OpenCore Legacy Patcher

2022-11-18
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OpenCore Legacy Patcher logo

Software >

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

Apple stops providing support and a download for old hardware. However, it is possible to force an install. The project that is responsible for this magic has achieved something truly spectacular, making it trivially easy using this GUI software.

WARNING: This is an extremely stupid and dangerous process to attempt without reading, understanding, and preparing the whole process up front. See A complete plan. It really is very easy and works 100% for "only fairly ancient" hardware, but "very ancient" hardware might not be fully supported (yet?).

See also:



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Your mileage may vary with other hardware. You're on your own; I will not help you!

Table of Contents [hide]

Usage, Tips, Troubleshooting ∞

A complete plan ∞

My recommendation is:

  1. Get two USB sticks

    • Get the fastest reasonable USB sticks you can, because USB is damned slow and their speed matters a lot. If your system supports it, make sure they are good quality USB 3 gen 1 (sometimes still called USB 3.0).
  2. Write down your emergency boot hotkeys.
  3. Use the remote reinstall bootup hotkey and go through the entire reinstall process.
  4. Confirm your system/macOS works well.
  5. With the first USB stick, make it into a bootable installer. See macOS reinstallation
  6. Use that first USB stick to do a complete reinstall.
  7. Confirm your system/macOS works well.
  8. With the second USB stick, use OpenCore Legacy Patcher with the version of macOS you want.

  9. Use that second USB stick to do a complete install from scratch

    • Not an upgrade; you look at your disk tool, show all devices, and erase the root of the main drive you are installing to.

  10. Confirm your system/macOS works well.

You make the first USB stick so you can guarantee a perfectly functional "official at the time" macOS. This is useful because:

  • Apple might it's remote reinstall capability from your abandoned hardware.
  • Using a USB stick is much faster to reinstall with than the remote reinstallation anyway.

  • If your OpenCore Legacy Patcher fails then you can still reinstall your original macOS.

I'd actually recommend four USB keys:

  1. Original macOS
  2. Original macOS, spare
  3. OpenCore Legacy Patcher, your currently-used version

  4. OpenCore Legacy Patcher, the latest version you use

The second USB stick is because USB sticks die, even if not used, and so you want a spare. (Technically you should occasionally reinstall with one, then re-create it on a brand new stick, but having two prepared USB sticks is a sensible middle-ground.)

You can update OpenCore Legacy Patcher and the version of macOS to USB 4. Then you can install with it, and if there are problems you can go back to the known-good USB stick 3 and not all the way back to USB sticks 1 or 2.

Very slow / jerky mouse ∞

After installing, you may have a jerky mouse during the language / user setup. This is because the system is doing it's first cache of search information. I plodded through the setup and it cleared itself up after a while. Maybe just waiting on the installation screen will work; I don't know.

Prepare a USB stick ∞

  • Erase your USB stick

    • Show all devices
    • Select the root
    • Erase it, using the defaults
  • Run it
  • Have it search for installations

  • Select your USB stick

Video walkthrough ∞

It's pretty straightforward.

Much older hardware might want to stick to earlier macOS versions. Look for earlier instructional videos, e.g.:

Learn your OpenCore model and board-id ∞

ioreg -l | grep -i board-id

Last updated 2023-08-10 at 06:12:24

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