OpenCore Legacy Patcher Now we finally get to boot OpenCore!
Reboot machine while holding Option to select the EFI Boot entry with the OpenCore icon:
Now that you've loaded OpenCore, now select Install macOS!:
After plenty of verbose booting, you will reach the installer screen! From there it's just like any normal macOS install.
OpenCore Legacy Patcher Now that we have a macOS installer, lets now build our OpenCore configuration!
First Download the latest release:
Next, run the OpenCore-Patcher.app:
From here you have a couple important options:
If you're patching for a different machine than you're running, please select "Change Model" and enter the updated SMBIOS. For more advanced users, you may also tweak the patcher's build settings via "Patcher Settings"
Now lets enter "Build OpenCore":
The process should be quite quick to build, once finished you'll be plopped back to the main menu.
Next lets run Install OpenCore to USB/internal drive:
| Select Drive | Select EFI/FAT32 Partition |
|---|---|
 |  |
OpenCore Legacy Patcher 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.
The simplest way to download macOS installs would be to use installinstallmacos:
mkdir ~/macOS-installer && cd ~/macOS-installer && curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/munki/macadmin-scripts/main/installinstallmacos.py && sudo python installinstallmacos.py
+
As you can see, we get a nice list of macOS installers. If you need a particular versions of macOS, you can select it by typing the number next to it. For this example we'll choose 10:
This is going to take a while as we're downloading the entire 12GB+ macOS installer.
Once finished, you'll find in your ~/macOS-Installer/ folder a DMG containing the macOS Installer, called Install_macOS_11.1-20C69.dmg for example. Mount it and you'll find the installer application.
/Applications folder, as we'll be executing commands from there.~/macOS-installer
Now we'll be formatting the USB to prep for both the macOS installer and OpenCore. We'll want to use macOS Extended (HFS+) with a GUID partition map(Using GUID is important for the patcher). This will create two partitions: the main MyVolume and a second called EFI which is used as a boot partition where your Mac's firmware will check for boot files.
Next run the createinstallmedia command provided by Apple (opens new window). Note that the command is made for USB's formatted with the name MyVolume:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
+createinstallmedia path with that of where your installer's located (same idea with the drive name).
OpenCore Legacy Patcher 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:
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep 'Model Identifier'
+The below table will list all supported and unsupported functions of the patcher currently:
| 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 | ||
| MacBook4,1 | Early 2008 | ||
| MacBook5,1 | Late 2008 | YES | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) |
| MacBook5,2 | Early 2009 | ||
| MacBook6,1 | Late 2009 | ||
| MacBook7,1 | Mid-2010 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBookAir1,1 | Early 2008 | NO | Requires SSE4.1 CPU |
| MacBookAir2,1 | Late 2008 | YES | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - No Wifi Patches implemented(yet) |
| MacBookAir3,1 | Late 2010 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) | |
| MacBookAir3,2 | |||
| MacBookAir4,1 | Mid-2011 | ||
| MacBookAir4,2 | |||
| MacBookAir5,1 | Mid-2012 | Everything is supported | |
| MacBookAir5,2 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBookPro1,1 | Early 2006 | NO | 32-Bit CPU limitation |
| MacBookPro1,2 | |||
| MacBookPro2,1 | Late 2006 | 32-Bit Firmware limitation | |
| MacBookPro2,2 | Late 2006 | ||
| MacBookPro3,1 | Mid-2007 | - Requires SSE4.1 CPU | |
| MacBookPro4,1 | Early 2008 | YES | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - No Wifi Patches implemented(yet) |
| MacBookPro5,1 | Late 2008 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) | |
| MacBookPro5,2 | Early 2009 | ||
| MacBookPro5,3 | Mid-2009 | ||
| MacBookPro5,4 | |||
| MacBookPro5,5 | |||
| MacBookPro6,1 | Mid-2010 | ||
| MacBookPro6,2 | |||
| MacBookPro7,1 | |||
| MacBookPro8,1 | Early 2011 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - Ethernet Connection Issues | |
| MacBookPro8,2 | |||
| MacBookPro8,3 | |||
| MacBookPro9,1 | Mid-2012 | Everything is supported | |
| MacBookPro9,2 | |||
| MacBookPro10,1 | |||
| MacBookPro10,2 | Late 2012 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macmini1,1 | Early 2006 | NO | 32-Bit CPU limitation |
| Macmini2,1 | Mid-2007 | 32-Bit Firmware limitation | |
| Macmini3,1 | Early 2009 | YES | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) |
| Macmini4,1 | Mid-2010 | ||
| Macmini5,1 | Mid-2011 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - Ethernet Connection Issues | |
| Macmini5,2 | |||
| Macmini5,3 | |||
| Macmini6,1 | Late 2012 | Everything is supported | |
| Macmini6,2 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| iMac4,1 | Early 2006 | NO | 32-Bit CPU limitation |
| iMac4,2 | Mid-2006 | ||
| iMac5,1 | Late 2006 | 32-Bit Firmware limitation | |
| iMac5,2 | |||
| iMac6,1 | |||
| iMac7,1 | Mid-2007 | YES | - Requires an SSE4.1 CPU Upgrade - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - No Wifi Patches implemented (yet) |
| iMac8,1 | Early 2008 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - No Wifi Patches implemented (yet) | |
| iMac9,1 | Early 2009 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) | |
| iMac10,1 | Late 2009 | ||
| iMac11,1 | - No GPU Acceleration in Big Sur - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) - Ethernet Connection Issues | ||
| iMac11,2 | Mid-2010 | ||
| iMac11,3 | |||
| iMac12,1 | Mid-2011 | ||
| iMac12,2 | |||
| iMac13,1 | Late 2012 | Everything is supported | |
| iMac13,2 | |||
| iMac14,1 | Late 2013 | ||
| iMac14,2 | |||
| iMac14,3 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacPro1,1 | Mid-2006 | NO | 32-Bit Firmware limitation |
| MacPro2,1 | Mid-2007 | ||
| MacPro3,1 | Early 2008 | YES | - Requires an SSE4.1 CPU Upgrade - No AppleHDA(Audio) Patching implemented(yet) |
| MacPro4,1 | Early 2009 | Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable | |
| MacPro5,1 | Mid-2010 |
| SMBIOS | Year | Supported | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xserve1,1 | Mid-2006 | NO | 32-Bit Firmware limitation |
| Xserve2,1 | Early 2008 | ||
| Xserve3,1 | Early 2009 | YES | Everything is supported as long as GPU is Metal capable |
OpenCore Legacy Patcher 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:
And voila! No more USB drive required
To do this, run the OpenCore Patcher and head to Patcher Settings:
Here you can change different patcher settings, however the main 2 of interest are:
Once you've toggled them both off, build your OpenCore EFI once again and install to your desired drive. Now to show OpenCore picker, you can simply press "Esc" key repeatedly.
+ ⟵ + + Booting OpenCore and macOS + + Troubleshooting + + ⟶ +
OpenCore Legacy Patcher This is a sophisticated boot loader used to inject and patch data in memory, instead of on disk. This means we're able to get near-native experience on many unsupported Macs with Metal GPUs. This includes many of the long desired features of other patchers such as:
While many PC users from the Hackintosh community are familiar with OpenCore, OpenCore was designed as Mac and PC agnostic ensuring both platforms can use it easily. And with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, we help automate the process making running with OpenCore that much easier.
+ Supported Models + + ⟶ +
OpenCore Legacy Patcher Here are some common errors users may experience while using this patcher:
This version of Mac OS X is not supported on this platformSleep Wake Failure)This version of Mac OS X is not supported on this platformThis means macOS has detected a SMBIOS it does not support, to resolve this ensure you're booting OpenCore before the macOS installer in the boot picker. Reminder the option will be called EFI Boot
Once you've booted OpenCore at least once, your hardware should now auto boot it until either NVRAM reset or you remove the drive with OpenCore installed.
By default, the OpenCore Patcher won't install OpenCore onto the internal drive itself during installs. Instead, you'll need to either manually transfer (opens new window) OpenCore to the internal drive's EFI or run this patcher's Option 2 again but select your internal drive.
Reminder that once this is done, you'll need to select OpenCore in the boot picker again for your hardware to remember this entry and auto boot from then on.
With OpenCore Legacy Patcher, we rely on Apple Secure Boot to ensure OS updates work correctly and reliably with Big Sur. However this installs NVRAM variables that will confuse your Mac if not running with OpenCore. To resolve, simply uninstall OpenCore and reset NVRAM (opens new window).
Sleep Wake Failure)Known issue on some models (opens new window), temporary fix is to disable Hibernation:
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
+For Mac Pro, Xserve and iMac users with non-flashed GPUs, you can still easily boot OpenCore and view the entire boot process. To do so, make sure SIP is disabled(to allow NVRAM write access) and run the following:
sudo bless --verbose --file /Volumes/VOLNAME/EFI/OC/OpenCore.efi --folder /Volumes/VOLNAME/EFI/OC --setBoot
+VOLNAME with the Volume name of your USB or hard drive with OpenCoreOnce you boot OpenCore for the first time, LauncherOption will install itself as the top boot priority making OpenCore always launch. Combined with RequestBootVar, all boot options must go through OpenCore ensuring seamless usage even with OS installation and updates.
By default, the patcher will try to hide extra boot options such as recovery from the user. To make them appear, simply press the "Spacebar" inside OpenCore's Picker to list all boot options.
+ ⟵ + + Post-Installation +