macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[julianfairfax]

All research, testing, and releases of tools and patches relating to macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs should be posted here.

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Machine Support

Spoiler: Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro

MacPro3,1​

MacPro4,1​

iMac8,1​

iMac9,1​

iMac10,x​

iMac11,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Mojave. More details are located in the Current Issues section below.)​

iMac12,x (systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Mojave. More details are located in the Current Issues section below.)​

MacBookPro4,1​

MacBookPro5,x​

MacBookPro6,x​

MacBookPro7,1​

MacBookPro8,x​

Spoiler: Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook

MacBookAir2,1​

MacBookAir3,x​

MacBookAir4,x​

MacBook5,1​

Spoiler: Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook

Macmini3,1​

Macmini4,1​

Macmini5,x​

MacBook4,1*​

MacBook5,2​

MacBook6,1​

MacBook7,1​

Spoiler: Early-2008 or newer Xserve

Xserve2,1​

Xserve3,1​

Video Card Support

Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.)​

Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older without acceleration, GeForce 3xx Series and older with acceleration i.e. 8600M(GT)/8800M(GT), 9400M/9600M(GT), 320M/330M)​

Pre-Metal Intel video cards (Intel HD Graphics 3000 and Intel HD Graphics Arrandale)​

Installation
macOS Catalina can be installed on an unsupported system using @dosdude1's macOS Catalina Patcher tool or @julianfairfax's macOS Patcher 3.0 tool.

APFS ROM Patcher:
Warning: This tool could irreversibly brick your EFI chip. Please exercise caution with machines that have multiple EEPROM definitions. Relevant information can be found here and here. The APFS ROM patcher can be found here. Use the password apfs to decrypt the ZIP.

Known Issues

Spoiler: AMD Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx Series Video Card Acceleration

Currently, it is not possible to get full graphics acceleration when running Catalina on a system with a Radeon HD 5xxx or 6xxx series video card. *Also, the GMAx3100 in the MB4,1 is not fully supported (framebuffer only, no acceleration). Catalina will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration. This includes the 15" and 17" MacBook Pro systems (MacBookPro8,2 and 8,3). If you want to enable GPU acceleration on these machines, you'll need to disable the AMD video card (This will work on MacBook Pro 8,2 and 8,3 systems ONLY. You CANNOT disable the AMD GPU in an iMac.) Weird colors will also be produced when running Catalina with one of these video cards installed/enabled. To disable the AMD GPU on a 2011 MacBook Pro 8,2 or 8,3, follow the guide found here.

Spoiler: All Photos tab

In the Photos app, there is no tab for "All Photos." However, if you right-click any photo, you can choose, "Show in All Photos" and the expected "All Photos" functionality is displayed.
You can also set up a smart album, call it "All Photos" and use search criteria "Date Captured is after 1/1/1970".

Catalina Builds and Installer Versions

2019/10/07 10.15.0 Final, build 19A583, installer 15.0.33
2019/10/29 10.15.1, build 19B88, installer 15.1.03
2019/12/10 10.15.2, build 19C57, installer 15.2.02
2020/01/29 10.15.3, build 19D76, installer 15.3.00
2020/03/24 10.15.4, build 19E266, installer 15.4.01
2020/04/09 10.15.4 supplemental, build 19E287, installer 15.4.02
2020/05/26 10.15.5, build 19F96, installer 15.5.01
2020/06/01 10.15.5 supplemental, build 19F101, installer 15.5.02
2020/07/xx 10.15.6, build 19G73, installer 15.6.00
2020/08/13 10.15.6 supplemental, build 19G2021, installer 15.6.00

Spoiler: 10.15.0 beta versions

2019/06/04 10.15.0 beta 1, build 19A471t, installer 15.0.11
2019/06/17 10.15.0 beta 2, build 19A487l, installer 15.0.15
2019/07/02 10.15.0 beta 3, build 19A501i, installer 15.0.17
2019/07/16 10.15.0 beta 4, build 19A512f, installer 15.0.18
2019/07/31 10.15.0 beta 5, build 19A526h, installer 15.0.21
2019/08/19 10.15.0 beta 6, build 19A536g, installer 15.0.23
2019/08/28 10.15.0 beta 7, build 19A546d, installer 15.0.25
2019/09/10 10.15.0 beta 8, build 19A558d, installer 15.0.27
2019/09/23 10.15.0 beta 9, build 19A573a, installer 15.0.30
2019/09/30 10.15.0 beta 10, build 19A578c, installer 15.0.31
2019/10/03 10.15.0 GM, build 19A582a, installer 15.0.32

Spoiler: 10.15.3 beta versions

2019/12/17 10.15.3 beta 1, build 19D49f
2020/01/14 10.15.3 beta 2, build 19D62e
2020/01/24 10.15.3 beta 3, build 19D75a

Spoiler: 10.15.4 beta versions

2020/02/05 10.15.4 beta 1, build 19E224g
2020/02/19 10.15.4 beta 2, build 19E234g
2020/02/26 10.15.4 beta 3, build 19E242d
2020/03/03 10.15.4 beta 4, build 19E250c
2020/03/10 10.15.4 beta 5, build 19E258a
2020/03/18 10.15.4 beta 6 (GM), build 19E264b

Spoiler: 10.15.5 beta versions

Warning:
2020/04/01 10.15.5 beta 1, build 19F53f - do not install yet
2020/04/16 10.15.5 beta 2, build 19F62f - do not install yet
2020/04/29 10.15.5 beta 3, build 19F72f - do not install yet
2020/05/08 10.15.5 beta 4, build 19F83c - do not install yet
2020/05/20 10.15.5 beta 5, build 19F94a - do not install yet

Credits
@ASentientBot - Achieved full graphics acceleration, achieved semi-acceleration, fixed IOHID timeout, fixed AirPort, fixed Xcode 11 Metal crashes.
@jackluke - Fixed brightness control under semi-acceleration, fixed Wi-Fi AirDrop option, fixed Continuity with a dongle, fixed AirDrop with Broadcom cards
@parrotgeek1 - Developed LegacyUSBInjector, SIPManager, NDRVShim, source.
@Czo - Developed SUVMMFaker, source.
@Rastafabi - Catalina Loader for unsupported systems with supported hardware.
@oliveira131 - Developed script to apply AirDrop with Broadcom cards and Continuity with a dongle patches (from jackluke)
Apple - Fixed IOHID timeout, fixed Xcode 11 Metal crashes, fixed Siri Metal crashes, fixed Photos Metal crashes.
Don't know why you did it, but, thanks Apple.

Moderator Note:
Please do not ask for, or provide help getting developers profile information to access unauthorised beta software on MacRumors. If you are not a developer, sign up to the Apple Beta Software Program to get the official public beta releases.

Spoiler: Other Threads

macOS Catalina (10.15)
macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs - @julianfairfax

macOS Mojave (10.14)
macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread - @dosdude1

macOS High Sierra (10.13)
macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread - @foxlet

macOS Sierra (10.12)
MacOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread - @redheeler

OS X El Capitan (10.11)
OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and El Capitan - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Yosemite (10.10)
OS X Yosemite on Unsupported Macs - @TMRJIJ
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X Yosemite - @Mr. Zarniwoop

OS X Mavericks (10.9)
[Guide] Installing 10.9 Mavericks on older Macs. - @Wayne_819
Mac Pro 2,1 and OS X Mavericks - @5050

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)
Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac - @Wayne_819

 

[hrutkaymods]

Cool... but doesn't Collin @dosdude1 usually start these threads?

 

[TimothyR734]

Hello anyone clapping yet

 

[julianfairfax]

Cool... but doesn't Collin @dosdude1 usually start these threads?

I guess not this time. My goal is to get it running as soon as I can and I could certainly use the help of people more or even less experienced than me. And thanks to @dosdude1 and @Larsvonhier, I now have my own MacBook4,1 to use for testing unsupported macOS on. As I'm currently the only developer who is developing a patcher tool that supports the MacBook4,1, this is very useful for me. Thanks a lot to both of them.

 

[hrutkaymods]

Not this time. Besides, doesn't really matter. My goal is to get it running as soon as I can. And thanks to @dosdude1 and @Larsvonhier, I now have my own MacBook4,1 to use for testing unsupported macOS on. As I'm currently the only developer who is developing a patcher tool that supports the MacBook4,1, this is very useful for me. Thanks a lot to both of them.

cool well I'm excited to get the ball rolling, I'll be texting Collin all day to be an early beta tester as usual... the excitement is real with this on @dosdude1

 

[julianfairfax]

cool well I'm excited to get the ball rolling, I'll be texting Collin all day to be an early beta tester as usual... the excitement is real with this on @dosdude1

I hope we'll be able to overcome any issues that arise. Personally, I won't be of much use today (Cupertino time) since I live in a different time zone. School is also going to get in the way. But I'll still have time to work on what will most likely be an amazing ongoing project.

 

[Argyboy]

MacOS Catalina it is!

 

[TimothyR734]

now to find the wallpapers

 

[dosdude1]

I had intended to make this thread once the OS name was officially announced. Now that it's been done earlier than I intended, please change the title accordingly.

 

[julianfairfax]

MacOS Catalina it is!

Was just going to say that. I'm changing the name. We're going to run Catalina on our older devices then.
[doublepost=1559587909][/doublepost]

I had intended to make this thread once the OS name was officially announced. Now that it's been done earlier than I intended, please change the title accordingly.

Sorry if I went a bit too fast. I changed the name a minute ago.

 

[dlfgma]

Was just going to say that. I'm changing the name. We're going to run Catalina on our older devices then.
[doublepost=1559587909][/doublepost]
Sorry if I went a bit too fast. I changed the name a minute ago.

Please make this thread a Wiki thread like the Mojave one. Thanks.

 

[julianfairfax]

Please make this thread a Wiki thread like the Mojave one. Thanks.

I'll do that now. There's a category for it now.

Edit: I still don't seem to have the option for that.

 

[Appleak]

Hi again ❤ best luck for 10.15!

 

[redheeler]

Are the system requirements the same as Mojave? Hopefully it can be patched to run on the 2010 / 2011 Macs. My 2011 17" MacBook Pro can assist with the beta testing.

 

[julianfairfax]

Are the system requirements the same as Mojave? Hopefully it can be patched to run on the 2010 / 2011 Macs.

No info yet. I'm refreshing the Newsroom right now.

 

[retta283]

I hope I can run it on my late 2008 uni MB.

And you hit this early!

 

[dosdude1]

Ugh, just like last year, Apple didn't announce system compatibility. I'll have to wait until I'm able to download a copy in the Developer Portal to find out.

 

[redheeler]

Ugh, just like last year, Apple didn't announce system compatibility. I'll have to wait until I'm able to download a copy in the Developer Portal to find out.

They did actually, it was flashed on a quick slide during last year's keynote. Very strange, I would've at least expected them to mention the requirements for iOS 13 this year.

 

[julianfairfax]

They did actually, it was flashed on a quick slide during last year's the keynote. Very strange, I would've at least expected them to mention the requirements for iOS 13 this year.

Those are in the Newsroom post for iOS 13. "New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, and will be available with iPadOS for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later."

 

[retta283]

They did actually, it was flashed on a quick slide during last year's the keynote. Very strange, I would've at least expected them to mention the requirements for iOS 13 this year.

I think it's iPad Air 2, Mini 4, and all Pros, iPhone 6S and SE or newer, and iPod touch 7.

Hopefully no devices are dropped with OS 10.15 because almost nothing in the downlevel has changed.
[doublepost=1559589753][/doublepost]

Those are in the Newsroom post for iOS 13. "New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, and will be available with iPadOS for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later."

Beat me to it by just a second

 

[redheeler]

Those are in the Newsroom post for iOS 13. "New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPhone 6s and later, and will be available with iPadOS for iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later."

Exactly as I expected for iOS 13. Good to know my iPad Air 2 is safe.

 

[Badruzeus]

Ugh, just like last year, Apple didn't announce system compatibility. I'll have to wait until I'm able to download a copy in the Developer Portal to find out.

I'll try it on my laptop with non-Metal NVDA GFX once Dev Beta Installer is ready.

 

[julianfairfax]

"macOS Catalina will be available this fall as a free software update for Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later" https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/apple-previews-macos-catalina/

 

[redheeler]

I think it's iPad Air 2, Mini 4, and all Pros, iPhone 6S and SE or newer, and iPod touch 7.

Hopefully no devices are dropped with OS 10.15 because almost nothing in the downlevel has changed.

I wasn't expecting any change in the requirements for MacOS. Let's hope I'm right about that as well.

 

[julianfairfax]

Oh dear. We might have a big problem here. "macOS Catalina runs in its own read-only volume, so it’s separate from all other data on your Mac, and nothing can accidentally overwrite your system files." https://www.apple.com/macos/catalina-preview/