MP 1,1-5,1 Continuity and handoff?

[TECK]

I purchased an eBay kit to upgrade Bluetooth at 4.2:

Genuine Apple WiFi 802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 Upgrade Kit Adapter *Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 | eBay

Or WiFi ac + BT 4.0 kit for your 4,1/5,1 with lower price, go here . you can go here.

www.ebay.com

Into their instructions, they say to execute the following commands:

csrutil disable
sudo mount -uw /
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set:Mac-F221BEC8:ContinuitySupport true" "/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist"
sudo -E perl -pi -e "s/\Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86/\Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0/" /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360

They say the purpose of these commands is add your Mac to the "whitelist at the OS", because cMP do not officially support continuity, handoff.

Next they want me to run:

sudo touch /Library/Extensions
sudo kextcache -i /

I had no idea I have to execute all these commands, do you find this normal?

 

[cdf]

Even with upgraded hardware, the cMP requires a small modification to macOS for Handoff and Continuity to work. The first three commands that you have described simply modify a plist. I would try just those first. Note that it usually takes some time and some signing in and out of iCloud on your devices before everything starts to work properly. The other three commands modify a kext, which contrary to my experience, some have reported as necessary.

 

[TECK]

@cdf do I have to run these commands every time I do a major upgrade? Just to be sure, I only modify the .plist without touching the .kext edits.

 

[tommy chen]

kext edit is necessary

Restart Mac Pro

Hold down Command-R to reboot into Recovery Mode.

Click Utilities.

Select Terminal

Type

Code:
csrutil disable
Press Return or Enter on your keyboard.

Restart Mac Pro

Open Terminal and run this:

Code:
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set:Mac-F221BEC8:ContinuitySupport true" "/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist"
Code:
sudo -E perl -pi -e "s/\Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86/\Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0/" /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360
Now you only need to delete the kext cache:

Enter this in Terminal:

Code:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/
Code:
sudo touch .
Restart Mac Pro

Hold down Command-R to reboot into Recovery Mode.

Click Utilities.

Select Terminal.

Code:
Type csrutil enable
Press Return or Enter on your keyboard.

Restart Mac Pro

if it still does not work please log out of your iCloud accounts on all devices, reboot all devices and sign in to iCloud again.

 

[TECK]

Thanks for the detailed info @IndioX. @cdf can you please add a note to your OpenCore tutorial, so I do the commands into right order? I got a Syba card with a 970 EVO Plus, so I need to redo your install tutorial again. I will install the new WiFi card at same time.

 

[cdf]

For now, I'd rather keep the steps to enable Continuity and Handoff out of the OpenCore guide, but I'll include them here. They're fairly simple.

After installing Catalina (step 6), you want to carry out these steps:

a) Disable SIP by rebooting into recovery (following step 5a).
b) Back into the system, enter the following commands in terminal

sudo mount -uw /

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set:Mac-F221BEC8:ContinuitySupport true" "/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist"

c) Re-enable SIP by rebooting into recovery (following step 5a).

 

[TECK]

If I understand correctly, Apple disables handoff based on the board ID. Which explains the second command:

sudo -E perl -pi -e "s/\Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86/\Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0/" /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360

Do I really need to run this command if my card is listed as Broadcom BCM43xx?

 

[cdf]

Do I really need to run this command if my card is listed as Broadcom BCM43xx?

For my card (which also appears as BCM43xx), both handoff and continuity have always worked fine with just the plist edit described in my last post.

 

[crjackson2134]

I purchased an eBay kit to upgrade Bluetooth at 4.2:

Genuine Apple WiFi 802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 Upgrade Kit Adapter *Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 | eBay

Or WiFi ac + BT 4.0 kit for your 4,1/5,1 with lower price, go here . you can go here.

www.ebay.com

Into their instructions, they say to execute the following commands:

csrutil disable
sudo mount -uw /
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set:Mac-F221BEC8:ContinuitySupport true" "/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist"
sudo -E perl -pi -e "s/\Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86/\Mac-F221BEC8\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0/" /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360

They say the purpose of these commands is add your Mac to the "whitelist at the OS", because cMP do not officially support continuity, handoff.

Next they want me to run:

sudo touch /Library/Extensions
sudo kextcache -i /

I had no idea I have to execute all these commands, do you find this normal?

Post #1311

 

[hangdog]

For now, I'd rather keep the steps to enable Continuity and Handoff out of the OpenCore guide, but I'll include them here. They're fairly simple.

After installing Catalina (step 6), you want to carry out these steps:

a) Disable SIP by rebooting into recovery (following step 5a).
b) Back into the system, enter the following commands in terminal

sudo mount -uw /

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set:Mac-F221BEC8:ContinuitySupport true" "/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist"

c) Re-enable SIP by rebooting into recovery (following step 5a).

How does one do this in Big Sur? you can't mount the root writeable. Fails:

sudo mount -uw /
Password:
mount_apfs: volume could not be mounted: Permission denied
mount: / failed with 66

So the edit for enabling Continuity can't be made.

 

[sfalatko]

How does one do this in Big Sur? you can't mount the root writeable. Fails:

sudo mount -uw /
Password:
mount_apfs: volume could not be mounted: Permission denied
mount: / failed with 66

So the edit for enabling Continuity can't be made.

It is not possible in Big Sur or Monterey (or at least no one has solved it and posted about it). The "solution" has been to use OpenCore and spoof the model of the MacPro. This allows continuity and handoff to work fine as long as your bluetooth/wifi card is supported.

 

[hangdog]

I think my issue is that my wireless card is a different chipset than is expected by the board spoof. Turning on the legacy Wi-Fi in the OC config has no effect either, as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth works either way and continuity still doesn’t.
I have a BCD20702-based card. It must not have been used on the iMacPro or whatever I am spoofing. I ordered a BCD9435 to replace it.

 

[hangdog]

Got the new card installed. I'm not sure it's really any different than what I had...
Unlocking works about 20% of the time. It will always work to approve entering the admin password to access sys prefs, or the password list in safari prefs... but it almost never works to log in after screen sleep.
Handoff works now. Airdrop always worked...
Mysteries.