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macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
wnlewis said:
Most of the links have been killed. If you have one that still works, let me know. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Here is a link that works every time, you can forget all the patching stuff, you are only after the download link from dosdude's patching tool menu.
osxdaily.com

How to Download a Full macOS High Sierra Installer App

Many Mac users who are attempting to download macOS High Sierra from the Mac App Store will find that a small 19 MB version of “Install macOS High Sierra.app” downloads to the /Applicat…
osxdaily.com osxdaily.com
 
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Anyone knows how to apply the Security Update 2020-006 (see picture) ?
It came up in the App Store (under Updates) but I can not find it as a download on Apple sites.
Any success to run this update on unsupported machines (after getting HS on there with the patcher/instructions as to post #1) ? [would like to keep a MacBook 5,1 updated for a moment longer ... :) ]

Screen Shot 2020-11-15 at 23.10.53.png
 
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wnlewis said:
Most of the links have been killed. If you have one that still works, let me know. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes Apple are doing their bang up job of taking things that work perfectly well, deprecating them and then not telling people how to use their new methods.

There is a new support article which has links for the older OS's, use Safari not Firefox and click below.

How to download and install macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

Scroll down to Download macOS click on the High Sierra link, this will redirect you to the App Store
High Sierra download page.
 
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jbarley said:
Here is a link that works every time, you can forget all the patching stuff, you are only after the download link from dosdude's patching tool menu.
osxdaily.com

How to Download a Full macOS High Sierra Installer App

Many Mac users who are attempting to download macOS High Sierra from the Mac App Store will find that a small 19 MB version of “Install macOS High Sierra.app” downloads to the /Applicat…
osxdaily.com osxdaily.com
Click to expand...
In the process of downloading High Sierra.

My big question is whether Mojave will let me turn the downloaded High Sierra into a bootable USB.

I will probably need to take out my Mojave drive and put in a spare, empty 1 Tb SSD, then see if I can boot off the USB (when/if it becomes a bootable instaler).
jbarley said:
Here is a link that works every time, you can forget all the patching stuff, you are only after the download link from dosdude's patching tool menu.
osxdaily.com

How to Download a Full macOS High Sierra Installer App

Many Mac users who are attempting to download macOS High Sierra from the Mac App Store will find that a small 19 MB version of “Install macOS High Sierra.app” downloads to the /Applicat…
osxdaily.com osxdaily.com
Click to expand...
The link appears to have worked.

I put it in a MacBook Pro 17" which runs High Sierra and booted off it.

I have a splash screen that says: macOS Utilities: Restore from Time Machine Backup; Install macOS; Get Help Online; Disk Utility. So I can tell that it appears to work. I have not started the Install macOS option since the computer belongs to my wife.

When I put the USB stick in my Mac Pro (4,1 updated to 5,1) and attempt to work with it, the Mojave operating system tells me that whatever I am doing cannot be done since the operating system (High Sierra) is too old.

When I attempt to boot from it - and pull out the main hard drive, leaving only the new and correctly formatted SSD, I get the start up chime, and that is it. The process goes no farther.

I put the startup disk in the first bay where the HDD was. Should it be in bay 4?

The USB stick is USB 3.0. The USB slots on the back of the machine have blue plastic too. So there should not be a compatibility issue. Should the stick go in one of the front slots, which have white plastic? If that is the case, then I need to find a USB 1.0 stick.

I've also thought about trying to make a bootable DVD disk. The machine has that capability.

Right now, I am having significant issues with the Mojave operating system refusing to do anything with the High Sierra information.

Making progress and learning a lot but still need quite a bit of help.

Thanks.
 
I put the Install High Sierra USB stick in the top slot on the front of the machine. It has black plastic. That indicates a USB 2.0. The slots I was using on the back of the machine belong to an add on card. Those are 3.0 USB slots and evidently don't get checked on start up.

When I booted the machine, after selecting the Install High Sierra USB, I chose the install macOS option. I had formatted the SSD as GUID Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The process started.

The installation process continued about 2/3 of the progress bar. Then the screen went black.

The machine rebooted and had the message: macOS could not be installed on your computer.

An error occurred while verifying firmware. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.

Any thoughts on the firmware problem?

Here is what I found from the System Profiler:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 12
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 12 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 24 GB
Boot ROM Version: 144.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5
Serial Number (system): H09353EL20H
Serial Number (processor tray): J592902SZ1LUE
Hardware UUID: 6BA48E8D-904C-5691-8516-EC287C709611

Chipset Model: Radeon RX 580
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 8 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x67df
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1
Displays:
HP 24m:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p FHD - Full High Definition)
UI Looks like: 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
Framebuffer Depth: 30-Bit Color (ARGB2101010)
Display Serial Number: 1CR02914PN
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Automatically Adjust Brightness: No

It is a Radeon RX 580 Saphire.

There are 6 sticks of RAM equally spaced, DDR3 1333, and 2 empty slots.

The SSD where I want to install High Sierra is:

High Sierra:

Available: 993.95 GB (993,946,632,192 bytes)
Capacity: 999.86 GB (999,860,912,128 bytes)
Mount Point: /Volumes/High Sierra
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: disk1s2
Volume UUID: F12F8710-64AD-34F0-B76A-3343944F25B7
Physical Drive:
Device Name: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
Media Name: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB Media
Medium Type: SSD
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
 
hi everyone, has anyone detected sudden logout without any warning? i installed high sierra on macpro 3.1, almost everything works fine but these logouts torment me. i have a nvidia gtx 750 ti graphics card and an old radeon 2600hd installed. does the same thing happen to anyone? the graphics card occasionally has artifacts and sometimes the text in the file names appears in a black background. Thanks for your suggestions. Has anyone installed the latest security update?006. thanks again from Italy.
 
I'm trying to update with the last security update…I don't connect this macbook pro often, so it's probably several weeks old by now. Anyway, it downloaded the two GBs, rebooted and has now been stuck on "installing update", very early in the progress bar, with no changes for half an hour. Anyone having the same problem?

I eventually forced the reboot and it booted fine, I wonder if the update was installed, it doesn't show up anymore in the app store.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I’ve installed the security update. It hasn’t gone well for me. I’m crashing very often and sometimes and unable to start the computer. Frequently the computer fails to start and gets to the gray screen, folder with question mark icon. Sometimes it’ll refresh and access my startup disk fine after that and most other times it won’t, leaving me to process many iterations of shutting down and starting up again. Anyone getting similar issues? This is new to me since having installed the update
 
macrumorspass said:
what are the hfs + changes to apply?
tnx
Click to expand...
Since that is likely the last HS update of any kind, you may as well make those changes, but when you use APFS all the updates work perfectly from the app store, at least on my 3,1 mini. No need to go to all the trouble you now need to. There is literally zero advantage or reason to use HFS+ for your OS drive with High Sierra and up.

I also notice no bit rot at all with APFS installs that are a year+ old, and you simply cannot say that for HFS+ installs.
 
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I guess the odd behavior on my system is because I’m on hfs+ as well...so I need to download the update manually and modify it?

There is a huge advantage and reason I’m still using HFS+: I really need this machine to be a dual booter with snow leopard and having High Sierra’s partition accessible from SL is very useful.
 
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jackoverfull said:
I guess the odd behavior on my system is because I’m on hfs+ as well...so I need to download the update manually and modify it?

There is a huge advantage and reason I’m still using HFS+: I really need this machine to be a dual booter with snow leopard and having High Sierra’s partition accessible from SL is very useful.
Click to expand...
Well, you certainly don't need access to the High Sierra OS contents when booted into Snow Leopard, so put whatever files you need on an HFS+ volume that has no OS.

I don't put any personal files on my OS drives, simply so I never run into such issues like you are.
 
timidpimpin said:
Well, you certainly don't need access to the High Sierra OS contents when booted into Snow Leopard, so put whatever files you need on an HFS+ volume that has no OS.

I don't put any personal files on my OS drives, simply so I never run into such issues like you are.
Click to expand...
I’d rather not reformat my drive again on what’s mainly a work machine, thanks. Or, especially, mess with the firmware.
 
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foxlet said:
macOS High Sierra on Unsupported Macs


4lxKiPF.png

For the first time since OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) in 2012, macOS Sierra (10.12) changed the official minimum requirements needed for installation, leaving many older (but still perfectly capable) Macs behind. Now macOS High Sierra (10.13) brings a new set of updates, and older Macs that can possibly run them.

  • MacBook (late 2009 or later)
  • iMac (late 2009 or later)
  • MacBook Air (2010 or later)
  • MacBook Pro (2010 or later)
  • Mac mini (2010 or later)
  • Mac Pro (2010 or later)

Note this space!

Preliminary Tested Models List:

MacBookPro5,5 (13-inch Mid 2009) - No issues
MacBookPro5,4 (15-inch Mid 2009) - No issues
MacBookPro5,3 (15-inch Mid 2009) - No issues
MacBookPro5,1 (15-inch Late 2008) - No issues
MacBook5,1 (13-inch Unibody Aluminum Late 2008) - No issues

MacPro3,1 (Early 2008) - No issues

iMac7,1 (Mid 2007 W/BCM94360CAX and SSE4 supported T9300) - Screen brightness is controllable (NightShift works with modified CoreBrightness.frameworks)

iMac9,1 (Early 2009) - Missing Screen Brightness Controls (buttons don't work either)

MacBook5,2 (Early [Mid] 2009 MacBook) - Screen brightness not controllable (buttons don't work either), volume buttons do not work, same trackpad detected as USB mouse issue

Xserve2,1 (Early 2008) - graphics are unaccelerated with the original ATI X1300 unless an upgraded graphics card e.g. Nvidia GT 120 (from a Mac Pro) is installed

Known Patching Methods:
Automatic tools that can be used to install macOS High Sierra onto an unsupported Mac.

Using @dosdude1's Patcher Tool:
Main Page/Instructions: macOS High Sierra Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs
Download: [Direct Download]

Security And OS Standalone Updates

Thanks to AsentientBot for this newer more streamlined method.

Modifying the Security Updates or macOS Updates for Sierra or High Sierra.

Download the update.
Open the update.
Move the update.pkg to Desktop.

Open Terminal.

Enter pkgutil --expand now drag and drop the .pkg from the Desktop into the Terminal window and type after a space ~/Desktop/Expanded hit Return and wait, this takes a little while.

Open Expanded folder and then open Distribution file in Text Edit

Scroll down to the line

function InstallationCheck(prefix) {

enter the text return true; so it looks like this

function InstallationCheck(prefix) {return true;
now save the changes

Go back to Terminal pkgutil --flatten ~/Desktop/Expanded ~/Desktop/Modified.pkg
Using the .pkg extension is crucial.

macOS Catalina (10.15)
macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs - @0403979

macOS Mojave (10.14)
macOS 1014 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread - @dosdude1

macOS High Sierra (10.13)
macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread - @foxlet

macOS Sierra (10.12)
MacOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread - @redheeler
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and macOS Sierra - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X El Capitan (10.11):
OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and El Capitan - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Yosemite (10.10):
OS X Yosemite on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X Yosemite - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Mavericks (10.9):
[Guide] Installing 10.9 Mavericks on older Macs. - @Wayne_819
Mac Pro 2,1 and OS X Mavericks - @5050

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8):
Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac - @Wayne_819
Click to expand...
I'm having an issue with the Ambient Light Sensor. The screen and keyboard backlight act erratically. Even after toggling "automatically adjust..." on/off in sys pref, they still randomly go to full brightness. I then manually adjust the light to lower, and it fights me (goes down 4 notches, then kicks up 3 notches, etc)

I've done Post Install with both the ALS and Backlight patches. I've updated the patches, I've then removed them using the"uninstallhsp.sh" shell script, then reinstalled and rebuilt the kextcache. I can't seem to get a solution to stick.

Any ideas? MacBookPro4,1 running High Sierra.
 
imacg4guy said:
I'm having an issue with the Ambient Light Sensor. The screen and keyboard backlight act erratically. Even after toggling "automatically adjust..." on/off in sys pref, they still randomly go to full brightness. I then manually adjust the light to lower, and it fights me (goes down 4 notches, then kicks up 3 notches, etc)

I've done Post Install with both the ALS and Backlight patches. I've updated the patches, I've then removed them using the"uninstallhsp.sh" shell script, then reinstalled and rebuilt the kextcache. I can't seem to get a solution to stick.

Any ideas? MacBookPro4,1 running High Sierra.
Click to expand...
Dust on sensor? 🤓
 
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Dayo said:
Finally managed to reinstall High Sierra using the @dosdude1 patch.

For anyone having similar issues, there were two problems in my case:

1. The Patcher could not be created on the USB Stick
I had named my USB Drive as "HighSierraBoot" but I noticed that the creation process for the Patcher was unmounting this and changing the name to "OS X Base System". Presumably it would change this back to my chosen name later but while it was under that name, the process was failing. On a hunch, I reformatted the disk and called in "OS X Base System" and the process went through. I then renamed it back to "HighSierraBoot" afterwards using Disk Utility.

2. After getting the Patcher created and booting into this, the High Sierra Installer would fail with an error message saying "No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance."
A web search showed that similar errors were linked to errors in the system date. My system date was correct (29 Oct 2019) and knowing I had previously installed this OS, I decided to change the date to 29 Oct 2018 on a hunch and voila, the installation worked fine.

To change the date, before Step 7, "Install macOS normally onto the desired volume", in dosdude's instructions, open Terminal from the Utilities menu of the Patcher and change the system date. The date string that worked for me was "date -u 102904022018".
Click to expand...

i was having issues installing Mojave and 2) just nailed it! terminal, change date, bam! full install!
kudos for finding this!
 
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@t0mX said:
i was having issues installing Mojave and 2) just nailed it! terminal, change date, bam! full install!
kudos for finding this!
Click to expand...
Works for reusing old patch installers created before October 2019.

Best however, is to just create a new patch installer which will not have the issue as Apple has since updated the affected certificates.
 
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