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macOS 13 Ventura on Unsupported Macs Thread
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I installed Ventura to a Samsung T5 SSD which is a USB external drive. I used the steps in the following post (which now mentions Sonoma but is the same steps) and also some in this thread:
How to Install macOS Sonoma (or Sequoia) on Unsupported Macs, for Security Improvements - The Mac Security Blog
Using the latest version of macOS is always best from a security standpoint. But if your Mac is several years old, there's a good chance that macOS Sonoma won't run on it. Thankfully, there's an app for that.
Step 19 discusses installing OpenCore to the main drive which in those instructions are labeled internal but work the same for an external drive like mine.
Agree. I started the wrong way round due to that menu layout, so created my first thumb drive minus a Mac Os installer till I realised. Even with the way I bumbled through the steps, I've got 2010 hardware with 2022 software now. OCLP is quite awesome.
paalb
macrumors 6502
Hi @deeveedee. Long time user of Open Core on macpro5,1 which I have configured manually. I have worked with terminal on UNIX, Linux and MacOS for many years. This post of yours was an excellent introduction to OCLP. Thank you.
Just some days ago I used OCLP 0.6.8 to upgrade to Ventura 13.6.1 on my 2015 MacBook Pro and are preparing to upgrade my MacPro. I have never done any patching and are struggling with getting an overview. I have a question regarding the post-install patches. Are all of them files residing in the filesystem that you can see if use the terminal?
deeveedee
macrumors 68000
Yes. You can get an idea for some of the files by viewing these (old) steps to manually remove patches:
EDIT: You might also be interested in this thread.
Pilate
macrumors newbie
Yesterday I completely reformatted the internal drive in the iMac. I then booted from an external volume that runs Monterey and reinstalled a new copy of Monterey on the internal drive. After using the migration assistant and booting up internally, the system settings was notifying me to upgrade to Sonoma! Interesting of course because it's not officially allowed. ( I didn't try it in any case because I don't need anymore fuss than necessary.)
Presently, I can boot my external with Sonoma and run the iMac.
But I need the thumb drive now to boot into my external OS 14.
I get confused by this arrangement;
I recall a method using the control key to have the desired OS/volume boot automatically by passing the choosing/option step.
It seems in principle, the internal OS should be left in a safe state in case of problems and the patching done outside of it. I think the patch is needed during boot to inject the necessary code for the machine but I thought I'd installed it on the (external)startup volume, negating the need for the thumb drive.
Should I be installing any patching code on the internal drive?
It would be very useful to have a flow chart that illustrates the code processes run to achieve the final goal.
Presently, I can boot my external with Sonoma and run the iMac.
But I need the thumb drive now to boot into my external OS 14.
I get confused by this arrangement;
I recall a method using the control key to have the desired OS/volume boot automatically by passing the choosing/option step.
It seems in principle, the internal OS should be left in a safe state in case of problems and the patching done outside of it. I think the patch is needed during boot to inject the necessary code for the machine but I thought I'd installed it on the (external)startup volume, negating the need for the thumb drive.
Should I be installing any patching code on the internal drive?
It would be very useful to have a flow chart that illustrates the code processes run to achieve the final goal.
deeveedee
macrumors 68000
Not wanting to offend, criticize or judge - you are asking for explanations that are fundamental macOS concepts. This experience is going to be a good learning opportunity that will ultimately help you to better understand how macOS works.
EDIT: Read this.
EDIT2: You may benefit from searching for "macOS boot sequence" to find articles like this.
EDIT3: In order to boot unsupported macOS versions on your Mac, you are booting with an Open Core EFI. You can learn more about Open Core here.
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Pilate
macrumors newbie
Pilate
macrumors newbie
But I'm stuck.
I can't understand this:
"Once the EFI's mounted, we'll want to grab our EFI folder on there and keep in a safe place. We'll then want to eject the USB drive's EFI as having multiple EFI's mounted can confuse macOS sometimes, best practice is to keep only 1 EFI mounted at a time(you can eject just the EFI, the drive itself doesn't need to be removed)"
Okay - did that. Saved a copy of the EFI folder to my desktop.
And then:
"Now with this done, let's mount our macOS drive. - " What? The installer? the one I didn't eject after making a copy of the EFI folder and ejecting the EVI volume?
There's an image showing an EFI volume in the finder. Where did that come from?
I can't understand this:
"Once the EFI's mounted, we'll want to grab our EFI folder on there and keep in a safe place. We'll then want to eject the USB drive's EFI as having multiple EFI's mounted can confuse macOS sometimes, best practice is to keep only 1 EFI mounted at a time(you can eject just the EFI, the drive itself doesn't need to be removed)"
Okay - did that. Saved a copy of the EFI folder to my desktop.
And then:
"Now with this done, let's mount our macOS drive. - " What? The installer? the one I didn't eject after making a copy of the EFI folder and ejecting the EVI volume?
There's an image showing an EFI volume in the finder. Where did that come from?
deeveedee
macrumors 68000
OCLP has been built (to the extent possible) to eliminate the manual operations that you are trying to perform. Read this.
OCLP's "Build and Install Open Core" will install Open Core to the EFI of your choice, as long as the target media is formatted with GUID Partition Scheme.
Pilate
macrumors newbie
The target media in this case is a OS_APPS_USER | 4 TB | APFS
When using Disk Utility one often is given no option to build GUID anymore.
I appreciate the advice to learn more, but to be honest, I've a great deal of other things to attend to, and while I can endeavor to learn such, I've found over the years I use up my time learning things I'll only use for a short time and even if I need the info later, it's changed or I've forgotten key aspects.
I want to use my machine to pursue my CAD endeavors which also demand some high level mental overhead.
SO with the same qualification you gave to avoid any perception of offense, I really don't want to read through all the links. I want to get back to my own interests.
When using Disk Utility one often is given no option to build GUID anymore.
I appreciate the advice to learn more, but to be honest, I've a great deal of other things to attend to, and while I can endeavor to learn such, I've found over the years I use up my time learning things I'll only use for a short time and even if I need the info later, it's changed or I've forgotten key aspects.
I want to use my machine to pursue my CAD endeavors which also demand some high level mental overhead.
SO with the same qualification you gave to avoid any perception of offense, I really don't want to read through all the links. I want to get back to my own interests.
deeveedee
macrumors 68000
Got it. By providing links for you in the assistance that I provided, I attempted to spare you the reading that most of us have done to get to this point. Message received.
Did you try to follow the steps in the article I posted earlier? It's really quite easy. There are enough illustrations to help as well.
I checked on how to support the developers' project and to my surprise they don't want cash, they want old Macs!, Anything above a certain hardware level circa 2010.
K two
macrumors 68020
macOS 13.6.2 is now available on GIB and likely elsewhere. And is for M3 only, apparently. 
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erikkfi
macrumors 68000
Alright, as promised, my results. I believe in Occam's Razor and yet I didn't believe the evidence until I saw it with my own eyes: my SSD was dead, and that was the cause. I bought a new 1TB drive and just got set up with it.
As for restoring from backup, I decided to do this:
1. Install Ventura to the new drive using an OCLP-patched installer.
2. Restore from Time Machine backup as part of the setup process (i.e., before creating an account in the new install).
3. Patch the machine using 1.2.0 and install the EFI boot partition as soon as I could get logged in.
So far so good.. if that seems like a risky restore process in any way, let me know. I think I had read that the issue with messing with OCLP and Migration Assistant is that things don't copy well and it gets corrupted over time, but I also read that if you do it just the once as part of setup, it's safe. I'm migrating from a backup made with the machine to the very same machine, if that makes a difference.
K two
macrumors 68020
Dortania will gladly accept currency, as well. Here: https://opencollective.com/opencore-legacy-patcher FYI 🤑
woefi
macrumors member
I'm not seeing it on my supported macs and, as I understand, this should only be a special version for all the M3 which got stuck on 13.5 out of the box...
source:
14-inch-macbook-pro-m3-macos-sonoma-update-issue
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deeveedee
macrumors 68000
Doesn't seem risky at all. If I understood, you used Migration Assistant from Time Machine. That's an intended use of Migration Assistant and is fully supported. In any event, as long as you're installing to a new APFS volume while preserving your original, working, APFS Volume, the risk is minimal. If reliability is a must and you cannot afford to be without your working Mac, there is no reason to risk your working APFS volume with an in-place upgrade.
K two
macrumors 68020
There is also the intel version 22G320 unless Apple and Mr. Macintosh are in error. 🙁
deeveedee
macrumors 68000
I only upgrade my Mac when the macOS upgrade appears in my System Settings > General > Software Update. So far, the .2 upgrade has not appeared for me.
I haven't seen it on my MacBookPro11,4 yet. Should I update OCLP to 1.2.0 before or after I try upgrading?