MP 1,1-5,1 RefindPlus or OCLP for Monterey Upgrade?

[riven2000]

I have Mojave installed on a cMP 5,1 and am wanting to upgrade to at least Monterey. Been reading a lot about various boot loaders, and I'm wondering whether OCLP would be better for Monterey usage, or RefindPlus. If I understand these correctly, RefindPlus can be used with both these OSes but OCLP only works with Catalina+.

 

[startergo]

I'm wondering whether OCLP would be better for Monterey usage, or RefindPlus

RefindPlus on its own will not boot any unsupported macOS. Unsupported macOS's may be booted by OpenCore. OCLP is an automated wrapper for Opencore.

 

[haralds]

I found OCLP easy to use and very stable for Monterey. But keep at least a minimal partition with Mojave for easy recovery when there are issues.

 

[riven2000]

Interesting. I seem to remember someone saying they installed Monterey with RefindPlus, but maybe not. I didn't know it doesn't work with unsupported OSes. Yes, I do plan to keep my old Mojave install just in case.

 

[startergo]

I didn't know it doesn't work with unsupported OSes

Only in conjunction with Opencore (OCLP). You can load Opencore with RP, but not directly Monterey.

 

[sfalatko]

I have Mojave installed on a cMP 5,1 and am wanting to upgrade to at least Monterey. Been reading a lot about various boot loaders, and I'm wondering whether OCLP would be better for Monterey usage, or RefindPlus. If I understand these correctly, RefindPlus can be used with both these OSes but OCLP only works with Catalina+.

As others have stated you need OpenCore to boot unsupported macOS versions. To install OpenCore you can do it manually (see this thread - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/manually-configured-opencore-on-the-mac-pro.2207814/) or use OCLP.

OCLP is a one size fits all installer for OCLP. Many find that easier than manually tailoring the configuration for OpenCore.

 

[Dayo]

I'm wondering whether OCLP would be better for Monterey usage, or RefindPlus.

I believe you may already have a MyBootMgr configured setup active. If so, you will already have OpenCore in place as a component of the setup (RefindPlus is the other component). MyBootMgr is tool/process for setting OpenCore up, which it does along with RefindPlus.

RefindPlus and OpenCore work together in a MyBootMgr created setup by doing different things as summarised here: https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/mybootmgr_multi_oc_2a-jpg.2106559/. OpenCore is used to boot unsupported Mac OS in the setup while RefindPlus does some other things.

To add Monterey to an existing MyBootMgr configured RefindPlus|OpenCore setup, go to the MyBootMgr thread and follow the instructions in "How Do I Install Mac OS XYZ" under the "Hints and Tips" section of Post 1 in that thread. In summary, you boot into the OC_VMM instance of Opencore and run the Monterey installer.

A variant of the process ... OC_ALT is now OC_VMM:

Installing Monterey with a (MyBootMgr) RefindPlus|OpenCore chainloader setup

Success, and way easier than I thought it would. I booted into BigSur using the OC_ALT option in RefindPlus, downloaded the full Monterey installer via System Preferences>System Update, and installed Monterey onto my spare SSD. A fairly quick and uneventful process - just had to be patient when...

forums.macrumors.com

You might need to rerun the ConfigFactory tool first and deploy the setup again if you did not indicate that you wish to install Monterey when you previously ran it as it only sets things up that were indicated or detected when running it.

You do not need the OCLP to run Monterey on a cMP as long as you have a supported GPU but yes, the OCLP is a versatile method for setting OpenCore up and the OpenCore instance it creates is capable of installing and running Monterey. On a cMP however, you might want to leave the OCLP for Ventura/Newer if running a GPU supported on Monterey.

You can also incorporate OCLP generated OpenCore instances, including those generated for Ventura/Newer, into a MyBootMgr configured setup if you wish. As with everything MyBootMgr related, refer to Post 1 of the MyBootMgr thread for information.

 

[riven2000]

Thanks!! I'll follow all of this through.