. The Legacy Patcher simply modifies a 0.6.4 install, adding kexts, and adjusting config.plist variables to allow your specific legacy system to boot and function. 0.6.5 is just the latest release of OpenCore... The Legacy Patcher just needs to be updated to use the latest version. If you already have your system up and running using previous versions of OC (Legacy Patcher included), you can simply follow the upgrade process to get 0.6.5 up and running.

Edit: For testing purposes I upgraded my 9,2 to 0.6.5, and like @Bustycat stated, it will spoof a newer firmware version. However, whether this protects against future OTA firmware updates/bricks is yet to be seen.

 

[naylom11]

Edit

 

[mwidjaya]

it will spoof a newer firmware version. However, whether this protects against future OTA firmware updates/bricks is yet to be seen.

And...this is the reason I have not tried OCLP yet.

I am not even sure what to do, if firmware is messed up and needs to be re-flashed to a known good version.

 

[KennyW]

And...this is the reason I have not tried OCLP yet.

I am not even sure what to do, if firmware is messed up and needs to be re-flashed to a known good version.

Running the latest and greatest system doesn't necessarily mean the best for your unsupported Mac, unless it is not your primary working station and you have all your time to troubleshoot when necessary.

Does that increase your productivity ? Does any software you use force you to upgrade to a new system ?
Security update to Catalina would still be pumped out for some time before next major OS upgrade.
I see no hurry to risk your main working Mac when the installation process is still being actively developed.

 

[Bustycat]

Running the latest and greatest system doesn't necessarily mean the best for your unsupported Mac, unless it is not your primary working station and you have all your time to troubleshoot when necessary.

Does that increase your productivity ? Does any software you use force you to upgrade to a new system ?
Security update to Catalina would still be pumped out for some time before next major OS upgrade.
I see no hurry to risk your main working Mac when the installation process is still being actively developed.

Then this thread shouldn’t have existed if everyone follows your opinion.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Then this thread shouldn’t have existed if everyone follows your opinion.

This is absolute ...

@KennyW just wrote down what every company (small or big) is doing if they have a roll our plan for new software. This thread is exactly the foundation to detect and fix errors in the deployment process, find workarounds for things Apple dropped on their own way to new and more modern macOS releases. Using unsupported Macs we cannot rely on the results Apple is producing for their set of supported machines - and even there bugs exist.

Currently there are only a few reasons to migrate from Catalina to Big Sur for people using it as a productive platform, the reasons have been written down.

For my particular family of iMac systems there is the loss of DRM with Big Sur. So I opted to have two systems, one running with latest stable Catalina and Big Sur release, another with the latest beta upgrades included. Before I touch the stable releases I do some manual checks. Real IT companies have compute farms with highly automated test cases running on each new build. We have some technical interested users doing it manually when the developers roll out a new version of the patchers....

Why I do have the latest Beta installed? I just want to know if the deployment process needs some adaptions making sure the patcher will work.

 

[KennyW]

Then this thread shouldn’t have existed if everyone follows your opinion.

I don't mean all users shouldn't if you read my comment carefully. But each has to rank his/her need, and the risk involved (e.g. bricking and loss in productivity) IF the computer is one's main work station.

I also experiment in my primary working iMac when I see that something seems mature enough for testing, and I am comfortable enough to understand the process to handle the troubleshooting, albeit with some help from forum members .

 

[mwidjaya]

Running the latest and greatest system doesn't necessarily mean the best for your unsupported Mac...

I don't think of it that way.

Certainly not dissing OCLP. I am thankful of crazy-skilled folks who worked on the patchers shared.
I think I am not skilled enough to cope with it's rough edges.

I have used micropatcher by Barry K. on a 2012 mini because even though it is unsupported, the reasons are not technical.

It is running patched Big Sur great and is officially supported for Catalina.

 

[CuchoM]

Updated OpenCore in my MacBookPro9,2 (spoofed to MacBookPro11,1) to the release version 0.6.5 successfully. Most of things generated from OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.0.7 got replaced during the process.

OpenCanopy got some nice improvements.
View attachment 1707320

Firmware version is spoofed from 427.0.0.0.0 to 429.0.0.0.0

Great news , Do you have bootcamp ? How to solve audio problem at windows ?

 

[Bustycat]

Great news , Do you have bootcamp ? How to solve audio problem at windows ?

Yes I have Boot Camp with Windows 10 20H2. No audio problem.

 

[PolyphemusNL]

I've got a 2011 27 inch iMac, in which I swapped the defective graphics card for a K1100M. I've successfully installed Big Sur 11.1, with MicroPatcher. Only one problem, and I couldn't find a solution via Google, I can't seem to dim the backlight, as it is running at full brightness all the time. It gives me a headache...

What can I do?

 

[il-rollino]

Great news , Do you have bootcamp ? How to solve audio problem at windows ?

I have the same issue, integrated audio unit is not working under Windows 10, despite the fact that I've tried different workarounds, like uninstalling audio drivers, installing new audio drivers, updating drivers, none worked.
Also the brightness adjustment doesn't work (I read that the gpu driver update a is to blame). Luckily for me is me not a big deal, since I mostly use my Mac in clamshell mode attached to a Thunderbolt dock that provides also an audio output that works fine under Win 10.
Anyway I guess these 2 issues are not related to installing Big Sur on ad unsupported Mac.

 

[Mikokola]

Hi there,

I have a quick question. I did successfully install Big Sur on an MBA 11' Mid-2012 using Micropatcher. It worked well and went smoothly with only minor glitches. Theses bugs were indeed inconvenient and I did roll back to Catalina.

After doing two clean install of Catalina on my MBA 11' Mid 2012 that has been updated temporarily to BigSur I experience issues with bluetooth and apple Magic Mouse and magic keyboards. The magic devices works well on another Mac that I have. But I have hard time to get them connected to the MBA and if I get it then the mouse movement is not smooth (similar to poor connection with on and off movement, lagging).

It is like if installing BigSur had changed something that even a fresh install of Catalina can not restore (firmware).

Can someone confirm what is the bluetooth firmware on a MBA 11' mid 2012. Mine after installing Big Sur and reinstalling Catalina is V7.0.6f8 (v156 c5917).

Thanks

 

[andrey_russian]

I've got a 2011 27 inch iMac, in which I swapped the defective graphics card for a K1100M. I've successfully installed Big Sur 11.1, with MicroPatcher. Only one problem, and I couldn't find a solution via Google, I can't seem to dim the backlight, as it is running at full brightness all the time. It gives me a headache...

What can I do?

2011 iMac 27" K1100M Graphics Card Swap And Install Catalina - Hello, World! Codes

A step-by-step guide on how I successfully swap the graphics card to K1100M on my 2011 27″ iMac and install Catalina in this unsupported system. I decided to take on this project due to the infamous Apple AMD GPU failure…

helloworldcodes.com