Install MacOs Monterey On Old Mac Pc's

Posted by Anand Patel on March 23, 2022 11:41

Supported Models

Any hardware supporting SSE4.1 CPU and 64-Bit firmware work on this patcher. To check your hardware model, run the below command on the applicable machine in terminal:

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep 'Model Identifier'

The below table will list all supported and unsupported functions of the patcher currently:

Regarding OS support, see below:

Support Entry	Supported OSes	Description	Comment
HostOS	macOS 10.9 - macOS 12	Refers to OSes where running OpenCore-Patcher.app are supported	Supports 10.7+ if Python 3.9 or higher (opens new window)is manually installed, simply run the `OpenCore-Patcher.command` located in the repo
TargetOS	macOS 11 - macOS 12	Refers to OSes that can be patched to run with OpenCore	May support 10.4 and newer (in a potentially broken state). No support provided.

macOS Monterey support is currently in beta and is not recommended for everyday users.
- Recommend looking at the macOS Monterey Support page for a better idea of Monterey's current status

MacBook

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
MacBook1,1	Mid-2006	NO	32-Bit CPU limitation
MacBook2,1	Late 2006		32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacBook3,1	Late 2007		32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacBook4,1	Early 2008	YES	- No GPU Acceleration in Mavericks and newer - No Keyboard and Trackpad - No USB
MacBook5,1	Late 2008		- GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
MacBook5,2	Early 2009		- GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window)) - Trackpad is recognized as mouse
MacBook6,1	Late 2009		- GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
MacBook7,1	Mid-2010
MacBook8,1	Mid-2015		Everything is supported

#MacBook Air

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
MacBookAir1,1	Early 2008	NO	Requires SSE4.1 CPU
MacBookAir2,1	Late 2008	YES	GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
MacBookAir3,1	Late 2010
MacBookAir3,2	Late 2010
MacBookAir4,1	Mid-2011
MacBookAir4,2	Mid-2011
MacBookAir5,1	Mid-2012		Everything is supported
MacBookAir5,2	Mid-2012
MacBookAir6,1	Mid-2013, Early 2014
MacBookAir6,2	Mid-2013, Early 2014

MacBook Pro

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
MacBookPro1,1	Early 2006	NO	32-Bit CPU limitation
MacBookPro1,2	Early 2006		32-Bit CPU limitation
MacBookPro2,1	Late 2006		32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacBookPro2,2	Late 2006		32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacBookPro3,1	Mid-2007		Requires SSE4.1 CPU
MacBookPro4,1	Early 2008	YES	GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
MacBookPro5,1	Late 2008
MacBookPro5,2	Early 2009
MacBookPro5,3	Mid-2009
MacBookPro5,4
MacBookPro5,5
MacBookPro6,1	Mid-2010
MacBookPro6,2
MacBookPro7,1
MacBookPro8,1	Early 2011
MacBookPro8,2
MacBookPro8,3
MacBookPro9,1	Mid-2012		Everything is supported
MacBookPro9,2	Mid-2012
MacBookPro10,1	Mid-2012, Early 2013
MacBookPro10,2	Late 2012, Early 2013
MacBookPro11,1	Late 2013, Mid-2014
MacBookPro11,2
MacBookPro11,3

Mac mini

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
Macmini1,1	Early 2006	NO	32-Bit CPU limitation
Macmini2,1	Mid-2007	NO	32-Bit Firmware limitation
Macmini3,1	Early 2009	YES	GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
Macmini4,1	Mid-2010
Macmini5,1	Mid-2011
Macmini5,2
Macmini5,3
Macmini6,1	Late 2012		Everything is supported
Macmini6,2	Late 2012		Everything is supported

#iMac

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
iMac4,1	Early 2006	NO	32-Bit CPU limitation
iMac4,2	Mid-2006		32-Bit CPU limitation
iMac5,1	Late 2006		32-Bit Firmware limitation
iMac5,2
iMac6,1
iMac7,1	Mid-2007	YES	- Requires an SSE4.1 CPU Upgrade(opens new window) - GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window)) - Stock Bluetooth 2.0 card non-functional
iMac8,1	Early 2008		- GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window)))
iMac9,1	Early 2009
iMac10,1	Late 2009		- GPU is socketed, recommend upgrading to Metal GPU(opens new window) - GPU Acceleration in Public Beta, see current issues (#108 (opens new window))
iMac11,1	Late 2009
iMac11,2	Mid-2010
iMac11,3	Mid-2010
iMac12,1	Mid-2011
iMac12,2	Mid-2011
iMac13,1	Late 2012		Everything is supported
iMac13,2
iMac13,3
iMac14,1	Late 2013
iMac14,2
iMac14,3
iMac14,4	Mid-2014
iMac15,1	Late 2014, Mid-2015

For iMac10,1 through iMac12,x, we highly recommend users upgrade the GPU to a Metal supported model. See here for more information: iMac late 2009 to mid-2011 Graphics Card Upgrade Guide(opens new window)

Mac Pro

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
MacPro1,1	Mid-2006	NO	32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacPro2,1	Mid-2007	NO	32-Bit Firmware limitation
MacPro3,1	Early 2008	YES	- Potential boot issues with built-in USB 1.1 ports (recommend using a USB 2.0 hub or dedicated USB PCIe controller) - Potential boot issues with stock Bluetooth card, recommend removing to avoid kernel panics
MacPro4,1	Early 2009		Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable
MacPro5,1	Mid-2010, Mid-2012		Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable

#Xserve

SMBIOS	Year	Supported	Comment
Xserve1,1	Mid-2006	NO	32-Bit Firmware limitation
Xserve2,1	Early 2008	YES	Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable
Xserve3,1	Early 2009	YES	Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable

Download and build macOS Installers

Creating the installer

This doc is centered around downloading and writing the macOS installer to a USB. If you're already familiar with how to do this, you can skip.

Note: 16GB+ USB will be required for the installer

Creating the installer

With OpenCore Legacy Patcher, our new GUI includes a download menu for macOS installers. So to start off, you'll want to grab our app:

OpenCore Legacy Patcher Release Apps(opens new window)

For this guide, we'll be using the standard OpenCore-Patcher (GUI).

Once downloaded, open the app and you should be greeted with this menu:

First we'll want to select the "Create macOS Installer" button. This will present you with 2 options:

For this example, we'll assume you'll need an installer. Selecting this option will download Apple's Installer Catalogs and build a list for you to choose:

Downloading	Listed Installers

Since the patcher officially supports Big Sur and newer for patching, only those entires will be showen. For ourselves, we'll select 12.1 as that's the latest public release at the time of writing. This will download and install the macOS installer to your applications folder.

Downloading the Installer	Requesting to install	Finished Installing

Once finished, you can proceed to write the installer onto a USB drive.

Note: The entire USB drive will be formatted

Select Downloaded Installer	Select disk to format

Now the patcher will start the installer flashing!

Flashing	Success Prompt	Finished Flashing

Building and installing OpenCore

Now that we have a macOS installer, lets now build our OpenCore configuration!

If you haven't downloaded OpenCore Patcher yet, do so now:

OpenCore Legacy Patcher Releases(opens new window)

Next, run the OpenCore-Patcher.app:

Here we'll select Build and Install OpenCore and start building:

Start Building	Finished Building

Once it finishes building, you'll want to select the Install OpenCore button:

If you created a macOS USB manually and don't see it listed, make sure it's either formatted as GUID/GPT or has a FAT32 partition for OpenCore to sit on

Select Drive	Select Partition

Now we finally get to boot OpenCore!

Reboot machine while holding Option to select the EFI Boot entry with the OpenCore icon (holding the Control key will make this the default boot entry):

This will be the Mac Boot Picker

Now that you've loaded OpenCore, now select Install macOS!:

This will be the OpenCore Picker

After plenty of verbose booting, you will reach the installer screen! From there it's just like any normal macOS install. For an example of how the boot process looks, see the following video:

OpenCore Legacy Patcher Boot Process(opens new window)

MacBookPro11,3 Note: When booting macOS Monterey, you'll need to boot into safe mode if acceleration patches are not installed yet. Otherwise you'll hit a black screen due to missing Nvidia drivers.(opens new window)

Safe Mode can be started by holding Shift+Enter when selecting macOS Monterey in OCLP's Boot Menu.

Post-Installation

Booting without USB drive

Once you've installed macOS through OpenCore, you can boot up and go through the regular install process. To boot without the USB drive plugged in is quite simple:

Download OpenCore Legacy Patcher
Change Patcher settings as you'd like
Build OpenCore again
Install OpenCore to internal drive
Reboot holding Option, and select the internal EFI

And voila! No more USB drive required

Booting seamlessly without Verbose or OpenCore Picker

To do this, run the OpenCore Patcher and head to Patcher Settings:

GUI Settings	TUI Settings

Here you can change different patcher settings, however the main interest is:

Set ShowPicker Mode

Once you've toggled them both off, build your OpenCore EFI once again and install to your desired drive. Now to show the OpenCore selector, you can simply hold down the "ESC" key while clicking on EFI boot, then you can release the "ESC" key when you see the cursor arrow at the top left.

Enabling SIP

For many users, SIP will be enabled by default on build. For Intel HD 4000 users, you may have noticed that SIP is partially disabled. This is to ensure full compatibility with macOS Monterey and allow seamless booting between it and older OSes. However for users who do not plan to boot Monterey, you can re-enable under Patcher Settings.

Note: Machines with non-Metal GPUs cannot enable SIP in Big Sur either due to patched root volume

SIP Enabled	SIP Lowered (Root Patching)	SIP Disabled

WARNING

If you're unsure whether you should enable SIP, leave as-is. Systems where you have already ran the Post Install Root Patching cannot enable SIP without potentially breaking the current install.

Applying Post Install Volume Patches

For users with unsupported GPUs/wifi cards, you'll need to run the Post Install Root Volume patches to regain functionality. See below on whether your hardware needs root volume patching.

Hint: Try running the root volume patch option, the Patcher will determine and install patches only when required. So there is no harm in applying them

Listing Patches	Patching Finished

WARNING

Root Patching requires a network connection by default to grab associated resources. If your system is having difficulties with wifi or ethernet, grab the Offline variants of the patcher on Github next to the regular apps:

OpenCore Legacy Patcher releases

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