macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread

[nekton1]

Czo, thanks for all your work on this too. Can you and dosdude1 cooperate with these implementations that result in the best outcome for all (both of you) of your admirers.
Thanks to you both.

 

[Luigi222]

Booting from APFS can be enabled without any extra partition. The key is the "com.apple.boot.S" folder on the recovery partition with the correct settings.

Really? Can you elaborate a little more? It’s not like I understand a lot about it but just out of curiosity 😉

 

[nekton1]

What is this "com.apple.boot.S" folder? I only see

 

[Czo]

What is this "com.apple.boot.S" folder? I only see View attachment 714050

Fusion drives and encrypted drives boots with helper partition. The files from the helper partition can be copied to the recovery partition. To make com.apple.boot.S working, you need to copy the patched prelinkedkernel and modify the configuration plist to point to the real root filesystem.

 

[eurasian]

I have the iMac 8,1. Did you use @dosdude1 Post Install tool, and ensure "Volume Control Patch" was selected? You can try running the Post Install tool again and it should fix the issue. Otherwise you will have to manually replace the "AppleHDA" and "IOAudioFamily" extensions with those from El Capitan. I can walk you through that or provide them for you if necessary.

Thank you!...running the Post Install tool again is all ok now.

 

[roziek]

I finally got APFS volumes to boot completely seamlessly using a "helper partition"! The partition only has to be about 200MB in size, and can be set as the startup disk. Only downside is the lack of a bootable Recovery partition, but that's only a minor inconvenience. If you all think this looks like a viable solution, I can implement it into macOS High Sierra Patcher.

@dosdude1 Man, this is great news 🙂. This method is vastly superior than an external USB boot helper thumbdrive and the method with Clover (at least in my opinion). Plus, it looks like it's quite fast, too (faster than Clover for sure); talking about the time between the helper partition kicking in, recognizing an APFS boot volume and handing it off to boot (not booting the OS itself, as it's painfully slow on a spinning HDD you have in there for testing ;D).

Need some answers though 🙂.

How does the OS install and post install patching process look like now, how are we to proceed? Can you install the OS straight as an APFS and apply the post install patch that inserts the helper partition and automatically selects it as the startup disk (I assume? Or do we have to do it ourselves?) ? Or do we have to install the OS as an HFS+ first, covert it to APFS afterwards, and only then apply the post install patch? The more light you could shed here, the better 🙂.

And lastly: Is there any chance to get that working in conjunction with a fully working Recovery partition? Is that something 1) you see no real way of doing at all, 2) you see no way of doing right now, but might be possible, 3) is definitely possible, just didn't have time yet, wanted to focus on booting the APFS volumes first?

Also, how about what @Czo is talking about here and here, what's your take on that? I second @nekton1:

Can you and dosdude1 cooperate with these implementations that result in the best outcome for all (both of you) of your admirers.

 

[mnsiw]

MacBook Late 2008 with 4GB RAM and Corsair SSD, MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 working perfect without any issue. Tried updating it to MacOS High Sierra Public Beta, it installed fine but too slow compare to Sierra. Used HFS+ for both, no APFS. Any suggestion?
[doublepost=1503488292][/doublepost]

If you all think this looks like a viable solution, I can implement it into macOS High Sierra Patcher.

Yes, please add it to patcher or share 'helper partition' setup.

 

[MacManMatt]

If you all think this looks like a viable solution, I can implement it into macOS High Sierra Patcher.

If you need a tester at all Sign me up, always keen to test.

 

[dosdude1]

Booting from APFS can be enabled without any extra partition. The key is the "com.apple.boot.S" folder on the recovery partition with the correct settings.

That would work, however there's one problem... The Recovery Partition is an APFS volume as well, so the system's firmware can't boot from it.
[doublepost=1503505524][/doublepost]

@dosdude1 Man, this is great news 🙂. This method is vastly superior than an external USB boot helper thumbdrive and the method with Clover (at least in my opinion). Plus, it looks like it's quite fast, too (faster than Clover for sure); talking about the time between the helper partition kicking in, recognizing an APFS boot volume and handing it off to boot (not booting the OS itself, as it's painfully slow on a spinning HDD you have in there for testing ;D).

Need some answers though 🙂.

How does the OS install and post install patching process look like now, how are we to proceed? Can you install the OS straight as an APFS and apply the post install patch that inserts the helper partition and automatically selects it as the startup disk (I assume? Or do we have to do it ourselves?) ? Or do we have to install the OS as an HFS+ first, covert it to APFS afterwards, and only then apply the post install patch? The more light you could shed here, the better 🙂.

And lastly: Is there any chance to get that working in conjunction with a fully working Recovery partition? Is that something 1) you see no real way of doing at all, 2) you see no way of doing right now, but might be possible, 3) is definitely possible, just didn't have time yet, wanted to focus on booting the APFS volumes first?

Also, how about what @Czo is talking about here and here, what's your take on that? I second @nekton1:

The OS installs completely normally to an APFS volume, just like it would installing to an HFS volume. As for patching and creating the helper partition, the post-install tool will take care of that... It'll detect whether or not the volume is an APFS partition, and create the helper partition accordingly. The only reason the recovery partition doesn't boot is because it, too, is an APFS partition. It may be possible to convert it back to HFS, in which case it would be bootable.

 

[roziek]

That would work, however there's one problem... The Recovery Partition is an APFS volume as well, so the system's firmware can't boot from it.
[doublepost=1503505524][/doublepost]
The OS installs completely normally to an APFS volume, just like it would installing to an HFS volume. As for patching and creating the helper partition, the post-install tool will take care of that... It'll detect whether or not the volume is an APFS partition, and create the helper partition accordingly. The only reason the recovery partition doesn't boot is because it, too, is an APFS partition. It may be possible to convert it back to HFS, in which case it would be bootable.

Got it. Will try it tonight.

What about when you have more than one bootable APFS volume? Will the helper partition present volumes to choose from?

 

[dosdude1]

Got it. Will try it tonight.

What about when you have more than one bootable APFS volume? Will the helper partition present volumes to choose from?

It'll make multiple helper partitions. Since you only select one volume when running the post-install tool, it'll just make a helper partition to boot the volume that you select.

 

[BookEmDanno]

Update to the latest High Sierra Beta version

I currently have Developer Beta 5 (17A330h) on my mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13", installed via dosdude1's patch tool.

My questions regarding upgrading to the latest beta version, be it developer or public:
* Should I install the upgrade using the patch tool again, and going thru the complete steps required?
* or Upgrade directly from the App Store?

Please Advise.

Thank You!

 

[dosdude1]

Update to the latest High Sierra Beta version

I currently have Developer Beta 5 (17A330h) on my mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13", installed via dosdude1's patch tool.

My questions regarding upgrading to the latest beta version, be it developer or public:
* Should I install the upgrade using the patch tool again, and going thru the complete steps required?
* or Upgrade directly from the App Store?

Please Advise.

Thank You!

Just update from the App Store. Should update fine with no issues.

 

[Luigi222]

Update to the latest High Sierra Beta version

I currently have Developer Beta 5 (17A330h) on my mid-2009 Macbook Pro 13", installed via dosdude1's patch tool.

My questions regarding upgrading to the latest beta version, be it developer or public:
* Should I install the upgrade using the patch tool again, and going thru the complete steps required?
* or Upgrade directly from the App Store?

Please Advise.

Thank You!

Download the beta acess utility dmg, install it, and update it thru the appstore.

 

[gotcoding24]

Thanks everyone for help!!!

 

[dosdude1]

Just finished implementing APFS support in High Sierra Patcher! The option to install the patch is located in the post-install tool, and is automatically enabled and selected upon selecting an APFS volume. (The option is disabled if patching an HFS-formatted volume, of course.) It does the following:

- Shrinks the APFS container containing your APFS High Sierra volume
- Creates a 200MB HFS helper partition containing the necessary files to begin booting off an APFS volume
- Hides the helper partition, so it is not apparently visible when running macOS
- Sets the helper partition as your startup disk
- Installs a LaunchDaemon to your High Sierra install that ensures prelinkedkernel is synchronized between your APFS volume and helper partition

Download available from my webpage, as usual. Please report back results!

 

[Czo]

Just finished implementing APFS support in High Sierra Patcher! The option to install the patch is located in the post-install tool, and is automatically enabled and selected upon selecting an APFS volume. (The option is disabled if patching an HFS-formatted volume, of course.) It does the following:

- Shrinks the APFS container containing your APFS High Sierra volume
- Creates a 200MB HFS helper partition containing the necessary files to begin booting off an APFS volume
- Hides the helper partition, so it is not apparently visible when running macOS
- Sets the helper partition as your startup disk
- Installs a LaunchDaemon to your High Sierra install that ensures prelinkedkernel is synchronized between your APFS volume and helper partition

Download available from my webpage, as usual. Please report back results!

Recovery can be host on this partition too. Simply copy the files and it will works.

 

[apriliars3]

Is it possible change High Sierra DB 7 HFS+ to APFS with new High Sierra parcher or is only for new Installations and I need to format the partition and reinstall?

 

[nekton1]

Tried it and does not work to boot. The patcher built the USB installer with the beta 7 download no problem and the USB installer booted the MacPro 3,1 no problem and completed the install to a newly formatted APFS SSD called "Spare". The post-install patch seemed to work properly but at the next boot from Spare, it defaulted back to my regular 10.13 HFS+ install on CCloned.
Disk utility shows that Spare has the right structure (enclosed screenshot). However, when I tried to selected Spare at the efi boot screen, it does not appear (see screenshot). When I use DU in 10.13 on CCloned to check Spare, it seems OK. When I boot back into 10.13 beta 7 on CCloned, and use System Preferences-Startup Disk to try to set Spare as the boot volume, I get a message about the disk not being blessed.
So something is not quite right with the current procedure.

Just finished implementing APFS support in High Sierra Patcher! The option to install the patch is located in the post-install tool, and is automatically enabled and selected upon selecting an APFS volume. (The option is disabled if patching an HFS-formatted volume, of course.) It does the following:

- Shrinks the APFS container containing your APFS High Sierra volume
- Creates a 200MB HFS helper partition containing the necessary files to begin booting off an APFS volume
- Hides the helper partition, so it is not apparently visible when running macOS
- Sets the helper partition as your startup disk
- Installs a LaunchDaemon to your High Sierra install that ensures prelinkedkernel is synchronized between your APFS volume and helper partition

Download available from my webpage, as usual. Please report back results!

 

[olad]

@dosdude1... you DO get some sleep, don't you? Many, many thanks. Those of us who like to live dangerously (haha! kidding!) will check it out.

 

[lostmyshoe123]

Just finished implementing APFS support in High Sierra Patcher! The option to install the patch is located in the post-install tool, and is automatically enabled and selected upon selecting an APFS volume. (The option is disabled if patching an HFS-formatted volume, of course.) It does the following:

- Shrinks the APFS container containing your APFS High Sierra volume
- Creates a 200MB HFS helper partition containing the necessary files to begin booting off an APFS volume
- Hides the helper partition, so it is not apparently visible when running macOS
- Sets the helper partition as your startup disk
- Installs a LaunchDaemon to your High Sierra install that ensures prelinkedkernel is synchronized between your APFS volume and helper partition

Download available from my webpage, as usual. Please report back results!

APFS now working on my 2007 iMac, thanks

 

[nekton1]

So why does it work on iMac 2007 and not MacPro 3,1? Could you provide more information about how you did this?

 

[lostmyshoe123]

@dosdude1... you DO get some sleep, don't you? Many, many thanks. Those of us who like to live dangerously (haha! kidding!) will check it out.

Just got this working on my iMac 2007! Thanks

So why does it work on iMac 2007 and not MacPro 3,1? Could you provide more information about how you did this?

I did have to run the APFS patcher twice, then rebooted from the efi disk, that's all.

 

[Luigi222]

I tried @dosdude1 patcher with APFS, I tried a clean install, installed, applied the patcher, however it did not boot, it showed the sign that it couldn't boot, so I shutdown with the power button, turn on my Mac pressing the ALT on the keyboard, and boot from the EFI partition the showed up, and then it booted fine and I completed the setup ( odd thing I could log in my iCloud account for some reason, I then did it in settings ), went in settings to the boot order part selected the boot High Sierra helper disk, and restarted just to make sure it booted normal, and it did 🙂 So It is in fact working fine!

@dosdude1 thanks a lot for all your dedication and work that you do for this community, mainly thanks to you, and other people of course we have these Macs running up to date fully functioning thanks to you guys!!!

 

[jhowarth]

I tried @dosdude1 patcher with APFS, I tried a clean install, installed, applied the patcher, however it did not boot, it showed the sign that it couldn't boot, so I shutdown with the power button, turn on my Mac pressing the ALT on the keyboard, and boot from the EFI partition the showed up, and then it booted fine and I completed the setup ( odd thing I could log in my iCloud account for some reason, I then did it in settings ), went in settings to the boot order part selected the boot High Sierra helper disk, and restarted just to make sure it booted normal, and it did 🙂 So It is in fact working fine!

@dosdude1 thanks a lot for all your dedication and work that you do for this community, mainly thanks to you, and other people of course we have these Macs running up to date fully functioning thanks to you guys!!!

Is this with a SSD or a Fusion drive? Currently High Sierra doesn't support booting from APFS volumes on hard drives yet.