macOS 14 Sonoma on Unsupported Macs Thread

[houser]

I'm familiar with serial spoofing with Open Core (happens all the time in the Hackintosh world), but I haven't used the OCLP GUI to do it and am not in a position to test it. Forgive a naive question: When you "spoofed" the serial with OCLP, were you able to specify the serial or did OCLP generate a new one for you? If you specified the serial, did you simply re-use your original serial?

Also, I don't see any way that serial spoofing would brick your Mac.

I used OCLP to generate a serial but I could have specifiied it.
Not sure if the one on the case is the original board serial as it might be parts from various older computers..
Thanks for your comment. New knowledge as I thought it was a goner when the serial was missing in the settings after the reflow of the GPU. New excellent use of OCLP! It is a known issue that the serial can go missing after "significant hardware changes".
Happy to have it working again regardless!

 

[deeveedee]

Just wondering if it is safe to update from 14.0 to 14.1 on my 2014 mini that is running 14.0

Wear a helmet and body armor.

 

[deeveedee]

I used OCLP to generate a serial but I could have specifiied it.
Not sure if the one on the case is the original board serial as it might be parts from various older computers..
Thanks for your comment. New knowledge as I thought it was a goner when the serial was missing in the settings after the reflow of the GPU. New excellent use of OCLP! It is a known issue that the serial can go missing after "significant hardware changes".
Happy to have it working again regardless!

The advantage of using your old serial is that there's a better chance that the serial is unique. I'm not sure how OCLP ensures a unique serial / a serial that is not already in use and probably won't be investigating that. If someone knows, that would be interesting to learn.

 

[K two]

Just wondering if it is safe to update from 14.0 to 14.1 on my 2014 mini that is running 14.0

The Mini7,1 in use here has both macOS 14.1.2 and 14.2 (23C5055b) running sucessfully, as previouly posted here, via OCLP v.1.3.0n. Go for it. No helmut was necessary.

 

[5T33Z0]

I mean spoofing as it is used in the SMBIOS settings in OCLP. Maybe to be clearer, I should have written I am using "Serial Spoofing" but no "Model Spoofing". Again just using the terms in the OCLP app on the SMBIOS tab.
And wondering if there are any risks I should be aware of.

Ah, okay, I see. Apple Special task forces have been alerted and are on their way to get a hold of you. Run

 

[houser]

The advantage of using your old serial is that there's a better chance that the serial is unique. I'm not sure how OCLP ensures a unique serial / a serial that is not already in use and probably won't be investigating that. If someone knows, that would be interesting to learn.

So I tried to use the serial from the case and that also appears to work. Thanks for the tip!
So it looks like one can change it also if it would stop working? New knowledge here.

 

[mikelets456]

Just wondering if it is safe to update from 14.0 to 14.1 on my 2014 mini that is running 14.0

I'd stay with 14.0 until (at least) 1.3.0 rolls out---I went to 14.1 with my 11,4 MBP and it was a mess. Now I'm waiting to update to 14.2 , as it's stable on 14.1 other than shutting off on its own every 10 days.

Sp I will wait as I use this as my work computer.

 

[deeveedee]

Just wondering if it is safe to update from 14.0 to 14.1 on my 2014 mini that is running 14.0

My joke about the helmet and body armor fell flat (I'm usually the only one who laughs at my jokes, so no surprises). Joking aside, your experience with OCLP and Sonoma can't be predicted based on someone else's experience (your apps, use cases and risk tolerance are likely unique to you).

You don't need to risk your stable/running version of macOS 14.0 by upgrading. You can add an APFS volume on the same disk (if you have room) and install the new version of macOS 14.1 to the new APFS volume without risking your stable 14.0 volume. This has been discussed extensively in this thread and in the Ventura thread.

In order to be "safe," with any macOS upgrade, it's best to have a backup (e.g., Time Machine). In order to be "safe" with an OCLP upgrade, it is best to first test the new Open Core build on a bootable USB thumb drive before replacing the OC EFI on your primary boot drive.

There definitely are "safe" ways to perform the upgrade.

 

[deeveedee]

So I tried to use the serial from the case and that also appears to work. Thanks for the tip!
So it looks like one can change it also if it would stop working? New knowledge here.

Glad to hear. You might want to search for the way new serials are generated for hackintosh (since this is what you are doing when you change the serial to something other than the original). In the links you find, you'll see ways to confirm that your new serial is not in use by another Mac. I don't see any reason that your original serial should stop working, but if it does, it looks like you did find a backup solution. 👍

 

[K two]

macOS 14.2RC(23C63) OTA OCLP v.1.3.0n installed without drama atop (23C5055b), runs as expected as have all the Sonoma iterations. Fear not.

 

[0134168]

My joke about the helmet and body armor fell flat (I'm usually the only one who laughs at my jokes, so no surprises). Joking aside, your experience with OCLP and Sonoma can't be predicted based on someone else's experience (your apps, use cases and risk tolerance are likely unique to you).

You don't need to risk your stable/running version of macOS 14.0 by upgrading. You can add an APFS volume on the same disk (if you have room) and install the new version of macOS 14.1 to the new APFS volume without risking your stable 14.0 volume. This has been discussed extensively in this thread and in the Ventura thread.

In order to be "safe," with any macOS upgrade, it's best to have a backup (e.g., Time Machine). In order to be "safe" with an OCLP upgrade, it is best to first test the new Open Core build on a bootable USB thumb drive before replacing the OC EFI on your primary boot drive.

There definitely are "safe" ways to perform the upgrade.

Or much better, install it in a separate drive.

 

[amaze1499]

Or much better, install it in a separate drive.

A separate volume on the same drive will do.

 

[0134168]

I insist. A separate drive, specially if you are a non experimented user, it’s much better. I have seen already many disasters.

 

[amaze1499]

I insist. A separate drive, specially if you are a non experimented user, it’s much better. I have seen already many disasters.

Thats a bold claim. Enlighten us with details please.

 

[ChrisOSX]

I insist. A separate drive, specially if you are a non experimented user, it’s much better. I have seen already many disasters.

Agreed. I have experienced these so called disasters.

I mean, while it is technically possible to maintain multiple OS's on the same HDD/SSD, it can be quite cumbersome. While it does the updates and cycles through rebooting, I have had it select the wrong disk. Updating Monterey and Ventura, it would select my High Sierra partition and f everything up.

If I sat with the process and arrowed over to the right disk it could have been avoided, but system updates should be smart enough to know which disk they're updating (it is, I just don't know what happened).

Since having my separate drives, I can just walk away and it hasn't goofed (just jinxed myself).

 

[0134168]

Agreed. I have experienced these so called disasters.

I mean, while it is technically possible to maintain multiple OS's on the same HDD/SSD, it can be quite cumbersome. While it does the updates and cycles through rebooting, I have had it select the wrong disk. Updating Monterey and Ventura, it would select my High Sierra partition and f everything up.

If I sat with the process and arrowed over to the right disk it could have been avoided, but system updates should be smart enough to know which disk they're updating (it is, I just don't know what happened).

Since having my separate drives, I can just walk away and it hasn't goofed (just jinxed myself).

Wise guy. 👍

 

[5T33Z0]

Concerning macnaging multiple macOS versions on one machine:

I don't know if you ever noticed it, but as soon as you switch from one macOS version to another one the whol Spotlight Index will be rebuild. So everytime you switch back and forth from Sonoma to Big Sur or whatever you are using, you can see spotlight re-indexing the disk(s) (it's reflected in Disk Utility by high percentage for mdworker).

 

[0134168]

Concerning macnaging multiple macOS versions on one machine:

I don't know if you ever noticed it, but as soon as you switch from one macOS version to another one the whol Spotlight Index will be rebuild. So everytime you switch back and forth from Sonoma to Big Sur or whatever you are using, you can see spotlight re-indexing the disk(s) (it's reflected in Disk Utility by high percentage for mdworker).

That´s easily avoided telling Spotlight not to index. or even, telling the system not to mout the other pertition.

BUT, the main problems come from messing EFI partititons. And not to erase the NVRAM when you switch versions of macOS´s.

 

[hvds]

iMac11,3: macOS 14.2 (23C63) update and patching with OCLP 1.3.0 worked without issues

same with an MBP11,1. Great, OCLP!
PS as always when non-released software involved, installed to an external SSD.

Edit 8 Dec: RC2 (23C64), same positive result.

 

[5T33Z0]

That´s easily avoided telling Spotlight not to index. or even, telling the system not to mout the other pertition.

BUT, the main problems come from messing EFI partititons. And not to erase the NVRAM when you switch versions of macOS´s.

It's not as easy as you think. Just telling macOS to not index the other volume where the other macOS version is installed causes it to not work at all afterwards if you do it in both OSes.

The EFI partition has nothing to do with it, imo. Simply changing the macOS version is enough to trigger re-indexing it. Trust me, I have 4 differrent systems all using more than on version of macO. It happens on all of them starting from macOS Catalina, iirc.

I think the actual underlying reason for this is that there is only one indexing file and every time macOS is changed there is some sort of mismatch or whatever that triggers spotight again.

 

[deeveedee]

Or much better, install it in a separate drive.

That may be true for many. I have Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and multiple versions of Sonoma each in their own APFS volumes on a single drive, all booting with the same OC EFI (but patched with different versions of OCLP from 0.6.8 and newer). The "only" issue I experience is that sometimes, Open Core will choose the wrong boot volume when installing macOS if I have set a default boot volume (with <Ctrl> <Enter>). When this happens, I manually select the correct volume from the OC boot menu.

I'm disk-limited in my laptops with OCLP and I want to use internal drives, so multiple disks are not convenient for me. If users do have the option to install macOS on separate drives, it is my opinion that they should still have only one Open Core EFI installed (only one drive's EFI should have Open Core). It can get very confusing if there are multiple OC EFI's in a Mac.

 

[chevyboy60013]

Sonoma 14.0 works very well on my late 2014 mini. usually do the updates when they are available, but I guess don't have to be in a rush to do so.

 

[OKonnel]

Hello @OKonnel - mille grazie for such an exhaustive description how you did the install / of your observations in using your beast. Looking forward to using mine (same machine / specs as you) too as soon as I have time for upgrade.

Question: Are you using Apple Photos for your Media Asset Management? If yes: Is the face detection „fixed“? (the flaw was having mixed faces under the same person)

Thank you,
Joachim

I am sorry, @jotzet … I was unaware of this problem and didn't check. I'll check when I get back to my Office, but I don't know if I'll be able to answer you since I use Photos only to create albums that I need to show my work or copy them to the iPhone.
So I don't remember if I assigned names, but perhaps I did so in a "School friends" album.
I'll let you know, but I don't think I'll go for a few days.

 

[JimmyT72]

That may be true for many. I have Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and multiple versions of Sonoma each in their own APFS volumes on a single drive, all booting with the same OC EFI (but patched with different versions of OCLP from 0.6.8 and newer). The "only" issue I experience is that sometimes, Open Core will choose the wrong boot volume when installing macOS if I have set a default boot volume (with <Ctrl> <Enter>). When this happens, I manually select the correct volume from the OC boot menu.

I'm disk-limited in my laptops with OCLP and I want to use internal drives, so multiple disks are not convenient for me. If users do have the option to install macOS on separate drives, it is my opinion that they should still have only one Open Core EFI installed (only one drive's EFI should have Open Core). It can get very confusing if there are multiple OC EFI's in a Mac.

Do I understand your recommendation; that if I have a MacAir with Ventura on the internal hard drive and want to have Sonoma on an external hard drive, I should have only one OCLP EFI boot installed, which should be on the internal hard drive?

 

[Dilli]

Yes thats what @deeveedee meant.