macOS 14 Sonoma on Unsupported Macs Thread

[hvds]

MBP11,1: running from new internal SSD (OWC Aura Pro X2 480 GB).

Before installing the hardware, made sure firmware is up-to-date by re-installing Big Sur 11.7.10 temporarily.
CCC'd external SSD to new internal SSD and wrote OCLP EFI while running from external SSD. Installed 14.1 over new SSD from USB installer.
Boot hangs with WindowServer crash before root patches are installed, safe mode works (Shift when starting the newly installed system in OCLP boot picker), then applied root patches. Rebooting works normal.
After some initialising (mds etc) system is very performant.

I'm already used to this old-new MBP. Great development and implementation by the OCLP team.

Very happy with the MBP11,1 13" late 2013. Running Sonoma 14.1.1 and OCLP 1.2.1.

The battery is 10 years old and has 475 cycles. Still good enough for 4 hrs of working without external power.

Installed AlDente (Pro) to postpone the death of the battery a bit further. The important feature is that it can limit charging to a healthy level, I've chosen 80%. One can fully charge on purpose of course. Not as automatic as the battery management of modern Macs, but fulfills the purpose. Seems to work reliably and is well documented.
There are other options than AlDente as well.

 

[roysterdoyster]

MacBookPro4,1 Early 2008, 17-inch. Successful OTA update from Ventura 13.6.1 -> Sonoma 14.1.1 via OCL 1.3.0n. Running so far as good as Ventura before

 

[Ausdauersportler]

iMac11,3. 27"
OCLP: 1.2.1
OC Debug Commit: 9215e5c

View attachment 2311574

We are getting ahead of ourselves. There is no macOS beta, no OCLP nighty, no manually updated/maintained OCLP generated OC support. But thanks for pointing this out. You might go the usual route and report this in the OC repo.

Edit:
The driver seems to break other configs OLCP 1.2.1 based configs with the published OC 0.9.6....only a water mark message.

 

[roronl]

Highly recommended, with thanks to Mr. Macintosh.

 

[mikelets456]

Highly recommended, with thanks to Mr. Macintosh.

Thanks for the video. Maybe you could answer this….for example. I am on 14.1 and on OCLP 1.2.0.

Before I update to 14.2 (or whatever) and 1.2.1 (or whatever is out at the time) what would be the best way set everything to the way it was before updating?

Would I create a 14.1 USB installer and 14.1 Time Machine then wipe and reinstall everything? Would the Time Machine install over top of OCLP and everything reset as before? It’s not clear if Time Machine installs correctly on an unsupported Mac with different versions of OCLP and operating systems.

The reason I ask, is the last few updates got more confusing and complicated and I want to be prepared if I jump up to another update and it fails miserably. I use this for work and am at the point I might simply wait a while until this stabilizes and there’s a solid fix.

 

[luckyduke23]

Thanks for the video. Maybe you could answer this….for example. I am on 14.1 and on OCLP 1.2.0.

Before I update to 14.2 (or whatever) and 1.2.1 (or whatever is out at the time) what would be the best way set everything to the way it was before updating?

Would I create a 14.1 USB installer and 14.1 Time Machine then wipe and reinstall everything? Would the Time Machine install over top of OCLP and everything reset as before? It’s not clear if Time Machine installs correctly on an unsupported Mac with different versions of OCLP and operating systems.

The reason I ask, is the last few updates got more confusing and complicated and I want to be prepared if I jump up to another update and it fails miserably. I use this for work and am at the point I might simply wait a while until this stabilizes and there’s a solid fix.

A backup is always a must. Then it is presently still recommended to connect your machine for the update process with an ethernet cable to the internet. Make sure you have the latest OCLP 1.2.1 installed. Usually the program will notify you that a new version is available. Then download Sonoma 14.1.1. here https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-sonoma-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/ (I prefer this update method as it causes less issues than the internal update feature). Depending on what machine you have, the update will proceed flawlessly. If you want to be on the safe side you can do the updates with an USB installer that you can create with OCLP first....alternatively you can also create a test OS on a new separate partition and always test all updates on your machine there first...

 

[deeveedee]

I added an APFS volume for Sonoma (Release), so that my MBP6,2 has one volume for the Sonoma Beta track and one for the Sonoma Release track. Sonoma 14.0 (Release) install and the upgrade to 14.1.1 (Release) was flawless with OCLP 1.2.1. Both 14.1.1 (Release) and 14.2 (Beta) run well and my MBP6,2 is able to boot Recovery Mode for both versions of macOS. I continue to perform my macOS installations and upgrades while maintaining a wired Ethernet connection, but I suspect that Devs have eliminated the need for the wired Ethernet connection by downloading resources before Wi-Fi is lost.

 

[davidlv]

Thanks for the video. Maybe you could answer this….for example. I am on 14.1 and on OCLP 1.2.0.

Before I update to 14.2 (or whatever) and 1.2.1 (or whatever is out at the time) what would be the best way set everything to the way it was before updating?

Would I create a 14.1 USB installer and 14.1 Time Machine then wipe and reinstall everything? Would the Time Machine install over top of OCLP and everything reset as before? It’s not clear if Time Machine installs correctly on an unsupported Mac with different versions of OCLP and operating systems.

The reason I ask, is the last few updates got more confusing and complicated and I want to be prepared if I jump up to another update and it fails miserably. I use this for work and am at the point I might simply wait a while until this stabilizes and there’s a solid fix.

Never used Time Machine, but a Carbon Copy Cloner backup (standard backup, non-bootable) will work fine with an unsupported Mac running OCLP. Install the new version (copy the app directly to the /Library/Application Support/Dortania folder), do the backup, and Reboot to the new USB installer, wipe the SSD and install the OS. During the install process you should be prompted to transfer your data via the Migration Assistant. After everything settles down, run the OCLP app using the Build and Install Open Core option to install the OCLP EFI to your internal SSD. All of you settings, folder, etc., ie., everything, should be the same as it was before the upgrade.

 

[luckyduke23]

.... I continue to perform my macOS installations and upgrades while maintaining a wired Ethernet connection, but I suspect that Devs have eliminated the need for the wired Ethernet connection by downloading resources before Wi-Fi is lost.

That's correct. I also read it but I had no issues at all so far anyway. But if users still run into problems anyway, it's always the first solution to connect via ethernet. It often happens that OCLP was corruped for an unknown reason...

 

[StefanAM]

Thank you StefanAM. Do you have 6 or 8GB of RM on these 2 MBP41s?

6 and 4. 8 impossible.

 

[deeveedee]

So I was checking my mac mini 8,1 and brought up OCLP but it won't allow - the Build and Install OpenCore is greyed out - is that expected?

MM8,1 is still supported by Apple, so I wouldn't think that OCLP would recognize it as an unsupported Mac. If you are using your MM8,1 to "Build and Install Open Core" for another unsupported Mac, you need to manually change the Target Model in OCLP > Settings.

EDIT: Whoops - sorry for the duplicate of davidlv's post here.

EDIT2: It's worth noting that OCLP generates an Open Core EFI that is unique for each macOS model (SMBIOS model). This, combined with the fact that OCLP customizes post-install patches for each Mac is why one user's experience with OCLP cannot be assumed for another user. Each user needs to test OCLP with their own Mac and their own use cases to determine whether OCLP is suitable for one's needs and applications.

 

[roronl]

Thanks for the video. Maybe you could answer this….for example. I am on 14.1 and on OCLP 1.2.0.

Before I update to 14.2 (or whatever) and 1.2.1 (or whatever is out at the time) what would be the best way set everything to the way it was before updating?

Would I create a 14.1 USB installer and 14.1 Time Machine then wipe and reinstall everything? Would the Time Machine install over top of OCLP and everything reset as before? It’s not clear if Time Machine installs correctly on an unsupported Mac with different versions of OCLP and operating systems.

The reason I ask, is the last few updates got more confusing and complicated and I want to be prepared if I jump up to another update and it fails miserably. I use this for work and am at the point I might simply wait a while until this stabilizes and there’s a solid fix.

@mikelets456 "wipe and reinstall everything" Is not a requirement for upgrading via OCLP.

If you 1) install the latest version of the OCLP app
2) install this tool on your disk via the app.
3) Upgrade Macos via OTA or Ethernet
4) apply the patches via the OLPC tool for these new Macos
5) reboot. If all goes well, everything should be fine as it was before you upgraded.

This means you have installed the new MacOS version over your old version and you do not need a recovery via Time Machine or another backup.

 

[K two]

Noticed macOS 14.2b(23C5041e) boot-loops (WindowServer and MTLCompilerService crashes) on Metal Macs and not so on non-Metal Macs with OCLP v.1.2.1. Suspect LaunchServices may be the source of this issue? Hopefully this observation doesn't get me booted from Discord, yet again.

 

[davidlv]

Noticed macOS 14.2b(23C5041e) boot-loops (WindowServer and MTLCompilerService crashes) on Metal Macs and not so on non-Metal Macs with OCLP v.1.2.1. Suspect LaunchServices may be the source of this issue? Hopefully this observation doesn't get me booted from Discord, yet again.

Another data point; no such boot-loop issues on either my native supported MBA or the very old (2014) iMac 15,1. Both metal capable.

 

[K two]

Another data point; no such boot-loop issues on either my native supported MBA or the very old (2014) iMac 15,1. Both metal capable.

Concur on the supported Mac, Mini8,1 is OK here but on Haswell Mac Mini7,1 it crashes every time. Observed on this thread non-Metals seem immune. 🤷‍♂️

 

[amaze1499]

macOS 14.2 Beta2 (23C5041e) OCLPv.1.2.1 Mini7,1 BOOT LOOP after NVRAM reset and Safe Boot root-patching. Console reports Windowserver and MTLCompilerService crashes. Haswell patch needs work?

Got the same issue here on a 9,2 with 5041e and 1.2.1.

 

[amaze1499]

For those that have the login loop, You will be logged off when you quit the Windowserver process in Activity
Monitor.
Thus, you get a login loop when WindowServer crashes upon login.

Here's the output of the loop on my 2012 Mac Mini:

View attachment 2311259

Just FYI: I can logon using safe mode, windowserver still crashes though.

 

[cab_007]

I took nightly OCLP this am and while unpatched 14.1b2 booted up ok, upon patching with OCLP (post root install), I got the boot loop with what is reported above. Now trying to revert back.

 

[sinbad21]

Just FYI: I can logon using safe mode, windowserver still crashes though.

Same thing for me.

 

[Calibre5]

Just FYI: I can logon using safe mode, windowserver still crashes though.

Same here on iMac 13,2. Back on 14.2 beta 1 & OCLP 1.2.1 release for now.

 

[hawkman507]

I've upgraded my macmini3,1 (early 2009) but the drivers for bluetooth and wifi aren't working. I'm also seeing crashreporter running over and over again. I looked through the options in OCLP but there doesn't seem to be any option to change anything regarding BT/Wifi. Can anyone point me to some other information on how to resolve this?

Thanks!

*** Edit ***

Correction, it's just bluetooth. Wifi is just super slow to turn on - symptomatic of the computer constantly writing its crashreports...

 

[K two]

Which version of OCLP, which Sonoma and what is crashing??? 🤔

 

[davidlv]

Concur on the supported Mac, Mini8,1 is OK here but on Haswell Mac Mini7,1 it crashes every time. Observed on this thread non-Metals seem immune. 🤷‍♂️

Can you clarify regarding your comment on the "non-Metals seem immune"? Also regarding the "Haswell" involvement?
If I am not mistaken, my iMac 15,1 has a Haswell chip, and it didn't have the boot-loop issue.

 

[K two]

Can you clarify regarding your comment on the "non-Metals seem immune"? Also regarding the "Haswell" involvement?
If I am not mistaken, my iMac 15,1 has a Haswell chip, and it didn't have the boot-loop issue.

Noticed that more non-Metal Macs were not having issues with the lastest updates both MacOS and OCLP, yet more than a few with Metal Macs trying the second Beta of 14.2 (23C5041e) were seeing the same issues whether OTA or USB installed. Actually, to me it appears there is a problem with Metal patches (I can only test Haswell) and Launch Services since the MTLCompilerService (too many corpses) and the WindowServer are directly involved. Also, a clean install with an OCLP-made USB, ethernet-connected over a FiberOptic network yielded the same issue. Is AMD Radeon R9 a Haswell?? 🤔 Hmm?

 

[Bigwaff]

I've upgraded my macmini3,1 (early 2009) but the drivers for bluetooth and wifi aren't working.

Bluetooth issues are known w/ pre-2012 model Macs, OCLP, and Sonoma. NVRAM reset may fix it.. maybe not.

macOS Sonoma | OpenCore Legacy Patcher