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ADDvanced

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2015
147
23
Huge thread. Has anyone been able to get El Cap installed on a 6.1 iMac? I have a 24" 2.16ghz iMac with a 7600GT in my garage, would like to get it going.

Cheers!
 

zeepeter

macrumors newbie
Dec 13, 2017
3
0
barcelona
After a lot of hacking and twitching finally got 10.11.6 running on a 2.1 MBP. Not macOS Extractor nor MacPostFactor
only the 3rd method and combining info from 1st and page 21 post did the thing. Great info. But...
SIP enabled. Had to make a recovery partition by hand with all the same changes that were made to the system. Now recovery boots but when trying to disable SIP it doesn't seem to remember what system it came from. A message I should do csrutil from the recovery partition although I'm already in there... Don't know how to have them "linked" again.
Need SIP disabled to enhance things a bit: system-animations really slow, no sound, no brightness-adjust...
Anyone knows the best set of kext for this MBP?

Nombre del modelo: MacBook Pro

Identificador del modelo: MacBookPro2,1

Nombre del procesador: Intel Core 2 Duo

Velocidad del procesador: 2,33 GHz

GPU:
Modelo de chipset: ATY,RadeonX1600

Tipo: GPU

Bus: PCIe

Anchura de canal PCIe: x16

VRAM (total): 6 MB

Maybe some kexts that should be deleted? Would be very grateful for some tips. Did a MacPro 1.1 some year ago and it was so much easier, so I thought I'd give it a try, but it has cost a lot of time, learning I guess :)
 

qqurioustiger8945

macrumors regular
Mar 9, 2017
115
2
Hi guys.

Just a quick question. I came across osxhackers.net and I'd really like to install a newer version of Mac OS as I've a MacBook 4,1 running 10.7 Lion.

In your experience, which version should I go for? Meaning, with which version have the MacBooks 4,1 worked best? Or at least, have had the least issues with?

I wish I could go for Sierra but practically at this point I could use any newer version of Mac OS.

Thank you very much for your time.
 

qqurioustiger8945

macrumors regular
Mar 9, 2017
115
2
Check the first post in this thread...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-el-capitan-on-unsupported-macs.1889851/
Which makes your double post in the Sierra forum irrelevant.

Hi, thank you for your response.

Is it because of the part in the OP that states: "older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet." ?

MacBooks 4,1 have the GMA X3100 one, does that mean I cannot upgrade?

Because on http://osxhackers.net/elcapitan.html it clearly states that MacBook 4,x is supported.

Do I miss something? :/
 

MaxGoblin

macrumors newbie
Dec 21, 2017
1
0
UA
Hi all. Need information about installing El Capitan on iMac early 2006.
Model A1174. Processor Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz (T7400), 4Gb RAM. GPU X1600.
EFI changed from 4.1 to 5.1.

Is it possible to run on this hardware this operating system?
 

zappaesque

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2017
73
60
After a lot of hacking and twitching finally got 10.11.6 running on a 2.1 MBP. Not macOS Extractor nor MacPostFactor
only the 3rd method and combining info from 1st and page 21 post did the thing. Great info. But...
SIP enabled. Had to make a recovery partition by hand with all the same changes that were made to the system. Now recovery boots but when trying to disable SIP it doesn't seem to remember what system it came from. A message I should do csrutil from the recovery partition although I'm already in there... Don't know how to have them "linked" again.
Need SIP disabled to enhance things a bit: system-animations really slow, no sound, no brightness-adjust...
Anyone knows the best set of kext for this MBP?

Nombre del modelo: MacBook Pro

Identificador del modelo: MacBookPro2,1

Nombre del procesador: Intel Core 2 Duo

Velocidad del procesador: 2,33 GHz

GPU:
Modelo de chipset: ATY,RadeonX1600

Tipo: GPU

Bus: PCIe

Anchura de canal PCIe: x16

VRAM (total): 6 MB

Maybe some kexts that should be deleted? Would be very grateful for some tips. Did a MacPro 1.1 some year ago and it was so much easier, so I thought I'd give it a try, but it has cost a lot of time, learning I guess :)

Follow the method on this post to install refind on a usb drive and you can disable SIP by booting from it- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nsupported-macs.1889851/page-37#post-24695866

You'll only have to do this once (until the PRAM gets reset) and it'll boot with SIP disabled. The recovery partition doesn't work on unsupported machines.

[doublepost=1514166375][/doublepost]
Hi guys.

Just a quick question. I came across osxhackers.net and I'd really like to install a newer version of Mac OS as I've a MacBook 4,1 running 10.7 Lion.

In your experience, which version should I go for? Meaning, with which version have the MacBooks 4,1 worked best? Or at least, have had the least issues with?

I wish I could go for Sierra but practically at this point I could use any newer version of Mac OS.

Thank you very much for your time.

Using MacPostFactor, you can install Mountain Lion with almost full graphics support, and none of the sleep/brightness/graphics issues that Mavericks and on would have on the 4,1.
[doublepost=1514166426][/doublepost]
Hi, thank you for your response.

Is it because of the part in the OP that states: "older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet." ?

MacBooks 4,1 have the GMA X3100 one, does that mean I cannot upgrade?

Because on http://osxhackers.net/elcapitan.html it clearly states that MacBook 4,x is supported.

Do I miss something? :/

It's supported, but without graphics acceleration. Sleep and brightness control also don't work.
 

qqurioustiger8945

macrumors regular
Mar 9, 2017
115
2
Follow the method on this post to install refind on a usb drive and you can disable SIP by booting from it- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nsupported-macs.1889851/page-37#post-24695866

You'll only have to do this once (until the PRAM gets reset) and it'll boot with SIP disabled. The recovery partition doesn't work on unsupported machines.

[doublepost=1514166375][/doublepost]

Using MacPostFactor, you can install Mountain Lion with almost full graphics support, and none of the sleep/brightness/graphics issues that Mavericks and on would have on the 4,1.
[doublepost=1514166426][/doublepost]

It's supported, but without graphics acceleration. Sleep and brightness control also don't work.

Thank you.
 

Macfry

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
Montana
OS X El Capitan (10.11) on Unsupported Macs

macOS Extractor and MacPostFactor are apps that guide you through patching and installing OS X El Capitan (10.11), Yosemite (10.10), Mavericks (10.9), or Mountain Lion (10.8) on your older Mac. This thread focuses on OS X El Capitan.

MacPostFactor works for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan.
Please note that older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet.
Installing on these models may cause them to have graphical issues as stated in these pages. Kexts are provided to help a little bit.
macOS Extractor is somewhat for more advanced users and should only be used as an alternative to MacPostFactor. This thread consists of members prominent in these patches that can help you solve your issues. Please do not hesitate to post if you have questions.


OSXHElCapMacAir.png
Apple History

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the first OS X version with optional support for a 64-bit kernel, allowing booting either with a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. However, Apple did not support booting the 64-bit kernel in Macs that shipped with EFI32 firmware, even if they had 64-bit processors capable of running the 64-bit kernel. When Apple dropped the 32-bit kernel entirely from OS X, starting with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, EFI32 Macs no longer had an Apple-supported mechanism to boot newer OS X versions.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan includes rootless security. It makes sure that System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer available and access to system files that we need to use in this guide may be locked.

Fortunately, we have found workarounds for this version of OS X. Here we provide guides in Post 1 in support for Installing OS X El Capitan on your Unsupported Mac.

This first post is usually updated with recently summarized information, updates, and more solutions.

For those who have 2006/2007 Mac Pros, you may be best suited to using Mr. Zarniwoop's Guide here. The MCPF and macOSE projects are not affiliated with them. We will not contact them for you either, that's your responsibility. Some confrontation has occurred both publicly and privately in MacRumors, the site, and other forms of communications and we don't want anything to do with them and their Mac Models. Its simple, don't ask Mac Pro questions to people who don't have Mac Pros :p. Your post will be requested to be moved to their thread.

Prerequisites:
Tested Macs listed below. Here are the minimum requirements:
- Running 10.7 Lion
- At least 2GB of RAM
- A copy of the OS X El Capitan Installer in Applications Folder (.app file from Mac App Store preferred)
- 15 GB of free space from USB or HDD Partition to serve as your Installer Drive.

-MacBook2,x
-MacBook3,x
-MacBook4,x
-MacBookPro2,x
-MacBookAir1,1
-MacMini1,x with C2D
-MacMini2,x
-iMac4,x with C2D
-iMac5,x

-MacPro1,x
-MacPro2,x

We DON'T assist with Hackintosh. All private messages/emails involving installing OS X on non-Apple hardware will be redirected to another support team.

Guide to Installing OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS GUIDE HAPPENED UNDER YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY!

Be sure to have root privileges (administrator password) as OS X will prompt you for this on some stage.


A: Preparing The Installation Drive
  1. Make a BACKUP of your system if you can.
  2. macOS Extractor has generally everything you need to patch OS X (There are also numerous other sources that can help).
  3. Get an OS X El Capitan Installer App (Recommended from the Mac App Store)
  4. Make sure your Mac meets the minimum requirement above
  5. A USB or Secondary Partition to put the patched Installer (A Installation Drive for reference)

B: Start Patching

  1. Install macOS Extractor.
  2. A new drive might appear on your Desktop called ‘OS X Install ESD’. Don’t worry about that. The AutoPatch Tool will unmount that when it's done.
  3. Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files and run the AutoPatch package.
  4. During the AutoPatch installation. Select the USB or partition (Installation Drive) that you want as the installer. (No, this is not the Mac OS X Install ESD) WARNING: DO NOT SELECT YOUR CURRENT PARTITION (i.e Macintosh HD)
  5. (for non 64 bit Macs) Unlock and Replace the boot.efi files located in /System/Library/CoreServices and /usr/standalone/i386 with the copy provided in /Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Boot EFI/ or from here . To Unlock it, use the Terminal app in Applications/Utilities/ and enter the command:
    Code:
    sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

    (If you receive an error, go the that directory and find the boot.efi. Then in the Terminal, enter 'sudo chflags nouchg ' and drag the old boot.efi in the window. Press Enter)
  6. Now lock the new boot.efi file. (for non 64 bit Macs) lock the new boot.efi with this command:


  7. Code:
    sudo chflags uchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi


C: Installation
  1. Reboot your Mac holding option (alt) key
  2. Select the Installation drive "OS X Base System" (and press enter)
  3. If the Installation Drive boots you back to the main partition, try blessing the drive from your terminal app:
    Code:
    sudo bless --folder /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name] --file /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/boot --setBoot
  4. when booted click install/continue until you reach the disk selection menu, select your main drive (probably Macintosh HD) if you are sure about it, else select another empty drive (at least 15GB for testing/bigger if it should be a secondary system)
  5. After Installation, open the terminal in the menu bar and launch the PostInst.sh script to patch the partition where you installed OS X
Code:
sudo ./PostInst.sh

D: If Reboot Fails

If the Mac does not reboot to the El Capitan desktop, boot to the installation drive again and perform the following.
Boot back into the El Capitan Install Partition, open the terminal at the top menu bar or boot into single user mode (Hold Command-S immediately after turning on) enter:
Code:
sudo rm /Volumes/[Main Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist


E: Installing the 64bit-Kexts from the Kexts folder from macOS Extractor
(These will better the graphics by a little but you will not have Graphics Acceleration. Still in beta so they may not work well)
  1. ensure that the System Integrity Protection is disabled
  2. Navigate in your Finder and go to the 'OS X Hackers Patch Files' folder in your Applications Folder
  3. Open the 'Kexts' Folder
  4. Choose your Graphics Card Kext Installer and launch it.
  5. Select the Partition or Hard Drive that you are currently using the patched OS X.Install it. (Admin privileges required)
  6. Restart your Mac
IF your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

If your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

Install the NoSleep Extension
Set the Preferences to Never Sleep on AC Adapter and Battery
Check the 'Start NoSleep Utility on system startup' setting
Your Macbook screen will never turn off unless you actually shut down your Macbook.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Method 2 - MacPostFactor
El Capitan Install is EXPERIMENTAL. Try this on a secondary partition.

El Capitan can be installed on all computer but ONLY Mac Pros WITH AN UPGRADED GRAPHICS CARD can use graphics acceleration as of now!

Requirements for MacPostFactor to work

  • A Mac with Core 2 Duo or Xeon Processor.
  • OS X 10.6 or later
  • 2GB RAM at least
  • At least 20GB of HDD space (8GB for USB)
  • Install OS X El Capitan.app with beta 1 or later in your Application Folder
  • Read our instructions on MacRumors at least twice

Friendly reminder.

We're not responsible if you screw up your system. Technically, that won't happen as you can always go back to Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite


Instructions — Installing directly on this computer
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On this computer" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click reboot. Your computer should reboot with the OSXHackers logo.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the only partition showed.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded!".
  7. Enjoy!

Instructions — Installing via USB
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On an external drive" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the disk you want to install the El Capitan installer on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click exit. Boot the computer you want to install El Capitan on with 'alt' held and select your USB drive.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded !".
  7. Enjoy!


OS X Recovery Patch

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Recovery Patcher/
  • Install the 'Recovery Patcher' pkg (Not working for El Capitan)

OS X Software Updates

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Software Update Patch/
  • Install the 'Software Update Patch' pkg
  • (EFI32 Mac only) Using Pike's Boot.efi, Install the EFI Daemon patch.

Animation Disabler


You don't have Graphics Acceleration, right? Then you don't need excess Animation slowing down your system.
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Animation Disabler/
  • Install the 'Disable Graphical Animations' pkg

Airdrop
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/AirDrop Enabler/
  • Open the 'Enable Airdrop' shell script in the Terminal
  • Restart

You can send a file with AirDrop to other Macs only. Sometimes newer Macs can't find your model.

Method 3 v3 - @skyfly555's method
Try this method on an external HDD. The method has been updated to v3 and successfully tested on MB 2,x, MB3,x and MBP 2,x. It can work on eventually all the other EFI32/EFI64 unsupported Macs if you have the kexts you need, although method 3 v3 is recommended for EFI32 Macs; and method 3 v2 in post #926 is recommended for EFI64 Macs.
Note: You can find the method 3 v1 in post #892 of this same thread, but it's obsolet


Prerequisites: A computer with El Capitan installed and SIP disabled (or a computer with Yosemite and -no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 boot flags in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist), and an external HDD.

1- First of all, you need an external 2,5” HDD or SSD. It has to be GUID HFS+ formatted. If you format it from El Capitan, it formats the hard disk in this way by default. I will suppose its name is "Capitann". This will create a HFS+ partition and an EFI partition automatically.

2- Using the computer with El Capitan/Yosemite installed, clone the partition where you have El Capitan to your external HDD, the one you have formatted on step 1. The source computer can be a real Mac, or even a Hackintosh. You can use Carbon Copy Clone (CCC) or SuperDuper! I have used both of them and they worked well.
If you use El Capitan, you need SIP disabled. To do that, boot from your El Capitan Mac from Recovery Partition, go to utilities, open a terminal, and write csrutil disable and reboot. You need to do all the next steps from a El Capitan with SIP disabled. Yosemite doesn't need this, because it doesn't have SIP.

3- Boot.efi we need. There are two possibilities:
If you have an EFI64 unsupported Mac (like MB4,1, for example), you can use the EFI64 boot.efi El Capitan has got by default. You should follow, as mentioned, method 3 v2.

If you have an EFI32 Mac, you need this boot.efi, designed to always disable SIP, created by @skyfly555 , taking as base the boot.efi created by @vsbalint70 , who created his boot.efi modifying the code from Pike R Alpha original boot.efi.

Once downloaded, we need to change flags. From terminal (remember I'm supposing your Capitan partition is called "Capitann"):

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi

4- From Finder, use the "Go" menu and select "Go to folder..."
Open /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/ and copy there the EFI32 boot.efi from where you have it (probably your Downloads folder).
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, you must delete it and empty trash.
Open /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/ and do the same.
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, too, you must delete it and empty trash.

We will assign the correct owner to them. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi

5- We need kexts. We are using tones of kext from TMRJIJ - OS X Hackers. To make things easy, you have them all zipped here (all the kexts come from OS X Hackers). Download it, unzip the file, you will get some folders and one kext, copy the kexts you need (EC-Base-kexts are mandatory, LegacyUSBInjector.kext is optional and is used only if you have some known USB issues, copy the graphical kexts you need from its folder) into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/.

Note 1: If you have cloned from a Hackintosh, check your kexts into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions/. Maybe you have things you don't need. Some of them can give you problems, for example, AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, ApplePS2Controller.kext, FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext or some HDAEnablerx.kext or whatever, that is "very Hackintosh". If you have these kexts in these folders, remove them now.
Note 2: If you have an ATI graphics card, to get the 128 MB of RAM recognised, you have to go into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and delete this file: AMDSupport.kext


6- Before doing step 7, you need to be sure you have an important folder, which is not always cloned.

Open in Finder /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/ Do you have com.apple.kext.caches/ folder?
If not, open /System/Library/Caches/ in another window of the finder, and drag and drop com.apple.kext.caches/ from /System/Library/Caches/ to /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/.

After that, open a terminal and:

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*

Note: If you don't have com.apple.kext.caches/, in step 9 you can get a message like:

Can't create /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache.l9a9 - No such file or directory and El Capitan won't boot.

7- Now we will set boot flags and use them every time we boot. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann//Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
sudo nano com.apple.Boot.plist

You will see:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>


You want to have:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1</string>


Or, if you want verbose mode, too, add -v flag:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1 -v</string>

Note: we need these flags, they are mandatory to have all the kexts loaded, excepting mbasd=1, that is only required by MBAirs.

To go out from nano editor, Ctrl+X and say "y".

8- Now we want to have our kexts permissions in good condition. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*
sudo chmod -R 755 *.*
Note: These commands sometimes fail. Check them typing
Code:
ls -l
from terminal and be sure you see root:wheel everywhere. If that's not the cause, you need to go to Finder, select your external HDD, and tick/untick the option "Ignore ownership on this volume" (Right click on volume > Read info > Option below permissions) - if it's ticked, untick it; it it's unticked, ticked it. Although when you get your permissions changed to root:wheel, you need the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option unticked.


9- Now we are going to build the prelinked kernel and kernelcache:
Code:
sudo kextcache -prelinked-kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache -K /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Kernels/kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions

The terminal should give you messages like these:
/Volumes/Capitann locked; waiting for the lock.
Lock acquired; proceeding.
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext IOUSBHostFamily.kext

(...)
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext AppleStorageDrivers.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67050 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA16 for kext AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67061 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA0B for kext AppleIntelGMA950.kext

(...)
AppleDataSetManagement.kext - dependency for com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage lacks valid OSBundleCompatibleVersion.
AppleDataSetManagement.kext is missing dependencies (including anyway; dependencies may be available from elsewhere)
Created mkext archive /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext.

Note 1: AppleDataSetManagement.kext messages will be shown if you have an SSD and TRIM enabled.
Note 2: If you get messages saying permissions are not correct, or omitting... repeat steps 5, 6 and 8 until you get these messages saying "kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature..". Be sure you are doing all the steps (especially the terminal commands) correct, and in the correct order. If you have an ATI, and have deleted AMDSupport.kext, you will get some "omitting from prelinked..." messages, it's ok.
Note 3: If you get a message saying "Can't create...", do the step 6 again, it hasn't been done.


Note 4: if you are on a Hackintosh, you can get messages like:
SoftRAID.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
(...)
ACS6x.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
Some of these kexts are from Hackintosh and will not be needed. Other ones, like HandsOff.kext, can be from some app you have installed. Be sure you are not omitting something important, as the kexts the prior command has loaded (AppleHDA.kext or similar), and don't care for the rest.

10- Now we can change flags to boot.efi, and protect it again. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi

11- Now El Capitan can boot and it should boot with SIP disabled, but we have to be sure there's no firmware.scap into the EFI folder on our Capitann partition. If this is case, El Cap won't boot at all (and we will get Kernel Panic).
Go to terminal, type diskutil list, and check the name of your EFI partition. If it's internal, it's usually called disk0s1; if it's external, it can be called disk1s1 or disk2s1. If you see several EFI partitions, do this step with all of them. I'll do that with disk0s1 as an example. You can do the same several times just changing the name of the disk to diskXs1.
So, we will mount the EFI partition of our internal HDD (it's called disk0s1). We will name it "ESP".
From terminal:
Code:
mkdir /Volumes/ESP
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP
Now go into /Volumes/ESP from Finder (maybe it will be called EFI on Finder sidebar). Go into the folder called EFI. Delete everything inside this EFI folder (/Volumes/ESP/efi/) and empty trash. If you see an Apple folder, you have the firmware.scap there, you must delete it!

USB Issue: The USB kexts we are using could give you a trouble, depending on the machine you have. One USB could not be recognised, Check your USB ports using an USB memory stick after booting El Cap for the very first time to know if you are affected by this issue. If this is the case, try leaving the USB stick in the not recognised port, reboot again, and check if, after rebooting, the USB stick is recognised. If it's recognised, you will have to boot El Cap with some USB device connected on that USB port when booting to have it working with El Cap (not all the time, only while you are booting). You can try installing LegacyUSBInjector.kext, maybe it can help you.
Brightness adjustment: Shady app can help you. It's included in the OS X Hackers graphical kexts installers.


12- Boot your Mac, pressing the "alt" key" and select Capitann partition. If you have followed all the steps, it will boot.

13- The final check.
Once booted from El Cap on your unsupported Mac, open a terminal and type:
Code:
csrutil status
You should get this message: System Integrity Protection status: disabled.
And the last check, from the terminal, let's rebuild caches:
Code:
sudo kextcache -i /
You should see the same output you got when you did step 9.
Great. You got it. Welcome to EC.

Important notes about updating-upgrading and cloning:
1- If you do a major upgrade, for example, from El Cap 10.11.5 to 10.11.6 or similar, you will get all the kexts we added to /System/Library/Extensions in step 5 deleted, boot.efi deleted, the firmware.scap file will reappear everywhere... So, I recommend you having a bootable backup on an external HDD before upgrading anything, and be sure it boots correctly; so, after the upgrade, you can boot from there and repeat the process, from steps 3 to 12.
Your three goals: reinstalling the correct boot.efi, reinstalling kexts with the correct kext cache and prelinked kernel rebuilding, and deleting firmware.scap from your system again.
So, and basically, you will repeat m3v2, but not with another machine, but with yours.
2- When you clone El Cap partition to your internal HDD, El Cap may not boot. If this is your case, do steps 6 and 9 booting from your external drive. Then, your internal El Cap will boot.



Support

Feel free to post your questions, concerns, or success stories in this thread. If you can’t post us back because your only usable device is bricked, Skype at TMRJIJ, MLforAll, or email us at Support@OSXHackers.net. We'll try to respond within 3-5 days.
There should be some great support Applications that we will use to help you.

Be sure to thank our awesome developers who have contributed greatly.

Support Documentation (Construction)

Docs for macOS Extractor:
Docs for MacPostFactor:

Downloads/Files for Patching

The macOS Extractor v1.42 for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra [May 31, 2017]:
Download Link
View Release Notes

MacPostFactor 2.0.1 [July 8, 2016]:
Download Link


Boot.efi support for El Capitan (OS X 10.11) for unsupported Mac hardware with a 32-bit only EFI [by Pike R. Alpha]:
Download Link


OS X Hackers are is not affiliated with Apple Inc. Mac OS Ten (X), Mac, iOS, iPhone, iPad, and all other Apple product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
MacPostFactor was made by Wayne Wong (@Wayne_819) and Kelian Dumarais (@MLforAll)

Guide and OSXH site/app designed by Isiah Johnson (@TMRJIJ) and Robby Sharpero and is provided by Johnson Network.

Developers/Contributors:

Liem Mai, Birtha Åbel, Wayne Wong, Kelian Dumarais, Nolen Johnson, Mr. Zarniwoop, Tiamo, Pike R. Alpha, oem, atvusr, Jesse Samluk, Mike Hennessie

Terms and Conditions
OS X Hackers Site
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Support us by sharing our guide to others. Let everyone know that their older Macs are not obsolete yet. Thank the developers who helped make this possible. Some Developers also appreciate donations to help make this site/app better.

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osxhfullblack.png
Hello, I'm new to the forum. I want to
OS X El Capitan (10.11) on Unsupported Macs

macOS Extractor and MacPostFactor are apps that guide you through patching and installing OS X El Capitan (10.11), Yosemite (10.10), Mavericks (10.9), or Mountain Lion (10.8) on your older Mac. This thread focuses on OS X El Capitan.

MacPostFactor works for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan.
Please note that older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet.
Installing on these models may cause them to have graphical issues as stated in these pages. Kexts are provided to help a little bit.
macOS Extractor is somewhat for more advanced users and should only be used as an alternative to MacPostFactor. This thread consists of members prominent in these patches that can help you solve your issues. Please do not hesitate to post if you have questions.


OSXHElCapMacAir.png
Apple History

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the first OS X version with optional support for a 64-bit kernel, allowing booting either with a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. However, Apple did not support booting the 64-bit kernel in Macs that shipped with EFI32 firmware, even if they had 64-bit processors capable of running the 64-bit kernel. When Apple dropped the 32-bit kernel entirely from OS X, starting with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, EFI32 Macs no longer had an Apple-supported mechanism to boot newer OS X versions.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan includes rootless security. It makes sure that System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer available and access to system files that we need to use in this guide may be locked.

Fortunately, we have found workarounds for this version of OS X. Here we provide guides in Post 1 in support for Installing OS X El Capitan on your Unsupported Mac.

This first post is usually updated with recently summarized information, updates, and more solutions.

For those who have 2006/2007 Mac Pros, you may be best suited to using Mr. Zarniwoop's Guide here. The MCPF and macOSE projects are not affiliated with them. We will not contact them for you either, that's your responsibility. Some confrontation has occurred both publicly and privately in MacRumors, the site, and other forms of communications and we don't want anything to do with them and their Mac Models. Its simple, don't ask Mac Pro questions to people who don't have Mac Pros :p. Your post will be requested to be moved to their thread.

Prerequisites:
Tested Macs listed below. Here are the minimum requirements:
- Running 10.7 Lion
- At least 2GB of RAM
- A copy of the OS X El Capitan Installer in Applications Folder (.app file from Mac App Store preferred)
- 15 GB of free space from USB or HDD Partition to serve as your Installer Drive.

-MacBook2,x
-MacBook3,x
-MacBook4,x
-MacBookPro2,x
-MacBookAir1,1
-MacMini1,x with C2D
-MacMini2,x
-iMac4,x with C2D
-iMac5,x

-MacPro1,x
-MacPro2,x

We DON'T assist with Hackintosh. All private messages/emails involving installing OS X on non-Apple hardware will be redirected to another support team.

Guide to Installing OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS GUIDE HAPPENED UNDER YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY!

Be sure to have root privileges (administrator password) as OS X will prompt you for this on some stage.


A: Preparing The Installation Drive
  1. Make a BACKUP of your system if you can.
  2. macOS Extractor has generally everything you need to patch OS X (There are also numerous other sources that can help).
  3. Get an OS X El Capitan Installer App (Recommended from the Mac App Store)
  4. Make sure your Mac meets the minimum requirement above
  5. A USB or Secondary Partition to put the patched Installer (A Installation Drive for reference)

B: Start Patching

  1. Install macOS Extractor.
  2. A new drive might appear on your Desktop called ‘OS X Install ESD’. Don’t worry about that. The AutoPatch Tool will unmount that when it's done.
  3. Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files and run the AutoPatch package.
  4. During the AutoPatch installation. Select the USB or partition (Installation Drive) that you want as the installer. (No, this is not the Mac OS X Install ESD) WARNING: DO NOT SELECT YOUR CURRENT PARTITION (i.e Macintosh HD)
  5. (for non 64 bit Macs) Unlock and Replace the boot.efi files located in /System/Library/CoreServices and /usr/standalone/i386 with the copy provided in /Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Boot EFI/ or from here . To Unlock it, use the Terminal app in Applications/Utilities/ and enter the command:
    Code:
    sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

    (If you receive an error, go the that directory and find the boot.efi. Then in the Terminal, enter 'sudo chflags nouchg ' and drag the old boot.efi in the window. Press Enter)
  6. Now lock the new boot.efi file. (for non 64 bit Macs) lock the new boot.efi with this command:


  7. Code:
    sudo chflags uchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi


C: Installation
  1. Reboot your Mac holding option (alt) key
  2. Select the Installation drive "OS X Base System" (and press enter)
  3. If the Installation Drive boots you back to the main partition, try blessing the drive from your terminal app:
    Code:
    sudo bless --folder /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name] --file /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/boot --setBoot
  4. when booted click install/continue until you reach the disk selection menu, select your main drive (probably Macintosh HD) if you are sure about it, else select another empty drive (at least 15GB for testing/bigger if it should be a secondary system)
  5. After Installation, open the terminal in the menu bar and launch the PostInst.sh script to patch the partition where you installed OS X
Code:
sudo ./PostInst.sh

D: If Reboot Fails

If the Mac does not reboot to the El Capitan desktop, boot to the installation drive again and perform the following.
Boot back into the El Capitan Install Partition, open the terminal at the top menu bar or boot into single user mode (Hold Command-S immediately after turning on) enter:
Code:
sudo rm /Volumes/[Main Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist


E: Installing the 64bit-Kexts from the Kexts folder from macOS Extractor
(These will better the graphics by a little but you will not have Graphics Acceleration. Still in beta so they may not work well)
  1. ensure that the System Integrity Protection is disabled
  2. Navigate in your Finder and go to the 'OS X Hackers Patch Files' folder in your Applications Folder
  3. Open the 'Kexts' Folder
  4. Choose your Graphics Card Kext Installer and launch it.
  5. Select the Partition or Hard Drive that you are currently using the patched OS X.Install it. (Admin privileges required)
  6. Restart your Mac
IF your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

If your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

Install the NoSleep Extension
Set the Preferences to Never Sleep on AC Adapter and Battery
Check the 'Start NoSleep Utility on system startup' setting
Your Macbook screen will never turn off unless you actually shut down your Macbook.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Method 2 - MacPostFactor
El Capitan Install is EXPERIMENTAL. Try this on a secondary partition.

El Capitan can be installed on all computer but ONLY Mac Pros WITH AN UPGRADED GRAPHICS CARD can use graphics acceleration as of now!

Requirements for MacPostFactor to work

  • A Mac with Core 2 Duo or Xeon Processor.
  • OS X 10.6 or later
  • 2GB RAM at least
  • At least 20GB of HDD space (8GB for USB)
  • Install OS X El Capitan.app with beta 1 or later in your Application Folder
  • Read our instructions on MacRumors at least twice

Friendly reminder.

We're not responsible if you screw up your system. Technically, that won't happen as you can always go back to Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite


Instructions — Installing directly on this computer
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On this computer" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click reboot. Your computer should reboot with the OSXHackers logo.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the only partition showed.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded!".
  7. Enjoy!

Instructions — Installing via USB
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On an external drive" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the disk you want to install the El Capitan installer on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click exit. Boot the computer you want to install El Capitan on with 'alt' held and select your USB drive.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded !".
  7. Enjoy!


OS X Recovery Patch

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Recovery Patcher/
  • Install the 'Recovery Patcher' pkg (Not working for El Capitan)

OS X Software Updates

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Software Update Patch/
  • Install the 'Software Update Patch' pkg
  • (EFI32 Mac only) Using Pike's Boot.efi, Install the EFI Daemon patch.

Animation Disabler


You don't have Graphics Acceleration, right? Then you don't need excess Animation slowing down your system.
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Animation Disabler/
  • Install the 'Disable Graphical Animations' pkg

Airdrop
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/AirDrop Enabler/
  • Open the 'Enable Airdrop' shell script in the Terminal
  • Restart

You can send a file with AirDrop to other Macs only. Sometimes newer Macs can't find your model.

Method 3 v3 - @skyfly555's method
Try this method on an external HDD. The method has been updated to v3 and successfully tested on MB 2,x, MB3,x and MBP 2,x. It can work on eventually all the other EFI32/EFI64 unsupported Macs if you have the kexts you need, although method 3 v3 is recommended for EFI32 Macs; and method 3 v2 in post #926 is recommended for EFI64 Macs.
Note: You can find the method 3 v1 in post #892 of this same thread, but it's obsolet


Prerequisites: A computer with El Capitan installed and SIP disabled (or a computer with Yosemite and -no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 boot flags in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist), and an external HDD.

1- First of all, you need an external 2,5” HDD or SSD. It has to be GUID HFS+ formatted. If you format it from El Capitan, it formats the hard disk in this way by default. I will suppose its name is "Capitann". This will create a HFS+ partition and an EFI partition automatically.

2- Using the computer with El Capitan/Yosemite installed, clone the partition where you have El Capitan to your external HDD, the one you have formatted on step 1. The source computer can be a real Mac, or even a Hackintosh. You can use Carbon Copy Clone (CCC) or SuperDuper! I have used both of them and they worked well.
If you use El Capitan, you need SIP disabled. To do that, boot from your El Capitan Mac from Recovery Partition, go to utilities, open a terminal, and write csrutil disable and reboot. You need to do all the next steps from a El Capitan with SIP disabled. Yosemite doesn't need this, because it doesn't have SIP.

3- Boot.efi we need. There are two possibilities:
If you have an EFI64 unsupported Mac (like MB4,1, for example), you can use the EFI64 boot.efi El Capitan has got by default. You should follow, as mentioned, method 3 v2.

If you have an EFI32 Mac, you need this boot.efi, designed to always disable SIP, created by @skyfly555 , taking as base the boot.efi created by @vsbalint70 , who created his boot.efi modifying the code from Pike R Alpha original boot.efi.

Once downloaded, we need to change flags. From terminal (remember I'm supposing your Capitan partition is called "Capitann"):

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi

4- From Finder, use the "Go" menu and select "Go to folder..."
Open /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/ and copy there the EFI32 boot.efi from where you have it (probably your Downloads folder).
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, you must delete it and empty trash.
Open /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/ and do the same.
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, too, you must delete it and empty trash.

We will assign the correct owner to them. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi

5- We need kexts. We are using tones of kext from TMRJIJ - OS X Hackers. To make things easy, you have them all zipped here (all the kexts come from OS X Hackers). Download it, unzip the file, you will get some folders and one kext, copy the kexts you need (EC-Base-kexts are mandatory, LegacyUSBInjector.kext is optional and is used only if you have some known USB issues, copy the graphical kexts you need from its folder) into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/.

Note 1: If you have cloned from a Hackintosh, check your kexts into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions/. Maybe you have things you don't need. Some of them can give you problems, for example, AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, ApplePS2Controller.kext, FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext or some HDAEnablerx.kext or whatever, that is "very Hackintosh". If you have these kexts in these folders, remove them now.
Note 2: If you have an ATI graphics card, to get the 128 MB of RAM recognised, you have to go into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and delete this file: AMDSupport.kext


6- Before doing step 7, you need to be sure you have an important folder, which is not always cloned.

Open in Finder /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/ Do you have com.apple.kext.caches/ folder?
If not, open /System/Library/Caches/ in another window of the finder, and drag and drop com.apple.kext.caches/ from /System/Library/Caches/ to /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/.

After that, open a terminal and:

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*

Note: If you don't have com.apple.kext.caches/, in step 9 you can get a message like:

Can't create /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache.l9a9 - No such file or directory and El Capitan won't boot.

7- Now we will set boot flags and use them every time we boot. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann//Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
sudo nano com.apple.Boot.plist

You will see:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>


You want to have:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1</string>


Or, if you want verbose mode, too, add -v flag:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1 -v</string>

Note: we need these flags, they are mandatory to have all the kexts loaded, excepting mbasd=1, that is only required by MBAirs.

To go out from nano editor, Ctrl+X and say "y".

8- Now we want to have our kexts permissions in good condition. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*
sudo chmod -R 755 *.*
Note: These commands sometimes fail. Check them typing
Code:
ls -l
from terminal and be sure you see root:wheel everywhere. If that's not the cause, you need to go to Finder, select your external HDD, and tick/untick the option "Ignore ownership on this volume" (Right click on volume > Read info > Option below permissions) - if it's ticked, untick it; it it's unticked, ticked it. Although when you get your permissions changed to root:wheel, you need the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option unticked.


9- Now we are going to build the prelinked kernel and kernelcache:
Code:
sudo kextcache -prelinked-kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache -K /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Kernels/kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions

The terminal should give you messages like these:
/Volumes/Capitann locked; waiting for the lock.
Lock acquired; proceeding.
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext IOUSBHostFamily.kext

(...)
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext AppleStorageDrivers.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67050 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA16 for kext AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67061 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA0B for kext AppleIntelGMA950.kext

(...)
AppleDataSetManagement.kext - dependency for com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage lacks valid OSBundleCompatibleVersion.
AppleDataSetManagement.kext is missing dependencies (including anyway; dependencies may be available from elsewhere)
Created mkext archive /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext.

Note 1: AppleDataSetManagement.kext messages will be shown if you have an SSD and TRIM enabled.
Note 2: If you get messages saying permissions are not correct, or omitting... repeat steps 5, 6 and 8 until you get these messages saying "kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature..". Be sure you are doing all the steps (especially the terminal commands) correct, and in the correct order. If you have an ATI, and have deleted AMDSupport.kext, you will get some "omitting from prelinked..." messages, it's ok.
Note 3: If you get a message saying "Can't create...", do the step 6 again, it hasn't been done.


Note 4: if you are on a Hackintosh, you can get messages like:
SoftRAID.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
(...)
ACS6x.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
Some of these kexts are from Hackintosh and will not be needed. Other ones, like HandsOff.kext, can be from some app you have installed. Be sure you are not omitting something important, as the kexts the prior command has loaded (AppleHDA.kext or similar), and don't care for the rest.

10- Now we can change flags to boot.efi, and protect it again. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi

11- Now El Capitan can boot and it should boot with SIP disabled, but we have to be sure there's no firmware.scap into the EFI folder on our Capitann partition. If this is case, El Cap won't boot at all (and we will get Kernel Panic).
Go to terminal, type diskutil list, and check the name of your EFI partition. If it's internal, it's usually called disk0s1; if it's external, it can be called disk1s1 or disk2s1. If you see several EFI partitions, do this step with all of them. I'll do that with disk0s1 as an example. You can do the same several times just changing the name of the disk to diskXs1.
So, we will mount the EFI partition of our internal HDD (it's called disk0s1). We will name it "ESP".
From terminal:
Code:
mkdir /Volumes/ESP
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP
Now go into /Volumes/ESP from Finder (maybe it will be called EFI on Finder sidebar). Go into the folder called EFI. Delete everything inside this EFI folder (/Volumes/ESP/efi/) and empty trash. If you see an Apple folder, you have the firmware.scap there, you must delete it!

USB Issue: The USB kexts we are using could give you a trouble, depending on the machine you have. One USB could not be recognised, Check your USB ports using an USB memory stick after booting El Cap for the very first time to know if you are affected by this issue. If this is the case, try leaving the USB stick in the not recognised port, reboot again, and check if, after rebooting, the USB stick is recognised. If it's recognised, you will have to boot El Cap with some USB device connected on that USB port when booting to have it working with El Cap (not all the time, only while you are booting). You can try installing LegacyUSBInjector.kext, maybe it can help you.
Brightness adjustment: Shady app can help you. It's included in the OS X Hackers graphical kexts installers.


12- Boot your Mac, pressing the "alt" key" and select Capitann partition. If you have followed all the steps, it will boot.

13- The final check.
Once booted from El Cap on your unsupported Mac, open a terminal and type:
Code:
csrutil status
You should get this message: System Integrity Protection status: disabled.
And the last check, from the terminal, let's rebuild caches:
Code:
sudo kextcache -i /
You should see the same output you got when you did step 9.
Great. You got it. Welcome to EC.

Important notes about updating-upgrading and cloning:
1- If you do a major upgrade, for example, from El Cap 10.11.5 to 10.11.6 or similar, you will get all the kexts we added to /System/Library/Extensions in step 5 deleted, boot.efi deleted, the firmware.scap file will reappear everywhere... So, I recommend you having a bootable backup on an external HDD before upgrading anything, and be sure it boots correctly; so, after the upgrade, you can boot from there and repeat the process, from steps 3 to 12.
Your three goals: reinstalling the correct boot.efi, reinstalling kexts with the correct kext cache and prelinked kernel rebuilding, and deleting firmware.scap from your system again.
So, and basically, you will repeat m3v2, but not with another machine, but with yours.
2- When you clone El Cap partition to your internal HDD, El Cap may not boot. If this is your case, do steps 6 and 9 booting from your external drive. Then, your internal El Cap will boot.



Support

Feel free to post your questions, concerns, or success stories in this thread. If you can’t post us back because your only usable device is bricked, Skype at TMRJIJ, MLforAll, or email us at Support@OSXHackers.net. We'll try to respond within 3-5 days.
There should be some great support Applications that we will use to help you.

Be sure to thank our awesome developers who have contributed greatly.

Support Documentation (Construction)

Docs for macOS Extractor:
Docs for MacPostFactor:

Downloads/Files for Patching

The macOS Extractor v1.42 for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra [May 31, 2017]:
Download Link
View Release Notes

MacPostFactor 2.0.1 [July 8, 2016]:
Download Link


Boot.efi support for El Capitan (OS X 10.11) for unsupported Mac hardware with a 32-bit only EFI [by Pike R. Alpha]:
Download Link


OS X Hackers are is not affiliated with Apple Inc. Mac OS Ten (X), Mac, iOS, iPhone, iPad, and all other Apple product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
MacPostFactor was made by Wayne Wong (@Wayne_819) and Kelian Dumarais (@MLforAll)

Guide and OSXH site/app designed by Isiah Johnson (@TMRJIJ) and Robby Sharpero and is provided by Johnson Network.

Developers/Contributors:

Liem Mai, Birtha Åbel, Wayne Wong, Kelian Dumarais, Nolen Johnson, Mr. Zarniwoop, Tiamo, Pike R. Alpha, oem, atvusr, Jesse Samluk, Mike Hennessie

Terms and Conditions
OS X Hackers Site
Facebook Page
Donate

Successful?

Support us by sharing our guide to others. Let everyone know that their older Macs are not obsolete yet. Thank the developers who helped make this possible. Some Developers also appreciate donations to help make this site/app better.

Other Threads:



osxhfullblack.png
[doublepost=1516293361][/doublepost]
Thank you.
Hello, I'm new to the forum. I want to instal El Capitan (OS X El Capitan (10.11) on Unsupported Macs)
on a early 2008 White MacBook 4,1 with 4 GB RAM and a 240 Gig SSD. Any warnings or rabbit holes to fall into? I'm going to install on an older 90 GB Firewire 400 drive and see if I can make it happen. All suggestions and or advice is welcome. Thanks
 

FromPEI

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
OS X El Capitan (10.11) on Unsupported Macs

macOS Extractor and MacPostFactor are apps that guide you through patching and installing OS X El Capitan (10.11), Yosemite (10.10), Mavericks (10.9), or Mountain Lion (10.8) on your older Mac. This thread focuses on OS X El Capitan.

MacPostFactor works for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan.
Please note that older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet.
Installing on these models may cause them to have graphical issues as stated in these pages. Kexts are provided to help a little bit.
macOS Extractor is somewhat for more advanced users and should only be used as an alternative to MacPostFactor. This thread consists of members prominent in these patches that can help you solve your issues. Please do not hesitate to post if you have questions.


OSXHElCapMacAir.png
Apple History

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the first OS X version with optional support for a 64-bit kernel, allowing booting either with a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. However, Apple did not support booting the 64-bit kernel in Macs that shipped with EFI32 firmware, even if they had 64-bit processors capable of running the 64-bit kernel. When Apple dropped the 32-bit kernel entirely from OS X, starting with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, EFI32 Macs no longer had an Apple-supported mechanism to boot newer OS X versions.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan includes rootless security. It makes sure that System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer available and access to system files that we need to use in this guide may be locked.

Fortunately, we have found workarounds for this version of OS X. Here we provide guides in Post 1 in support for Installing OS X El Capitan on your Unsupported Mac.

This first post is usually updated with recently summarized information, updates, and more solutions.

For those who have 2006/2007 Mac Pros, you may be best suited to using Mr. Zarniwoop's Guide here. The MCPF and macOSE projects are not affiliated with them. We will not contact them for you either, that's your responsibility. Some confrontation has occurred both publicly and privately in MacRumors, the site, and other forms of communications and we don't want anything to do with them and their Mac Models. Its simple, don't ask Mac Pro questions to people who don't have Mac Pros :p. Your post will be requested to be moved to their thread.

Prerequisites:
Tested Macs listed below. Here are the minimum requirements:
- Running 10.7 Lion
- At least 2GB of RAM
- A copy of the OS X El Capitan Installer in Applications Folder (.app file from Mac App Store preferred)
- 15 GB of free space from USB or HDD Partition to serve as your Installer Drive.

-MacBook2,x
-MacBook3,x
-MacBook4,x
-MacBookPro2,x
-MacBookAir1,1
-MacMini1,x with C2D
-MacMini2,x
-iMac4,x with C2D
-iMac5,x

-MacPro1,x
-MacPro2,x

We DON'T assist with Hackintosh. All private messages/emails involving installing OS X on non-Apple hardware will be redirected to another support team.

Guide to Installing OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS GUIDE HAPPENED UNDER YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY!

Be sure to have root privileges (administrator password) as OS X will prompt you for this on some stage.


A: Preparing The Installation Drive
  1. Make a BACKUP of your system if you can.
  2. macOS Extractor has generally everything you need to patch OS X (There are also numerous other sources that can help).
  3. Get an OS X El Capitan Installer App (Recommended from the Mac App Store)
  4. Make sure your Mac meets the minimum requirement above
  5. A USB or Secondary Partition to put the patched Installer (A Installation Drive for reference)

B: Start Patching

  1. Install macOS Extractor.
  2. A new drive might appear on your Desktop called ‘OS X Install ESD’. Don’t worry about that. The AutoPatch Tool will unmount that when it's done.
  3. Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files and run the AutoPatch package.
  4. During the AutoPatch installation. Select the USB or partition (Installation Drive) that you want as the installer. (No, this is not the Mac OS X Install ESD) WARNING: DO NOT SELECT YOUR CURRENT PARTITION (i.e Macintosh HD)
  5. (for non 64 bit Macs) Unlock and Replace the boot.efi files located in /System/Library/CoreServices and /usr/standalone/i386 with the copy provided in /Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Boot EFI/ or from here . To Unlock it, use the Terminal app in Applications/Utilities/ and enter the command:
    Code:
    sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

    (If you receive an error, go the that directory and find the boot.efi. Then in the Terminal, enter 'sudo chflags nouchg ' and drag the old boot.efi in the window. Press Enter)
  6. Now lock the new boot.efi file. (for non 64 bit Macs) lock the new boot.efi with this command:


  7. Code:
    sudo chflags uchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi


C: Installation
  1. Reboot your Mac holding option (alt) key
  2. Select the Installation drive "OS X Base System" (and press enter)
  3. If the Installation Drive boots you back to the main partition, try blessing the drive from your terminal app:
    Code:
    sudo bless --folder /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name] --file /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/boot --setBoot
  4. when booted click install/continue until you reach the disk selection menu, select your main drive (probably Macintosh HD) if you are sure about it, else select another empty drive (at least 15GB for testing/bigger if it should be a secondary system)
  5. After Installation, open the terminal in the menu bar and launch the PostInst.sh script to patch the partition where you installed OS X
Code:
sudo ./PostInst.sh

D: If Reboot Fails

If the Mac does not reboot to the El Capitan desktop, boot to the installation drive again and perform the following.
Boot back into the El Capitan Install Partition, open the terminal at the top menu bar or boot into single user mode (Hold Command-S immediately after turning on) enter:
Code:
sudo rm /Volumes/[Main Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist


E: Installing the 64bit-Kexts from the Kexts folder from macOS Extractor
(These will better the graphics by a little but you will not have Graphics Acceleration. Still in beta so they may not work well)
  1. ensure that the System Integrity Protection is disabled
  2. Navigate in your Finder and go to the 'OS X Hackers Patch Files' folder in your Applications Folder
  3. Open the 'Kexts' Folder
  4. Choose your Graphics Card Kext Installer and launch it.
  5. Select the Partition or Hard Drive that you are currently using the patched OS X.Install it. (Admin privileges required)
  6. Restart your Mac
IF your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

If your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

Install the NoSleep Extension
Set the Preferences to Never Sleep on AC Adapter and Battery
Check the 'Start NoSleep Utility on system startup' setting
Your Macbook screen will never turn off unless you actually shut down your Macbook.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Method 2 - MacPostFactor
El Capitan Install is EXPERIMENTAL. Try this on a secondary partition.

El Capitan can be installed on all computer but ONLY Mac Pros WITH AN UPGRADED GRAPHICS CARD can use graphics acceleration as of now!

Requirements for MacPostFactor to work

  • A Mac with Core 2 Duo or Xeon Processor.
  • OS X 10.6 or later
  • 2GB RAM at least
  • At least 20GB of HDD space (8GB for USB)
  • Install OS X El Capitan.app with beta 1 or later in your Application Folder
  • Read our instructions on MacRumors at least twice

Friendly reminder.

We're not responsible if you screw up your system. Technically, that won't happen as you can always go back to Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite


Instructions — Installing directly on this computer
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On this computer" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click reboot. Your computer should reboot with the OSXHackers logo.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the only partition showed.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded!".
  7. Enjoy!

Instructions — Installing via USB
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On an external drive" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the disk you want to install the El Capitan installer on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click exit. Boot the computer you want to install El Capitan on with 'alt' held and select your USB drive.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded !".
  7. Enjoy!


OS X Recovery Patch

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Recovery Patcher/
  • Install the 'Recovery Patcher' pkg (Not working for El Capitan)

OS X Software Updates

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Software Update Patch/
  • Install the 'Software Update Patch' pkg
  • (EFI32 Mac only) Using Pike's Boot.efi, Install the EFI Daemon patch.

Animation Disabler


You don't have Graphics Acceleration, right? Then you don't need excess Animation slowing down your system.
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Animation Disabler/
  • Install the 'Disable Graphical Animations' pkg

Airdrop
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/AirDrop Enabler/
  • Open the 'Enable Airdrop' shell script in the Terminal
  • Restart

You can send a file with AirDrop to other Macs only. Sometimes newer Macs can't find your model.

Method 3 v3 - @skyfly555's method
Try this method on an external HDD. The method has been updated to v3 and successfully tested on MB 2,x, MB3,x and MBP 2,x. It can work on eventually all the other EFI32/EFI64 unsupported Macs if you have the kexts you need, although method 3 v3 is recommended for EFI32 Macs; and method 3 v2 in post #926 is recommended for EFI64 Macs.
Note: You can find the method 3 v1 in post #892 of this same thread, but it's obsolet


Prerequisites: A computer with El Capitan installed and SIP disabled (or a computer with Yosemite and -no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 boot flags in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist), and an external HDD.

1- First of all, you need an external 2,5” HDD or SSD. It has to be GUID HFS+ formatted. If you format it from El Capitan, it formats the hard disk in this way by default. I will suppose its name is "Capitann". This will create a HFS+ partition and an EFI partition automatically.

2- Using the computer with El Capitan/Yosemite installed, clone the partition where you have El Capitan to your external HDD, the one you have formatted on step 1. The source computer can be a real Mac, or even a Hackintosh. You can use Carbon Copy Clone (CCC) or SuperDuper! I have used both of them and they worked well.
If you use El Capitan, you need SIP disabled. To do that, boot from your El Capitan Mac from Recovery Partition, go to utilities, open a terminal, and write csrutil disable and reboot. You need to do all the next steps from a El Capitan with SIP disabled. Yosemite doesn't need this, because it doesn't have SIP.

3- Boot.efi we need. There are two possibilities:
If you have an EFI64 unsupported Mac (like MB4,1, for example), you can use the EFI64 boot.efi El Capitan has got by default. You should follow, as mentioned, method 3 v2.

If you have an EFI32 Mac, you need this boot.efi, designed to always disable SIP, created by @skyfly555 , taking as base the boot.efi created by @vsbalint70 , who created his boot.efi modifying the code from Pike R Alpha original boot.efi.

Once downloaded, we need to change flags. From terminal (remember I'm supposing your Capitan partition is called "Capitann"):

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi

4- From Finder, use the "Go" menu and select "Go to folder..."
Open /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/ and copy there the EFI32 boot.efi from where you have it (probably your Downloads folder).
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, you must delete it and empty trash.
Open /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/ and do the same.
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, too, you must delete it and empty trash.

We will assign the correct owner to them. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi

5- We need kexts. We are using tones of kext from TMRJIJ - OS X Hackers. To make things easy, you have them all zipped here (all the kexts come from OS X Hackers). Download it, unzip the file, you will get some folders and one kext, copy the kexts you need (EC-Base-kexts are mandatory, LegacyUSBInjector.kext is optional and is used only if you have some known USB issues, copy the graphical kexts you need from its folder) into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/.

Note 1: If you have cloned from a Hackintosh, check your kexts into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions/. Maybe you have things you don't need. Some of them can give you problems, for example, AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, ApplePS2Controller.kext, FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext or some HDAEnablerx.kext or whatever, that is "very Hackintosh". If you have these kexts in these folders, remove them now.
Note 2: If you have an ATI graphics card, to get the 128 MB of RAM recognised, you have to go into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and delete this file: AMDSupport.kext


6- Before doing step 7, you need to be sure you have an important folder, which is not always cloned.

Open in Finder /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/ Do you have com.apple.kext.caches/ folder?
If not, open /System/Library/Caches/ in another window of the finder, and drag and drop com.apple.kext.caches/ from /System/Library/Caches/ to /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/.

After that, open a terminal and:

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*

Note: If you don't have com.apple.kext.caches/, in step 9 you can get a message like:

Can't create /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache.l9a9 - No such file or directory and El Capitan won't boot.

7- Now we will set boot flags and use them every time we boot. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann//Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
sudo nano com.apple.Boot.plist

You will see:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>


You want to have:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1</string>


Or, if you want verbose mode, too, add -v flag:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1 -v</string>

Note: we need these flags, they are mandatory to have all the kexts loaded, excepting mbasd=1, that is only required by MBAirs.

To go out from nano editor, Ctrl+X and say "y".

8- Now we want to have our kexts permissions in good condition. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*
sudo chmod -R 755 *.*
Note: These commands sometimes fail. Check them typing
Code:
ls -l
from terminal and be sure you see root:wheel everywhere. If that's not the cause, you need to go to Finder, select your external HDD, and tick/untick the option "Ignore ownership on this volume" (Right click on volume > Read info > Option below permissions) - if it's ticked, untick it; it it's unticked, ticked it. Although when you get your permissions changed to root:wheel, you need the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option unticked.


9- Now we are going to build the prelinked kernel and kernelcache:
Code:
sudo kextcache -prelinked-kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache -K /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Kernels/kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions

The terminal should give you messages like these:
/Volumes/Capitann locked; waiting for the lock.
Lock acquired; proceeding.
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext IOUSBHostFamily.kext

(...)
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext AppleStorageDrivers.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67050 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA16 for kext AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67061 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA0B for kext AppleIntelGMA950.kext

(...)
AppleDataSetManagement.kext - dependency for com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage lacks valid OSBundleCompatibleVersion.
AppleDataSetManagement.kext is missing dependencies (including anyway; dependencies may be available from elsewhere)
Created mkext archive /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext.

Note 1: AppleDataSetManagement.kext messages will be shown if you have an SSD and TRIM enabled.
Note 2: If you get messages saying permissions are not correct, or omitting... repeat steps 5, 6 and 8 until you get these messages saying "kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature..". Be sure you are doing all the steps (especially the terminal commands) correct, and in the correct order. If you have an ATI, and have deleted AMDSupport.kext, you will get some "omitting from prelinked..." messages, it's ok.
Note 3: If you get a message saying "Can't create...", do the step 6 again, it hasn't been done.


Note 4: if you are on a Hackintosh, you can get messages like:
SoftRAID.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
(...)
ACS6x.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
Some of these kexts are from Hackintosh and will not be needed. Other ones, like HandsOff.kext, can be from some app you have installed. Be sure you are not omitting something important, as the kexts the prior command has loaded (AppleHDA.kext or similar), and don't care for the rest.

10- Now we can change flags to boot.efi, and protect it again. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi

11- Now El Capitan can boot and it should boot with SIP disabled, but we have to be sure there's no firmware.scap into the EFI folder on our Capitann partition. If this is case, El Cap won't boot at all (and we will get Kernel Panic).
Go to terminal, type diskutil list, and check the name of your EFI partition. If it's internal, it's usually called disk0s1; if it's external, it can be called disk1s1 or disk2s1. If you see several EFI partitions, do this step with all of them. I'll do that with disk0s1 as an example. You can do the same several times just changing the name of the disk to diskXs1.
So, we will mount the EFI partition of our internal HDD (it's called disk0s1). We will name it "ESP".
From terminal:
Code:
mkdir /Volumes/ESP
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP
Now go into /Volumes/ESP from Finder (maybe it will be called EFI on Finder sidebar). Go into the folder called EFI. Delete everything inside this EFI folder (/Volumes/ESP/efi/) and empty trash. If you see an Apple folder, you have the firmware.scap there, you must delete it!

USB Issue: The USB kexts we are using could give you a trouble, depending on the machine you have. One USB could not be recognised, Check your USB ports using an USB memory stick after booting El Cap for the very first time to know if you are affected by this issue. If this is the case, try leaving the USB stick in the not recognised port, reboot again, and check if, after rebooting, the USB stick is recognised. If it's recognised, you will have to boot El Cap with some USB device connected on that USB port when booting to have it working with El Cap (not all the time, only while you are booting). You can try installing LegacyUSBInjector.kext, maybe it can help you.
Brightness adjustment: Shady app can help you. It's included in the OS X Hackers graphical kexts installers.


12- Boot your Mac, pressing the "alt" key" and select Capitann partition. If you have followed all the steps, it will boot.

13- The final check.
Once booted from El Cap on your unsupported Mac, open a terminal and type:
Code:
csrutil status
You should get this message: System Integrity Protection status: disabled.
And the last check, from the terminal, let's rebuild caches:
Code:
sudo kextcache -i /
You should see the same output you got when you did step 9.
Great. You got it. Welcome to EC.

Important notes about updating-upgrading and cloning:
1- If you do a major upgrade, for example, from El Cap 10.11.5 to 10.11.6 or similar, you will get all the kexts we added to /System/Library/Extensions in step 5 deleted, boot.efi deleted, the firmware.scap file will reappear everywhere... So, I recommend you having a bootable backup on an external HDD before upgrading anything, and be sure it boots correctly; so, after the upgrade, you can boot from there and repeat the process, from steps 3 to 12.
Your three goals: reinstalling the correct boot.efi, reinstalling kexts with the correct kext cache and prelinked kernel rebuilding, and deleting firmware.scap from your system again.
So, and basically, you will repeat m3v2, but not with another machine, but with yours.
2- When you clone El Cap partition to your internal HDD, El Cap may not boot. If this is your case, do steps 6 and 9 booting from your external drive. Then, your internal El Cap will boot.



Support

Feel free to post your questions, concerns, or success stories in this thread. If you can’t post us back because your only usable device is bricked, Skype at TMRJIJ, MLforAll, or email us at Support@OSXHackers.net. We'll try to respond within 3-5 days.
There should be some great support Applications that we will use to help you.

Be sure to thank our awesome developers who have contributed greatly.

Support Documentation (Construction)

Docs for macOS Extractor:
Docs for MacPostFactor:

Downloads/Files for Patching

The macOS Extractor v1.42 for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra [May 31, 2017]:
Download Link
View Release Notes

MacPostFactor 2.0.1 [July 8, 2016]:
Download Link


Boot.efi support for El Capitan (OS X 10.11) for unsupported Mac hardware with a 32-bit only EFI [by Pike R. Alpha]:
Download Link


OS X Hackers are is not affiliated with Apple Inc. Mac OS Ten (X), Mac, iOS, iPhone, iPad, and all other Apple product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
MacPostFactor was made by Wayne Wong (@Wayne_819) and Kelian Dumarais (@MLforAll)

Guide and OSXH site/app designed by Isiah Johnson (@TMRJIJ) and Robby Sharpero and is provided by Johnson Network.

Developers/Contributors:

Liem Mai, Birtha Åbel, Wayne Wong, Kelian Dumarais, Nolen Johnson, Mr. Zarniwoop, Tiamo, Pike R. Alpha, oem, atvusr, Jesse Samluk, Mike Hennessie

Terms and Conditions
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Support us by sharing our guide to others. Let everyone know that their older Macs are not obsolete yet. Thank the developers who helped make this possible. Some Developers also appreciate donations to help make this site/app better.

Other Threads:



osxhfullblack.png
[doublepost=1516302791][/doublepost]Hey all. New here and new to mac. Been trying to install el capitan on unsupported mac and can't seem to get it going. Using MacPostFactor and sent the mcpfLogComp to them and haven't received a reply. Just trying to figure out what i'm doing wrong. Any help? Thanks. I have tryies other methods still without success.
 

zeepeter

macrumors newbie
Dec 13, 2017
3
0
barcelona
Not a lot of info: what unsupported mac? What happens?
Did you try method 3? (See page 21 also) I got it working on MBP 2,1 that way...
 

FromPEI

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
Not a lot of info: what unsupported mac? What happens?
Did you try method 3? (See page 21 also) I got it working on MBP 2,1 that way...
Not a lot of info: what unsupported mac? What happens?
Did you try method 3? (See page 21 also) I got it working on MBP 2,1 that way...
It's a late 2006 Macbook 2,1 core 2 duo with 2 gig of ram. I have a clean el capitan install on an external drive. I replace the 2 bios files with the ones with Piker Alpha. My mac starts to boot from the drive but then just boots up normally to the internal drive. I tried MacPostFactor and i get an error which I have attached. When they say I need the install el capitan beta 1 or higher, does that mean 10.10.1? Because I am using the El Capitan I downloaded from App store.
 

Attachments

  • mcpfLogComp.zip
    1.6 KB · Views: 172
  • Screen Shot 2018-01-18 at 7.43.20 PM.png
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Macfry

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
Montana
OS X El Capitan (10.11) on Unsupported Macs

macOS Extractor and MacPostFactor are apps that guide you through patching and installing OS X El Capitan (10.11), Yosemite (10.10), Mavericks (10.9), or Mountain Lion (10.8) on your older Mac. This thread focuses on OS X El Capitan.

MacPostFactor works for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan.
Please note that older GPU (GMA 950, X3100, X1600, X1300, X1900, 7300gt, etc.) Graphics Acceleration on Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are not supported yet.
Installing on these models may cause them to have graphical issues as stated in these pages. Kexts are provided to help a little bit.
macOS Extractor is somewhat for more advanced users and should only be used as an alternative to MacPostFactor. This thread consists of members prominent in these patches that can help you solve your issues. Please do not hesitate to post if you have questions.


OSXHElCapMacAir.png
Apple History

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the first OS X version with optional support for a 64-bit kernel, allowing booting either with a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. However, Apple did not support booting the 64-bit kernel in Macs that shipped with EFI32 firmware, even if they had 64-bit processors capable of running the 64-bit kernel. When Apple dropped the 32-bit kernel entirely from OS X, starting with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, EFI32 Macs no longer had an Apple-supported mechanism to boot newer OS X versions.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan includes rootless security. It makes sure that System file permissions are automatically protected, and updated during Software Updates. The Repair Permissions function is no longer available and access to system files that we need to use in this guide may be locked.

Fortunately, we have found workarounds for this version of OS X. Here we provide guides in Post 1 in support for Installing OS X El Capitan on your Unsupported Mac.

This first post is usually updated with recently summarized information, updates, and more solutions.

For those who have 2006/2007 Mac Pros, you may be best suited to using Mr. Zarniwoop's Guide here. The MCPF and macOSE projects are not affiliated with them. We will not contact them for you either, that's your responsibility. Some confrontation has occurred both publicly and privately in MacRumors, the site, and other forms of communications and we don't want anything to do with them and their Mac Models. Its simple, don't ask Mac Pro questions to people who don't have Mac Pros :p. Your post will be requested to be moved to their thread.

Prerequisites:
Tested Macs listed below. Here are the minimum requirements:
- Running 10.7 Lion
- At least 2GB of RAM
- A copy of the OS X El Capitan Installer in Applications Folder (.app file from Mac App Store preferred)
- 15 GB of free space from USB or HDD Partition to serve as your Installer Drive.

-MacBook2,x
-MacBook3,x
-MacBook4,x
-MacBookPro2,x
-MacBookAir1,1
-MacMini1,x with C2D
-MacMini2,x
-iMac4,x with C2D
-iMac5,x

-MacPro1,x
-MacPro2,x

We DON'T assist with Hackintosh. All private messages/emails involving installing OS X on non-Apple hardware will be redirected to another support team.

Guide to Installing OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS GUIDE HAPPENED UNDER YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY!

Be sure to have root privileges (administrator password) as OS X will prompt you for this on some stage.


A: Preparing The Installation Drive
  1. Make a BACKUP of your system if you can.
  2. macOS Extractor has generally everything you need to patch OS X (There are also numerous other sources that can help).
  3. Get an OS X El Capitan Installer App (Recommended from the Mac App Store)
  4. Make sure your Mac meets the minimum requirement above
  5. A USB or Secondary Partition to put the patched Installer (A Installation Drive for reference)

B: Start Patching

  1. Install macOS Extractor.
  2. A new drive might appear on your Desktop called ‘OS X Install ESD’. Don’t worry about that. The AutoPatch Tool will unmount that when it's done.
  3. Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files and run the AutoPatch package.
  4. During the AutoPatch installation. Select the USB or partition (Installation Drive) that you want as the installer. (No, this is not the Mac OS X Install ESD) WARNING: DO NOT SELECT YOUR CURRENT PARTITION (i.e Macintosh HD)
  5. (for non 64 bit Macs) Unlock and Replace the boot.efi files located in /System/Library/CoreServices and /usr/standalone/i386 with the copy provided in /Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Boot EFI/ or from here . To Unlock it, use the Terminal app in Applications/Utilities/ and enter the command:
    Code:
    sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

    (If you receive an error, go the that directory and find the boot.efi. Then in the Terminal, enter 'sudo chflags nouchg ' and drag the old boot.efi in the window. Press Enter)
  6. Now lock the new boot.efi file. (for non 64 bit Macs) lock the new boot.efi with this command:


  7. Code:
    sudo chflags uchg /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi


C: Installation
  1. Reboot your Mac holding option (alt) key
  2. Select the Installation drive "OS X Base System" (and press enter)
  3. If the Installation Drive boots you back to the main partition, try blessing the drive from your terminal app:
    Code:
    sudo bless --folder /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name] --file /Volumes/[Installation Drive Name]/boot --setBoot
  4. when booted click install/continue until you reach the disk selection menu, select your main drive (probably Macintosh HD) if you are sure about it, else select another empty drive (at least 15GB for testing/bigger if it should be a secondary system)
  5. After Installation, open the terminal in the menu bar and launch the PostInst.sh script to patch the partition where you installed OS X
Code:
sudo ./PostInst.sh

D: If Reboot Fails

If the Mac does not reboot to the El Capitan desktop, boot to the installation drive again and perform the following.
Boot back into the El Capitan Install Partition, open the terminal at the top menu bar or boot into single user mode (Hold Command-S immediately after turning on) enter:
Code:
sudo rm /Volumes/[Main Drive Name]/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist


E: Installing the 64bit-Kexts from the Kexts folder from macOS Extractor
(These will better the graphics by a little but you will not have Graphics Acceleration. Still in beta so they may not work well)
  1. ensure that the System Integrity Protection is disabled
  2. Navigate in your Finder and go to the 'OS X Hackers Patch Files' folder in your Applications Folder
  3. Open the 'Kexts' Folder
  4. Choose your Graphics Card Kext Installer and launch it.
  5. Select the Partition or Hard Drive that you are currently using the patched OS X.Install it. (Admin privileges required)
  6. Restart your Mac
IF your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

If your Macbook can't wake up from sleep:

Because of lack of working Graphics Acceleration. Your Macbook may not be able to wake from a display sleep

Install the NoSleep Extension
Set the Preferences to Never Sleep on AC Adapter and Battery
Check the 'Start NoSleep Utility on system startup' setting
Your Macbook screen will never turn off unless you actually shut down your Macbook.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Method 2 - MacPostFactor
El Capitan Install is EXPERIMENTAL. Try this on a secondary partition.

El Capitan can be installed on all computer but ONLY Mac Pros WITH AN UPGRADED GRAPHICS CARD can use graphics acceleration as of now!

Requirements for MacPostFactor to work

  • A Mac with Core 2 Duo or Xeon Processor.
  • OS X 10.6 or later
  • 2GB RAM at least
  • At least 20GB of HDD space (8GB for USB)
  • Install OS X El Capitan.app with beta 1 or later in your Application Folder
  • Read our instructions on MacRumors at least twice

Friendly reminder.

We're not responsible if you screw up your system. Technically, that won't happen as you can always go back to Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite


Instructions — Installing directly on this computer
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On this computer" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click reboot. Your computer should reboot with the OSXHackers logo.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the only partition showed.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded!".
  7. Enjoy!

Instructions — Installing via USB
  1. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder
  2. Select "On an external drive" on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the disk you want to install the El Capitan installer on.
  3. Click install and prompt your password.
  4. Click exit. Boot the computer you want to install El Capitan on with 'alt' held and select your USB drive.
  5. Once booted, Click Continue, Agree and choose the partition you want to install El Capitan on.
  6. Click reboot when you see "Installation succeeded !".
  7. Enjoy!


OS X Recovery Patch

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Recovery Patcher/
  • Install the 'Recovery Patcher' pkg (Not working for El Capitan)

OS X Software Updates

  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Software Update Patch/
  • Install the 'Software Update Patch' pkg
  • (EFI32 Mac only) Using Pike's Boot.efi, Install the EFI Daemon patch.

Animation Disabler


You don't have Graphics Acceleration, right? Then you don't need excess Animation slowing down your system.
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/Animation Disabler/
  • Install the 'Disable Graphical Animations' pkg

Airdrop
  • Go to Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/AirDrop Enabler/
  • Open the 'Enable Airdrop' shell script in the Terminal
  • Restart

You can send a file with AirDrop to other Macs only. Sometimes newer Macs can't find your model.

Method 3 v3 - @skyfly555's method
Try this method on an external HDD. The method has been updated to v3 and successfully tested on MB 2,x, MB3,x and MBP 2,x. It can work on eventually all the other EFI32/EFI64 unsupported Macs if you have the kexts you need, although method 3 v3 is recommended for EFI32 Macs; and method 3 v2 in post #926 is recommended for EFI64 Macs.
Note: You can find the method 3 v1 in post #892 of this same thread, but it's obsolet


Prerequisites: A computer with El Capitan installed and SIP disabled (or a computer with Yosemite and -no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 boot flags in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist), and an external HDD.

1- First of all, you need an external 2,5” HDD or SSD. It has to be GUID HFS+ formatted. If you format it from El Capitan, it formats the hard disk in this way by default. I will suppose its name is "Capitann". This will create a HFS+ partition and an EFI partition automatically.

2- Using the computer with El Capitan/Yosemite installed, clone the partition where you have El Capitan to your external HDD, the one you have formatted on step 1. The source computer can be a real Mac, or even a Hackintosh. You can use Carbon Copy Clone (CCC) or SuperDuper! I have used both of them and they worked well.
If you use El Capitan, you need SIP disabled. To do that, boot from your El Capitan Mac from Recovery Partition, go to utilities, open a terminal, and write csrutil disable and reboot. You need to do all the next steps from a El Capitan with SIP disabled. Yosemite doesn't need this, because it doesn't have SIP.

3- Boot.efi we need. There are two possibilities:
If you have an EFI64 unsupported Mac (like MB4,1, for example), you can use the EFI64 boot.efi El Capitan has got by default. You should follow, as mentioned, method 3 v2.

If you have an EFI32 Mac, you need this boot.efi, designed to always disable SIP, created by @skyfly555 , taking as base the boot.efi created by @vsbalint70 , who created his boot.efi modifying the code from Pike R Alpha original boot.efi.

Once downloaded, we need to change flags. From terminal (remember I'm supposing your Capitan partition is called "Capitann"):

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags nouchg boot.efi

4- From Finder, use the "Go" menu and select "Go to folder..."
Open /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/ and copy there the EFI32 boot.efi from where you have it (probably your Downloads folder).
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, you must delete it and empty trash.
Open /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/ and do the same.
Important: If you find here a file called firmware.scap, too, you must delete it and empty trash.

We will assign the correct owner to them. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chown root:wheel boot.efi

5- We need kexts. We are using tones of kext from TMRJIJ - OS X Hackers. To make things easy, you have them all zipped here (all the kexts come from OS X Hackers). Download it, unzip the file, you will get some folders and one kext, copy the kexts you need (EC-Base-kexts are mandatory, LegacyUSBInjector.kext is optional and is used only if you have some known USB issues, copy the graphical kexts you need from its folder) into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/.

Note 1: If you have cloned from a Hackintosh, check your kexts into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions/. Maybe you have things you don't need. Some of them can give you problems, for example, AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, ApplePS2Controller.kext, FakeSMC.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext or some HDAEnablerx.kext or whatever, that is "very Hackintosh". If you have these kexts in these folders, remove them now.
Note 2: If you have an ATI graphics card, to get the 128 MB of RAM recognised, you have to go into /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/ and delete this file: AMDSupport.kext


6- Before doing step 7, you need to be sure you have an important folder, which is not always cloned.

Open in Finder /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/ Do you have com.apple.kext.caches/ folder?
If not, open /System/Library/Caches/ in another window of the finder, and drag and drop com.apple.kext.caches/ from /System/Library/Caches/ to /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/.

After that, open a terminal and:

Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*

Note: If you don't have com.apple.kext.caches/, in step 9 you can get a message like:

Can't create /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache.l9a9 - No such file or directory and El Capitan won't boot.

7- Now we will set boot flags and use them every time we boot. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann//Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
sudo nano com.apple.Boot.plist

You will see:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>


You want to have:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1</string>


Or, if you want verbose mode, too, add -v flag:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-no_compat_check kext-dev-mode=1 mbasd=1 -v</string>

Note: we need these flags, they are mandatory to have all the kexts loaded, excepting mbasd=1, that is only required by MBAirs.

To go out from nano editor, Ctrl+X and say "y".

8- Now we want to have our kexts permissions in good condition. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R root:wheel *.*
sudo chmod -R 755 *.*
Note: These commands sometimes fail. Check them typing
Code:
ls -l
from terminal and be sure you see root:wheel everywhere. If that's not the cause, you need to go to Finder, select your external HDD, and tick/untick the option "Ignore ownership on this volume" (Right click on volume > Read info > Option below permissions) - if it's ticked, untick it; it it's unticked, ticked it. Although when you get your permissions changed to root:wheel, you need the "Ignore ownership on this volume" option unticked.


9- Now we are going to build the prelinked kernel and kernelcache:
Code:
sudo kextcache -prelinked-kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache -K /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Kernels/kernel /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Capitann/Library/Extensions

The terminal should give you messages like these:
/Volumes/Capitann locked; waiting for the lock.
Lock acquired; proceeding.
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext IOUSBHostFamily.kext

(...)
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67054 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA12 for kext AppleStorageDrivers.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67050 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA16 for kext AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext
kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature -67061 0xFFFFFFFFFFFEFA0B for kext AppleIntelGMA950.kext

(...)
AppleDataSetManagement.kext - dependency for com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage lacks valid OSBundleCompatibleVersion.
AppleDataSetManagement.kext is missing dependencies (including anyway; dependencies may be available from elsewhere)
Created mkext archive /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext.

Note 1: AppleDataSetManagement.kext messages will be shown if you have an SSD and TRIM enabled.
Note 2: If you get messages saying permissions are not correct, or omitting... repeat steps 5, 6 and 8 until you get these messages saying "kext-dev-mode allowing invalid signature..". Be sure you are doing all the steps (especially the terminal commands) correct, and in the correct order. If you have an ATI, and have deleted AMDSupport.kext, you will get some "omitting from prelinked..." messages, it's ok.
Note 3: If you get a message saying "Can't create...", do the step 6 again, it hasn't been done.


Note 4: if you are on a Hackintosh, you can get messages like:
SoftRAID.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
(...)
ACS6x.kext has incorrect permissions; omitting.
Some of these kexts are from Hackintosh and will not be needed. Other ones, like HandsOff.kext, can be from some app you have installed. Be sure you are not omitting something important, as the kexts the prior command has loaded (AppleHDA.kext or similar), and don't care for the rest.

10- Now we can change flags to boot.efi, and protect it again. From terminal:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Capitann/System/Library/CoreServices/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi
cd /Volumes/Capitann/usr/standalone/i386/
sudo chflags uchg boot.efi

11- Now El Capitan can boot and it should boot with SIP disabled, but we have to be sure there's no firmware.scap into the EFI folder on our Capitann partition. If this is case, El Cap won't boot at all (and we will get Kernel Panic).
Go to terminal, type diskutil list, and check the name of your EFI partition. If it's internal, it's usually called disk0s1; if it's external, it can be called disk1s1 or disk2s1. If you see several EFI partitions, do this step with all of them. I'll do that with disk0s1 as an example. You can do the same several times just changing the name of the disk to diskXs1.
So, we will mount the EFI partition of our internal HDD (it's called disk0s1). We will name it "ESP".
From terminal:
Code:
mkdir /Volumes/ESP
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP
Now go into /Volumes/ESP from Finder (maybe it will be called EFI on Finder sidebar). Go into the folder called EFI. Delete everything inside this EFI folder (/Volumes/ESP/efi/) and empty trash. If you see an Apple folder, you have the firmware.scap there, you must delete it!

USB Issue: The USB kexts we are using could give you a trouble, depending on the machine you have. One USB could not be recognised, Check your USB ports using an USB memory stick after booting El Cap for the very first time to know if you are affected by this issue. If this is the case, try leaving the USB stick in the not recognised port, reboot again, and check if, after rebooting, the USB stick is recognised. If it's recognised, you will have to boot El Cap with some USB device connected on that USB port when booting to have it working with El Cap (not all the time, only while you are booting). You can try installing LegacyUSBInjector.kext, maybe it can help you.
Brightness adjustment: Shady app can help you. It's included in the OS X Hackers graphical kexts installers.


12- Boot your Mac, pressing the "alt" key" and select Capitann partition. If you have followed all the steps, it will boot.

13- The final check.
Once booted from El Cap on your unsupported Mac, open a terminal and type:
Code:
csrutil status
You should get this message: System Integrity Protection status: disabled.
And the last check, from the terminal, let's rebuild caches:
Code:
sudo kextcache -i /
You should see the same output you got when you did step 9.
Great. You got it. Welcome to EC.

Important notes about updating-upgrading and cloning:
1- If you do a major upgrade, for example, from El Cap 10.11.5 to 10.11.6 or similar, you will get all the kexts we added to /System/Library/Extensions in step 5 deleted, boot.efi deleted, the firmware.scap file will reappear everywhere... So, I recommend you having a bootable backup on an external HDD before upgrading anything, and be sure it boots correctly; so, after the upgrade, you can boot from there and repeat the process, from steps 3 to 12.
Your three goals: reinstalling the correct boot.efi, reinstalling kexts with the correct kext cache and prelinked kernel rebuilding, and deleting firmware.scap from your system again.
So, and basically, you will repeat m3v2, but not with another machine, but with yours.
2- When you clone El Cap partition to your internal HDD, El Cap may not boot. If this is your case, do steps 6 and 9 booting from your external drive. Then, your internal El Cap will boot.



Support

Feel free to post your questions, concerns, or success stories in this thread. If you can’t post us back because your only usable device is bricked, Skype at TMRJIJ, MLforAll, or email us at Support@OSXHackers.net. We'll try to respond within 3-5 days.
There should be some great support Applications that we will use to help you.

Be sure to thank our awesome developers who have contributed greatly.

Support Documentation (Construction)

Docs for macOS Extractor:
Docs for MacPostFactor:

Downloads/Files for Patching

The macOS Extractor v1.42 for Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra [May 31, 2017]:
Download Link
View Release Notes

MacPostFactor 2.0.1 [July 8, 2016]:
Download Link


Boot.efi support for El Capitan (OS X 10.11) for unsupported Mac hardware with a 32-bit only EFI [by Pike R. Alpha]:
Download Link


OS X Hackers are is not affiliated with Apple Inc. Mac OS Ten (X), Mac, iOS, iPhone, iPad, and all other Apple product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
MacPostFactor was made by Wayne Wong (@Wayne_819) and Kelian Dumarais (@MLforAll)

Guide and OSXH site/app designed by Isiah Johnson (@TMRJIJ) and Robby Sharpero and is provided by Johnson Network.

Developers/Contributors:

Liem Mai, Birtha Åbel, Wayne Wong, Kelian Dumarais, Nolen Johnson, Mr. Zarniwoop, Tiamo, Pike R. Alpha, oem, atvusr, Jesse Samluk, Mike Hennessie

Terms and Conditions
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Other Threads:



osxhfullblack.png
Regarding: B: Start Patching - 5. "and drag the old boot.efi in the window" ??? Drag it where? thanks
 

FromPEI

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
Into the Terminal window, to complete the "sudo chflags nouchg" command.
Hello all. I have recently successfully installed el capitan on an unsupported macbook, late 2006 using method 3 in the unsupported mac thread. I'm having a problem getting messages to work. I get a notification telling me to contact apple support and give them the 12 digit number on my screen. I've done that several times and they have unblocked it but it still does't log in. Is this due to SIP being disabled. Apple had been quite helpful and are themselves frustrated. At first i didn't have a serial number. i used Blank Board Serializer to inject the serial number successfully. Now I am able to use FaceTime on 10.7.5 which i wasn't before. But when i use my hd with el capitan it still doesn't work. Any ideas? Other than that el capitan works fine and Koodos to the all involved in reviving my old mac.

On another note, if anyone know how to install Messages onto Lion, than i will return to that OS.

Thanks.
Michael
 

zappaesque

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2017
73
60
The latest security update (2018-001) for El Capitan will cause a boot loop, and there is no way to fix the issue as these older Macbooks' processors do not support the new kernel. Early, unsupported Mac Pros have the same issue. It appears that we've reached the end of the line with these old machines, as far as macOS is concerned.
 

Macfry

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2018
3
0
Montana
The latest security update (2018-001) for El Capitan will cause a boot loop, and there is no way to fix the issue as these older Macbooks' processors do not support the new kernel. Early, unsupported Mac Pros have the same issue. It appears that we've reached the end of the line with these old machines, as far as macOS is concerned.

What if you don't install the latest security update? I was just getting ready to try to install El Capitam on an early 2008 MB 4,1. Are you saying don't waste my time? Thanks!
 

zappaesque

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2017
73
60
What if you don't install the latest security update? I was just getting ready to try to install El Capitam on an early 2008 MB 4,1. Are you saying don't waste my time? Thanks!

Not necessarily. Security-wise, it's probably the end of the line unless someone comes up with a way to install the update, with all of the security fixes for Spectre/Meltdown intact, without bricking older Macs. You can install El Cap and skip the update, or, if Apple issues (and you download) the El Cap install WITH the update, install it and replace the newer kernel with one from an older El Cap install, and THEN follow the steps in method 3. I had to copy the older kernel from my Macbook 4,1 to my Mac Pro 1,1 running El Cap after installing the latest update to get it to boot again.

Either way (at least with Macbooks 2,1-4,1 and other older MBPs and Airs), the security end-of-the-line has been reached unless someone can fix it like I mentioned above.

See the posts from here and on for more info about the new update- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-151#post-25737413

EDIT: Reading further into the thread linked above, there may be a slight chance that the update would work on these old machines, as it seems that the Xeons in the old Mac Pros aren't affected by Spectre/Meltdown. C2Ds are, however, and it could be that the new kernel is trying to do things that the Xeons can't handle. I'm not willing to experiment with this theory at this point, though.
 
Last edited:

AwesomeQ

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2018
24
4
Try reading the first post in this thread, it lists the units that will work.
It's not very specific. My Mac isn't even on the list of supported or unsupported Macs. I did read the first post in the thread, thank you very much.
 

sctv45sr

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2018
5
0
Can you just download a copy of OS X from the internet instead of the Mac App Store , as right now there’s no way I can download Yosemite from the Mac App Store . It has only the newest version of Mac OS .
 

skyfly555

macrumors member
Apr 26, 2016
95
22
Follow the method on this post to install refind on a usb drive and you can disable SIP by booting from it- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nsupported-macs.1889851/page-37#post-24695866

You'll only have to do this once (until the PRAM gets reset) and it'll boot with SIP disabled. The recovery partition doesn't work on unsupported machines.

[doublepost=1514166375][/doublepost]

Using MacPostFactor, you can install Mountain Lion with almost full graphics support, and none of the sleep/brightness/graphics issues that Mavericks and on would have on the 4,1.
[doublepost=1514166426][/doublepost]

It's supported, but without graphics acceleration. Sleep and brightness control also don't work.
Mr. @zappaesque Thank you for supporting people on this thread. The reality. you know much better than me my own method 3 :)) Because you've installed El Cap on more machines than me. Great!!
 
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