macOS 11 Big Sur is an advanced Macintosh operating system that you can install on your Mac. It has got tons of new features to enhance the user experience, like making safari browser 50% faster, new features of messages, Air Pods improvements, new-design sidebar in mail and photos, widgets in the notification bar, and many more.
Macos Mojave On Unsupported Mac This advisory describes the changes and steps administrators can take to deploy Mac Connector 1.14. The Mojave 10.14.1 update does NOT install properly on unsupported machines, and could result in an unbootable OS. If you don’t have Mojave supported Mac, you can download the Mojave Installer App using patcher tool. Open the macOS Mojave patcher tool. If it doesn’t open and says it is from an unidentified developer, right click on the tool’s icon and click on “Open” from sub-menu and then enter your Mac.
Apple announced this new software on 22 June at WWDC. And this time, Apple did a big challenge and released the macOS 11 Big Sur along with iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7. Meanwhile, Apple highlighted all the new features, changes, and improvements to the current software. You can download this new operating system from various sources now. Unfortunately, some Macs can't receive macOS 11 Big Sur update and they can't install the new operating system. In this article, we will discuss how to install macOS 11 Big Sur on an Unsupported Mac with easy steps.
Part 1: Official List of Big Sur Supported Mac Models
macOS 11 Big Sur Developer Beta is available to download. But you have to check your Mac compatibility first. If you have the below-listed Macs then you don't have to install macOS 11 Big Sur as these models will receive an update for macOS Big Sur automatically.
- MacBook 2015 and later
- MacBook Air and Pro Late 2013 and later
- Mac mini 2014 and later
- iMac 2014 and later
- iMac Pro 2017 and later (all models)
- Mac Pro 2013 and later
Part 2: Unsupported Mac Models of Big Sur (Not Eligible for Direct Upgrade)
On the other hand, if you have the below-listed Mac computers then you can install macOS Big Sur on those models as they are unsupported officially. You have to do some hacks to let Big Sur running on unsupported Macs.
- MacBook Air 2012
- MacBook Pro 2012 and Early 2013 MacBook Pro
- 2012 Mac Mini
- 2012 and 2013 iMac
Part 3: How to Install macOS Big Sur on an Unsupported Mac
Before the installation, make sure that you take a backup of your Mac on an external hard disk as you will lose all your data when you install the new operating system. There are several backup software like Time Machine, iCloud, Dropbox, and many more. Once you have taken a backup follow the instructions below to install macOS Big Sur on your unsupported Mac.
Upgrade Unsupported Mac
Step 1: First you need to download two files from the links below to complete the macOS 11 Big Sur installation on your unsupported Mac.
- macOS Big Sur PKG installer: https://developer.apple.com/macos/
- macOS Big Sur PKG install hack: https://forums.macrumors.com/simple-installer-hack-zip.926156/
Step 2: After you have downloaded these two files, unzip the hack and copy the hax.dylib file and then paste it to home folder.
Step 3: Click on Install Assistant.pkg to install required contents to your Mac. Make sure that you have enough space on your hard disk as the file will take 20.1 MB size on your computer.
Step 4: Now go ahead and tap on the Install button to install the software on the disk 'Macintosh SSD'. Once you click the 'Install' button then it will ask you to enter your password. Next, click the 'Install Software' button.
Step 5: Next, you have to boot your computer into Recovery mode. You can do that by pressing Command + R immediately on startup until Recovery option appears. In case if you have no recovery partition, you can press down Command + Option +R to get into Internet Recovery. After that, go to Utilities -> Terminal and type 'csrutil disable', followed by pressing the Enter button on your keyboard.
Step 6: Type the following two commands in the terminal. Once you apply the first command, type your login password, and then input the second command.
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true
launchctl setenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES $PWD/Hax.dylib
Step 7: Next, run the macOS 11 Big Sur installer app that you installed from InstallAssistant.pkg a while ago. Now click on the 'Continue' button and follow the instructions to complete the installation process.
Step 8: The installation will take about 30 minutes approximately. Once the installation is successful you will see the macOS 11 Big Sur wallpaper on your Mac screen. That's it, you have installed macOS Big Sur on your unsupported Mac successfully.
Follow the above-mentioned method to install macOS 11 Big Sur on unsupported Mac devices. The method is quite easy; you just have to focus on the command line and other installation procedures.
Part 4: Alternative Method to Install Big Sur on an Unsupported Mac
The above tutorial is for users who still have access to their device. However, if your Mac is unable to boot into Desktop or you are using a Hackintosh, then you should follow the alternative method instead. In this part, we will show you how to create a macOS Big Sugr bootable USB on a Windows PC and install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac by using that bootable media.
Step 1: Make a full backup of important files on your Mac.
Step 2: Download a copy of UUByte DMG Editor and follow the instructions to install it on your Windows PC.
Step 3: Insert a USB flash drive into PC and open UUByte DMG Editor. Now, click the Burn tab to get into the new window.
Step 4: You will see three options on Burn windows. Please import macOS Big Sur DMG file into the program and choose the USB drive name. You can also set a new name for that USB drive. And this is optional.
Step 5: Once the setting process is completed, just click 'Burn' button located at the bottom to start burning dmg file to USB on your PC. You should wait about 10 minutes for this task.
Step 6: Plug Big Sur bootable USB on your Mac and press Power + Option combine keys to open Startup Manager. At this stage, you are able to select a booting device. Click on the USB drive and start Big Sur installation process.
Mojave For Unsupported Macs
This part is mainly for Windows users who want to install Big Sur on an unsupported Mac. The most important step is to create a bootable USB drive.
Troubleshooting:
If your system is showing any error message while installing the macOS Big Sur you can try these methods to fix it.
- Restart your Computer and continue with the installation.
- Make sure that your Mac’s date and time is correct.
- Check your Hard Drive to see that you have enough free space to carry out the installation.
- Make sure that the version of macOS Big Sur is up to date including the macOs installer
- Run first aid on your startup disk before installing macOS Big Sur to check any system files are damaged or not.
Summary
You can see that it is not hard to install macOS Big Sur on an Supported Mac. Make sure that you key in the right command lines which are mentioned above, as typing a wrong command can harm your system. Enjoy the great features that come with the macOS Big Sur on your unsupported device!
«12»Comments
- Hi William; Ref: The Mojave Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs is available for download from DosDude. This is the same guy that did this for High Sierra, and has supplied a series of other hacks and workarounds for fans of older Apple hardware. The guy's name is dosdude1.
- In addition: i habe a very good experience with running High Sierra on two officially unsupported MBPs, one from 2011 and one from 2009. Also Mojave PB is Running pretty stable on another MBP - which is, however, officially supported. I will do the same like with HS, which is skipping the early versions of DosDude’s tool and hen go for it
- Yes, the High Sierra version for unsupported Macs is smooth on my upgraded 2008 unibody. I’ve had no problems running it, and the experience sure beats being stuck on El Capitan.
- So, is the UI really slow without Metal support?
- Re: 'One more thing. If you do use this patch tool to install macOS Mojave on your main Mac, please remember that you can still read AppleInsider on your iPhone if things go awry.'
Priceless. - I’m using DosDude’s High Sierra patcher on the 2008 MacBook Pro I use for live performance, and it runs flawlessly. It’s perky, too! I consider myself very much in his debt.
I’m definitely going to be making the step to Mojave. I wrote him a while back hoping he would be providing a new patcher, and it sure looks like he resolved the issues he mentioned he was having.
I won’t be installing the beta, but once the Gold Master release has been out for 2 or 3 weeks and the first round of fixes have been made, I’m going for it. I should note that I’ve got two much more recent desktop Macs I’ll be updating the old-fashioned, Apple-approved way… I would not recommend running the patcher on your primary lose-it-and-die computer. There’s too much at stake.
Still, everything’s gone smoothly on the High Sierra version. Kudos to DosDude! - Do not tell it outloud. Apple will make all effort to kill that tool to sell more new hardware. It made all effort on the past hardware to make almost impossible to install systems like Linux on their hardware to reuse it. Yes system that in basic form (an many times in competitive form of Ubuntu desktop) can be installed on almost anything you can find in PC scrap. I do not believe it was for perofrmance reasons purely. Also before we jump on conclusion that Apple modern solutions require hardware I have just found out from a freind who just left them that there is a lot to be desired in their system quality area... especially on Macs. Time to listen to expereinced engineers rather than having cocky programmers who do not understand where all it goes and how it always ends.
- While this article is informative, I think there is information you are leaving out.
I'd give proper attribution to conversation about Mojave on Unsupported Macs being an active discussion hosted by Dosdude on Macrumors.com. Yes, it's a competitor but much of the information needed to be successful about doing this patch is found in the pages and pages of discussion amongst the users as bugs are crushed and more machines are added to the compatibility (or partial compatibility) list. It's no different than when you attribute a store broken by another website or news outlet. Just referring to Dosdude's own download page doesn't get around that fact. - This is probably a good thing. I'm not sure I will venture to Mojave on my MacBook Pro 5,5 or iMac 12,2, though. I put Sierra on the MacBook Pro to keep it aligned with the iMac, and only because Logic X 10.4 demanded Sierra. I might run it on a test hard drive to see what it's like. Sierra works very well on my machine that Apple arbitrarily dumped.
Apple keeps shortening the support time. Logic's demand of Sierra or High Sierra was an annoyance to many Logic users.
This pressure to upgrade has been getting worse because of iOS devices and iOS has an incredibly annoying nag to upgrade. I'm not happy about Apple's choices and it makes it very difficult for their customers to maintain a functioning 'Apple ecosystem' unless they're wealthy enough to repeatedly re-buy effectively the same devices every two or three years. It didn't used to be the case that you had to be wealthy to be an Apple user (just judicious spending and saving), but Apple's ecosystem is exactly designed to encourage, or push, people into multiple Apple devices, and upgrade each one more often. This is bad for consumers and they're too arrogant and too big to notice this. Eventually it will lose them customers and they don't care to watch out for this at this time.
Granted, they did just take some action to possibly pull back on this a bit, with promoting iOS 12 as being faster on older devices (I've avoided iOS 11 but I might go to iOS 12). They need to do more of this, on all platforms. - I bet Windows 10 runs perfectly on Boot Camp on a 2008 Mac without any hacks at all.
Runs perfectly on a 2009 (Mac Pro), at least. And you can even use the most modern Boot Camp drivers by bypassing Apple’s in-Windows compatibility check.I bet Windows 10 runs perfectly on Boot Camp on a 2008 Mac without any hacks at all.- edited July 2018
While I appreciate MR holding the conversation, they didn't break this. When appropriate, we give other sites credit -- including MR. This is a complicated situation for both MR and us, with a history and discussion about it going for pages and pages.While this article is informative, I think there is information you are leaving out.
I'd give proper attribution to conversation about Mojave on Unsupported Macs being an active discussion hosted by Dosdude on Macrumors.com. Yes, it's a competitor but much of the information needed to be successful about doing this patch is found in the pages and pages of discussion amongst the users as bugs are crushed and more machines are added to the compatibility (or partial compatibility) list. It's no different than when you attribute a store broken by another website or news outlet. Just referring to Dosdude's own download page doesn't get around that fact.
Users are welcome to -- and should -- use Google to seek information on any workaround we publish, or to seek amplifying information on tips. - edited July 2018
No, because macOS bases the general UI on the process 'WindowServer', and there was a usefulSo, is the UI really slow without Metal support?
discovery that Apple has not rewritten this using Metal, just preferring to delete the OpenGL drivers
for ye olde 'unsupported' Macs instead. (So far, to Public Beta 3, anyway.)
Turns out the OpenGL drivers and other kernel extensions (kexts) can be re-animated from older macOS releases
with the requisite incantations.
There are some issues with hardware acceleration for certain machines which use AMD GPUs,
but for stuff like the antique 2010 17' MacBookPro6,1 using Nvidia 330M, or even a garden-variety
2008 MacBook5,1 using Geforce 9400M it runs great!
It's amazing that a 10-year-old machine like my 2.4GHz 2008 MacBook using the mighty Intel Core 2 Duo
(with user-replaceable SSD and maxed-out 8GB memory) can run the new release perfectly fine!
Naw, I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine.
While I appreciate MR holding the conversation, they didn't break this. When appropriate, we give other sites credit -- including MR. This is a complicated situation for both MR and us, with a history and discussion about it going for pages and pages.While this article is informative, I think there is information you are leaving out.
I'd give proper attribution to conversation about Mojave on Unsupported Macs being an active discussion hosted by Dosdude on Macrumors.com. Yes, it's a competitor but much of the information needed to be successful about doing this patch is found in the pages and pages of discussion amongst the users as bugs are crushed and more machines are added to the compatibility (or partial compatibility) list. It's no different than when you attribute a store broken by another website or news outlet. Just referring to Dosdude's own download page doesn't get around that fact.
Users are welcome to -- and should -- use Google to seek information on any workaround we publish, or to seek amplifying information on tips.- This type of thing is for enthusiasts only, i.e., people that enjoy computer troubleshooting. People that just blithely say 'it works great' aren't telling the truth.
It’s two clicks more than a regular install and it works perfectly. Don’t say things you don’t understand.This type of thing is for enthusiasts only, i.e., people that enjoy computer troubleshooting. People that just blithely say 'it works great' aren't telling the truth.- edited July 2018
Cool, Good to know I have a spare old 2010 15' i7 MBP complete with SSD internal and maxed out RAM I thought was soon to be a doorstop. As the Boot-Camp work around that is fantastic, I can use it as another opensim server now
Runs perfectly on a 2009 (Mac Pro), at least. And you can even use the most modern Boot Camp drivers by bypassing Apple’s in-Windows compatibility check.I bet Windows 10 runs perfectly on Boot Camp on a 2008 Mac without any hacks at all.
Dude, I have a machine that can't run Mojave, it's from 2011. That is not a short time for software updates. Does Windows run on some really old hardware? Sure but Apple can't be expected to keep your computer supported for more than 8 years. Now I might try to run Mojave on my old MacBook since I'm running it as a torrent server and heck why not. But the only thing I was pissed off about with the update was that there weren't compelling machines to upgrade to for people who's machines were at the end of being supported. Hopefully they'll have the whole line up upgraded in the fall. If you think about it the original iMac G3 was only supported for something like 4ish years, I remember because by the time I bought my new iBook my iMac was considered ancient.This is probably a good thing. I'm not sure I will venture to Mojave on my MacBook Pro 5,5 or iMac 12,2, though. I put Sierra on the MacBook Pro to keep it aligned with the iMac, and only because Logic X 10.4 demanded Sierra. I might run it on a test hard drive to see what it's like. Sierra works very well on my machine that Apple arbitrarily dumped.
Apple keeps shortening the support time. Logic's demand of Sierra or High Sierra was an annoyance to many Logic users.
This pressure to upgrade has been getting worse because of iOS devices and iOS has an incredibly annoying nag to upgrade. I'm not happy about Apple's choices and it makes it very difficult for their customers to maintain a functioning 'Apple ecosystem' unless they're wealthy enough to repeatedly re-buy effectively the same devices every two or three years. It didn't used to be the case that you had to be wealthy to be an Apple user (just judicious spending and saving), but Apple's ecosystem is exactly designed to encourage, or push, people into multiple Apple devices, and upgrade each one more often. This is bad for consumers and they're too arrogant and too big to notice this. Eventually it will lose them customers and they don't care to watch out for this at this time.
Granted, they did just take some action to possibly pull back on this a bit, with promoting iOS 12 as being faster on older devices (I've avoided iOS 11 but I might go to iOS 12). They need to do more of this, on all platforms.
...But the only thing I was pissed off about with the update was that there weren't compelling machines to upgrade to for people who's machines were at the end of being supported. Hopefully they'll have the whole line up upgraded in the fall...This is probably a good thing. I'm not sure I will venture to Mojave on my MacBook Pro 5,5 or iMac 12,2, though. I put Sierra on the MacBook Pro to keep it aligned with the iMac, and only because Logic X 10.4 demanded Sierra. I might run it on a test hard drive to see what it's like. Sierra works very well on my machine that Apple arbitrarily dumped.
Apple keeps shortening the support time. Logic's demand of Sierra or High Sierra was an annoyance to many Logic users.
This pressure to upgrade has been getting worse because of iOS devices and iOS has an incredibly annoying nag to upgrade. I'm not happy about Apple's choices and it makes it very difficult for their customers to maintain a functioning 'Apple ecosystem' unless they're wealthy enough to repeatedly re-buy effectively the same devices every two or three years. It didn't used to be the case that you had to be wealthy to be an Apple user (just judicious spending and saving), but Apple's ecosystem is exactly designed to encourage, or push, people into multiple Apple devices, and upgrade each one more often. This is bad for consumers and they're too arrogant and too big to notice this. Eventually it will lose them customers and they don't care to watch out for this at this time.
Granted, they did just take some action to possibly pull back on this a bit, with promoting iOS 12 as being faster on older devices (I've avoided iOS 11 but I might go to iOS 12). They need to do more of this, on all platforms.
This!
Ending support for my 2011 iMac will probably eventually put me on a new Windows machine. It’ll start with Boot Camp, and then, at some point, I’ll want to stay with what “I know” but will need something faster.
As long as it has a Metal-compatible GPU (or you use dosdude’s “add in the old drivers” utility), it should work perfectly.Dude, I have a machine that can't run Mojave, it's from 2011.But the only thing I was pissed off about with the update was that there weren't compelling machines to upgrade to for people who's machines were at the end of being supported.Wait, what do you mean here?