Hi all
cMP4,1>5,1 successfully updated from 11.6.2 to 11.6.3 with OCLP 0.4.1 via full installer on USB stick.
I haven't been very present on this forum in recent months but I was able to follow the progress of OCLP with great attention.
Once again I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for all the great work done with OCLP.
Bluetooth issues after updating to macOS Big Sur 11.6.3
Hi all,
I am running macOS 11 Big Sur on a MacPro 5,1 with OCLP.
Earlier this week I successfully updated to 11.6.3 via OTA, which worked fine. Since then, I encounter continuously and frequently short disconnects of my Apple Magic Mouse (connected via Bluetooth). The disconnects happen every few minutes. Although they in most cases do not last long and the mouse reconnects after a few seconds, they render working with the Magic Mouse almost impossible. The disconnects seem not to happen with my Matias Wireless keyboard, also connected via Bluetooth.
The Bluetooth and Wifi hardware of my MacPro 5,1 is still the original one, which worked flawlessly under Big Sur so far.
Any ideas what may cause this (Bluetooth ?) problem?
Thanks to everyone in advance, and in particular for providing OCLP!
Hi, I've updated to OCLP 0.4.1R. My iMac 13,1 is fully supported by Big Sur. However I can't upgrade to 11.6.3. The OTA download completed, prepared and proceeded to installation. After rebooting and 10 minutes counting down, I was presented with the login screen. After that, there was a notification saying that the update was not possible and I'm still on 11.6.2. Any clue as to what's wrong?
My OPLP settings use the new default spoofless mode. Should I set it to minimal?
Is there any reason why my daily driver might not have the HVEC acceleration? Is that only with the Mac Pro Radeon cards that OCLP does that? It's not important, just hoping something might fill me in. The computer itself is a beauty with Big Sur. Just about to do some video editing, and wondered if this machine had full HWAccel with the new OS.
Paul, you might want to state what machine you're referring to by putting it in your user profile signature. This will save everyone the time spent scrolling back through to find previous posts where you might have mentioned it. And you might get quicker replies.
Paul, you might want to state what machine you're referring to by putting it in your user profile signature. This will save everyone the time spent scrolling back through to find previous posts where you might have mentioned it. And you might get quicker replies.
That would be ideal if I didn't have multiple machines I'm asking about (I refurbish Macs), also for the last message, I attached a video proc image that has the exact model I was talking about. I thought that was enough.
Is there any reason why my daily driver might not have the HVEC acceleration? Is that only with the Mac Pro Radeon cards that OCLP does that? It's not important, just hoping something might fill me in. The computer itself is a beauty with Big Sur. Just about to do some video editing, and wondered if this machine had full HWAccel with the new OS.
Yes, HEVC is a feature you get only with modern Intel iGPU (not 100% sure, but at least 2012, maybe later) or AMD dGPU (2016/17 Polaris and later). No Nvidia support within macOS.
Nevertheless it would be a nice move always to provide the full system information. I hate guessing and after some years here on the thread I decided simply not to answer if a request comes in incomplete or off topic.
I have an issue with Finder and I'm not sure if it's related with OCLP.
When I select more than one folder and open them in new windows there is a delay before opening the next window. Watch a video here.
If i open a finder window and hit cmd+N a few times the new windows are created much quicker.
I'm not sure when it started. I reinstalled 11.6.2 without deleting anything but it didn't work. The issue is till there if I login as a guest. Could this be related with OCLP? What else should I check?
I can report the OTA update from macOS 11.6.1 to 11.6.3 on my 3.06 GHz MacBook Pro 17" Mid 2009 (MacBookPro5,2) using OCLP 0.4.1 was successful. The only precaution I did was to decrypt the active FileVault 2-FDE before starting the OTA update. Now encrypting again.
Hi there!
Taking the chance of the migration to a bigger SSD drive, I've reinstalled my OCLP patched Big Sur in my MacBook unibody late 2008 (MacBook5,1).
Worked like a charm, and I decided to give a try and turn on FileVault encryption to the whole APFS drive.
After encryption finished, I rebooted and OCLP shows prompt, then the white apple with black background and a progress bar.
After about 30 seconds, a black screen white forbidden sign and URL "https://support.apple.com/mac/startup" is shown.
Any of you had success with patched Big Sur and FileVault 2 in such a laptop?
(EDITED: OCLP version used 0.4.1)
Regards,
Hi there!
Taking the chance of the migration to a bigger SSD drive, I've reinstalled my OCLP patched Big Sur in my MacBook unibody late 2008 (MacBook5,1).
Worked like a charm, and I decided to give a try and turn on FileVault encryption to the whole APFS drive.
After encryption finished, I rebooted and OCLP shows prompt, then the white apple with black background and a progress bar.
After about 30 seconds, a black screen white forbidden sign and URL "https://support.apple.com/mac/startup" is shown.
Any of you had success with patched Big Sur and FileVault 2 in such a laptop?
(EDITED: OCLP version used 0.4.1)
Regards,
It depends on the definition of "such", but I'm using FileVault 2 successfully on a MacBook Pro Mid 2009 (MacBookPro5,2). I started with OCLP 0.2.5 and I'm now on OCLP 0.4.1, FileVault 2 still being activated. As a precautionary measure, I deactivate it before I start an 11.x.x OTA update on my machine and then re-activate it / re-encrypt the internal SSD again, once the OTA update has been terminated successfully.
I've therefore reflashed my MBP5,2's ROM with the unaltered ROM backup dump of Dosdude1's patcher which I had kept using his ROMTool 2.0 (password for the ZIP archive). I've now FileVault 2 Disk encryption working on my MBP5,2 and macOS 11.6.3 Big Sur.
I've therefore reflashed my MBP5,2's ROM with the unaltered ROM backup dump of Dosdude1's patcher which I had kept using his ROMTool 2.0 (password for the ZIP archive). I've now FileVault 2 Disk encryption working on my MBP5,2 and macOS 11.6.3 Big Sur.
Thank you very much for the hint! Indeed, My MacBook5,1 has a patched ROM, as I was using dosdude1's Mojave and Catalina in the past.
I'll go and find the backup of my ROM, that has to be somewhere over here, and give it a try. Thanks again!
In case I overlooked something in this thread or on the OCLP page, just ignore this post. I tried to use Word on my 8,1 for the first time. Selecting text produced grey areas. I'll attach what I saw and what a screenshot captured at the same time.
Ok, this has taken some time... I heard every once in a while, that people with HD3000 actually could see selected text in MS Word. I tried again after every update of Big Sur, Monterey and OCLP - with different versions of MS Word (all the way from 16.16 to 16.57) with no success. Now someone on Discord suggested to try 16.43 - and it works! Maybe someone else could try, too?
This thread will be used to discuss advancements in getting macOS 11.0 Big Sur running on unsupported Macs.
---
Compatibility List:
2015 and later MacBook
MacBook8,1
MacBook9,1
MacBook10,1
2013 and later MacBook Air
MacBookAir6,x
MacBookAir7,x
MacBookAir8,x
MacBookAir9,1
Late 2013 and later MacBook Pro
MacBookPro11,x
MacBookPro12,1
MacBookPro13,x
MacBookPro14,x
MacBookPro15,x
MacBookPro16,x
2014 and later iMac
iMac14,4
iMac15,1
iMac16,x
iMac17,1
iMac18,x
iMac19,x
2017 and later iMac Pro
iMacPro1,1
2014 and later Mac mini
Macmini7,1
Macmini8,1
2013 and later Mac Pro
MacPro6,1
MacPro7,1
- These Macs so far are capable of running Big Sur properly, but WiFi is not yet fully stable (except on iMac14,x, i.e. Late 2013 iMacs), and (at least on iMac14,x) Fusion Drive performance is significantly slower than on previous macOS releases. See FAQ for more information.
2012 and Early 2013 MacBook Pro
MacBookPro9,x
MacBookPro10,x
2012 MacBook Air
MacBookAir5,x
2012 and 2013 iMac
iMac13,x
iMac14,x
2012 Mac mini
Macmini6,x
- These Macs so far can boot Big Sur, some got graphical acceleration support and, as with most 2012-2013 Macs, using early versions of Big Sur WiFi is not fully stable yet. See FAQ for more information.
* Not officially supported in macOS Catalina, but are fully capable of running both Catalina and Big Sur with a Metal-compatible GPU and upgraded WiFi/BT card.
Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro:
MacPro3,1 *
MacPro4,1 *
MacPro5,1 *
iMac7,1 +
iMac8,1 +
iMac9,1 +
iMac10,x +
iMac11,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well. Radeon HD 4xxx series GPU has graphics acceleration with Big Sur!) *
iMac12,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well. Radeon HD 4xxx series GPU has graphics acceleration with Big Sur!) *
MacBookPro4,1 +
MacBookPro5,x +
MacBookPro6,x +
MacBookPro7,x +
MacBookPro8,x +
Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:
MacBookAir2,1 +
MacBookAir3,x +
MacBookAir4,x +
MacBook5,1 +
Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook:
Macmini3,1 +
Macmini4,1 +
Macmini5,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well.) +
MacBook5,2 +
MacBook6,1 +
MacBook7,1 +
Early-2008 or newer Xserve:
Xserve2,1 *
Xserve3,1 *
2006-2007 Mac Pros, iMacs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Minis:
MacPro1,1
MacPro2,1
iMac4,1
iMac5,x
iMac6,1
MacBookPro1,1
MacBookPro2,1
MacBookPro3,1
Macmini1,1
Macmini2,1
— The 2007 iMac 7,1 is compatible with Catalina and potentially Big Sur if the CPU is upgraded to a Penryn-based Core 2 Duo, such as a T9300.
2006-2008 MacBooks:
MacBook1,1
MacBook2,1
MacBook3,1
MacBook4,1 (as with Mojave and Catalina, we'll be on our own here, but Big Sur will be running on this machine!)
2008 MacBook Air (MacBookAir 1,1)
All PowerPC-based Macs
All 68k-based Macs
After a long journey @ASentientBot was able to add graphics acceleration back to some systems without a metal GPU. A complete list of the current public beta phase has been created within this particular OpenCore Legacy Patcher documentation.
The current consensus is to install Big Sur on systems offering a Metal capable GPU. These cards offer graphics acceleration and more importantly (probably) full application support. Big Sur will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration.
You can install Big Sur on such systems, but it is not possible to get graphics acceleration when running Big Sur on a system with:
Pre-Metal AMD video cards: Radeon HD 6xxx, 5xxx series (support has been added to OCLP)
Pre-Metal Intel video cards: 3rd and 4th Gen are unsupported (GMA series)
Big Sur will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration.
This is a short list of users and theirs systems running Big Sur with some of the patcher options listed below. It is not complete, does not represent a ranking, is just meant to answer the "is my system supported" question. The OLCP support list can be found here.
I gathered this list from the signatures the particular users added to their account here, just searching through the last 10 pages of posts.
If you want to see a longer list please just add a signature to your own account showing the data I need to fill the columns here in the table.
Q: What does unsupported mean for my old Mac?
A: Three problems: Apple locks you out from running the stock installer of Big Sur and as important to mention, you cannot get OTA upgrades via Softwareupdate in the Systems Preference. Third problem: software functionality may have been stripped from the new macOS. To make your old system working again it needs searching, finding and reinstallation of these stripped parts. Non-metal graphics card support is missing, just as an example.
Q: I see that my (2011 or earlier) unsupported Mac does not have "graphics acceleration" under Big Sur. How much performance loss does this cause?
A: For example, minimizing a Safari window takes well under a second on a 2012 MacBook Pro with accelerated graphics, versus 14 seconds on an Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro (2.3GHz Intel Core i5) or 25 seconds on a Late 2009 MacBook (2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). During these multi-second delays, the entire user interface can freeze up. So when one app causes a graphics processing delay, it can occupy the entire computer and prevent switching to another app. Video playback is still generally fluid on 2011 Macs with 2nd generation Intel Core processors, but videos are almost slide shows if you have a Core 2 Duo. Overall, a small number of users of these Macs may have a serious need for Big Sur and may be able to endure the slowdowns, but most users will find unaccelerated graphics performance to be simply unacceptable.
Q: When will my unsupported Mac receive macOS 11.0 Big Sur?
A: This is a community-driven effort to try and restore support for various unsupported Macs. Community members are working as hard as they can, often in their spare time, to try and add back stable support for these Macs. Based upon changes in macOS Big Sur, it may be possible some Macs that were previously patchable in Mojave, Catalina, and other previous releases of macOS may not be patchable under Big Sur. Please do not harass the patch developers to go faster, release the patcher, etc. Please do not clog up the thread with useless posts asking if your specific Mac will be patchable. Rest assured, the dedicated community of developers are working on these patches and doing everything that they can to re-add support for as many Macs as possible.
A: Check the table containing current download links. Please do not assume that all links will be all valid in the future! Apple may pull these downloads from their servers.
To get the latest installer, use this tool. Create the USB installer following this guide.
Q: How to create a USB installer after downloading the InstallAssistant package??
A: Install the package, it creates an app named Install macOS Big Sur in your applications folder. Create the USB installer following this official Apple guide.
Q: How to prepare my installation disk before installation??
A: Of course, you will need to do the normal prudent things like backup your disk. You'll probably want to erase and reformat your entire internal SSD. Big Sur doesn't like to share space with Catalina. Do some reading up on the new, APFS format and how Big Sur sets up snapshots, uses SIP, and uses containers rather than partitions: Eclectic LC article on boot volume layout is a great start.
Q: Where/how can I download a patcher tool?
A: Currently we have here more than a single known option. Historically no former patcher was able to enable the normal Apple Software Update on unsupported systems. With the interception of Acidanthera'sOpenCore on Macs this has changed dramatically. The first and most important tool is OpenCore Legacy Patcher. It uses OpenCore and lets your system look like a supported one and you can use the common Apple system tools to install and update, have SIP enabled, use File Vault, have WPA Wireless support and more.
OpenCore Legacy Patcherby @khronokernel and @dhinakg is a completely different approach based on OpenCore. Detailed information is available from his announcement on this thread and their guide. This is currently the only option offering system updates via Apple software update like all supported Macs as well as Legacy Graphics Acceleration. While the preparation uses a simple GUI the Big Sur installation and updating happens in the same way as on supported systems via System Preferences.
Supports macOS 10.9, Mavericks and later to run.
Supports macOS 10.7, Lion and later if Python3 is installed manually.
There are other solutions sometimes using partly the same OpenCore or the older well-known patching methodologies and we have them listed here just to be complete. We would recommend that every user of those tools checks if you can move over to OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
micropatcher by @Barry K. Nathan was the first tool supporting a longer list of hardware. Installation needs some preparations and following the instructions step by step. Using this patcher you can also easily add your own extensions after patching following this doc. Please study the docs before you press the download button!
Development is on indefinite hold as of November 17th, 2020, see option 1: OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
bigmacby StarPlayrX is another patcher worth considering if you have a Mac Pro.
Development is on temporary hold as of April 11th, 2021.
BigSurFixes by @jackluke is the next option. This patcher allows booting of the Big Sur (Beta) installer on a wider range of older systems without graphics acceleration.
iMac micropatcher by @Ausdauersportler is a forked variant of the 0.5.1 release of the @Barry K. Nathan micropatcher you will find here all necessary extensions needed to install and run Big Sur on the iMac Late 2009 to Mid 2011 modded with a Metal GPU as described in this thread. This patcher is an enhancement of the original including the @jackluke Night Shift patch and can be used as a fully replacement and it is still under development (dev-v0.5.5). There is an OpenCore add-on available to offer software upgrades (hybrid solution). Basically, this comes close to the OCLP approach and for that reason development has been stopped.
Further development progress is available through the OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
Patched Surby @BenSova is a really nice polished GUI patching option. The GUI makes it more comfortable to follow the process.
Supports macOS 10.15, Catalina and later and so can only be used to update starting from Catalina!
Development is on hold as of Oct 9th, 2021.
MicropatcherAutomator by MinhTonand @moosethegoose2213 is another frontend using the micropatcher backend. The GUI makes it more comfortable to create the USB installer and follow the installation and patch process.
Supports macOS 10.11, El Capitan and later to create a bootable installer - so it closes a gap for users starting with systems having older macOS versions currently installed.
OpenCore on the Mac Proby @cdf is a detailed thread explaining the process of installing OpenCore onto MacPro5,1's teaching users how to maintain their own configurations. For more tech-savvy users, this is a great way to learn the legacy patching process.
For users less confident in configuring their own OpenCore setup, OpenCore Legacy Patcher is available to automate this process.
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.
Please remember it is highly suggested that you have a backup of your Macs firmware. You can use @dosdude1 (legacy) software called romtool (password of the software archive is rom) to save and store it externally. Getting a corrupted firmware can cause serious headaches.
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 upgrade the Big Sur installation with upcoming releases?
A: Normally unsupported implies, that Apple locks out these Macs from the normal initial installation process as well as from the normal upgrade process. Currently only the option 1 (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) offers the possibility to use the (normal) Apple upgrade process (called OTA upgrades). Option 6 (Patched Sur) has a macOS updater inside its post-install app, and while it still requires the 12 GB InstallAssistant.pkg, it does not require a USB to upgrade. With all other versions, you have to go through the initial process, again. Download the recent InstallAssistant.pkg from Apple, create a USB installer, follow the instructions provided by the various patcher options.
Q: Where/how can I download the @dosdude1 Big Sur patcher tool?
A:@dosdude1commented 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.
Q: After a PRAM reset I get a prohibited symbol and cannot boot back into Big Sur - what to do now?
A: Depending on your patcher you need to reboot into the EFI partition of your USB installer once to set the boot-args properly (all micropatcher based options above except #2 and #4). Option 1: OpenCore Legacy Patcher users need to boot OpenCore before booting into Big Sur!
Q: After the installation of Big Sur some unknown volumes appear on my desktop. Why does this happen ?
A: Compared to Catalina a lot of changes came up. You can find an interesting article linked in here. Do not try to delete the volumes or snapshots listed in the disk utility!
Q: Using the patchers listed above I have issues! How to post my problems?
A: Please first add a signature to your account describing your hardware setup. It will be added automatically to each of your posts. Please describe what you did and what you experienced. Add screen shots of your Mac using Hold CMD+Shift+3 for whole screen capture of CMD+Shift+4 for capturing selection. Do not post blurred photos. Be specific and be precise, be sharp!
Q: Why did Apple drop support for my perfectly capable Mac?
A: Only Apple can give a definite answer to this. However, there is evidence that it is based upon the CPUs being used in the now-unsupported Macs, which was the case last year with the Mac Pro 4,1/5,1. Intel decided to stop releasing firmware security fixes for Ivy Bridge and previous-generation CPUs. While they are technically compatible and supported in Big Sur, Apple has decided it is not worth the risk to continue supporting CPUs that have permanently unpatched security holes, putting users at risk. Also, terrible Fusion Drive performance under Big Sur on Late 2013 iMacs may be the reason Apple dropped support for that model.
While this is also not confirmed, another possibility could be that some of the excluded Macs feature WiFi chips that are no longer deemed fit for the next major release. This decision could be based on the previously mentioned security issues as well. The presence of graphics drivers for some of these newly unsupported Macs in Big Sur Beta 1 suggests this.
Q: So will my now unsupported Mac get macOS 11.x Big Sur?
A: If your Mac had official support in macOS Catalina, it will be able to be patched to run Big Sur with minimal issues.
If your Mac was unsupported before the release of macOS Catalina, support remains to be seen as graphics acceleration may not be feasible (as before with Mojave and Catalina) at this time. (OpenGL is deprecated but actually still supported for now in Big Sur, as mentioned in Apple's own developer documentation. However, there are other reasons why providing non-Metal graphics acceleration on Big Sur is proving to be very difficult.)
For legal purposes, the only official way to obtain a copy of macOS Big Sur at this time is to register with the Apple Developer program ($99/year) or, for the public beta, the Apple Beta Software Program (free). Please remember it is highly suggested that you do not install beta software on your main devices, overwriting any stable releases. Beta software can cause irreparable hardware damage or irrecoverable data loss and should be used at one's own risk.
Apple and all patch developers are not responsible for any potential damage or data loss caused by using pre-release software or unofficial support patches. Please use at your own risk.
It is with some nostalgia ;-/ that I can report that Big Sur 11.6.4 RC (20G507) is pushing through BIOS updates again (or at least just did so to my MacBookPro10,2 spoofed as a MacBookPro11,1).
I got the classic semi-brick: black screen, powers up external peripherals only. Requires disassembly sufficient to disconnect battery, then hold power switch for ~10s to ensure all capacitors fully discharged, then reconnect and reassemble.
I have been running without patched System Firmware Version (I guess I must like to live dangerously - or at least keep an eye on what's going on behind the scenes) but I have not seen this for a while, i.e. months.
So before applying this update, I would recommend making sure that your System Firmware Version as reported in macOS System Information is 9999.0.0.0.0 or 9999.999.999.999.999 - or have your pentalobe screwdrivers ready!
- or at least keep an eye on what's going on behind the scenes) but I have not seen this for a while, i.e. months.
