MP 1,1-5,1 Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

[pottersfield]

Hey all,

first and foremost thanks for all your investigation, troubleshooting, testing and fiddling around to create such a clean straight forward description, how to install and setup OpenCore on cMP (and others).

My setup:

cMP 4,1 -> 5,1 on macOS 10.15.6 with DosDude1's patcher
OC 0.6.0 installed and set up as described in #1

I previously used OpenCore 0.5.x when I installed Windows on my cMP, but after updating from 10.15.1 to 10.15.6 with the Catalina Patcher it no longer worked properly, so I set it up to this guide here and replaced all the files and started with the config.plist from this post and added everything step by step

What works for now:

-My previously external NVMe blade is now fully seen as internal drive - awesome!
-I have full HW acceleration (confirmed with VideoProc)
-Geekbench scores are pretty good and stable
-Lovely original boot screen (black background white Apple logo and progress bar) and when I hold ESC I have a boot picker

What partially works for now:

-When I started setting up everything in OC, I was able to boot into the internal recovery partition but now, when I hold CMD+R I see in bootpicker the Recovery of 10.15.6, but when I choose it, it takes 2-3secs and brings me back to the bootpicker and I can repeat that over and over again, choosing my main drive brings me back to macOS.
Using sudo nvram "recovery-boot-mode=unused" && sudo reboot recovery let's me boot into the recovery partition, but when I then try to disable SIP* it tells me, this is only possible from the internal recovery partition. But I am pretty sure I am using the internal one, because in the main window I still have the Post Installation Options from the Catalina patcher
-->I am using the graphical BootPicker OpenCanopy as outlined in your manual here

I can no longer remember when, but during the first few steps rebooting into recovery when setting up OC, I got straight to the window for reinstall macOS, disk utility etc. Now I first need to choose the language, so it looks like it is booting from a different version?!

What is not working for now:

-I do not have any Sidecar Option available in settings, I also tried Free-Sidecar but as I am not able to *disable SIP I can not go ahead, but according to some posts here it should work automatically? I also have Broadcom BCM43xx installed in my MP with 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac support and everything else works, like Handoff, Login with AW etc.
SideCar is now available in Systempreferences, but not usable, because I do not have a cable connection, just wifi right now and there I will get error -455. SIP was already disabled with OpenCore settings.


My questions:

-How should I achieve to use SideCar with my iPad Pro and is it wireless also possible, I mainly only have read, that people should stick with the wired mode?
-A while ago I installed Windows on my MP with this instruction is that still appropriate, or should I remove Windows and use the way it is posted here in #1?
-I still have a clean version of my BootROM, provided by @tsialex long time ago, as some noted in different posts NVRAM could get unnecessary informations from OC, would it be appropriate to "inject" again, a clean BootROM on top of my current setup?
-I have VMM enabled and verified it with the command, so do I even "need" the patched Catalina version from DosDude1 anymore and if not and they fight against each other, what would be the best way to clean that up? Clean installation and start again from scratch?
-Did I messed something up, due to my older OC installation, even though mostly it is working just fine?


PS: @h9826790 where could I get that awesome vectorized schematic of the MP for the About This Mac window? That looks gorgeous!

Sorted that out, thank you @h9826790

Thanks again for your hard work and I appreciate any response to my post to sort my small issues out!

Update: edited my post accordingly to my troubleshooting.

 

[h9826790]

@h9826790 where could I get that awesome vectorized schematic of the MP for the About This Mac window? That looks gorgeous!

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

Cut the picture out from the Mac Pro Apple Technician Guide, make the PNG icons, and replace the associated pictures inside Assets.car

forums.macrumors.com

 

[brownphotographic]

Is there a set of instructions to just upgrade to Mojave using OpenCore? This is focussed on going to Catalina. I think I'd like to go only to Mojave as some things I have will break at Catalina.

I'm on 10.11.6 , have a early 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 (upgraded to ATI Radeon HD 5870). Thanks

 

[Flacko]

Is there a set of instructions to just upgrade to Mojave using OpenCore? This is focussed on going to Catalina. I think I'd like to go only to Mojave as some things I have will break at Catalina.

I'm on 10.11.6 , have a early 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 (upgraded to ATI Radeon HD 5870). Thanks

I would look through this thread:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[GSXB]

can anyone solve this

 

[6DecadesLater]

can anyone solve this

What is the applescript you are trying to run?

 

[nobullone1964]

can anyone solve this

Is SIP turned off?

 

[GSXB]

What is the applescript you are trying to run?

The bless app, it’s sorted now
[automerge]1598290555[/automerge]

Is SIP turned off?

Yes I’ve sorted it thanks

 

[GSXB]

Mornin all, how do I hide drives from the bootpicker
Update::: found it in config.plist
“ hideauxiliary “ set to true instead of false
Sorted for a cleaner look

 

[rivangom]

Mornin all, how do I hide drives from the bootpicker
Update::: found it in config.plist
“ hideauxiliary “ set to true instead of false
Sorted for a cleaner look

@GSXB, Appreciated if you can share an example how you did this?

 

[eikic1]

OpenCore on Legacy Apple Hardware

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore bootloader on a classic Mac Pro to install, run and update macOS Catalina, resulting in a clean, unpatched operating system no different than on a supported Mac.

Why OpenCore?

There are several advantages to using OpenCore on a classic Mac Pro:

Boot picker screen (even with a standard graphics card)
View attachment 916024
Software Update (just like on a supported Mac)
View attachment 882160
Hardware acceleration (and DRM for Netflix on Safari)View attachment 919405
Requirements

Mac Pro model	Early 2009 with MacPro5,1 firmware,* Mid 2010 or Mid 2012
Processor architecture	Westmere (E56xx, L56xx, X56xx) / Gulftown (W36xx)
Boot ROM version	144.0.0.0.0*
Graphics	EFI (flashed) or standard UEFI card with Metal support

* Need to upgrade? See the upgrade instructions.

PART I
Basic Installation




PART II
Advanced Configuration




PART III
Maintenance




APPENDIX​

Acknowledgements

A big thank you to @vit9696 and the other talented developers of Acidanthera for making all of this possible. Special gratitude goes to @h9826790 for spearheading the hardware acceleration study and @startergo for the relentless testing that led to boot screen support. And thanks to all those that have contributed to this thread!

anyone can help me step by step for install windoews, i follow this but not successs
and i try to bootable from HDD stuck on logo windows

 

[cdf]

Update::: found it in config.plist
“ hideauxiliary “ set to true instead of false
Sorted for a cleaner look

@GSXB, Appreciated if you can share an example how you did this?

Note that config.plist in the wiki has this set to true already. Search for HideAuxiliary and you should see

<key>HideAuxiliary</key>
<true/>

 

[Dayo]

anyone can help me step by step for install windows

The steps given in Post 1 should work but you can also try this alternative and simple method: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thread.2250317

That guide is for Legacy Windows which I prefer, but all you need change to install UEFI Windows (needed if booting through OpenCore) is to select the Enable EFI checkbox at the relevant place (Under Part 2 of 3: Configure Virtual Machine).

PS. Legacy Windows does NOT work with OpenCore

 

[GSXB]

@GSXB, Appreciated if you can share an example how u did this?

see attached pictures

 

[ithinkitsnice]

For now I just want to have OC on my Mojave install to replace lost Bootcamp functionality, and I've got a few questions to double check I understand everything:

1. Am I correct that I should follow the instructions in the first post, except I would instead copy the OC files to the EFI of the drive which has my current Mojave installation?
2. When I eventually upgrade to Catalina in the future, do I need to perform the same steps again to install OC on the EFI of the Cataline drive, or would the initial OC installation on the Mojave drive do the job such that I can just skip straight to installing Catalina?
3. To be clear, does "These disks should be the only ones in your Mac" mean I must physically remove all my other drives during the process?

I've got a cMP 4,1>5,1 running Mojave

Thanks

 

[6DecadesLater]

For now I just want to have OC on my Mojave install to replace lost Bootcamp functionality, and I've got a few questions to double check I understand everything:

1. Am I correct that I should follow the instructions in the first post, except I would instead copy the OC files to the EFI of the drive which has my current Mojave installation?
2. When I eventually upgrade to Catalina in the future, do I need to perform the same steps again to install OC on the EFI of the Cataline drive, or would the initial OC installation on the Mojave drive do the job such that I can just skip straight to installing Catalina?
3. To be clear, does "These disks should be the only ones in your Mac" mean I must physically remove all my other drives during the process?

I've got a cMP 4,1>5,1 running Mojave

Thanks

The EFI can be on any drive - just need to bless it. I had mine on the Catalina drive (NVMe) but it didn't work well so now have it on an older SATA HDD. When bootpicker comes up I have a choice of Catalina Mojave or Windows - Catalina is default as set in system preferences. I would not put the EFI on the Mojave drive as it will remain your back up. You can pull the drive with the EFI to boot to the native Mojave drive in case of issues. I have seen posts saying DO NOT boot with only the windows drive in if you set that up. The "These disks ..." reference is good advice to keep things simple in the initial setup but I had all disks in. You don't have to remove the other drives to make this work in the end, I have 4 SATA HDD (Mojave, data, data, Win10). When setting this up, it may make sense to just have your mojave drive and one other drive for the EFI set up, again to keep it simple.

 

[Enricote]

The steps given in Post 1 should work but you can also try this alternative and simple method: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thread.2250317

That guide is for Legacy Windows which I prefer, but all you need change to install UEFI Windows (needed if booting through OpenCore) is to select the Enable EFI checkbox at the relevant place (Under Part 2 of 3: Configure Virtual Machine).

PS. Legacy Windows does NOT work with OpenCore

I personally used this another method to install EFI Windows 10 working in cMPro with Opencore:

Rufus to Install Windows 10 (EFI) on cMacPro Opencore with BootPicker

I have been trying in last few days several options to install Windows 10 in my cMP 5,1 after installing Catalina via Opencore using the excellent wiki here. I tried and failed using VirtualBox VM or Bootcamp adaptations. This is useful if you have no Mac EFI Boot because you use a generic...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Enricote]

anyone can help me step by step for install windoews, i follow this but not successs
and i try to bootable from HDD stuck on logo windows

Try this:

Rufus to Install Windows 10 (EFI) on cMacPro Opencore with BootPicker

I have been trying in last few days several options to install Windows 10 in my cMP 5,1 after installing Catalina via Opencore using the excellent wiki here. I tried and failed using VirtualBox VM or Bootcamp adaptations. This is useful if you have no Mac EFI Boot because you use a generic...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[ithinkitsnice]

The EFI can be on any drive - just need to bless it. I had mine on the Catalina drive (NVMe) but it didn't work well so now have it on an older SATA HDD. When bootpicker comes up I have a choice of Catalina Mojave or Windows - Catalina is default as set in system preferences. I would not put the EFI on the Mojave drive as it will remain your back up. You can pull the drive with the EFI to boot to the native Mojave drive in case of issues. I have seen posts saying DO NOT boot with only the windows drive in if you set that up. The "These disks ..." reference is good advice to keep things simple in the initial setup but I had all disks in. You don't have to remove the other drives to make this work in the end, I have 4 SATA HDD (Mojave, data, data, Win10). When setting this up, it may make sense to just have your mojave drive and one other drive for the EFI set up, again to keep it simple.

Mostly understood, thanks.

In the first instance I'm only going to have my one bootable Mojave drive, which will be my working OS and not a backup, at least until I can reconfigure things internally. As long as that's the case, I'm assuming I can only have the EFI on that drive. Will that be a problem/risk?

(I'm assuming by "The EFI can be on any drive" you mean any bootable drive and not, say, a data only drive?)

edit: reading more of the thread I see from another of your posts the EFI can indeed be on any old drive.

 

[RaoulDuke-Esq]

Howdy folks! I really appreciate this thorough, well maintained, and detailed thread. The install process was effortless. I've been having a lot more kernel panics on my 12 core machine than I ought to be. Hoping for some suggestions for what to do next.

I have two Mac Pro 5,1 (one 6Core/64GB one 12Core/96GB, all x5690, both using PCIe NVMe boot) running Catalina via OpenCore 0.6.0. I updated both to OC 0.6.0 and 10.15.6 supplemental on the 16th of August and was on 0.5.9 and 10.15.5 and .6 before that.

Both are using the standard config from this thread save for the addition of the necessary kexts to enable graphical boot screen and hardware acceleration and the config tweaks required. The 12 core machine also has the kext and config tweak for AppleMCEReporterDisabler. I updated these kexts when I updated OC to 0.6.0

Both machines are crunching Handbrake jobs round the clock and using the latest release. Both have more kernel panics than I think they should, but the 12 core WAY more. Configs attached to this post - they pass the command line checker and I have no boot problems. I do not believe this to be a Catalina/Handbrake combination problem as I'm also crunching Handbrake round the clock on a 10 core 6,1 and do not get any panics.

The 6 core machine is far more stable - I started tracking panics at the end of July and it only had panics on 25JUL and 18AUG, but I had months of uptime on Mojave that was only interrupted by my installing patches.

The 12 core has panics every few days. It's really annoying when it happens right after bed because then it's just chillin' all night not doing any work. 05AUG, 12AUG, 14AUG, 15AUG, 21AUG, 23AUG, 26AUG (no more free PasteBin, but this one was also the Handbrake process; usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice last loaded kext, timed out during locked wait on cpu13). I don't really see a pattern emerging here...

Things I've considered/tried:

Northbridge temp issues on the 12 core: Installed MacsFanControl. NB Diode was around 78 at the beginning of AUG (heatwave) but is now staying 70-74 just with default fans. I've added a box fan in front of the computers to help get cool air in and push the hot air out the back of the room. FYI- NB on the 6 core is around 58-60; I've read that you can expect the 12 core to be around 15C hotter.

CPU Temp issues: A runs around 87 on the diode and B around 81. Cooling seems to be adequate for processors constantly running at ~99%

Memory: Installed memtest, got bored after it ran for 12 hours without problems and quit. Starting to swap out modules one at a time with other matching 16GB modules to see if there's any impact. Too soon to tell.

Hardware Test: thought about running this but having trouble finding out how to enter this mode while using OC- DuckDuckGo has been less than helpful in this regard.

Searching key phrases from the panic reports: found lots of irrelevant things for other models, usually with problems at boot or with really random kernel extensions installed for problematic software, especially AV or management suites. My install is pretty much a base install.

Searching this thread: didn't find anything I thought matched my situation when I searched for kernel panic.


Do y'all see anything in the panic reports that's suspicious? Any ideas for things I could try or check? Any search terms I should have used or places I should be reading? I don't mind putting in the work- just need a push in the right direction.

 

[JedNZ]

Or a USB stick.

 

[6DecadesLater]

Or a USB stick.

Yes, a USB stick can be used. I did that once but then decided not to tie up the port. A pro may be that it can be easily pulled to boot to backup.

 

[eikic1]

how to fix it?
i try bless open core

 

[6DecadesLater]

how to fix it?
i try bless open core

Very little detail here. Did you follow the first post wiki as outlined below?
Reboot into recovery

• In recovery, open Terminal (see Utilities in the menu bar)
• Find the EFI volume of Disk A by entering: diskutil list

The identifier should be something like diskAs1. Replace the actual identifier in the following step.

• Mount the EFI volume by entering: diskutil mount /dev/diskAs1
• Bless the volume for booting by entering: bless --mount /Volumes/EFI --setBoot

Spoiler: If the previous command fails...
Try: bless --mount /Volumes/EFI --setBoot --file /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.efi --verbose

 

[ithinkitsnice]

I've installed OC on the EFI of a data drive (I'm only running Mojave at the moment), blessed it and confirmed it's booting with OC using the terminal command in the guide.

However, nothing I do gets me a boot picker:

• A normal (hands off) boot just loads Mojave
• Holding escape leaves me with a black screen (need to hard reboot)
• Holding option (post chime) just loads Mojave

My system is 4,1>5,1 (6 x 3.46GHz) with a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB

Scanning the thread I've seen hints my second hand RX 580 might be the problem if the BIOS has been messed with, but I'm getting over my head and all the solutions I can see point to using Windows. Can I confirm / fix this without access to a windows machine?

I can dig out my stock NVIDIA card from storage if necessary, but it's not immediately to hand.