macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Allistah]

I have a mid 2012 27” iMac that runs a Kepler video card and upgraded Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, along with a Samsung 1TB SSD. I have OS X 12.5.1 installed. I’m using the latest OCLP.

I started having problems running Express VPN. It would crash every time I ran it. I tried a bunch of stuff but decided to do a parallel full clean install to see if it would work. It didn’t.

This is now a fresh install of OSX and it still doesn’t work. When I run it and click Log In, it crashes. I’m not logged into iCloud, I’ve added it to all of the permissions, the user is an administrator. I’ve tried ethernet only, Wi-Fi only, both Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

This is crazy, I can’t figure it out. I even tried old builds of Express VPN as well. I also tried IPv6 only, IPv4 only, both and nothing changes it.

Any idea what could be causing this problem? Thanks for any tips or ideas anyone may have for me.

I just did a fresh wipe/clean install of 12.5.1 again and made sure I didn't sign into iCloud or anything. I'm at a complete loss on what the problem is.

 

[sinbad21]

I have a mid 2012 27” iMac that runs a Kepler video card and upgraded Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, along with a Samsung 1TB SSD. I have OS X 12.5.1 installed. I’m using the latest OCLP.

I started having problems running Express VPN. It would crash every time I ran it. I tried a bunch of stuff but decided to do a parallel full clean install to see if it would work. It didn’t.

This is now a fresh install of OSX and it still doesn’t work. When I run it and click Log In, it crashes. I’m not logged into iCloud, I’ve added it to all of the permissions, the user is an administrator. I’ve tried ethernet only, Wi-Fi only, both Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

This is crazy, I can’t figure it out. I even tried old builds of Express VPN as well. I also tried IPv6 only, IPv4 only, both and nothing changes it.

Any idea what could be causing this problem? Thanks for any tips or ideas anyone may have for me.

I just did a fresh wipe/clean install of 12.5.1 again and made sure I didn't sign into iCloud or anything. I'm at a complete loss on what the problem is.

Since 12.5.1 my system freezes at times, for example when I launch an application, it takes several minutes to bounce in the dock, and does not respond anymore. Then it gets free after a while. The activity monitor does not report excessive cpu or memory consumption. I'm investigating to see if it's not coming from my VPN (Hotspot Shield), this morning I quit it right after it launches at startup, and no freeze so far.

 

[Allistah]

I tried 12.5, 12.5.1, and 12.4. I made a big jump back to 11.6.8 and the problem went away. Now that it’s working, I’m upgrading to 12.5.1 to see if it stays working or breaks. If it breaks, I’ll make my way back from 12.4 and see if I can find which one works (or not). Maybe I need to stick with Big Sur until whatever it is gets fixed. I’ll post my results once I figure it out. I was not able to download 12.3.1, 12.3, or any of the other ones because the download kept getting cut off. I thought it was my machine but it happened on an M1 Mac as well. Not sure what's up with the servers. Maybe I'll try again later.

(I sacrificed 16GB on my SSD for a dedicated install partition. It was way too painful to write to a USB drive, boot off it, and install off it. Took a very long time. Now the installs go much faster.)

For my problem with VPNExpress crashing once you click the "Sign In" button:

Clean installs of the following OS' are not working:
12.5.1
12.5
12.4

Clean installs of the following OS' are working:
11.6.8

Upgrade paths that did not work:
11.6.8 --> 12.5.1 (App crashes once you attempt to open preferences for the app. Works fine on 11.6.8)

@sinbad21, I also experienced the long pauses and lags as well. I thought my SSD was going bad or was causing issues. Good to know it’s not just me in that regard.

I ended up going back to 11.6.8.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I tried 12.5, 12.5.1, and 12.4. I made a big jump back to 11.6.8 and the problem went away. Now that it’s working, I’m upgrading to 12.5.1 to see if it stays working or breaks. If it breaks, I’ll make my way back from 12.4 and see if I can find which one works (or not). Maybe I need to stick with Big Sur until whatever it is gets fixed. I’ll post my results once I figure it out. I was not able to download 12.3.1, 12.3, or any of the other ones because the download kept getting cut off. I thought it was my machine but it happened on an M1 Mac as well. Not sure what's up with the servers. Maybe I'll try again later.

(I sacrificed 16GB on my SSD for a dedicated install partition. It was way too painful to write to a USB drive, boot off it, and install off it. Took a very long time. Now the installs go much faster.)

For my problem with VPNExpress crashing once you click the "Sign In" button:

Clean installs of the following OS' are not working:
12.5.1
12.5
12.4

Clean installs of the following OS' are working:
11.6.8

Upgrade paths that did not work:
11.6.8 --> 12.5.1 (App crashes once you attempt to open preferences for the app. Works fine on 11.6.8)

@sinbad21, I also experienced the long pauses and lags as well. I thought my SSD was going bad or was causing issues. Good to know it’s not just me in that regard.

The only thing I can confirm is this:

Monterey 12.5.1 has some weird network problems. My main iMac running 12.5.1 (in a local network of 3-6 system) loose constantly access to network shares, has problems to ping other systems or reach them via ssh. In some cases I have to ping systems being up constantly (just to remember the system how to use the network stack??) before I can access systems which just joined the network after a reboot.

This problem came up after I updated to 12.5.1 - not enough data to extend this results to the other systems running 12.5.

 

[plugsnpixels]

There is a lot of misinformation spewn on this site about OCLP. I saw in another thread users falsely claiming that there were back doors installed in OCLP and dosdude patches to make it easier for bad actors to steal personal information from our computers. Complete nonsense and totally unfair.

Knowing what we know here about how amazing and wonderful dosdude1 and subsequently OCLP’s work has been to keep life in these old macs, I think that it is essential for people to speak out against misinformation towards OCLP.

I would like to discuss the security aspects of OCLP patched systems. Here's why:

Background: I am running Monterey latest on a few unsupported Macs that I use myself (including this one I am typing on). I am very happy, no problem. I am not concerned for myself.

The problem: I work in higher ed IT and we have about 150 2013-era iMacs in labs and offices that are topped out on Catalina. Many are 27" i7 with 32 GB RAM and no one seems to be in a hurry to replace them. (Nine years of 24/7 service is not long enough I guess.)

I told the higher-ups that our choices are to continue on as-is with an obsolete OS and hope for the best, buy new systems, use less-old hand-me-downs (none are as good), do without labs or try the patch.

The ISO people are concerned about "getting software from GitHub".

I referred them to the OCLP website where it says,

"Built with security in mind​

"Supporting System Integrity Protection(SIP), FileVault 2, .im4m Secure Boot and Vaulting. For many machines, you're just as secure as a supported Mac."

I need experts here to tell me more about this, as that sentence alone is not enough to convince them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[plugsnpixels]

The only thing I can confirm is this:

Monterey 12.5.1 has some weird network problems. My main iMac running 12.5.1 (in a local network of 3-6 system) loose constantly access to network shares, has problems to ping other systems or reach them via ssh. In some cases I have to ping systems up the while time before I can access systems which just joined the network after a reboot.

This problem came up after I updated to 12.5.1 - not enough data to extend this results to the other systems running 12.5.

I wrote above that I manage computer labs for higher ed IT.

I've been using ARD forever. I notice since 12.5.1 that many computers end up with the status of "File sharing available" rather than being listed as "Available" and cannot be accessed for UNIX script tasks.

I have to manually double-click on each computer to screen share and restart it using the Restart icon to get it back into active status.

Computers are set not to sleep.

 

[philk34]

Hi all I would need to install photoshop 2022 on my Macpro 3.1 but obviously I don't have a processor with SSE 4.2 but I get to 4.1 which is not enough to install photoshop. Now I have looked for various info but it seems that the only way is to change Mac although I would regret it since it works very well with Monterey 12.5 and OCLP. I already have photoshop 2019 which works well but I have some plugins that need the new version. Is there any hope or will I have to resign myself ??? thanks in advance and congratulations to the OCLP developers who are working wonders .......

Hello, I too would be interested to know if there is a way to make the latest versions of Photoshop work on CMP 3.1… thanks

 

[OKonnel]

Hi all I would need to install photoshop 2022 on my Macpro 3.1 but obviously I don't have a processor with SSE 4.2 but I get to 4.1 which is not enough to install photoshop. Now I have looked for various info but it seems that the only way is to change Mac although I would regret it since it works very well with Monterey 12.5 and OCLP. I already have photoshop 2019 which works well but I have some plugins that need the new version. Is there any hope or will I have to resign myself ??? thanks in advance and congratulations to the OCLP developers who are working wonders .......

Unfortunately, with an increasing number of Creative Cloud's applications, Adobe first checks the graphic card model in the Mac, therefore decides whether or not to allow the installation.
In my case, for example, I can still install the latest versions of Photoshop, but for other applications the installation program requires the Mac to be equipped with more recent graphic cards and so refuses to install.
In any case... you could be satisfied by the Photoshop versions you use because there is not a big difference with latest even if, to tell the truth, thanks to a significant increase in Artificial Intelligence, the latest versions have an extra march.
But have you tried the versions of Photoshop 2021? The first 2020 or 2021's versions could be compatible with your Mac (e.g.: 20.0) and the last ones don't (e.g.:20.3, etc.). At least it is sometimes so.

 

[hwojtek]

I have to manually double-click on each computer to screen share and restart it using the Restart icon to get it back into active status.

So the ARD works but ssh does not? Unlikely, but perhaps the ssh daemon on the clients dies out after some idle time (this would be extremely odd, as it is usually rock solid)? Check if you are able to ssh to the client. If not, before restarting check if sshd runs on the client.

 

[bmac89]

Is it possible to install Monterey to an external hard drive on an unsupported mac?

I know how to install macOS on an external drive but not sure if it is possible with the patched version or what additional steps would be required?

Many Thanks!

 

[headlessmike]

Is it possible to install Monterey to an external hard drive on an unsupported mac?

I know how to install macOS on an external drive but not sure if it is possible with the patched version or what additional steps would be required?

Many Thanks!

Sure, that works perfectly fine. I installed Big Sur and Monterey on a USB 3 SSD for testing with my unsupported Mac mini before taking the plunge and installing them on the internal SSD. In my case there were no additional steps other than selecting the correct drive and partition.

 

[gw463]

Unfortunately, with an increasing number of Creative Cloud's applications, Adobe first checks the graphic card model in the Mac, therefore decides whether or not to allow the installation.
In my case, for example, I can still install the latest versions of Photoshop, but for other applications the installation program requires the Mac to be equipped with more recent graphic cards and so refuses to install.
In any case... you could be satisfied by the Photoshop versions you use because there is not a big difference with latest even if, to tell the truth, thanks to a significant increase in Artificial Intelligence, the latest versions have an extra march.
But have you tried the versions of Photoshop 2021? The first 2020 or 2021's versions could be compatible with your Mac (e.g.: 20.0) and the last ones don't (e.g.:20.3, etc.). At least it is sometimes so.

Hi yes I tried the 2020 version which installs but does not have full functionality. For examples if activated the automatic subject mask crashes. I was only interested in installing the latest versions because I have a couple of interesting plugins that I have purchased but they require a newer version of PS. Now I am considering whether to buy an Imac that I have found and that will surely cover the latest versions of photoshop. Anyway thanks for the reply and thanks to all the OCLP developers who have allowed us to exploit this 3.1 mastodon until today

 

[plugsnpixels]

I was only interested in installing the latest versions because I have a couple of interesting plugins that I have purchased but they require a newer version of PS.

Can you run the plug-ins either in standalone mode or via another host? Either option may solve your problem.

 

[dKupe]

TL;dr: Leaning toward doing a direct upgrade install of Monterey over Catalina rather than a clean install then Migrate. Terrible idea? Okay-ish idea? For years I've always done upgrade installs, but of course this was pre-OCLP. And also do I need to uninstall OCLP from my USB or test SSD first?

So...my testing with OCLP on my Late 2013 iMac 27" 14,2 has been great. I test installed Monterrey clean on my 128gb internal Blade SSD. So going to take the plunge and install OCLP and Monterey today or tomorrow to my main internal work SSD. Thanks to advice here I will be sure to initialize and wipe the Blade SSD first so that I don't have two bootable drives with Monterrey, and I will also reset SMC and PRAM before installing.

What I would really like to try is doing an Upgrade install of Monterey from Catalina. Yes I know ideally I should probably do a clean install of Monterey then Migrate from my SuperDuper! Catalina clone. Mr. Macintosh suggests the clean install is better, but that the upgrade install should be fine. And the OpenCore install page seems silent on the matter.

And second question, do I need to uninstall OpenCore from my USB drive or blade SSD before installing to my main SSD? The USB drive I'll be using was created with the latest OCLP 0.4.10 just this past week. I was hoping to re-use that same USB rather than creating another. And the drive I'll be installing to has never had OCLP on it. Will a full initialize and erase of the Blade SSD not be sufficient to remove OCLP?

Thanks gang!

 

[hwojtek]

TL;dr: Leaning toward doing a direct upgrade install of Monterey over Catalina rather than a clean install then Migrate. Terrible idea? Okay-ish idea?

No problem. The procedure would be:
1. Createinstallmedia to an USB drive.
2. Install OC configured to suit the machine to the actual boot drive (your main SSD, as you call it). Restart.
3. On restart it will boot with OC. Select the USB installer from OC boot picker. Follow the prompts to upgrade the OS.
4. Following OS installation, install patches if necessary.

Mr. Macintosh suggests the clean install is better

Mr. Macintosh knows only what he skimmed from common knowledge shared here, I wouldn't necessarily count on him as a credible source of Open Core insight.

And second question, do I need to uninstall OpenCore from my USB drive or blade SSD before installing to my main SSD? The USB drive I'll be using was created with the latest OCLP 0.4.10 just this past week.

You can save the USB drive for emergencies. Remove the OC from the other SSD, only some bizarre scenarios call for two OC installations on a single computer. If you want a "like a supported machine" experience, install OC to your regular boot drive only and keep a copy on the USB in case something goes wrong.

EDIT, just for clarity sake: remove the OC folder from the blade SSD before you install OC to your main SSD. Wipe it by formatting as a GUID.

 

[davidlv]

No problem. The procedure would be:
1. Createinstallmedia to an USB drive.
2. Install OC configured to suit the machine to the actual boot drive (your main SSD, as you call it). Restart.
3. On restart it will boot with OC. Select the USB installer from OC boot picker. Follow the prompts to upgrade the OS.
4. Following OS installation, install patches if necessary.


Mr. Macintosh knows only what he skimmed from common knowledge shared here, I wouldn't necessarily count on him as a credible source of Open Core insight.



You can save the USB drive for emergencies. Remove the OC from the other SSD, only some bizarre scenarios call for two OC installations on a single computer. If you want a "like a supported machine" experience, install OC to your regular boot drive only and keep a copy on the USB in case something goes wrong.

EDIT, just for clarity sake: remove the OC folder from the blade SSD before you install OC to your main SSD. Wipe it by formatting as a GUID.

I have been following this, but there is one thing I don't understand. That large internal SSD was initialized using Catalina, which has an older version of APFS, compared with Monterey. Will a direct Monterey install (overwrite) to that SSD work without initializing it with a Monterey version of Disk Utility?

 

[serafin79]

The only thing I can confirm is this:

Monterey 12.5.1 has some weird network problems. My main iMac running 12.5.1 (in a local network of 3-6 system) loose constantly access to network shares, has problems to ping other systems or reach them via ssh. In some cases I have to ping systems being up constantly (just to remember the system how to use the network stack??) before I can access systems which just joined the network after a reboot.

This problem came up after I updated to 12.5.1 - not enough data to extend this results to the other systems running 12.5.

can you describe how to repeat this issue?
I have a MBP 8,1 and have not seen this issue.
I can ssh into linux systems all the time, actually last night I left a terminal open with a session and its still active.
I really wonder if this is more of a network issue aka routing issue

 

[gw463]

Can you run the plug-ins either in standalone mode or via another host? Either option may solve your problem.

unfortunately the plugins cannot work in stand alone mode but only within photoshop ........... uhhhhhhh ...... at this point I think I will keep my 3.1 and put a More recent Imac seems to me the solution for me but not for my bank account heheheh

 

[dKupe]

You can save the USB drive for emergencies. Remove the OC from the other SSD, only some bizarre scenarios call for two OC installations on a single computer. If you want a "like a supported machine" experience, install OC to your regular boot drive only and keep a copy on the USB in case something goes wrong.

EDIT, just for clarity sake: remove the OC folder from the blade SSD before you install OC to your main SSD. Wipe it by formatting as a GUID.

Thanks! Just so I'm clear, wiping the blade SSD and reformatting as GUID with Disk Utility will be sufficient to remove OC? i.e. I don't need to use this terminal technique?

And the USB drive I created this week to install to the Blade SSD can be re-used as-is for this next install? Or should I create a new one?

Thanks so much you all are awesome!

 

[hwojtek]

I have been following this, but there is one thing I don't understand. That large internal SSD was initialized using Catalina, which has an older version of APFS, compared with Monterey. Will a direct Monterey install (overwrite) to that SSD work without initializing it with a Monterey version of Disk Utility?

It will be upgraded during install. I've been upgrading my system since 2010 on an MP2,1, cloning disks, swapping disks, cloning again, moving the OS drive as-is from a 2,1 to a 5,1, switching to APFS, upgrading the disk four times, switching to NVMe, all without a single clean install since Snow Leopard. It all worked (usual disclaimer: YMMV).

Thanks! Just so I'm clear, wiping the blade SSD and reformatting as GUID with Disk Utility will be sufficient to remove OC? i.e. I don't need to use this terminal technique?

This is a removal procedure, not cleaning your disk procedure. It merely removes OC from the disk leaving all data intact apart from the OC being removed.
By reformatting the drive (not the volume, mind you, click on the hardware drive in Disk Utility and not on the volume in Disk Utility):

you wipe the disk clean wholesale and two partitions are created from scratch, the invisible EFI partition and the partition containing APFS... well, containers, that constitute the usual volumes.

And the USB drive I created this week to install to the Blade SSD can be re-used as-is for this next install? Or should I create a new one?

It's perfectly OK if you already tried and your system works properly with this setup of OC.

 

[bmac89]

How safe and secure do you consider the patched OS to be as your daily driver. I realise there is a certain level of risk and blind trust involved and that any answers to this will be somewhat subjective. However would you feel comfortable using it for online banking etc? I don’t think I would but I guess I’m trying to understand what peoples thoughts are and how they are using their patched mac i.e. fiddling around on a secondary machine vs using as a daily driver - banking, emails, internet, photos etc?

 

[Audit13]

How safe and secure do you consider the patched OS to be as your daily driver. I realise there is a certain level of risk and blind trust involved and that any answers to this will be somewhat subjective. However would you feel comfortable using it for online banking etc? I don’t think I would but I guess I’m trying to understand what peoples thoughts are and how they are using their patched mac i.e. fiddling around on a secondary machine vs using as a daily driver - banking, emails, internet, photos etc?

I used the latest release of Monterey on a mid-2014 Pro 13" and have no problem using it for banking. I haven't any issues with any sites that use https.

 

[plugsnpixels]

How safe and secure do you consider the patched OS to be as your daily driver. I realise there is a certain level of risk and blind trust involved and that any answers to this will be somewhat subjective. However would you feel comfortable using it for online banking etc? I don’t think I would but I guess I’m trying to understand what peoples thoughts are and how they are using their patched mac i.e. fiddling around on a secondary machine vs using as a daily driver - banking, emails, internet, photos etc?

I would assume the people using OCLP are doing so because they need to, otherwise they would just use a newer Mac. And on that older Mac they will be doing all of the usual things everybody does, as you listed.

We need to hear from those who fully understand what's going on under the hood to determine whether OCLP is in any way a real risk, and if so, what can be done to mitigate it beyond what we would already need to do regardless of OS.

But surely sticking with an EOL older OS going forward is even more of a risk (?).

 

[Allistah]

Does anyone on Monterey use ExpressVPN? If so, can you open the app, go into preferences and click all the tabs in there? For some reason, even on clean installs of Monterey, you can't even click the Sign In button and the app crashes. This is an OCLP machine (iMac 12,2 - mid-2011 27" iMac). Just trying to see if anyone else can repro the problem.

I went back to Big Sur and now I can't get the handoff/Apple Watch unlock to work for nothing - even on clean installs of Big Sur. Frustrating. I was thinking about going back to Catalina, but I can't find a direct download for the installer. Anyone have a working URL for that from Apple?

 

[plugsnpixels]

I was thinking about going back to Catalina, but I can't find a direct download for the installer. Anyone have a working URL for that from Apple?

Google "older macOS", first result, second section.

macOS Catalina