I'm not claiming it doesn't work. I probably misinterpreted the display and the behavior of my cMP when using BootKicker, so I ended up forcing a computer reboot and using the regular OC Picker. I'll try again in a few days. My question remains: Might this interesting development might be expanded into allowing a Mac Pro 5,1 to boot from an external drive (via Thunderbolt or an USB 3.x PCI card)? Is this doable?
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MP 1,1-5,1 Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro
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Bootable drives connected to FL1100 USB controllers already work via OpenCore chain loading for around two years, at least.
Bmju,
I'm booting from a rescue CD (OC not installed on any of my drives).
The first time i used Bootkicker it worked fine to boot a legacy Windows 10 install. I updated Windows 10 which required a reboot. On the next reboot (using the rescue CD then Bootpicker) my computer rebooted as expected but then restarted again without starting windows (or even seeming to start windows). On the restart I booted with the rescue CD and when through the same steps with the same result - a restart. On the next restart I tried booting Mojave via Bootpicker thinking windows was having a problem. This did not work either - my computer restarted.
I've attached my config.plist - let me know if you see any issues. I will try again later today to see if I'm getting the same behavior. If you have any thoughts about what I can test let me know. I am happy to help.
Regards,
sfalatko
I successfully booted an externally-connected USB3 flash drive with a Windows 11 installer. Unfortunately, I've been unable to detect an external HD as being bootable by macOS itself. Perhaps if I put that thing in one of the SATA bays and installed something like Monterey on it, and then connect it to an external enclosure it would boot via OC?
That's helpful.
Ofc it _should_ restart after selecting something in BootKicker, so the additional information needed is not just that it restarts, but what it does when it restarts. E.g. I am guessing that when you select Mojave or Windows from BootKicker, that you see a restart and then ... it just immediately starts the OpenCore picker again?
I just installed Big Sur using OpenCore legacy patcher on my cMP 5.1. Things seem pretty good except I have no Apple menu items in the upper lefthand area of the screen. I did the instal with a stock Nvidia GeForce GT 120. After installing and shutting down, I swapped out GPU's with a Nvidia Quadro K4000 (Kepler). It's with the K4000 card in that I get no Apple menu. I ran the "post install root patch" option from the OC Legacy Patcher and it return with no patches needed. Any ideas on how to correct this? Thanks! I'm brand new to this!!
I would try to make a screen shot of the whole screen and check the picture if the Apple Menu is in the picture.
I guess the menu is there but you dont see it.
Bmju,
What happens is after I select an OS in the Apple Bootpicker the computer reboots as expected but the OS never shows - I get the black screen and after a short time 10 - 15 seconds or so I get the boot chime and then I manually boot from the rescue CD.
I will try later to let it restart, not press C to boot from the rescue CD and see what happens. I generally keep my startup disk set to my Mojave install since I have a RX560 without an EFI bios so I can restart into a supported OS with no intervention.
I generally like to do an OS install with the hardware I'll be using with it. Is the GPU being reported as Metal-capable in System Information?
Thanks for the reply. That's exactly what I did to correct the problem... reinstalled macOS with the K4000 card. This took care of my Apple menu not showing and made the whole graphical experience much nicer. Thanks for your help!
Thanks for your help. I ended up reinstalling macOS with the K4000 in and it corrected the problem.
Bmju,
Well I have it working - or more correctly I now better understand how it works. It seems I was jumping the gun on the reboot and not letting the system start into the OS selected at the Apple boot menu.
Sorry for the confusion.
Regards,
sfalatko
BootKicker
I've tried to figure out how to use the new BootKicker feature of OC 0.8.7, but it seems I'm doing something wrong. I'm enclosing my config.plist in case someone is able to tell me what might be wrong with it.
Let me explain the usual boot up procedure I follow. When I cause the OC BootPicker to show up, several booting options are presented (Macintosh HD [=Monterey 12.6.1], [UEFI] Windows, Mojave, et cetera). I will normally choose "Macintosh HD", and Monterey will start without issues. Now the BookPicker also shows BootKicker. If I choose BootKicker, a somewhat shorter Startup Manager list will appear, one without Windows, among other options missing. There's a pre-selected EFI Boot, which I assume is my OC volume and then there's "Macintosh HD". If I choose that, my computer will boot up and will try to start Monterey, only to halt shortly afterwards and display a prohibitory sign. On the other hand, if I choose "EFI Boot", the OC BootPicker will be presented and I'm back where I began.
So, it appears the BootKicker isn't working for me, probably due to my clumsiness or to some shortcoming in my config.plist. Any advice?
I've tried to figure out how to use the new BootKicker feature of OC 0.8.7, but it seems I'm doing something wrong. I'm enclosing my config.plist in case someone is able to tell me what might be wrong with it.
Let me explain the usual boot up procedure I follow. When I cause the OC BootPicker to show up, several booting options are presented (Macintosh HD [=Monterey 12.6.1], [UEFI] Windows, Mojave, et cetera). I will normally choose "Macintosh HD", and Monterey will start without issues. Now the BookPicker also shows BootKicker. If I choose BootKicker, a somewhat shorter Startup Manager list will appear, one without Windows, among other options missing. There's a pre-selected EFI Boot, which I assume is my OC volume and then there's "Macintosh HD". If I choose that, my computer will boot up and will try to start Monterey, only to halt shortly afterwards and display a prohibitory sign. On the other hand, if I choose "EFI Boot", the OC BootPicker will be presented and I'm back where I began.
So, it appears the BootKicker isn't working for me, probably due to my clumsiness or to some shortcoming in my config.plist. Any advice?
I thought the point of BootKicker was to allow you to switch to a natively bootable partition away from OC. That would have to be a Mojave install.
If that's all it is, I guess it would also "work" for me, but then I don't need that at all. I can already boot Mojave without a BootKicker. Is BootKicker just a convenient way of displaying the Apple Boot Manager without an EFI flashed GPU and boot up a supported system (Mojave) that way?
That's how I read it. But I'm hoping that someone with greater knowledge will chime in to confirm or correct that.
Actually, it turns out that your observations are consistent with the proper functioning of BootKicker. See my comments below.
Right. That’s because UEFI Windows installs aren’t supported natively.
Exactly.
When you select an entry in BootKicker, your Mac restarts so that it can boot the entry natively. Of course, Monterey can’t be booted natively, so the process stops. If you see the prohibitory sign when booting natively, then I suppose you have a Mac-EFI graphics card, which makes BootKicker a bit redundant in the first place.
As expected, because that’s the OpenCore entry.
Correct.
That’s right. Booting Mojave natively when OpenCore is already blessed can be quite a non-trivial task with a standard graphics card.
Running MartinLo's OC 0.86, Monterey 12.2, on a 2009 Mac Pro (with reconstructed ROM!) not getting the update to 12.6 in the System panel, only the option for Ventura. Any suggestions?
Also, any issues going from 32 GB ram to 64GB?
Thanks in advance!
Also, any issues going from 32 GB ram to 64GB?
Thanks in advance!
I would probably say at lease on scenario where it is useful is for anyone who wants to occasionally boot into a natively supported OS without using OC and without having to pull drives and go through other hoops to do that.
@cdf could confirm, but I understand one other plan for BootKicker to be useful is to have a recovery CD version of OpenCore with BootKicker on it. Then, if you lose the bless status of your main OC on HDD after an NVRAM reset, you can use 'C' key to boot the recovery CD, then use BootKicker on that to rebless (CTRL+Enter) your main OC, without having to boot into macOS Recovery.
For sightly more advanced usage, for any given MacPro, there will typically be one ESP on one drive which is the fallback ESP (the one whose \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.efi gets started after an NVRAM reset). I have that set up as my 'fallback' OC, which I do not (often) change, and I use some other small FAT partition for my main, development OC. Then, if I break my development OC for any reason, and have to NVRAM reset, it will automatically boot into my fallback OC. From there, I previously used to have to use macOS Recovery or Linux to re-bless my normal OC - but now I can do it without booting any OS, using BootKicker.
For sightly more advanced usage, for any given MacPro, there will typically be one ESP on one drive which is the fallback ESP (the one whose \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.efi gets started after an NVRAM reset). I have that set up as my 'fallback' OC, which I do not (often) change, and I use some other small FAT partition for my main, development OC. Then, if I break my development OC for any reason, and have to NVRAM reset, it will automatically boot into my fallback OC. From there, I previously used to have to use macOS Recovery or Linux to re-bless my normal OC - but now I can do it without booting any OS, using BootKicker.
A little dream could be to find a solution how a partition could act like a cd / dvd.
So we could have the „Rescue CD“ always in.
I have a Rescue CD what I put in when I do stuff a Rescue CD is probably needed. But as it makes noise and slows down the Finder and file dialogs not all the time.
I have also a virtual odd drive what works with a OC Rescue CD image as well. But I doubt an USB thumb drive can be formatted to act like a CD drive. I hope I am wrong ;-)
So we could have the „Rescue CD“ always in.
I have a Rescue CD what I put in when I do stuff a Rescue CD is probably needed. But as it makes noise and slows down the Finder and file dialogs not all the time.
I have also a virtual odd drive what works with a OC Rescue CD image as well. But I doubt an USB thumb drive can be formatted to act like a CD drive. I hope I am wrong ;-)
Following my suggestion, months ago, of having a GUID-partitioned USB pen drive (no OS whatsoever necessary) as a test OpenCore launcher, this can now finally be put into practice by using BootKicker for users with non-flashed GPUs. Simply plug in your test USB pen drive, start your computer regularly and go to the OC BootPicker, then select BootKicker. This will cause the Apple Boot Manager to be displayed. Then select your GUID USB pen drive with the most recent version of OC and your up-to-date config.plist on it. If it fails to boot, you know you've done something wrong, so correct it and try again. Once it boots successfully, you know you have a new valid OC setup, which can be safely copied to your regular blessed OC volume.