Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Adamscomputerrepair

Adamscomputerrepair

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2015
549
287
2009 Mac Pro that's been flashed to 5,1 and is currently running Catalina Patcher.

I'm trying to upgrade to either Big Sur or Monterey but cannot get the installer to complete. I have OpenCore installed on the machine as I am using a different graphics card than the original. Here's a summary of what happens:

If I boot the installer from the USB Opencore, I get the welcome screen, install, it reboots, then boots into a circle cross with "support.apple.com" across the bottom screen.

If I boot the installer with the system OpenCore, I get the same issue before the system boots. Occasionally it will begin booting but will freeze.

If I carbon clone my Big Sur HDD I have running on my 2012 Mac Mini, the Pro simply refuses to see it as a bootable device even in opencore.

Please for the love of God someone tell me there's a solution. I'm about ready to chuck this thing, but I wouldn't throw it far because it weighs so much.
 
TigerA

TigerA

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2013
408
324
Adamscomputerrepair said:
If I boot the installer from the USB Opencore, I get the welcome screen, install, it reboots, then boots into a circle cross with "support.apple.com" across the bottom screen.
Click to expand...
Unclear what opencore you are using? Try the latest OCLP 0.3.1 Nightly Built and do NVRAM reset by pressing the spacebar and select reset NVRAM icon on the far right side after OC boot up (by holding the option/Alt key before the chime sound and select the OC icon) and before booting up to the new BigSur/Monterey.
 
Adamscomputerrepair

Adamscomputerrepair

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2015
549
287
TigerA said:
Unclear what opencore you are using? Try the latest OCLP 0.3.1 Nightly Built and do NVRAM reset by pressing the spacebar and select reset NVRAM icon on the far right side after OC boot up (by holding the option/Alt key before the chime sound and select the OC icon) and before booting up to the new BigSur/Monterey.
Click to expand...
I've used OC 0.2.5, and 0.3.0 both. Does 0.3.1 magically solve my issues? I've also reset NVRAM before as well, but I'll give this a try. Thanks.
 
Ausdauersportler

Ausdauersportler

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2019
5,007
5,826
Adamscomputerrepair said:
2009 Mac Pro that's been flashed to 5,1 and is currently running Catalina Patcher.

I'm trying to upgrade to either Big Sur or Monterey but cannot get the installer to complete. I have OpenCore installed on the machine as I am using a different graphics card than the original. Here's a summary of what happens:

If I boot the installer from the USB Opencore, I get the welcome screen, install, it reboots, then boots into a circle cross with "support.apple.com" across the bottom screen.

If I boot the installer with the system OpenCore, I get the same issue before the system boots. Occasionally it will begin booting but will freeze.

If I carbon clone my Big Sur HDD I have running on my 2012 Mac Mini, the Pro simply refuses to see it as a bootable device even in opencore.

Please for the love of God someone tell me there's a solution. I'm about ready to chuck this thing, but I wouldn't throw it far because it weighs so much.
Click to expand...
You need to use the latest 0.3.0 version with your MacPro5,1 because of the race conditions which has been recently solved by the SurPlus patch - which is part of 0.3.0+.

You know your MacPro NVRAM is a fragile thing. Having some crashes can destroy it and you will need a rebuild-service. Start with a deep NVRAM reset before going ahead and check this instructions about the NVRAM problems.

BTW:
OCLP has a hardware recognition and configures OC fitting with the current GPU installed. Whenever you change the GPU in your Mac Pro you need to rerun OCLP to adjust the settings.
 
Adamscomputerrepair

Adamscomputerrepair

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2015
549
287
Ausdauersportler said:
You need to use the latest 0.3.0 version with your MacPro5,1 because of the race conditions which has been recently solved by the SurPlus patch - which is part of 0.3.0+.

You know your MacPro NVRAM is a fragile thing. Having some crashes can destroy it and you will need a rebuild-service. Start with a deep NVRAM reset before going ahead and check this instructions about the NVRAM problems.

BTW:
OCLP has a hardware recognition and configures OC fitting with the current GPU installed. Whenever you change the GPU in your Mac Pro you need to rerun OCLP to adjust the settings.
Click to expand...
I feel I should clarify;

I have only switched GPU's once. That was after I installed macOS the first time and knew it would auto boot. I then installed OCLP with the new GPU.

I didn't know that about the NVRAM. I'll try a deep reset and go from there. I will also try 0.3.1. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
V

VMSwizard411

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2010
11
3
Charlotte, NC USA
Tony Vee 73 said:
@VMSwizard411 I'd love to know how you solved this issue
Click to expand...
This thread is what got me to my solution. From there, I ended up finding an automated tool called safariextension.sh (I cannot recall from where) that takes away the manual editing. Since I didn't write this tool, and cannot attribute it to its author I'm not going to post it myself. If I find where it came from I'll edit this thread with the source info.

So for now, just follow that thread.
 
I

internetzel

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2015
627
804
TigerA said:
For my non-metal iMac running Big Sur or Monterey, I really need to have the Messages app working. Giving the fact the Messages app in Catalina works correctly on the same iMac, I am wondering if it is possible to run this old version of Messages app in Big Sur or Monterey.
Based on this premise, I copied the Messages app from Catalina to Big Sur / Monterey and got a crash report saying the IMCore is missing in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMCore.framework/Versions/A/ folder. I then tried to copy this IMCore from Catalina but could not paste to this folder, assuming it's related to the permission. Adding permission was denied and set SIP to disable in recovery mode did not help neither (OCLP recovery mode). I then booted to Monterey and tried to add this IMCore to Big Sur's PrivateFrameworks (both macOS are in the same external SSD) and also failed the paste. It may also be related to APFS snapshots, but it's really beyond my current comprehension about macOS.
I realise I may have multiple issues here and would like to know if it is even possible to run Catalina Messages app in Big Sur / Monterey?
Click to expand...
You would have to copy the IMCore.framework (and maybe other frameworks) to a folder of your choice (where you do have write access to) and then use the following command in Terminal to launch Messages:
env DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH=~/MyFrameworks/ /System/Applications/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages
Click to expand...
The above command line expects the copied frameworks in a folder "MyFrameworks" in your user home directory (the parent folder of your "Desktop", "Documents" or "Download" folder).

This is just a recipe how you can launch an application making it link against other frameworks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TigerA
K

KennyW

macrumors 6502
Sep 5, 2007
452
389
My Big Sur on internal SSD installed fresh from 11.5 with incremental updates to 11.6 by OCLP 0.30 suddenly crashes at the logon desktop screen with forever turning rainbow cursor. Does anyone encounter such issue ?

I performed a disk check by First Aid of Disk Utility under Monterey and found the following disk error.
Is there no way to rescue but to reformat?
Luckily, apparent all my needed user data files in the Big Sur SSD are still accessible from Monterey on another disk.

Screenshot 2021-10-21 at 7.31.13 PM.png
 
TigerA

TigerA

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2013
408
324
KennyW said:
I performed a disk check by First Aid of Disk Utility under Monterey and found the following disk error.
Click to expand...
It happened to my iMac12,2 with the SSD connected to the spare SATA port (need a particular cable) multiple times. Each time after erasing the entire disk and reinstall the macOS, the system run correctly for a few days then crash again. Eventually I moved this SSD to the CDROM SATA port which solved the problem.
In my case, it's either the cable, or the spare SATA port faulty. Because I even bought another new SSD (Crucial MX500) to replace the one inside, which is a Samsung EVO 860, before moving to the CDROM SATA port and got the same result.
PS. The CDROM SATA port runs at 3mbps, which is half the speed of the spare SATA port at 6mbps.
 
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: KennyW
Ausdauersportler

Ausdauersportler

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2019
5,007
5,826
  • Love
  • Wow
Reactions: K two and camelia
hvds

hvds

macrumors 6502a
Sep 1, 2017
852
2,032
Switzerland
Just to say that the dynamic GPU switching (provided by the @Hackintosh HD patch) works also on Big Sur (running 11.6). See Monterey post #2,250 .
I've applied the patch manually, but I see that the latest OCLP 0.3.1 nightly contains it already, so should work after applying its root volume patch (not tested myself).
This should affect only MBP 5,x (i.e. 5,1 and 5,2 in Monterey).

PS: tried the same on Catalina (with the more intuitive kext replacement style of the time), but there it doesn't work.
Replaced AppleMuxControl.kext, boots ok. When doing "switch GPUs" in gfxCardStatus, it does have an effect: the mousepointer disappears, one can still reboot. So reverted the change.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ausdauersportler
K two

K two

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2018
2,314
3,187
North America
buckrock said:
Big Sur 11.6.1 (20G221) is available as an InstallAssistant.pkg (12.44GB download):

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...gm89ydg0leugbdepfudnvse0/InstallAssistant.pkg

Release info:
1. macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 (20G221) - 002-21096 - Added 2021-10-18 18:02:48
**this is not beta**

Note: I don't see the 11.6.1 OTA update yet; also no 11.6.1 at Apple Store yet.
Click to expand...
Broken link on 10/23 :rolleyes:

Update: Not broken. Some browsers now only speak https. Firefox users can add the 's' to the URL and D/L, just fine. 🥵
 
Last edited:
  • Love
Reactions: camelia
TigerA

TigerA

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2013
408
324
internetzel said:
You would have to copy the IMCore.framework (and maybe other frameworks) to a folder of your choice (where you do have write access to) and then use the following command in Terminal to launch Messages:

The above command line expects the copied frameworks in a folder "MyFrameworks" in your user home directory (the parent folder of your "Desktop", "Documents" or "Download" folder).

This is just a recipe how you can launch an application making it link against other frameworks.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the help and sorry for the late response.
I copied the IMCore.framework to ~/MyFrameworks/, ran command: env DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH=~/MyFrameworks/ and ~/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages (The old Messages.app is on the desktop). I received an error msg:
dyld: Symbol not found: _IMPersonChangedNotification
Referenced from: /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages
Expected in: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMCore.framework/Versions/A/IMCore
in /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages
zsh: abort /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages

Tried to locate this _IMPersonChangedNotification symbol without any luck.
Any suggestion?
Many thanks.
 
Last edited:
I

internetzel

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2015
627
804
TigerA said:
Thank you so much for the help and sorry for the late response.
I copied the IMCore.framework to ~/MyFrameworks/, ran command: env DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH=~/MyFrameworks/ and ~/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages (The old Messages.app is on the desktop). I received an error msg:
dyld: Symbol not found: _IMPersonChangedNotification
Referenced from: /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages
Expected in: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMCore.framework/Versions/A/IMCore
in /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages
zsh: abort /Users/test/Desktop/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages

Tried to locate this _IMPersonChangedNotification symbol without any luck.
Any suggestion?
Many thanks.
Click to expand...
There's a note in the man page of dyld, referring to the usage of dyld environment variables like DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH:
Code: 
Note: If System Integrity  Protection  is  enabled,  these  environment
       variables  are  ignored  when  executing  binaries  protected by System
       Integrity Protection.
 
TigerA

TigerA

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2013
408
324
internetzel said:
There's a note in the man page of dyld, referring to the usage of dyld environment variables like DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH:
Code: 
Note: If System Integrity  Protection  is  enabled,  these  environment
       variables  are  ignored  when  executing  binaries  protected by System
       Integrity Protection.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply.
I checked SIP status with command csrutil status and generated the following report:
System Integrity Protection status: unknown (Custom Configuration).
Configuration:
Apple Internal: disabled
Kext Signing: disabled
Filesystem Protections: disabled
Debugging Restrictions: enabled
DTrace Restrictions: enabled
NVRAM Protections: enabled
BaseSystem Verification: enabled
This is an unsupported configuration, likely to break in the future and leave your machine in an unknown state.

I am using OCLP for this stock iMac10,1 which needs SIP disabled. I also tried command csrutil disable in OCLP recovery mode, which did not change the csrutil status report.
Any more suggestions?
Just wonder if there is a PrivateFrameworks_PATH, or even better, IMCore_framework_PATH so that not all FRAMEWORK_PATH will be diverted to my newly created local MyFrameworks folder? Or I misunderstood this env in general: it creates an additional path for checking required frameworks?

Many thanks.
 
Last edited:
I

internetzel

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2015
627
804
TigerA said:
Thanks for the reply.
I checked SIP status with command csrutil status and generated the following report:
System Integrity Protection status: unknown (Custom Configuration).
Configuration:
Apple Internal: disabled
Kext Signing: disabled
Filesystem Protections: disabled
Debugging Restrictions: enabled
DTrace Restrictions: enabled
NVRAM Protections: enabled
BaseSystem Verification: enabled
This is an unsupported configuration, likely to break in the future and leave your machine in an unknown state.
Click to expand...
I guess "Debugging Restrictions" have to be disabled for "DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH" to work.
TigerA said:
I am using OCLP for this stock iMac10,1 which needs SIP disabled. I also tried command csrutil disable in OCLP recovery mode, which did not change the csrutil status report.
Any more suggestions?
Click to expand...
You would need to adjust the disabled SIP flags manually in the config.plist generated by OCLP.
TigerA said:
Just wonder if there is a PrivateFraworks_PATH, or even better, IMCore_framework_PATH so that not all FRAMEWORK_PATH will be diverted to my newly created local MyFrameworks folder? Or I misunderstood this env in general: it creates an additional folder path for checking required frameworks?
Click to expand...
Only the flags documented in the man page of dyld are supported ("man dyld" in the Terminal).

Alternatively one can use the developer tool "otool" in order to create a relinked Messages application, with the needed frameworks embedded inside the application bundle - but that would probably need ad hoc signing which in turn would most probably need that SIP flag disabled as well.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom