macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

[headlessmike]

Hi, could you please share your experience with Monterey on your late 2012 mini? So far, you are the only person I've seen reporting anything about that machine on Monterey, and I've been searching for over a week.

I'm basically interested in Wifi, Bluetooth, AirPlay-related issues, as those seem to be the biggest pitfalls. But feel free to include any other advice about things you've encountered.
Thanks.
— 5 Tracks

I've honestly been having no major issues whatsoever. I tested Monterey using an external USB 3.0 SSD since the first public beta and finally made the transition on my internal SSD about a week ago once the software I was dependent on had been updated for Monterey (various open source packages related to QT and Python).

Now it's my daily driver (when working from home) and I haven't noticed any problems that have stopped me from working. The HD4000 drivers need to be patched in, but Bluetooth and WiFi work without any OS patching thanks to OCLP. They are both as stable as they've ever been and I have no issues with their performance. The same goes for AirDrop and AirPlay. OCLP even enables the machine to act as an AirPlay host and that works great even though it's only officially supported on the the very latest Intel and M1 Macs.

I upgraded to Monterey straight from Big Sur without reformatting the drive (thus keeping all of my files in place) and that worked without any hiccups. The performance on this machine, a quad core 2.3 GHz i7 with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB WD SSD installed, is excellent. It runs Monterey better than my late 2013 MacBook Pro that has a dual core i5 with a 5100 Iris GPU but only 8 GB of RAM. In particular apps that use Metal (like Maps) run better on the old HD4000 for some reason. Perhaps its the additional CPU cores or memory that's making the difference.

I know that some people have been experiencing issues with the release version of Monterey (even on supported machines), but for the things that I do—mainly Python programming, writing in LaTeX, editing documents in Microsoft Office or iWork apps—it has been very stable. I really have noting negative to say about Monterey on this Mac mini other than that my Photos screensaver is not working at the moment, but that seems to be a common issue with 12.0.1.

 

[K two]

12.1b2 OTA atop b1 easy fast update. Runs as expected within the limits of hardware on this most primitive of unsupportrd Macs. OCLP_032 is nearing Big Sur competence with Monterey patching. ?

 

[5tracks]

I've honestly been having no major issues whatsoever. I tested Monterey using an external USB 3.0 SSD since the first ... (snip)

Thank you for replying. That gives me more confidence about doing the upgrade. I'm currently using 11.6.1 on OCLP 0.2.5, and all I need now is to find some extra info about the upgrade process itself.
I've already created the bootable USB installer with the latest version of OCLP 0.3.1, now I just need to know whether I should update OCLP on my internal SSD before or after the install... or if I even need to update OCLP at all if 0.2.5 is working fine.

The documentation seems to indicate generally there's very little reason for users to update the OpenCore installed on their machine unless you feel there's a benefit with new versions for your setup.

Maybe I'm concerned over nothing, but this is my first upgrade with OCLP, although I've done a few delta updates with no issues.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you for replying. That gives me more confidence about doing the upgrade. I'm currently using 11.6.1 on OCLP 0.2.5, and all I need now is to find some extra info about the upgrade process itself.
I've already created the bootable USB installer with the latest version of OCLP 0.3.1, now I just need to know whether I should update OCLP on my internal SSD before or after the install... or if I even need to update OCLP at all if 0.2.5 is working fine.

The documentation seems to indicate generally there's very little reason for users to update the OpenCore installed on their machine unless you feel there's a benefit with new versions for your setup.

Maybe I'm concerned over nothing, but this is my first upgrade with OCLP, although I've done a few delta updates with no issues.

Update OCLP on your internal SSD and check it with Big Sur, then trigger the normal software update process. Just did the same on my iMac12,2 with metal GPU. Worked pretty well.

 

[cMP MACPRO]

Does anyone have a fully functioning Mac Pro 4.1 with Monterey 12.0.1 and OCLP 0.3.1 internal? It's only like this for me with Big Sur 11.6.1, so far everything has been going well without any problems.

 

[headlessmike]

Thank you for replying. That gives me more confidence about doing the upgrade. I'm currently using 11.6.1 on OCLP 0.2.5, and all I need now is to find some extra info about the upgrade process itself.
I've already created the bootable USB installer with the latest version of OCLP 0.3.1, now I just need to know whether I should update OCLP on my internal SSD before or after the install... or if I even need to update OCLP at all if 0.2.5 is working fine.

The documentation seems to indicate generally there's very little reason for users to update the OpenCore installed on their machine unless you feel there's a benefit with new versions for your setup.

Maybe I'm concerned over nothing, but this is my first upgrade with OCLP, although I've done a few delta updates with no issues.

In this case there is a reason to update OCLP as version 0.3.0 and newer offers greater support for Monterey. Just do as Ausdauersportler says. It's always good to have some form of backup of any critical data though before doing something like this, especially considering that none of this is officially supported.

 

[abaxworld]

I had this on my MacBookPro5,2, too. You can simply apply the workaround here and install today's OCLP 0.3.2 TUI nightly afterwards:

1. Boot your MacBookPro5,3 until its screen turns black.
2. Wait a bit and press the arrow keys - if they return a sound, the MBP has probably successfully completed the boot process and the display is just dimmed to 0 %.
3. If you've successfully passed step 2, close the lid of your MacBookPro5,3 and wait about one minute, until the MBP's fan shuts down and the activity light begins pulsating. Once that has happened, open the lid again and press a key. That should switch on the display again.

It worked perfectly with the Nigthly build ( 0.3.2 ), now it goes to the logging screen without any major issue. Thank you very much

 

[5tracks]

Okay thanks everyone (for your patience and help!)
To clarify, when you say "trigger the normal software update process" do you mean that I can do the upgrade from Big Sur to Monterey via Software Updates without needing the bootable USB? That would be amazing!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Okay thanks everyone (for your patience and help!)
To clarify, when you say "trigger the normal software update process" do you mean that I can do the upgrade from Big Sur to Monterey via Software Updates without needing the bootable USB? That would be amazing!

If you have already installed the latest and greatest OCLP version internally you can go this way. On this particular iMac I have upgraded one of may productive platforms (using various different OCLP versions) from Catalina to Big Sur and one hour ago to Monterey.

Just keep in mid having a backup and test OCLP with the currently installed macOS version before moving on. Simply do not change two things at the same time.

 

[5tracks]

If you have already installed the latest and greatest OCLP version internally you can go this way. On this particular iMac I have upgraded one of may productive platforms (using various different OCLP versions) from Catalina to Big Sur and one hour ago to Monterey.

Just keep in mid having a backup and test OCLP with the currently installed macOS version before moving on. Simply do not change two things at the same time.

Okay thank you. I will make a TimeMachine backup, and backup my critical files separately as well.

If OCLP 0.3.1 doesn't work for some strange reason, hopefully I can restore the TimeMachine to get everything back since I probably won't be able to boot normally. I don't see anything in the OCLP documentation or this forum about how to downgrade OCLP, so I'm assuming that it's not possible.

 

[jmbZ]

Its sad to say my older MacBook has better thermal properties then my 2017 MBP. Even on Monterey. The only issue I forgot to do was insert OCLP into EFI. Other then that works better then I expect. Any issues I should look out for?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Okay thank you. I will make a TimeMachine backup, and backup my critical files separately as well.

If OCLP 0.3.1 doesn't work for some strange reason, hopefully I can restore the TimeMachine to get everything back since I probably won't be able to boot normally. I don't see anything in the OCLP documentation or this forum about how to downgrade OCLP, so I'm assuming that it's not possible.

You can always downgrade OCLP, process is the same as upgrade.

 

[5tracks]

You can always downgrade OCLP, process is the same as upgrade.

Okay, please forgive my ignorance about that. Could you please point me in the right direction for the instructions on how to downgrade OCLP? I have searched this forum and OCLP pages without success.

I'm specifically referring to if my machine doesn't boot with OCLP 0.3.1 or Monterey.
I just want to have all of my contingency plans setup before I start this adventure.

Thanks again.
— 5 Tracks.

 

[0134168]

Just installed 12.0.1 Monterey on late 2011 MBP. Ran legacy patcher a few times, however I am unable to adjust brightness? Terminal commands, keys, and system preferences are all unable to adjust brightness. Logo stays lit when I close the lid as well. Slowly making my way through the thread, but any advice?

Don´t install Monterey on that macbook, that´s my advice. I have a 17" one and it´s not a nice experience. Lots of artifacts.

 

[0134168]

Hello,

I have a Macbook11,3 running Monterey via OCLP 0.3, with a 64Gb partition dedicated to Windows. Although I had some problems installing all the stuff, now everything works great, thankfully

My question is: I would like to have Parallels 17 to detect and use my Windows partition as if was installed through the Bootcamp Assistant, but I can't find any way to do that – Parallels simply doesn't offer any way to do that. I suppose Parallels can't find the installed Windows because it is not an "official" Bootcamp partition, but does someone know how can I make Parallels detect and use that partition? Thank you.

It´s a parallels problem. Read point 3.

KB Parallels: Parallels Desktop for Mac compatibility with macOS Monterey 12 – Known Issues

Below is the list of known issues we are working on with the available workarounds that we have tested in our lab.

kb.parallels.com

 

[rehkram]

Okay, please forgive my ignorance about that. Could you please point me in the right direction for the instructions on how to downgrade OCLP? I have searched this forum and OCLP pages without success.

I'm specifically referring to if my machine doesn't boot with OCLP 0.3.1 or Monterey.
I just want to have all of my contingency plans setup before I start this adventure.

That's a great question. Just retain your current OCLP .app version on your machine, and download the newer version. They can coexist on your machine.

Then run either version depending on what you want to do, i.e. go forward, or roll back. I've had three versions of OCLP TUI in the apps folder; I renamed the .app files to include the version number so I knew which one was which without having to start them up to read the menu banner info.

If, for example you need to re-download an older version after, say, a clean install, they're all available on dortania's GitHub, just scroll down to the version you need and click on the version number heading: https://github.com/dortania/Opencore-Legacy-Patcher/releases

Make sure you have a good backup. A second Mac and/or bootable USB drive are also great ideas for reducing one's stress levels.

 

[mwidjaya]

I'm specifically referring to if my machine doesn't boot with OCLP 0.3.1 or Monterey.
I just want to have all of my contingency plans setup before I start this adventure.

A. Fallback path (prepare ahead)
- Create USB stick installer for Big Sur 11.6.1
- Run OCLP 0.2.5 and install EFI on USB stick
- In case of fallback, boot onto USB stick, select EFI boot, select Big Sur installer and overwrite Monterey

B. Upgrade path
- Run OCLP 0.3.1 and install EFI onto boot disk
- Start Big Sur, check in Software Update for Monterey OTA offer
- Upgrade to Monterey
- Run post-install patch (you need the HD4000 patch for 2012 macmini)

 

[5tracks]

A. Fallback path (prepare ahead)
- Create USB stick installer for Big Sur 11.6.1
- Run OCLP 0.2.5 and install EFI on USB stick
- In case of fallback, boot onto USB stick, select EFI boot, select Big Sur installer and overwrite Monterey

B. Upgrade path
- Run OCLP 0.3.1 and install EFI onto boot disk
- Start Big Sur, check in Software Update for Monterey OTA offer
- Upgrade to Monterey
- Run post-install patch (you need the HD4000 patch for 2012 macmini)

Alright, thanks! I retained my 11.6.1 USB stick with OCLP 0.2.5 on it, so that's already done. But I was under the impression that an older version of macOS won't install over a newer one without completely erasing the disk. I'm glad that's not true, it makes recovery so much easier!

 

[mwidjaya]

under the impression that an older version of macOS won't install over a newer one without completely erasing the disk.

With Big Sur, you may have noticed that OS is on separate volume(SSV). Your user files are in another volume.

AFAIK, no harm done downgrading Monterey back to Big Sur.


As contingency, you should have time machine backup. Just in case.

 

[dwnldr]

12.1b2 OTA atop b1 easy fast update. Runs as expected within the limits of hardware on this most primitive of unsupportrd Macs. OCLP_032 is nearing Big Sur competence with Monterey patching. ?

View attachment 1907663

K two - i have similar machine laying in my closet Do you think it will be good, stable enough to use it a server and some browsing ? Thank you !

 

[Ausdauersportler]

With Big Sur, you may have noticed that OS is on separate volume(SSV). Your user files are in another volume.

AFAIK, no harm done downgrading Monterey back to Big Sur.

Have you ever tried this yourself?

AFAIK you can start the older macOS installer, but you cannot select the newer macOS installation disk devices to write the older version onto it. It will always come up with message like "this device cannot be selected for downgrade".

The only way to achieve a downgrade is creating a new clean installation of the old version (using a new volume or after deleting the former volume) and pull in the TM backup after installation.

 

[mwidjaya]

Have you ever tried this yourself?

AFAIK you can start the older macOS installer, but you cannot select the newer macOS installation disk devices to write the older version onto it.

No. I have yet to install Monterey.

So yes, you are right, it probably checks and blocks downgrade.

Would be nice if it allows since Big Sur already segregate out the OS into it's own space.

 

[Exodiss]

So, 12.0.1 works good on MBP Mid 2009 with 8GB and SSD but i have got a problem with "WindowServer" process with 90% usage CPU. Any solution?

 

[Hackintosh HD]

So, 12.0.1 works good on MBP Mid 2009 with 8GB and SSD but i have got a problem with "WindowServer" process with 90% usage CPU. Any solution?

I didn't notice that when I tested 12.0.1 on my MBP5,2. Do you have already applied OCLP's Root Volume Patch to your Monterey installation? And which OCLP version did you use?

 

[rehkram]

Alright, thanks! I retained my 11.6.1 USB stick with OCLP 0.2.5 on it, so that's already done. But I was under the impression that an older version of macOS won't install over a newer one without completely erasing the disk. I'm glad that's not true, it makes recovery so much easier!

There have been "over the top" Monterey installs that have failed; I had two of them. The major symptom of this is when the installation completes its final reboot you find the machine is still on Big Sur 11.6.1. Could be worse, at least the machine is still running, and no rollback is required.

I had to do clean installs to get to Monterey 12.0.1. There are various theories as to why this happens, one possibility is not enough space on the drive, but I had plenty.