macOS 15 Sequoia on Unsupported Macs Thread

[coasterOneEightThree]

So far, my MacBookPro14,2 runs perfectly with OCLP and Sequoia.

But I had to learn the hard way.

I upgraded directly OTA from Ventura to Sequoia, but after that I had to deal with some difficulties and problems:

I could no longer log into Messages and Facetime. Unlocking the Mac with an Apple Watch could not be set up (the option was not even available in the system settings). iCloud, Find My ... and AirDrop were very tricky. In addition, sleep mode did not work. If I closed the laptop overnight and opened it again in the morning, the Mac restarted completely.

All problems disappeared after a clean installation. But when I restored my data with a Time Machine backup, the problems described above also returned.

What finally worked for me: A clean install with a manual restore of my data and applications.

The computer now feels like new, it's running fantastically so far!

 

[ian6969]

iMac (5K, Late 2015, iMac17,1) report from me: so far Sequoia is running great! I'd say the system feels noticeably more responsive than Sonoma, particularly Safari. I was hoping this would be the case, as I've been very impressed at how fast iOS 18 has been on my iPhone 13 Pro and iPad M1. Nice to see Apple focusing on performance as well as new features. The only issue I've found so far is the animated wallpapers, which bring the iMac to a crawl - but I'm very happy with static wallpapers.

 

[macsoundsolutions]

So far, my MacBookPro14,2 runs perfectly with OCLP and Sequoia.

View attachment 2426063

But I had to learn the hard way.

I upgraded directly OTA from Ventura to Sequoia, but after that I had to deal with some difficulties and problems:

I could no longer log into Messages and Facetime. Unlocking the Mac with an Apple Watch could not be set up (the option was not even available in the system settings). iCloud, Find My ... and AirDrop were very tricky. In addition, sleep mode did not work. If I closed the laptop overnight and opened it again in the morning, the Mac restarted completely.

All problems disappeared after a clean installation. But when I restored my data with a Time Machine backup, the problems described above also returned.

What finally worked for me: A clean install with a manual restore of my data and applications.

The computer now feels like new, it's running fantastically so far!

FYI OCLP developers say if you are going to restore your data it's best to uninstall post patches do the migration or timemachine transfer of your data, then re install route patches, the reason being is the restore data erases some needed files buy OCLP. I had the same issue with my MBP 2012 a while back, it worked fine until I reinstalled my data. Then it would not boot.

 

[MacinMan]

FYI OCLP developers say if you are going to restore your data it's best to uninstall post patches do the migration or timemachine transfer of your data, then re install route patches, the reason being is the restore data erases some needed files buy OCLP. I had the same issue with my MBP 2012 a while back, it worked fine until I reinstalled my data. Then it would not boot.

If there isn't a lot of data to put back, do what I do and manually copy from the TM backup. I did this because I never wanted to depend on migration even under supported configurations.

 

[jon8214]

Hi all got it installed on 4 systems 2 MBA, a Mac mini and an iMac, I usually use screen share or Remote Desktop to access the Mac mini, but for some reason whenever I connect I just get a black screen with a cursor, when looking at the Mac mini the cursor moves when I Remote Desktop but no visual on the device removing into it. Has anyone seen this before, same happens if removing into iMac or one of the MBA’s

 

[deeveedee]

If there isn't a lot of data to put back, do what I do and manually copy from the TM backup. I did this because I never wanted to depend on migration even under supported configurations.

Not to be a broken record (glitched MP3?), but Migration Assistant from another volume and from TM always works flawlessly for me without OCLP patches on the destination.

 

[rehkram]

Hi all got it installed on 4 systems 2 MBA, a Mac mini and an iMac, I usually use screen share or Remote Desktop to access the Mac mini, but for some reason whenever I connect I just get a black screen with a cursor, when looking at the Mac mini the cursor moves when I Remote Desktop but no visual on the device removing into it. Has anyone seen this before, same happens if removing into iMac or one of the MBA’s

Maybe wait a while until the post upgrade Apple processes are complete. I have seen similar things here, on different machines though. Trying again later, and often throwing-in a reboot for luck, worked for me.

 

[rehkram]

15.1 beta 5 is out. Anyone here running the 15.1 betas on an unsupported Mac? I'm tempted...

 

[TOM1211]

15.1 beta 5 is out. Anyone here running the 15.1 betas on an unsupported Mac? I'm tempted...

Yes only problem so far I’ve had is graphical glitches on widgets on desktop or Notification Centre 15.1 beta installed fine with OCLP 2.1n after reverting patches about 1.7 gb .

If you click the blank widget it still displays properly in the pop up window

 

[mat316]

metallib was installed?

That was the point. metallib wasnt installed. Thanks!

 

[MacinMan]

Not to be a broken record (glitched MP3?), but Migration Assistant from another volume and from TM always works flawlessly for me without OCLP patches on the destination.

The reason I do manual restore has nothing to do with OCLP, in fact when I chose to do it this way OCLP didn't even exist. I suggested manual restore because it ensured that I wouldn't copy back something that was broken in the event of that's why I had to restore the OS. So, if someone doesn't have a lot of data to restore from backup, doing it manually is an alternative to reverse root patches and reapplying .

 

[Siijii]

Anyone tried Sequoia on MacBook air mid 2011 (Core i5, 4 gb ram MacBookAir4,1)? Is it doable or is it painfully slow?

Yes, I tried today (because wanted to install Pages and it said I need MacOS 14+) and for sure as expected it is quite slow, sometimes laggy (especially with animations) but for me still somehow surprisingly "usable" with a little patience xD. I didn't even expect that it was possible to install and run it at all with that low specs. :

Just updated directly from Big Sur (with OpenCore 2.0.1) to Sequoia - which took more than an hour (don't know exactly how long in between because I left home for 2 hours). For a very long time it was at "28 min left" and I thought maybe it hangs, but I left it alone and when I came back it was at the login page, very laggy - but after OpenCore doing its patching stuff and reboot it was better.

The background image and the dock icons are not showing [Edit: dock works, it was just set to hiding], but had no time to check out any fixes for that. After all I wouldn't update if you need the MacBook as daily driver if you're not very patient... xD

Maybe some fixes and changes could make it a little snappier.

 

[Bmld]

So far, my MacBookPro14,2 runs perfectly with OCLP and Sequoia.

View attachment 2426063

But I had to learn the hard way.

I upgraded directly OTA from Ventura to Sequoia, but after that I had to deal with some difficulties and problems:

I could no longer log into Messages and Facetime. Unlocking the Mac with an Apple Watch could not be set up (the option was not even available in the system settings). iCloud, Find My ... and AirDrop were very tricky. In addition, sleep mode did not work. If I closed the laptop overnight and opened it again in the morning, the Mac restarted completely.

All problems disappeared after a clean installation. But when I restored my data with a Time Machine backup, the problems described above also returned.

What finally worked for me: A clean install with a manual restore of my data and applications.

The computer now feels like new, it's running fantastically so far!

Hello, with OCPL , I do alway a clean install with dual boot , I have a third volume with my app and some document, the other are on google drive. So wend I use a new OS, I don't have to reinstall the app.

 

[deeveedee]

@MacinMan I didn't mean to imply that your method was incorrect - I just don't want people to misinterpret guidance as an indication that something is wrong with Migration Assistant. There are multiple "correct" ways to do things as is evidenced by the many paths to the same end.

 

[deeveedee]

Hello, with OCPL , I do alway a clean install with dual boot , I have a third volume with my app and some document, the other are on google drive. So wend I use a new OS, I don't have to reinstall the app.

How well does your method work when multi-booting different versions of macOS that require different versions of an app?

 

[MacinMan]

@MacinMan I didn't mean to imply that your method was incorrect - I just don't want people to misinterpret guidance as an indication that something is wrong with Migration Assistant. There are multiple "correct" ways to do things as is evidenced by the many paths to the same end.

I never took it that way, I was simply providing an alternative to the suggestion of rolling back patches to use migration and then adding them back. If someone doesn't have a lot of data manually copying could be faster. Also, Mr. Macintosh did a video a while back about restoring from Time machine on an open core mac and he stated there wasn't any way around rolling back for things to work correctly. So i felt suggesting someone restore manually was safer over taking a gamble with migration, especially since the OS is in a state Apple doesn't support.

 

[deeveedee]

I never took it that way, I was simply providing an alternative to the suggestion of rolling back patches...

Ok. While we're being clear, I never roll-back OCLP patches. I perform a clean installation of macOS, migrate data/apps/settings to the new macOS and then apply post-install patches.

EDIT: In fact, it's simpler than I stated: I choose the option to migrate as part of the clean macOS installation. The macOS installer performs migration as the last step of the macOS install. Then I apply OCLP patches. Not suggesting that this is the only correct way to do this.

 

[MacinMan]

Ok. While we're being clear, I never roll-back OCLP patches. I perform a clean installation of macOS, migrate data/apps/settings to the new macOS and then apply post-install patches.

EDIT: In fact, it's simpler than I stated: I choose the option to migrate as part of the clean macOS installation. The macOS installer performs migration as the last step of the macOS install. Then I apply OCLP patches. Not suggesting that this is the only correct way to do this.

I think we are addressing the same task from different points of view. The post I was addressing and view was targeted toward those who install and root patch then want to restore from time machine. This method requires rolling back to use TM. You're version is you do everything first before patching. Either way both methods work..

 

[The Zip]

Finally finished upgrading Sequoia on my 2017 27" 5k IMac w/ internal SSD + 32gb ram. (was running 14.61 Sonoma + OCLP 2.01). Something happened after the initial root patches failed, and I was trying to re-boot into safe mode to apply them again. From that moment on, it wouldn't even power up, and I almost gave up for the day, until:
Thanks to Google, I found a fix by holding down the shift and option keys and then holding down the power button. I believe (and I am a newbie), that it was a combination of my hardware, and something that I did, trying to reset SMH.

The irritating thing was almost every result for my iMac search came back with Macbooks, and Macbook Air results, which have totally different solutions. That added a ton of time to the problem.

When I was finally able to power up the machine and boot into Sequoia, all the root patches were applied successfully, much to my relief.
This is a spare machine used for fun, and learning (my primary is a custom built Linux machine, (that I built for windows before I finally dumped Microsoft ), but as far as I can tell, it is quite a bit snappier than Sonoma, and so far everything works. If something goes wrong, I will update.

 

[rehkram]

Updated rMBP10,1 from Sequoia 15.0 to Sequoia 15.1 beta 4 (24B5046f) + OCLP 2.1.0n (2024-09-23).
I didn't want to go to today's beta 5, it's too new. I figure let the OCLP devs have some time to test against it.

Beta 4 looking good so far. Widgets appear to be working. I don't use widgets though, preferring to keep runtime "lean & mean" on this Mac. Thanks to @TOM1211 for the earlier review of the beta + OCLP nightly. It works!

 

[Kazenofab68]

Does the camera work when booted from a good known system at this time?
What about safe mode?
Does AHT indicate any errors?

No camera in safe mode, not sure what is AHT?!. was working in catalina as well. thank you

 

[rehkram]

not sure what is AHT?!

Me either. Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[nekton1]

I updated to the 15.1 beta 5 update to see if it fixed the iMessages problem. The MBP 13,3 starts OK and everything except iMessages seems ok. But now Messages won't even launch and hangs immediately. If I look at icloud in System Settings, it shows the iMessages is synced and a time.
There is also a small bug to do with Dock. Sometimes, it does not display until Automatically hide and show the Dock in Desktop & Dock is toggled on and off.

 

[dictoresno]

im on OCLP 2.1.0 nightly on my late 2015 iMac 16,2 and my late 2014 Mac mini and on both OCLP 2.0.0 and 2.1.0 nightly using Sequoia 15.1 beta 5, some of the desktop widgets are wonky. they will eventually load, for the most part, but stocks won't and Fantastical Calendar app is missing data. after 10 mins, the stocks app populated some data but not all. ForecastBar widget eventually loads just fine.

on beta 4, I think they were working fine. so I think this is a beta 5 specific issue.

battery widgets appear, but displaying the percentages is spordatic and keep disappearing.




EDIT: seems like the stock widget is working fine on my 2014 Mac mini but not the iMac. ill try rebooting again.

 

[amaze1499]

No camera in safe mode, not sure what is AHT?!. was working in catalina as well. thank you

Does the camera work when booted from a good known system at this time?

AHT: Apple Hardware Test. Usually booted into by holding D key right after start up.

Check in your system report/ USB bus whether the camera is connected at all.