macOS 14 Sonoma on Unsupported Macs Thread

[MacinMan]

Hey all, while I was setting up Mojave on a portable Hard drive for use with my iMac for 32-bit support, I noticed a hidden folder named ".PreviousSystemInformation" on my Data partition of my internal drive where Monterey is installed. I haven't been able to turn up any real info on what this is used for, but am curious if it's safe to remove ? I've already removed other junk files left behind without issues, so am curious as to what this folder is for, and if it can be removed. Thanks.

 

[deeveedee]

I tried div screensavers inkl. Meassge, Hello, Album cover - all 👎🏻 with OCLP 1.1.0 + macOS 14.0/14.1

@mikelets456 Is probably correct in saying that it is the WallPaper that makes the difference. I indirectly set my Sonoma WallPaper through the "System Settings > Screen Saver" by choosing "Show as wallpaper" in the Screen Saver setting.

Also see "System Settings > Wallpaper"

 

[davidlv]

Hey all, while I was setting up Mojave on a portable Hard drive for use with my iMac for 32-bit support, I noticed a hidden folder named ".PreviousSystemInformation" on my Data partition of my internal drive where Monterey is installed. I haven't been able to turn up any real info on what this is used for, but am curious if it's safe to remove ? I've already removed other junk files left behind without issues, so am curious as to what this folder is for, and if it can be removed. Thanks.

Using CCC to make a backup copy of a disk, that ".PreviousSystemInformation" shows up in the Task Filter for the Source disk, and it can be de-selected (the default is selected). I have always de-selected it and have noticed no issues.
Albeit, I have no idea why it even exists. It may be necessary in some cases.

 

[Pachnes]

Hey all, while I was setting up Mojave on a portable Hard drive for use with my iMac for 32-bit support, I noticed a hidden folder named ".PreviousSystemInformation" on my Data partition of my internal drive where Monterey is installed. I haven't been able to turn up any real info on what this is used for, but am curious if it's safe to remove ? I've already removed other junk files left behind without issues, so am curious as to what this folder is for, and if it can be removed. Thanks.

If you do not know the purpose of that folder, make a CCC backup of your Macintosh HD, install OCLP at the EFI partition of that backup drive, move the suspicious folder to your desktop, move, not copy it! Try to reboot and make your usual work. If nothing strange happens, you can delete that folder at you desktop. Otherwise, you just need to boot from your CCC backupdrive and restore the backup drive to your Macintosh HD disk (or you can try to just move that folder from the desktop to the origin path and reboot and see if that is enough).

 

[MacinMan]

Using CCC to make a backup copy of a disk, that ".PreviousSystemInformation" shows up in the Task Filter for the Source disk, and it can be de-selected (the defualt is selected). I have always de-selected it and have noticed no issues.
Albeit, I have no idea why it even exists. It may be necessary in some cases.

I went into the folder via terminal by using open . to open it in finder, then looked at the plists. It looks to be simply an archive of the previous version of the OS after and update / upgrade. Not the whole OS but references to the files and versions. I also deleted a boot folder and another folder called previoussystemcontents from the data partition too which had a bunch of files like baseinstall images, etc and have suffered no effects from it. I've never seen them before, so that's why I was asking.

 

[MacinMan]

If you do not know the purpose of that folder, make a CCC backup of your Macintosh HD, install OCLP at the EFI partition of that backup drive, move the suspicious folder to your desktop, move, not copy it! Try to reboot and make your usual work. If nothing strange happens, you can delete that folder at you desktop. Otherwise, you just need to boot from your CCC backupdrive and restore the backup drive to your main disk (or you can try to just move that folder from desktop to the origin path and reboot).

I've been looking into what the folders are for, but no OCLP needed currently, the iMac is running Monterey, and Mojave natively.

 

[mjoecups]

C2D again, this time the MacBook Pro 4,1 (in my case with 6GB RAM, 17" glossy LED backlit screen), boots Sonoma just fine. Sound works, backlight control works (!), mouse&keyboard work (so USB1.1 seems fine). Wifi & BT do not work (despite having a previously air-drop and handoff capable replacement module in the miniPCIe slot).
Oh wow, and just while typing this I noticed that the old iSight camera also works with FaceTime. Frame buffer shows all of the 512MB of the 8600MGT. No GPU accel, though - as to be expected at this time.

So, @roysterdoyster, here we might have an extra life with our machines!

Hey I am trying to get my 4,1 to run Sonoma. It's got mac memory (LOL) and 1TB SSD internal as well as update WIFI and BT. So far only safe mode works with 14.1? Any tips for me?

 

[amaze1499]

OCLP 1.1.0 + macOS 14,1 Sonoma – massive heat/CPU usage by VTDecoderXPCService​

I'm using a 15" rMBP base model from 2014 (11,2) (2,2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 / Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB). With Ventura + OCLP everytging works fine but with Sonoma 14.0 and also 14.1 I have following problems and hope you could tell me if it's a problem from Sonoma or OCLP?!

Always when the screensaver startet the process VTDecoderXPCService uses massice CPU = massive heat = massive fans speed/noise. VTDecoderXPCService also starts occasionally when my rMBP 11.2 is sleeping, sometimes just like that during operation.

Sometimes when I wake my rMBP from sleep, it freezes. Then all I can do is press the on/off button for a long time to switch off the rMBP and then restart it.

Perhaps one of you has an idea/solution based on the screenshots?

Thanks ins advance and greetings from Germany

Check for screensaver set to never in LockScreen. First desktop background picture should be a still jpg not a heic, or at least not one of the stock wallpaper you can find in System Settings. Turn off Wallpaper as Screensaver on all desktops. Test again.

 

[Pachnes]

Do not connect your keyboard or mouse via a usb hub to you mac. booting to save mode will not work, as keyboard and mouse are initialized after the hub has initialized and that is to late, system already booting from hd.

 

[houser]

Always when the screensaver startet the process VTDecoderXPCService uses massice CPU = massive heat = massive fans speed/noise. VTDecoderXPCService also starts occasionally when my rMBP 11.2 is sleeping, sometimes just like that during operation.

Yes, seen this. Is your install and upgraded or vanilla from scratch?
In short, it looks like the new screensavers are gpu/cpu hogs and may work but will use too much of the resources of an older Mac. It also looks like those screensavers hog some resources even when inactive. Just don't use them is the short version for now. They work here, but the fans run straight away, as we know that hd video will use resources.
Should actually be called GPU Hogger rather than Screen Saver

 

[mikelets456]

I tried div screensavers inkl. Meassge, Hello, Album cover - all 👎🏻 with OCLP 1.1.0 + macOS 14.0/14.1

1. Wanna know if this is actually "normal" then I hops of a solution from the developers or just my user case.
2. Is the issue due to Sonoma or OCLP?
3. If more user have this experience maybe someone found a solution cause the heat is the dead for battery and logic board❗️

@mikelets456
How do you set a pic as wallpaper?
With a fixed image, the purpose of a screen saver is of course no longer given (prevent burn-in)

Sorry for the delay…customers and works disrupted my day….lol

I click on the photo, hit the share button then set as wallpaper.

 

[architect1337]

Just updated my iMac13,1 from Ventura (working fine) to Sonoma (weird issue). After the update, very slow as expected so installed the root patches. All fine.

After reboot, I get to the initial log in screen but I'm not able to use the keyboard and the screen flashes between the login screen and a black screen with mouse cursor every 5 or so seconds. I'm not able to enter my login password unless I time it exactly (about 3 seconds after the screen goes blank). If I miss it, the password field appears to show a few characters (as 'balls' in the password field) then screen goes black (with mouse cursor in the top left) before showing the desktop again (keyboard now inactive) then rotates between these states.

If I'm quick enough (and I have a short password), I can type it. Keyboard is USB attached. Booting from external USB SSD SATA drive. Worked fine under Ventura. I do see issues with loginwindow crashing after I've logged in.

** Should have used search as this appears to be a common issue with OCLP1.1 and Sonoma 14.1 **

 

[architect1337]

Hi on my iMac 14.2 with Dev 7 works fine, but after update OTA to RC, the login programm crashed so that i cannot login again. Have anyone an idea? the loginscreen shows up, crashed, blank screen, shows up and crashed (loginwindow) and so on.

I have the same issue with 14.1 - loginwindow, crash to blank screen, loginwindow again but if you time your password correctly (count 1 elephant 2 after the blank screen appears) I was able to login.

 

[mjoecups]

Ok, I have my amazing MacBook Pro 4,1 booting into sonoma now (14.1) with speedy screen and working internal keyboard and trackpad. Hurray!

At some point along the way I updated the hardware WIFI/BT 14E4,43A0


This doesn't work. I am thinking it's because the post install is assuming a vanilla MacBook Pro 4,1 and setting up for that?

How do I get more granular control of the post install Kexts? or how do I make my WIFI/BT work?

Luckily the old hardware has a female RJ45, so I am plugged in.

Thanks for any help!

 

[davidlv]

I have the same issue with 14.1 - loginwindow, crash to blank screen, loginwindow again but if you time your password correctly (count 1 elephant 2 after the blank screen appears) I was able to login.

There are two possible "fixes", the first may not be good depending on your environment, but have you tried autmatic login? The 2nd is to get the latest OCLP nightly (search on that phrase) and install it to the Library/Application Support/Dortania folder. After using the Build and Install, and then the Post Install Root Patches options, does that annoying situation continue?

 

[davidlv]

Ok, I have my amazing MacBook Pro 4,1 booting into sonoma now (14.1) with speedy screen and working internal keyboard and trackpad. Hurray!

At some point along the way I updated the hardware WIFI/BT 14E4,43A0


This doesn't work. I am thinking it's because the post install is assuming a vanilla MacBook Pro 4,1 and setting up for that?

How do I get more granular control of the post install Kexts? or how do I make my WIFI/BT work?

Luckily the old hardware has a female RJ45, so I am plugged in.

Thanks for any help!

In the OCLP Settings menu, you can try spoofing the MBP 4,1 model to a later model that uses the BT 14E4,43A0 module (I don't know what MBP model that would be). Of course, that may or may not work, as that MBP, the 4,1 model, has been mentioned in the OCLP docs as being discontinued (read that very difficult to overcome the old hardware's non-compatible condition.

 

[mjoecups]

In the OCLP Settings menu, you can try spoofing the MBP 4,1 model to a later model that uses the BT 14E4,43A0 module (I don't know what MBP model that would be). Of course, that may or may not work, as that MBP, the 4,1 model, has been mentioned in the OCLP docs as being discontinued (read that very difficult to overcome the old hardware's non-compatible condition.

Thanks for your reply! It works amazing well! Runs much better than Catalina did. Also screen brightness, keyboard illumination and other stuff works too. Overall I am blown away.

I guess based on your suggestion there is no more granular control of the Kexts loaded as post root patches? Would be cool if there was an advanced mode for such cases? My machine needs almost everything from the 4,1 except I updated update the WIFI hardware. I didn't see where they are writing off these old systems, but I understand. I think the 6G memory limit is pretty tough.

Any other ways to manually add KEXT files that would make WIFI work?

 

[davidlv]

Thanks for your reply! It works amazing well! Runs much better than Catalina did. Also screen brightness, keyboard illumination and other stuff works too. Overall I am blown away.

I guess based on your suggestion there is no more granular control of the Kexts loaded as post root patches? Would be cool if there was an advanced mode for such cases? My machine needs almost everything from the 4,1 except I updated update the WIFI hardware. I didn't see where they are writing off these old systems, but I understand. I think the 6G memory limit is pretty tough.

Any other ways to manually add KEXT files that would make WIFI work?

@mjoecups Sorry, I have no knowledge covering that at all. Best to stay connected by ethernet until you figure out a WiFi solution. Best of all would be to save up some cash and get a base M2 MBA, seriously a Grand Slam winner!

 

[mjoecups]

@mjoecups Sorry, I have no knowledge covering that at all. Best to stay connected by ethernet until you figure out a WiFi solution. Best of all would be to save up some cash and get a base M2 MBA, seriously a Grand Slam winner!

LOL, my wife has all the new hardware.

 

[ChrisOSX]

I have the same issue with 14.1 - loginwindow, crash to blank screen, loginwindow again but if you time your password correctly (count 1 elephant 2 after the blank screen appears) I was able to login.

There are two possible "fixes", the first may not be good depending on your environment, but have you tried autmatic login?

I've had the loginwindow and WindowServer errors for a bit as well.

I've stopped using my external monitor for now and I haven't seen those crashes coming back from sleep. But I have also disabled my password for login. Could be a combo of both off or disabled 🤷‍♂️ I'm not sure which "fixed" it lol

---

Visually, with the external monitor on, I come back from sleep, both screens light up with my wallpaper, password block appears, then both screens go black. The only way I know it hasn't crashed is I can still see my mouse. I can then enter my password like normal and it will log in. Annoying, but oh well.

 

[architect1337]

There are two possible "fixes", the first may not be good depending on your environment, but have you tried autmatic login? The 2nd is to get the latest OCLP nightly (search on that phrase) and install it to the Library/Application Support/Dortania folder. After using the Build and Install, and then the Post Install Root Patches options, does that annoying situation continue?

Automatic login doesn't appear to work as loginwindow crashes before the system is able to log you in. I haven't tried the nightly yet - but I'm assuming you haven't seen this issue (based on the fact auto-login doesn't work) and so don't know for sure the nightly will fix the problem. Appreciate the suggestions though.

*Tried latest 1.2.0 nightly build from link and this does not fix the issue. Exactly the same. System boots, initial user screen appears waiting for password, keyboard unresponsive at password prompt, screen goes black, repeat*

Crashing Thread seems to be scenekit.renderingQueue. Tried switching desktop wallpaper to plain colour but still doesn't work.

 

[deeveedee]

At some point along the way I updated the hardware WIFI/BT 14E4,43A0


This doesn't work. I am thinking it's because the post install is assuming a vanilla MacBook Pro 4,1 and setting up for that?

For post-install patches, OCLP should detect your Wi-Fi IOName (43A0) and shouldn't care that you upgraded to a different Wi-Fi. What may be happening is that the Open Core EFI generated for your Mac contains the wrong kexts.

Do you know enough to post your Open Core config.plist?

EDIT: I used OCLP to generate the OC EFI for MBP4,1 and see that the config.plist is missing things for your Wi-Fi, but I don't want to make assumptions about the OC EFI that you generated. Best if you can post your OC EFI for review.

EDIT2: If we're going off-topic here (probably), PM me your OC config.plist.

EDIT3: If you want to try to figure it out yourself (would be a great learning experience), I think you should be able to look at the OC EFI generated by OCLP for MacBookAir6,2. In the config.plist for MBA6,2, note Kernel > Block > Item0 and Kernel > Add > Items 14-17. You'll want to remove the ElCap 802.11 kext from your original config.plist and add the new stuff from the MBA6,2 config.plist. Then you'll need to add the missing kexts to the OC/Kexts folder in your EFI.

EDIT4: Note that your manual OC EFI edits will be lost each time you "Build and Install Open Core" with OCLP.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

OCLP 1.1.0 + macOS 14,1 Sonoma – massive heat/CPU usage by VTDecoderXPCService​

I'm using a 15" rMBP base model from 2014 (11,2) (2,2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 / Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB). With Ventura + OCLP everytging works fine but with Sonoma 14.0 and also 14.1 I have following problems and hope you could tell me if it's a problem from Sonoma or OCLP?!

Always when the screensaver startet the process VTDecoderXPCService uses massice CPU = massive heat = massive fans speed/noise. VTDecoderXPCService also starts occasionally when my rMBP 11.2 is sleeping, sometimes just like that during operation.

Sometimes when I wake my rMBP from sleep, it freezes. Then all I can do is press the on/off button for a long time to switch off the rMBP and then restart it.

Perhaps one of you has an idea/solution based on the screenshots?

Thanks ins advance and greetings from Germany

Hello,
I have the same machine as you, MacBookPro11,2.

I upgraded from Ventura to Sonoma on day one of the Sonoma RC 14.0. Initially I had issues with Safari unexpectedly crashing or displaying a short message about "This page is using a lot of memory" or something similar. After this issue, the computer would not open any app and the only solution would be a restart and sometimes a hard reboot.

I don't know if VTDecoderXPCService was using massive CPU or not because I did not check, but the fans were spinning a lot...

What I did that solved ALL of my problems with Sonoma was set the FeatureUnlock on OCLP from "Enabled" to "Partial".

Since then, I've been enjoying Sonoma Evening as the background + Screen Saver. When my computer wakes from sleep, everything is normal...

I hope this helps with your problem.

 

[Izzy67]

Just updated my iMac13,1 from Ventura (working fine) to Sonoma (weird issue). After the update, very slow as expected so installed the root patches. All fine.

After reboot, I get to the initial log in screen but I'm not able to use the keyboard and the screen flashes between the login screen and a black screen with mouse cursor every 5 or so seconds. I'm not able to enter my login password unless I time it exactly (about 3 seconds after the screen goes blank). If I miss it, the password field appears to show a few characters (as 'balls' in the password field) then screen goes black (with mouse cursor in the top left) before showing the desktop again (keyboard now inactive) then rotates between these states.

If I'm quick enough (and I have a short password), I can type it. Keyboard is USB attached. Booting from external USB SSD SATA drive. Worked fine under Ventura. I do see issues with loginwindow crashing after I've logged in.

** Should have used search as this appears to be a common issue with OCLP1.1 and Sonoma 14.1 **

Had the same on my 2014 iMac, with Sanoma 14.0 and OCLP 1.1, reverted to Ventura.

 

[deeveedee]

Hello,
I have the same machine as you, MacBookPro11,2.

What I did that solved ALL of my problems with Sonoma was set the FeatureUnlock on OCLP from "Enabled" to "Partial".

Since then, I've been enjoying Sonoma Evening as the background + Screen Saver. When my computer wakes from sleep, everything is normal...

I hope this helps with your problem.

Clever. What made you think to do this? Do you know what feature you lost when you changed FeatureUnlock from Enabled to Partial? Well done.

EDIT: I diff'd the config.plists for full and partial FU and found that setting FU to Partial adds boot-arg '-disable_sidecar_mac' which "disables Sidecar/AirPlay/Universal Control patches"

Here are the FeatureUnlock.kext notes for Sidecar:

Spoiler

Here are the FeatureUnlock.kext notes for Universal Control

Spoiler