Tiger To Monterey On A Mid 2007 iMac in 2022

[Amethyst1]

I'd rather like to run Tiger in a VirtualMachine.

If you don't need graphics acceleration that's feasible.

Fusion doesn't support that officially, but I'm sure you might know about ways to get it running (wether Fusion or VirtualBox doesn't matter).

I had no problems getting Tiger Server running in Fusion (it won't virtualise the client version without patching) but that was on a Nehalem CPU which, curiously, didn't require any modifications. Sandy Bridge and later CPUs do.
VirtualBox happily virtualises both the client and server version. This howto includes the necessary modifications to the VM settings to get Tiger to boot on Sandy Bridge and newer CPUs.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Fwiw, the attached zip contains everything I used to run Tiger (non-server) in VMWare Fusion. I'm on a Haswell CPU, not sure if that's relevent.

Let me know if any of the instructions don't make sense, I wrote them for myself which means they're a bit terse.

 

[sassemblyman]

Writing this post from a 2007 iMac running 12.1 Monterey with an upgraded processor, upgraded WiFi / BT, SSD, and only 4gb ram. In my opinion, runs better than anything since High Sierra on this machine, which I have on another partition. These machines, and this community, never cease to amaze me.

Edit: With open core 0.4.1 and up with blur enabled, graphics performance is nothing like Greg's video. It's entirely useable. In fact, even before the blur release, I had much better performance than he did after patching. P.S. Writing this edit from a 2008 MacBook 5,1, also on 12.1.

 

[B S Magnet]

Writing this post from a 2007 iMac running 12.1 Monterey with an upgraded processor, upgraded WiFi / BT, SSD, and only 4gb ram. In my opinion, runs better than anything since High Sierra on this machine, which I have on another partition. These machines, and this community, never cease to amaze me.

Nice work! What wifi/BT upgrade did you make?

 

[sassemblyman]

Nice work! What wifi/BT upgrade did you make?

Broadcom BCM94360cd with adapter. Forget if I had to solder USB power pins to the adapter for Bluetooth to work, something that definitely needs to get done in 2009-2011 iMacs. I’ve put this card in many macs over the years, and on eBay many are now sold with the adapter you need.

 

[Slaystation]

Writing this post from a 2007 iMac running 12.1 Monterey with an upgraded processor, upgraded WiFi / BT, SSD, and only 4gb ram. In my opinion, runs better than anything since High Sierra on this machine, which I have on another partition. These machines, and this community, never cease to amaze me.

Edit: With open core 0.4.1 and up with blur enabled, graphics performance is nothing like Greg's video. It's entirely useable. In fact, even before the blur release, I had much better performance than he did after patching. P.S. Writing this edit from a 2008 MacBook 5,1, also on 12.1.

Wow, this fact is mindblowing. I also have 2007 iMac and looking for a way to get monterey. Can you share how did you make this work?

 

[Manu182]

Writing this post from a 2007 iMac running 12.1 Monterey with an upgraded processor, upgraded WiFi / BT, SSD, and only 4gb ram. In my opinion, runs better than anything since High Sierra on this machine, which I have on another partition. These machines, and this community, never cease to amaze me.

Edit: With open core 0.4.1 and up with blur enabled, graphics performance is nothing like Greg's video. It's entirely useable. In fact, even before the blur release, I had much better performance than he did after patching. P.S. Writing this edit from a 2008 MacBook 5,1, also on 12.1.

How do you manage to install Monterey? When I create the OpenCore Legacy Patcher, the Stick boots fine, but crashs with apple statup message.

EDIT: Upgraded CPU
EDIT: Solved... Stupid me forgot to make that stick on the same machine... 🤦‍♂️

 

[MrCheeto]

Woah now!

I have autism and this thread has become the type of stuff that I stay up thinking about all night.

@Amethyst Don’t forget the 2012 MBA. Mine came with Lion and officially runs Catalina now. Not more than the ones you listed, but equal.

I’d like to start a thread with a table that charts every Mac model ID with the OS that was able to be loaded on it. Not just officially. This is important for people like me that have special needs, like running Tiger and El Cap on one machine natively rather than in VM.

I could then link to the appropriate write up for each non-official OS install.

Has this been done or should I get started?

Oh and uh...I may have this coveted iMac in my closet. 😎

Edit:

My MBA is 2012, not 2011. Same applies though. Lion to Catalina.

The iMac turns out to be an ‘08 Penryn.

 

[Amethyst1]

Don’t forget the 2011 MBA. Mine came with Lion and officially runs Catalina now.

I ran “what came after Leopard” on my 2011 MBA. It had a few issues though. I think you can get Monterey on it using OCLP.

 

[Amethyst1]

I’d like to start a thread with a table that charts every Mac model ID with the OS that was able to be loaded on it. Not just officially.

If you look at version-specific threads here and in the PPC Macs subforum, e.g. “The Tiger thread” (replace big cat accordingly), some have lists of Mac models they can be unofficially run on. That could be a starting point.

 

[MrCheeto]

“what came after Leopard”

LOL I’m not that easily triggered!

I’m not going to thread-jack, so I think I’m going to start working on a wiki with that info. I really dislike the guy in the video, but this thread sure served to kick-start my little project anyway!

 

[hrutkaymods]

Howdy Guys stumbled across this post last night and thought I’d put my addition into it by the way thanks for sharing the video. The whole point of the video was to show that this Mac with an upgraded CPU is the only Mac that could officially run Tiger and could still run Monterey with only small issues after using open core. I saw a lot of people mentioning the early 2008 models, they couldn’t officially run Tiger even though they could, and they aren't always actually stable and sometimes not all the hardware it works properly (for example the early 2008 iMac has faster bus speed CPUs and can technically run Tiger but I believe there’s some issues like for instance no sound). This is the only system that I know of from 2007 the natively supports Tiger and can run Monterey (with a CPU upgrade). I tried to do the same thing with a mid 2007 MacBook Pro but I could never talk dosdude1 into wasting time on making something essentially be a early 2008 MacBook Pro after the CPU swap. Really it was just an experiment to see if I could make it work with all the operating systems and needless to say it doesn’t work that great still now with all those partitions and stuff although the open core updates did fix a lot of the problems it still occasionally loses USB support. Which currently it’s doing again and I can’t get to work again but i’m thinking of wiping the whole thing again and taking a different approach, time will see.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Howdy Guys stumbled across this post last night and thought I’d put my addition into it by the way thanks for sharing the video.

Thanks for making the video - and a very special thank you for all your contributions to the Mac scene throughout the years - for which so many of us, myself included, owe you a great debt. I did consider tagging you in when I created the original post but was unsure if you'd want even more attention than what you already receive.

The whole point of the video was to show that this Mac with an upgraded CPU is the only Mac that could officially run Tiger and could still run Monterey with only small issues after using open core.

Yeah, I understood that and it's quite a feat!

I saw a lot of people mentioning the early 2008 models, they couldn’t officially run Tiger even though they could, and they aren't always actually stable and sometimes not all the hardware it works properly (for example the early 2008 iMac has faster bus speed CPUs and can technically run Tiger but I believe there’s some issues like for instance no sound).

Fair enough.

This is the only system that I know of from 2007 the natively supports Tiger and can run Monterey (with a CPU upgrade). I tried to do the same thing with a mid 2007 MacBook Pro but I could never talk dosdude1 into wasting time on making something essentially be a early 2008 MacBook Pro after the CPU swap. Really it was just an experiment to see if I could make it work with all the operating systems and needless to say it doesn’t work that great still now with all those partitions and stuff although the open core updates did fix a lot of the problems it still occasionally loses USB support. Which currently it’s doing again and I can’t get to work again but i’m thinking of wiping the whole thing again and taking a different approach, time will see.

To get that amount of macOS versions running successfully on a 2007 machine is pretty impressive and I'd be surprised if anyone thought differently. For me, it's yet another example of Apple's dubious behaviour that enthusiasts are able to devise measures for older hardware to run newer OS releases whilst the manufacturer has abandoned them.

Perhaps if you revisit this project you'll upload an update on YouTube and/or share your findings with us here.

 

[Amethyst1]

To get that amount of macOS versions running successfully on a 2007 machine is pretty impressive

It’s a different playground but I got every version of Windows from 3.1 (1992) to 7 (2009) running nicely on a Pentium III rig.

 

[TheShortTimer]

It’s a different playground but I got every version of Windows from 3.1 (1992) to 7 (2009) running nicely on a Pentium III rig.

With full driver support at the both ends of the spectrum?

 

[Amethyst1]

With full driver support at the both ends of the spectrum?

The Matrox G200 GPU was using basic VESA drivers in Vista and 7, but apart from that it was fine. Windows 3.1 was fun at 1600×1200 and 24-bit colour depth. Anyway, back on topic

 

[B S Magnet]

Howdy Guys stumbled across this post last night and thought I’d put my addition into it by the way thanks for sharing the video. The whole point of the video was to show that this Mac with an upgraded CPU is the only Mac that could officially run Tiger and could still run Monterey with only small issues after using open core. I saw a lot of people mentioning the early 2008 models, they couldn’t officially run Tiger even though they could, and they aren't always actually stable and sometimes not all the hardware it works properly (for example the early 2008 iMac has faster bus speed CPUs and can technically run Tiger but I believe there’s some issues like for instance no sound). This is the only system that I know of from 2007 the natively supports Tiger and can run Monterey (with a CPU upgrade). I tried to do the same thing with a mid 2007 MacBook Pro but I could never talk dosdude1 into wasting time on making something essentially be a early 2008 MacBook Pro after the CPU swap. Really it was just an experiment to see if I could make it work with all the operating systems and needless to say it doesn’t work that great still now with all those partitions and stuff although the open core updates did fix a lot of the problems it still occasionally loses USB support. Which currently it’s doing again and I can’t get to work again but i’m thinking of wiping the whole thing again and taking a different approach, time will see.

Thanks for dropping a line on here, @hrutkaymods .

I want to thank you for your series with @dosdude1 on making the 2.0GHz 7448 iMac G4 a thing. The work and trial-and-error must have been vexing for you both, but in the end, it’s more than paid off.

 

[mrkapqa]

wonder if my 20inch 2008 could also be that versatile ...
but besides, it is running fine with dual boot of osx 10.6.8 and 10.13 high sierra;
however, the 6bit panel is pain of these generation:
even the imac g5 looks sharper.