macOS 15 Sequoia on Unsupported Macs Thread

[LutzRFrank]

just being adventurous, installing on a 2012 MacBook Pro (10,2) and ... to make it even more fun, initially as upgrade from Sonoma 14.5

Root Patching fails and it looks a bit monochrome but works(ed). It showed no Wifi available, but displayed the hotspots ... and ... the screenshot was indeed sent to the cloud to the other Mac.

View attachment 2399232

Now, retrying with a maybe preferable clean install ...

hm, same error ...



but a bit more colorful

 

[hvds]

hm, same error ...


View attachment 2399253
but a bit more colorful

Yes - some of the files necessary for this root patch don't exist yet - support for Sequoia is work in progress by the developers.
In post #289 I played a bit by using some *-23 files for *-24. Limited success for graphics, wlan worked.

 

[macinfo]

Apple seeded macOS 15 Beta 4 (24A5298h) to developers

 

[LutzRFrank]

MacBook Pro 2012 - 10,2
OpenCore Nightly

Ok, clean install - might need some manual push...
Welcome and Loving Screen look perfect.
User Screen is huge ... as in Sonoma, but can't be adjusted
Root Patches fail (see image)
and boot recommends to check iOFamily kext ...

Maybe a good start to dig in... any advice (trying to just replace the Family kext with those from the OC Page?)

 

[LutzRFrank]

Yes - some of the files necessary for this root patch don't exist yet - support for Sequoia is work in progress by the developers.
In post #289 I played a bit by using some *-23 files for *-24. Limited success for graphics, wlan worked.

Thank You... will check

 

[coolio2004]

OTA update to b4 went fine on my MBA 7,2.

 

[chris1111]

Hello everybody Theme Flavours-Sequoia is available attaching in Zip file​

Theme included 60 Linux distro and many Windows

You have Dark icons from macOS 11 to macOS 15

Setup (Flavours-Sequoia themes) ⤋​

Misc -> Boot -> HideAuxiliary: false​

Misc -> Boot -> PickerVariant: chris1111\Flavours-Sequoia​

Misc -> Boot -> PickerAtributes: 145​

Misc -> Boot -> Picker Mode :-> External​

Misc -> Boot -> Timeout -> : 5​

Misc -> Boot -> ShowPicker: true​

This theme included 2 Background (Light and Dark), default is 1080p screen size (Light)
For a dfiferant background screen size you have to go here then download the right Flavours-Sequoia.icns then rename in Backcground.icns

Enjoy!

All theme ➤ Download page

 

[dkchi]

macOS Sequoia beta 4 InstallAssistant.pkg (24A5298h) URL:

https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/48/45/062-39268-A_36NTYE5BPL/0cd85jhjwcbnmk5fqvu4yp323wcmzr9jmu/InstallAssistant.pkg

 

[LutzRFrank]

macOS Sequoia beta 4 InstallAssistant.pkg (24A5298h) URL:

https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/48/45/062-39268-A_36NTYE5BPL/0cd85jhjwcbnmk5fqvu4yp323wcmzr9jmu/InstallAssistant.pkg

or here ...
the installer image directly from softwareupdate

softwareupdate --list-full-installers
Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Sequoia Beta, Version: 15.0, Size: 14328272KiB, Build: 24A5298h, Deferred: NO

The same source OpenCore uses for the patcher.

Just run in terminal and it is loaded to the applications folder just as the patcher does using

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.0

 

[deeveedee]

Flawless installation of Sequoia Beta 4 on my hack emulating MBP6,2. The Sequoia Beta installations continue to be painless without any issues. I'm still not applying OCLP post-install patches, but Sequoia Beta is still very responsive.

Spoiler

EDIT: I performed the Beta 3 -> Beta 4 upgrade with a full USB installer.

 

[Sven G]

I tried to update from beta 3 to 4, both OTA and with the full installer, but the installation hangs immediately at the first reboot, with a progress bar that grows to about 1/5 or so and then remains stationary, for more than 5 minutes: so I had to force reboot and luckily nothing had changed in the original system (and checking the disk shows no errors); latest nightly version of OCLP for Sequoia. Maybe it would be better with a clean install, who knows…

Edit: it was sufficient to start the full installer from within Sonoma, and afterwards Sequoia beta 4 installed without problems.

 

[hvds]

MBP11,1: 15.0b3v2 (24A5289h) from full installer, on external SSD. OCLP sequoia-development branch (12 July) from source for EFI and partial root patch with some manual steps for root patching (spoiler). No full graphics acceleration but usable, wifi ok. Photos working, Preview crashing. Can't set resolution to a more usable (smaller) value.
Writing this from Safari 18.0 (20619.1.20.11.1).

As always with this MBP, manually remove two graphics related files from /L/E otherwise will boot only in safe mode.

Looking forward to developers' proper patches. But the result of this naive attempt gives some confidence.

Spoiler: manual steps

# download from sequoia-development branch

# remake helper as in doc to blindly allow privileges to root patcher:
cd ci_tooling/privileged_helper_tool
make debug

# modify sys_patch_helpers.py around line 266:
...
elif self.constants.detected_os == os_data.os_data.sequoia:
BASE_VERSION = "32023"
GPU_VERSION = f"{BASE_VERSION}.26"
LIBRARY_DIR = ...

# build from source

# root patching will give errors. cd to the /var shown in the message and provide missing files
# not a correct patch but formally lets patcher proceed
# stay in OCLP while doing these steps, else the temp dir will change:
cd /var/folders/6t/_0jy_6vn2lz0pwwgfsz_jy300000gs/T/tmph0s5cv3i/payloads/Universal-Binaries (or similar)
cp -R 12.5-3802-23 12.5-3802-24
cp -R 13.2.1-23 13.2.1-24

MBP11,1: OTA update from 15.0b3v2 to 15.0b4.
Using latest OCLP sequoia-dev branch from source. Same procedure for partial root patch as last time, same result (i.e. wifi OK, no graphics accel but still quite usable).

 

[RogueB]

2012 iMac 13,2:

While booted into Sonoma 14.6 volume on an external SSD drive, I installed nightly OCLP 1.6n onto an internal drive of the iMac. I then replaced original OC and System folders, located in EFI partition on the internal drive, with build-from-source OCLP components (could not get full installation package build, as python crashes, so manually replaced OC and System folders on the internal drive). Then, installed actual Sequoia beta3, using installation package located on the external Sonoma drive, onto an internal (HDD fusion) drive). When process completed, I booted into Sequoia beta3 on the internal drive and updated installation to Sequoia beta4 OTA via system update panel (iMac is ethernet linked to the router).
Installed latest Sequoia 15 beta4, via OTA, over the beta3-R2 build; delta Sequoia update (about 2 GB) was "offered" via software update panel (since no patches were previously applied).
Sequoia Beta4 installation went without an issue and, on reboot, iMac was very usable. I did use Tinker Tool (no association with developer) to disable window resizing while opening application or accessing drive; iMac is much faster as a result.

Just as a side note, the original Sequoia installation (see post #228) became corrupted, hence, new installation from scratch on the internal drive. The OCLP 1.6n did not allow installation of Sequoia, so downloaded source code and build components; transferring OC and System folders from "custom" build on external drive, to EFI on the internal drive, which allowed installation to proceed.

There is no graphics acceleration (no functioning patches), sleep function fails, and can't stream "protected" content, however, non protected content, such as trailers play fine.

@hvds: it is encouraging that you were able to modify patches for both, metal capable laptop and MacBook Pro 5,2; that was no mean feat.

Thank you to all the developers and testers.

 

[Sven G]

For those (probably few) running Sequoia in a virtual machine, updating from b3v2 to b4 can be done OTA by following this article (as, for some reason, it isn’t possible to login to iCloud inside the VM and thus select the developer beta update channel in the usual way, in Software Update):

Can’t Upgrade a Sonoma VM to MacOS Sequoia Beta? Try This

If you already have a MacOS Sonoma virtual machine setup in UTM, Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBuddy, or otherwise, you may be interested in upgrading the MacOS Sonoma VM to a MacOS Sequoia Beta VM. On…

osxdaily.com

(just follow the suggested steps in the Terminal).

 

[hvds]

2012 iMac 13,2:

While booted into Sonoma 14.6 volume on an external SSD drive, I installed nightly OCLP 1.6n onto an internal drive of the iMac. I then replaced original OC and System folders, located in EFI partition on the internal drive, with build-from-source OCLP components (could not get full installation package build, as python crashes, so manually replaced OC and System folders on the internal drive). Then, installed actual Sequoia beta3, using installation package located on the external Sonoma drive, onto an internal (HDD fusion) drive). When process completed, I booted into Sequoia beta3 on the internal drive and updated installation to Sequoia beta4 OTA via system update panel (iMac is ethernet linked to the router).
Installed latest Sequoia 15 beta4, via OTA, over the beta3-R2 build; delta Sequoia update (about 2 GB) was "offered" via software update panel (since no patches were previously applied).
Sequoia Beta4 installation went without an issue and, on reboot, iMac was very usable. I did use Tinker Tool (no association with developer) to disable window resizing while opening application or accessing drive; iMac is much faster as a result.

Just as a side note, the original Sequoia installation (see post #228) became corrupted, hence, new installation from scratch on the internal drive. The OCLP 1.6n did not allow installation of Sequoia, so downloaded source code and build components; transferring OC and System folders from "custom" build on external drive, to EFI on the internal drive, which allowed installation to proceed.

There is no graphics acceleration (no functioning patches), sleep function fails, and can't stream "protected" content, however, non protected content, such as trailers play fine.

@hvds: it is encouraging that you were able to modify patches for both, metal capable laptop and MacBook Pro 5,2; that was no mean feat.

Thank you to all the developers and testers.

View attachment 2399695 View attachment 2399696

MBP11,1: Re-patched the 15.0b4 installation with OCLP sequoia-dev from this morning (commits including sys_patch_helpers.py: Add fallback and sys_patch_dict.py: Adjust Metal XPC selection).
Only manual intervention now is adding one more Metal.famework change to sys_patch_dict.py (line 406), equivalent to the one already included (line 378). This is instead of the manual file copying while patcher is running.

Spoiler: 2nd Metal.framework change

## "Metal.framework": f"13.2.1-{self.os_major}",
"Metal.framework": "13.2.1-22" if self.os_major < os_data.os_data.sonoma else "13.2.1-23",

From /L/E only one kext needs to be removed after patching, else booting loops around the point where the pointer first appears on the display, with window server crashes. The framebuffer kext can stay (and probably could have stayed already before).

Quite performant now, though no full graphics acceleration. Can change screen brightness, and resolution (restricted to a few choices). Sleep/wake fine so far. Preview crashes. Wifi OK.

Big thank you to the developers!


NB the error log (Python traceback) given in the root patcher window really is very helpful - for identifying missing files, finding responsible places in the source. With that one can help oneself. Plus the excellent structure and readability of the code...

 

[macinfo]

Apple seeded macOS 15.1 Beta (24B5009l) to developers (with this the new AI features can be tried out)

 

[houser]

Apple seeded macOS 15.1 Beta (24B5009l) to developers (with this the new AI features can be tried out)

As I understand it, none of the Apple AI stuff will work unless you have an Apple Silicon Mac.
So unless I am missing something we in the Intel tribe can not test the AI part at all. Ever. Right?

BTW, it is a little odd that Apple are juggling Sequoia 15 (no AI) and 15.1 (AI) as dual betas.
Same with iOS 18 and 18.1. Is this a new thing with concurrent point releases in beta?

I am only asking, since I am one of those who have zero interest in AI and it might actually be a good thing for the OCLP tribe if there will be a final separate release of Sequoia with no AI baggage for supported Intel Macs, ergo possibly for OCLP. Anybody read anything about such a scenario?
Ah well, might be a reason to stay away from the point-AI releases for now if that might be the case.
Enough conjecture...

 

[LutzRFrank]

As I understand it, none of the Apple AI stuff will work unless you have an Apple Silicon Mac.
So unless I am missing something we in the Intel tribe can not test this at all. Ever. Right?

Exactly. Online devices with at least M1 or 15pro

 

[macpro_mid2014]

As I understand it, none of the Apple AI stuff will work unless you have an Apple Silicon Mac.
So unless I am missing something we in the Intel tribe can not test this at all. Ever. Right?

We cannot. It will be available for Macs with the M1 and up only. Even the iOS18.1 Dev beta released today is available only for iPhone 15 Pro and Max (with the A17 Pro chip).

 

[macinfo]

[…] might actually be a good thing for the OCLP tribe if there will be a final separate release of Sequoia with no AI baggage for supported Intel Macs, ergo possibly for OCLP. Anybody read anything about such a scenario?

It is said that macOS 15 will be released without AI functionality. Some time after that macOS 15.1 will be released with AI features (as much as Apple will have ready by then).

I don’t see Apple having two different releases of macOS 15.1 and versions coming after that. For us OCLP users and other, not yet obsoleted Intel Macs, these AI features just won’t be enabled.

 

[houser]

I don’t see Apple having two different releases of macOS 15.1 and versions coming after that. For us OCLP users and other, not yet obsoleted Intel Macs, these AI features just won’t be enabled.

You are probably correct. It is just a tad odd..

 

[rehkram]

BTW, it is a little odd that Apple are juggling Sequoia 15 (no AI) and 15.1 (AI) as dual betas.
Same with iOS 18 and 18.1. Is this a new thing with concurrent point releases in beta?

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong...

I'm wondering now whether Apple will decide to not release Sequoia 15 for non-M1+ Macs, and the same for iOS 18 for i-devices without whatever the SOC is that supports AI (15 Pro is it?). They could decide to toss them into the "too hard" basket, which would not be a "smooth transition" and raise a lot of hell.

Pure speculation on my part.

 

[Carrotstick]

As far I understand it, AI is opt-in meaning the default macOS 15.1 on AS won’t come with AI installed by default, the user has to install it willingly.

So there is no extra baggage in 15.1 unless you enable AI which downloads the 5.4GB worth of data required for AI.

 

[Carrotstick]

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong...

it was said that Apple wants AI to be in beta earlier to squash bugs and for developers use AI for their apps.

 

[rehkram]

As far I understand it, AI is opt-in meaning the default macOS 15.1 on AS won’t come with AI installed by default, the user has to install it willingly.

So there is no extra baggage in 15.1 unless you enable AI which downloads the 5.4GB worth of data required for AI.

I certainly hope that AI can be fully loose-coupled like that. Somehow though, I doubt it.