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

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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.
Stez said:
Hey folks, would @cdf consider adding a Linux section to the Opencore guide? I'm sure the configuration isn't too complex but I'd be afraid of messing something up by trying it myself first 😅

Full disclosure: I'm thinking of running something like Fedora or Bazzite on my Mac Pro primarily (as a gaming machine) and using OpenCore to boot into it. I did successfully get AtlasOS (Windows) running on it before which was neat, but I'd like to try Linux for a number of reasons.

Kind regards!
Click to expand...
If you're comfortable installing Linux in general, you just need to add OpenLinuxBoot.efi as a driver in the Drivers section of your config.plist, it will show and offer to boot almost all standard Linux distros as soon as they are installed.

You need to either make space for Linux on your existing drive (in which case, be careful to manually set the partitions correctly during the Linux installation procedure, so as not to destroy your existing OS); or set aside a new drive for it (once again, be careful that the correct drive is selected in the Linux installer).

You install Linux more or less as if OpenCore wasn't present, though you can start the installer from the OpenCore boot menu if you want.

Once you've installed Linux, your machine will likely be booting directly into Linux by default, so you need a way to get back to booting OpenCore (this should be covered in this thread's p.1 guide; if you already have EnableGop installed in your firmware, you can just hold ALT while booting to bring up Apple's native picker, then select OpenCore).

Once Linux is installed and OpenLinuxBoot.efi is loaded as a driver in OpenCore, it should just work. Look into OpenCore themes aka 'flavours' if you want a nice icon for the new OS.

Btw, avoid the very latest Fedora 41 for now, as there is a problem booting that (because a new component in Fedora - TuneD - does strange things with grub variables, which OpenLinuxBoot can't quite understand yet), this should be fixed in the next release of OpenCore.
 
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Stez said:
Hey folks, would @cdf consider adding a Linux section to the Opencore guide? I'm sure the configuration isn't too complex but I'd be afraid of messing something up by trying it myself first 😅

Full disclosure: I'm thinking of running something like Fedora or Bazzite on my Mac Pro primarily (as a gaming machine) and using OpenCore to boot into it. I did successfully get AtlasOS (Windows) running on it before which was neat, but I'd like to try Linux for a number of reasons.

Kind regards!
Click to expand...
I could be wrong, but is your intention to be able to boot into an OpenCore-supported OS like Monterey sometimes, and at other times boot into Linux? I think that you'll probably be fine if you just go ahead and install Linux on a disk or hard partition: it should show up in the OpenCore picker screen as a boot destination. If you want to be really bulletproof you could install the EnableGOP firmware, and then standard option boot (holding down option key while booting) will enable you choose either booting Linux directly, or booting OpenCore through to Monterey.

It might be best to not go through OpenCore while installing Linux - part of what OpenCore does is spoof some information about the underlying hardware, which Linux won't require - I would think Linux would be best installed knowing the true state of the hardware.

Edit: it looks like I got it mostly right, but @Bmju is a much more authoritative source on this.
 
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Monterey 12.7.6 full download, seems to be missing from the Apple sources.

tried link from MrMacintosh InstallAssistant.pkg
The link even with jDownloader
installinstallmacos.py, with all seedprograms
OCLP
softwareupdate cli tool
App Store

and some other random sources.

Either it refuses or stops after a few 100 MB, or it loads an invalid 1GB installer.

Does someone have a valid source? Looks like 12.7.4 is the only one, available.
 
Macschrauber said:
Monterey 12.7.6 full download, seems to be missing from the Apple sources.

tried link from MrMacintosh InstallAssistant.pkg
The link even with jDownloader
installinstallmacos.py, with all seedprograms
OCLP
softwareupdate cli tool
App Store

and some other random sources.

Either it refuses or stops after a few 100 MB, or it loads an invalid 1GB installer.

Does someone have a valid source? Looks like 12.7.4 is the only one, available.
Click to expand...
I just tried the MrMacintosh link and it worked fine for me. Might be CDN issue on your end - I am in US East coast
 
Bmju said:
If you're comfortable installing Linux in general, you just need to add OpenLinuxBoot.efi as a driver in the Drivers section of your config.plist, it will show and offer to boot almost all standard Linux distros as soon as they are installed.

You need to either make space for Linux on your existing drive (in which case, be careful to manually set the partitions correctly during the Linux installation procedure, so as not to destroy your existing OS); or set aside a new drive for it (once again, be careful that the correct drive is selected in the Linux installer).

You install Linux more or less as if OpenCore wasn't present, though you can start the installer from the OpenCore boot menu if you want.

Once you've installed Linux, your machine will likely be booting directly into Linux by default, so you need a way to get back to booting OpenCore (this should be covered in this thread's p.1 guide; if you already have EnableGop installed in your firmware, you can just hold ALT while booting to bring up Apple's native picker, then select OpenCore).

Once Linux is installed and OpenLinuxBoot.efi is loaded as a driver in OpenCore, it should just work. Look into OpenCore themes aka 'flavours' if you want a nice icon for the new OS.

Btw, avoid the very latest Fedora 41 for now, as there is a problem booting that (because a new component in Fedora - TuneD - does strange things with grub variables, which OpenLinuxBoot can't quite understand yet), this should be fixed in the next release of OpenCore.
Click to expand...
Many thanks, this is super helpful!
 
Macschrauber said:
Monterey 12.7.6 full download, seems to be missing from the Apple sources.

tried link from MrMacintosh InstallAssistant.pkg
The link even with jDownloader
installinstallmacos.py, with all seedprograms
OCLP
softwareupdate cli tool
App Store

and some other random sources.

Either it refuses or stops after a few 100 MB, or it loads an invalid 1GB installer.

Does someone have a valid source? Looks like 12.7.4 is the only one, available.
Click to expand...
Just checking to help you.

Have you tried searching for MrMacintosh link on https://wayback.archive.org/ ? I found it there. I do not need it and it is super slow so I had to stop it.
 
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Got macOS Monterey 12.7.6 up and running beautifully on my Mac Pro 5,1 w/ OpenCore.
A few questions...
  • Is there any risk of macOS surprise force-installing Sequoia someday? (I have all the update options unchecked in system prefs)
  • What's the recommended way to get rid of the annoying (1) red badge in System Prefs? Solutions and success rates seemed all over the place when I searched.
  • Is it safe to enable Check for updates > Install system data files and security updates to continue receiving XProtect definitions?
  • Can Carbon Copy Cloner make a bootable backup clone of an OpenCore-booting macOS drive?
 
Current specs:

MacOS: Catalina
MLOP: 1.0.1
Model: MacPro4,1 > 5,1
Processor: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.93 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 12
Memory: 48 GB
Boot ROM Version: 9144.1.0.1.0
GPU: Radeon RX 580
Bluetooth: 4.2
Reconstructed BootROM: yes (by tsialex)

Anything I should be concerned about if upgrading to Monterey with the above config?
 
Last edited:
polanskiman said:
Current specs:

MacOS: Catalina
MLOP: 1.0.1
Model: MacPro4,1 > 5,1
Processor: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.93 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 12
Memory: 48 GB
Boot ROM Version: 9144.1.0.1.0
GPU: Radeon RX 580
Bluetooth: 4.2
Reconstructed BootROM: yes (by tsialex)

Anything I should be concerned about if upgrading to Monterey with the above config?
Click to expand...
No problem.
 
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Macschrauber said:
Monterey 12.7.6 full download, seems to be missing from the Apple sources.

tried link from MrMacintosh InstallAssistant.pkg
The link even with jDownloader
installinstallmacos.py, with all seedprograms
OCLP
softwareupdate cli tool
App Store

and some other random sources.

Either it refuses or stops after a few 100 MB, or it loads an invalid 1GB installer.

Does someone have a valid source? Looks like 12.7.4 is the only one, available.
Click to expand...
Having the same issue here from Thailand. Trying to update to 12.7.6 through Software Update only provides the update package of ~1.5GB which doesn't work. I can't seem to find the full 12.7.6 anywhere.
 
I spoke too fast. mrmacintosh.com seems to be working. Had to try many times before the full 12.45GB were able to be downloaded.
 
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polanskiman said:
Having the same issue here from Thailand. Trying to update to 12.7.6 through Software Update only provides the update package of ~1.5GB which doesn't work. I can't seem to find the full 12.7.6 anywhere.
Click to expand...
I still have issues, even with the Waybackmachine link. It stucks after a few Gigabytes. Tried with various browsers / tools. On 3 different locations / ISPs in Germany. Also tried Tor browser with different faked positions, in Germany.
Got same report from another guy, located also in Germany.

OCLP tool presents also just 12.7.4

installinstallmacos.py for example:
Code: 
 #      ProductID    Version    Build   Post Date  Title
 1      052-64249     13.6.6   22G630  2024-04-01  macOS Ventura
 2      072-12353       15.1    24B83  2024-10-28  macOS Sequoia
 3      061-86291    10.15.3  19D2064  2020-03-23  macOS Catalina
 4      001-51042    10.15.7     19H2  2020-09-24  macOS Catalina
 5      072-09041     14.7.1   23H222  2024-11-04  macOS Sonoma
 6      072-30111     15.1.1    24B91  2024-11-19  macOS Sequoia
 7      062-53088     13.6.9   22G830  2024-08-14  macOS Ventura
 8      062-78643       13.7   22H123  2024-09-16  macOS Ventura
 9      072-12295       15.1  24B2083  2024-10-30  macOS Sequoia
10      072-01382     15.0.1   24A348  2024-10-21  macOS Sequoia
11      001-04366    10.15.4  19E2269  2020-05-04  macOS Catalina
12      041-91758    10.13.6    17G66  2019-10-19  macOS High Sierra
13      061-26578    10.14.5  18F2059  2019-10-14  macOS Mojave
14      061-26589    10.14.6   18G103  2019-10-14  macOS Mojave
15      062-78429       15.0   24A335  2024-09-16  macOS Sequoia
16      041-90855    10.13.5   17F66a  2019-10-23  Install macOS High Sierra Beta
17      001-15219    10.15.5  19F2200  2020-06-15  macOS Catalina
18      042-45246    11.7.10  20G1427  2023-09-11  macOS Big Sur
19      052-60131     12.7.4  21H1123  2024-03-18  macOS Monterey
20      072-29965     15.1.1  24B2091  2024-11-19  macOS Sequoia
21      001-57224    10.15.7     19H4  2020-10-27  macOS Catalina
22      001-68446    10.15.7    19H15  2020-11-11  macOS Catalina
23      052-77516     14.4.1   23E224  2024-04-01  macOS Sonoma
24      062-78824       14.7   23H124  2024-09-16  macOS Sonoma
25      072-09024     13.7.1   22H221  2024-11-04  macOS Ventura
26      041-88800    10.14.4  18E2034  2019-10-23  macOS Mojave
27      001-36735    10.15.6  19G2006  2020-08-06  macOS Catalina
28      062-58676     14.6.1    23G93  2024-08-14  macOS Sonoma
29      001-36801    10.15.6  19G2021  2020-08-12  macOS Catalina
 
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@Macschrauber I think I got very lucky. I had been trying for several days already with mrmacintosh.com and all downloads would stop after a few MB. Yesterday before I posted I tried again and it downloaded the whole thing. Since then I tried to download it again just for testing and impossible. I have tried probably over 40 times, each time download fails.
 
I was able to initiate a download of 12.7.6 from the apple store. I can't tell this was because I am based in Europe.
 

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eVasilis said:
I was able to initiate a download of 12.7.6 from the apple store. I can't tell this was because I am based in Europe.
Click to expand...
Are you sure that is the 12.7.6? When I tried downloading it from the App Store it would download the 12.7.4 despite the page saying it's the latest version. Once installed MacOS would then propose the incremental update to 12.7.6 which is around 1.5GB but that doesn't work when using open core. You need the full 12.7.6 pacakge to update.

You need to look at the app version and build number of the package to be sure. Refer to: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-12-monterey-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/

Once downloaded control+click the file and go to "Get Info" and look at the app version.
 
Last edited:
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It's time to transfer from mac pro 5.1 to mac pro 7.1
can anyone recommend steps to avoid problems with transferring hardware, transferring licensed programs, transferring NVME SSDs, and transferring a disk with installed windows uefi from 5.1 to 7.1.
Will windows work without opencore, without the appropriate exfatdxelegacy driver,
and won't updating windows damage the macos system disk (meaning without opencore, without protect secureboot true, and so on)
watched several chats on the forum, Lance's video about transfer on youtube.
Not sure yet about the correctness of the steps
 
Gustav Holdoff said:
Will windows work without opencore, without the appropriate exfatdxelegacy driver,
and won't updating windows damage the macos system disk (meaning without opencore, without protect secureboot true, and so on)
Click to expand...

Welcome to the dark side. I just installed Windows normally on my 7,1.

You don't need OpenCore with the 7,1 - things just work. I've got two of them here.

The NVME SSDs I have (on a Sonnet card) just went in straight away and worked without issue.

But note - there will be dropouts with NVMEs using Sonoma. So Sequoia is a lot more reliable for that. I don't trust Sequoia for the W6800X Duos however, I had many kernel panics in the early versions of Sequoia. One of the cards was brand new from Apple and crashed in two 7,1 with Sequoia, but runs fine in Sonoma.

I had to do some tricks to get Windows 11 Pro for Workstations to install (because of the TPM requirement on windows install) but after that it ran fine. The W10 Pro for Workstations license key was good for the 11 version as well.

You can search this forum and find the steps for the windows install.

Anyhow, we should continue this discussion elsewhere as people will insist this is off-topic.
 
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Started testing OC 1.0.3
not sure about the correctness of the syntax of the new line in the uefi section, which should have been added starting 1.0.2
I have doubts whether the two lines with array are correct?
Because in the sample that is in the opncore release for reserved memory there are parameters that are not present in cdf config, and therefore are not needed for MacPro 5.1
my question is, did I insert the extra line after the array correctly? and is the syntax correct?
checking the config using the ocvalidate utility does not show any errors

</dict>
<key>ReservedMemory</key>
<array/>
<key>Unload</key>
<array/>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
 
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