Want to install macOS Big Sur, but your Mac is not on the supported list? In this detailed guide, we will learn how to install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac models. Installing macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac can be achieved with macOS Patcher file. We have a detailed guide ahead that will help you install macOS Big Sur on unsupported MAC.
You can also read our guide- How to Install macOS Catalina on Unsupported Mac: 9 Easy Steps and How To Install macOS Catalina On Virtualbox On AMD Systems: 2 Step Ultimate Guide.
To install on your machine, you can download and run @dosdude1's macOS Mojave Patcher application, which will let you download a copy of the latest installer app from Apple and create a bootable.
How to install macOS Mojave on Unsupported Macs Step 1 How to install macOS Mojave on Unsupported Macs. Make sure that your Mac is compatible (in 'Requirements') before. Once the patch tool has finished downloading, open it the.dmg file and wait for it to mount. Aug 22, 2021 Install Macos Mojave On Unsupported Macbook; Install Macos Mojave On Virtualbox; Install Macos Mojave On Vmware; Choose 'Create a bootable installer' from the options. Plug the bootable installer into the Mac you wish to update. Restart the Mac while holding the Option/Alt key. This will cause the Mac open in. How to install macOS Mojave on. Aug 28, 2021 Choose 'Create a bootable installer' from the options. Plug the bootable installer into the Mac you wish to update. Restart the Mac while holding the Option/Alt key. This will cause the Mac open in. Step 1 How to install macOS Mojave on Unsupported Macs. Grab a copy of the Mojave Patch Tool at the link below: Make sure that your Mac is.
Last year’s most significant WWDC event was a new version of macOS, Big Sur, and the announcement of the move to its own ARM processors. In macOS 11 (instead of the expected 10.16), Apple has massively redesigned the interface, added many new features and tools to move to new application architecture. We tell you which Mac models will be able to install macOS Big Sur.
The “Today” widgets in MacOS Big Sur are similar to the updated widgets in iOS 14. Other changes include an updated widget-enabled notification center, significantly improved messages, a powerful Safari upgrade, and more. Apple will release macOS Big Sur for all compatible Macs this fall.
Which Mac models will be supported by macOS Big Sur?
Supported devices that will receive MacOS Big Sur support:
- MacBook 2015 and newer
- MacBook Air 2013 and newer
- MacBook Pro 2013 and newer
- Mac mini 2014 and newer
- iMac 2014 and newer
- iMac Pro 2017 and newer
- Mac Pro 2013 and newer
Because macOS Big Sur is a major update, Apple has given up support for several outdated Macs. The transition to new Apple Silicon processors will take several years, so the current Macs running at Intel will be updated for a long time.
Apple also unveiled updated iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. The new WatchOS 7 won’t support the Apple Watch Series 1 and 2, but iPhone and iPad users who support iOS and iPadOS 13 will be able to upgrade their devices to the next generation of OS seamlessly.
How to install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac models?
If you are an experienced user who is ready to install unsupported software on unsupported technology, then you are at the right place as we have prepared the easiest solution to install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac models. This is the only working method so far on the internet.
The process of Installing macOS Big Sur on an unsupported Mac is to use the macOS Big Sur patch file, which will be applied to the primary USB boot. NOTE: The method is not suitable for ordinary users. You should also avoid using Mac models without Metal GPU. On older models, performance will be deficient.
Step 1: Create a Backup
First, save a copy of your Mac with Time Machine, and then move on to the instructions.
Step 2: Download Big Sur Patcher File
To install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac models, you need to download Big Sur Patcher file. This will trick the installation files of the macOS version you want to install and convince it that the Mac is compatible. You can download Big Sur Patcher file below.
You can download the latest version of the macOS Big Sur Patcher as seen in the snapshot above.
Step 3: Open the macOS Big Sur Patcher file
Once you’ve retrieved the archive from the downloaded file, you’ll find the Patcher-Sur.dmg file.
Now simply right click the Patcher-Sur.dmg file to open it and follow the steps.
Click Start.
Click Continue.
Select Release. You can also use the Public Beta version if you want to test it.
Click Continue.
You can simple Update or proceed with a Clean installation. If you are coming from a different OS version say Catalina, you need to select Clean installation,
Download Big Sur files.
Wait for the download to finish. It might take up to 20 minutes, depending upon the speed of your wifi.
If you are facing any issues with patching, you can see this detailed guide.
Step 4: Insert USB Drive.
After inserting the USB Drive, you will be asked to enter your password. (remember this password and avoid using any special characters) and click Continue.
Now it will start installing packages onto your USB drive.
Now, select your USB disk (in my case its Install macOS Big Sur). This will completely erase your USB disk. Click Continue.
Click Continue.
Now it will start creating your macOS Big Sur installation media. It will take around 35-50 minutes to create an installation media on your USB drive.
Step 5: Install macOS Bir Sur on Unsupported Mac
Restart your MAC and continue to press option key to continue with the installation.
Now, boot from “Install macOS Big Sur.” If there is no USB device found, try to unplug and replug your USB device.
You can also use the Disk Utility if you are planning to format your drive and create a new partition and continue with the installation.
The installation may take several hours. In our case, it sometimes looked as if the installer had flown out during the upgrade. In this case, you should wait, as the installation is usually still ongoing. Over time, better ways to upgrade the machine can be found. Currently, the safest approach is to upgrade with a USB boot.
After the installation is complete, you will see that your Wi-fi is not working. So go to applications and search for Patcher file.
Right click and click to force open the file. And click on Patch Kexts. Click Continue.
Make sure the USB is still plugged-in. Click Force Skip check and enter the same password that you entered in step 4.
Now it will continue to patch the files and you can simply reboot your MAC.
Click Restart to Finish.
After you have successfully restarted your mac, you can find that everything is working perfectly.
Install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac: Some common errors and their fix.
1. Wi-fi still not working
After patching, if your Wi-Fi it still not working. Follow the steps-
- Download and extract this file.
- Go to Payloads folder and select patch-kexts.sh file and drag it on your terminal. It will help you fix the wi-fi issue.
2. Big Sur is very slow. How to speed up macOS Big Sur.
We have been testing macOS Big Sur for a while now. Over time, you tend to see a decreased speed of your macOS Big Sur. So, we personally tested these 7 methods to Speed Up macOS Big Sur. Read this guide- How to Speed Up macOS Big Sur? 7 Easy Methods.
If you are using macOS Catalina you can read this guide: How to Speed Up macOS Catalina? 7 Easy Methods
3. I’m not happy with Big Sur and want to roll-back.
There are several issues with Big Sur, so you might want to roll back to the older version. Here is a complete guide that can help- How to rollback from the macOS Big Sur on Mojave? 5 Steps Steps
Some other guides that might help-
How to manage widgets on macOS Big Sur?
Best Widgets for macOS Big Sur: Top 20 for Everyday Use
How to Convert macOS Big Sur Installer to ISO: 4 Step Easy Guide
How To Create macOS Big Sur Bootable USB on Windows: 4 Easy Steps (+Video Tutorial)
How to Fix macOS Big Sur Screen Resolution on VirtualBox: 5 Step Guide
How to Install macOS Big Sur on VMware on Windows? 8 Step Guide
How to Install macOS Big Sur on VirtualBox on Windows? 8 Step Guide
How to Create macOS Big Sur Bootable Installer for Clean Installation: 2 Easy Steps (MAC only)
Conclusion: Install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac
I hope this guide on how to Install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac was useful for you. You can simply Install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac by using the macOS Big Sur Patch file. I have shared all the download links above. If you are still facing any issues, you can comment down your query.
Jul 16, 2018 Download macOS Mojave Patcher tool. DMG file (official link) How to install macOS 10.14 on older Mac models. Step 1 Download the DMG file using the link above on your computer. Step 2 Launch the macOS Mojave Patcher tool by double-clicking the DMG file. Step 3 Specify the path for the bootable image and choose the appropriate USB.
The Mojave 10.14.1 update does NOT install properly on unsupported machines, and could result in an unbootable OS. If you want to install the 10.14.1 update (and are not currently running 10.14.1), perform the following steps:. Download the latest version of Mojave Patcher. Download the installer using the Tools menu of Mojave Patcher. Choose 'Create a bootable installer' from the options. Plug the bootable installer into the Mac you wish to update. Restart the Mac while holding the Option/Alt key. This will cause the Mac open in. Step 1 How to install macOS Mojave on Unsupported Macs. Grab a copy of the Mojave Patch Tool at the link below: Make sure that your Mac is. Install Mojave and run the post install patch from the installer screen on your second boot If there is another dosdude patch update and you run it from the bootable OS install and you loose any functions then reboot back into the original installer.
Apple’s new macOS Mojave doesn’t support the old Macs prior to 2012. It was a shocking news for me too.
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I have an old, not for me actually, MacBook Pro which I purchased at the end of 2010. I was expecting Apple won’t drop the support of Mojave for MacBook Pro 2010 model, at least not for this time. But I was wrong. The latest Majove doesn’t support it too.
There is no need to worry. Even the oldest Windows 95 can be installed on Mac computer. There is a solution to every problem.
I don’t want to upgrade my MacBook Pro right now, especially when a new model is rumored to be released in next month.
Another choice for me was to buy a graphics card which supports Metal. In fact, it was the most feasible solution for to get installed Majove on my unsupported Mac right now.
Metal is natively supported by all Macs introduced since 2012. It means the following Nvidia, AMD and Intel family cards are compatible.
-Intel HD Graphics 400, Iris 5000 & 6000 family
-Nvidia GT 600M, 700M family
-AMD R9 M family
To check which GPU (graphics processing unit) is installed on your Mac computer, click on the Apple icon in the top left corner and then click on “About This Mac”.
There are a number of third-party vendors which sell graphics cards with integrated Metal support specifically designed for Mac computers. While searching for a compatible graphics card, I found that I could install Mojave on my MacBook Pro Mid 2010 model by using a software known as macOS Mojave Patcher Tool. Kudos to DosDude1 who developed tested, and released it as a free app.
By using this software, we could install the latest macOS version on early 2008 Macs.
Here is the step by step method to run Mojave on unsupported Macs.
The whole process can be divided into four parts.
- Part 1. Getting all the required things
- Part 2. Downloading the macOS Mojave Installer App
- Part 3. Making a bootable Mojave USB drive
- Part 4. Installing and Patching Mojave OS on the unsupported computer
We will discuss each part in details in the following paragraphs.
Part 1: Requirements to Run Mojave on Old Macs
Four things are required to get macOS Mojave installed on your forgotten-by-Apple Mac.
- Your Mac computer
It could be an early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro. The following models include under this category.
– MacPro3,1
– MacPro4,1
– iMac8,1
– iMac9,1
– iMac10,x
– iMac11,x
– iMac12,x
– MacBookPro4,1
– MacBookPro5,x
– MacBookPro6,x
– MacBookPro7,1
– MacBookPro8,x
It could be late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook. The following models include under this category:
– MacBookAir2,1
– MacBookAir3,x
– MacBookAir4,x
– MacBook5,1
It could be early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook including the following models:
– Macmini3,1
– Macmini4,1
– Macmini5,x
– MacBook5,2
– MacBook6,1
– MacBook7,1
And it could be Xserve2, 1 and Xserver3, 1.
- A USB drive in 16GB size or above
- macOS Mojave patcher tool. Download it here.
- A copy of the Mojave software.
Part 2: Download macOS Mojave Installer Software
MacOS Mojave software can be downloaded as an Installer App from Mac App Store using the computer which supports Mojave.
If you don’t have Mojave supported Mac, you can download the Mojave Installer App using patcher tool. Open the macOS Mojave patcher tool. If it doesn’t open and says it is from an unidentified developer, right click on the tool’s icon and click on “Open” from sub-menu and then enter your Mac’s Admin name and password. After the verification, you can open it with the left double-click.
If you don’t remember your macOS password, here are the solutions to reset it.
Go to Tools in the Menu bar and then hit “Download macOS Mojave”.
I recommend using the built-in downloader tool because it will download the latest and the compatible Installer app.
Mojave Installer app is about 5-6GB in size and it may take some time depending on the speed of your internet. Download safari for mac catalina.
If the internet connection interrupts while downloading the file, don’t worry. The downloading process will resume where it left. Simply download the Mojave software again but point it to the same location where you were already downloading and saving the installer app.
Part 3: Create a Bootable Mojave USB Drive
In order to create a bootable Mojave USB Installer drive, follow these steps.
Step 1: Insert 16GB or above USB drive into your USB port of your Mac.
Step 2: Open Disk Utility and erase the USB drive in OS X Extended (Journaled) format. Give a proper name before erasing. I gave the name “macOS Mojave” to my USB drive.
If you are new to Mac, get the basic information about how to make a Partition, erase the current partition and how to make a bootable USB drive.
Step 3: After the drive is erased, open “macOS Mojave Patcher” tool.
Step 4: Point the Patcher tool to the downloaded Mojave Installer app which is downloaded in Part 2.
Step 5: Now select the target USB drive you just formatted.
Step 6: Hit the “Start Operation” button on the patcher tool and let it make the USB bootable with Mojave.
Step 7: It will show “Complete” when the process is done.
Part 4: Installing and Patching macOS Mojave
In this fourth and final part, we will install and patch the macOS Mojave on our old Mac computer. Follow the steps below to complete the remaining procedure.
Step 1. Restart your computer and hold down the “Option” key as soon as the Mac starts up.
Install Macos Mojave On Unsupported Mac
Step 2: Select the USB drive, which was named as “macOS Mojave” as the startup disk.
Step 3: If you want to upgrade your current macOS to macOS Mojave, simply use the continue button to proceed and follow step 5. But if you want to install it on another partition or want to erase the current partition first, then follow the Step 4.
Step 4: Open Disk Utility from the bottom left panel.
Select the volume you want to erase. Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Or if you have got late-2009 and later machines with SSD drives, you can also use APFS format.
If you don’t want to install Mojave on current volume, you can also create a new partition and install it there. Mojave takes approximately 18GB space on hard drive. So at least make a 25GB partition to test the new macOS.
If you want to use it for all routine work, set the partition size according to your needs.
Step 5: Select the volume and press “Continue” to begin the installation process.
Step 6: The installation process takes about 20 minutes to complete. When it is done, reboot your Mac back into installer drive while holding down the “Option” key again.
Step 7: This time select “macOS Post Install” app from the bottom left panel.
Step 8: Select the model of your computer and the volume on which you installed Mojave and then click the “Patch” button. The tool will automatically select the required patches according to the model of your computer.
Step 9: Press the “Reboot” button when the patch is complete.
Step 10: The computer will reboot with macOS Mojave installed on it.
Step 11. If it doesn’t work properly on the restart, boot your Mac back into the installer USB drive, select macOS Post Install again, and this time also select “Force Cache Rebuild” option. Once the patch is complete and the cache is rebuilt, reboot.
Step 12: Upon restart, complete the setup process and start using your Mac with a Mojave operating system.
Happy Mojaving!!
For additional information and to know more about the known issues, please visit DosDune1’s website. He is an awesome guy.
Install Macos Mojave 10.14
Upgrade Unsupported Mac
Note: You will see a new “Patch Updater” app in the Applications under “Other” folder. It will alert you when new patches are available for your computer.
Macos Mojave Patcher Tool
Install Macos Mojave On Unsupported Mac
Install Macos Mojave On Old Macbook
Your Mac will get the future Mojave updates as other supported computer do. If you don’t see the updates, or your computer doesn’t work properly after applying the update, use the step 11 of Part 4 to enable all patches.