Big Sur on unsupported Mac. Installing Big Sur on an unsupported Mac can’t be done the regular way through System Preferences Software update.However, if the machine’s not too old, there’s still a way to install Big Sur on an unsupported Mac using a specially developed patcher tool. How to Install Big Sur on Unsupported Mac Last week when Apple released the macOS Big Sur, some users reported that they weren’t able to download the latest operating system. But now, according to Apple, you can easily upgrade to the latest macOS Big Sur. Before actually installing macOS Big Sur, we need to disable the system compatibility check layer, disable the system integrity protection (SIP), disable the verification of the libraries and, only then, insert our Hax.dylib in an environment variable. To achieve all that, we first need to BOOT into recovery mode. How to install big sur on an unsupported mac. Luckily there's a patcher for installing macos big sur on older macs available the big sur micropatcher can be downloaded from github. Step 3: open the macos big sur patcher file. Step 4: insert usb drive. Step 5: install macos bir sur on unsupported mac. Install macos big sur on unsupported mac.

• Mac Os Big Sur Compatibility
• Mac Os Big Sur Requirements

You are probably aware that this fall, like every single fall season, the pumpkin spice latte new macOS version will be available to install. However, this year, Apple chose to do things differently.

macOS Big Sur

Mac Os Big Sur Compatibility

First thing first, the version number. Yes, we are now looking at macOS 11, after roughly 20 years of macOS 10/Mac OS X incremental updates. Why change now? Well, with the release of this new version which will be available on Apple Silicon-based Macs and which introduces a totally new design, Apple taught it was time.

Weirdly (not really), I tend to agree with that. Indeed, I've now spent most of my life on version 10. That makes me think I still have the CD for Mac OS 9 somewhere and that I should take my first computer ever — the iMac G4 from 2000 — for a spin sometime... just for fun.

Yet, that is not the only thing Apple decided to innovate on: making perfectly working older Macs obsolete seems to be one of the new features brought by this version. Yikes.

My iMac late-2012

I am actually writing this article on this iMac. Yup, that's an eight years old device still standing perfectly here — accounting for the external SSD I'm running macOS from. I can remember myself saving the money for it for years and then finally going to the store with my mother, picking an iMac from the aisle, buying Microsoft Office like a dumba-- with it and unboxing it at home... with no Internet connection whatsoever. Anyway.

The fact is, this machine has serious specs that are still relevant to this day. Indeed, my iMac is equiped with:

• an Intel Core i5 Quad-Core @ 2.7 GHz;
• 8GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1600 MHz;
• a 128GB external Samsung M.2 SSD connected via USB-3 with macOS installed on it;
• an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics card with 512MB of VRAM (yes, yes, NVIDIA graphics, in a Mac, what a world).

I was then rightfully persuaded while watching the WWDC20, with my specs in mind, that my Mac, will, once again receive this new version, as it did with macOS Catalina. But oh boi was I wrong... Several hours later, articles started to pop out of nowhere saying my iMac (in addition to my Apple Watch Series 2 and AirPods 1st-gen) was now obsolete and stuck on macOS Catalina.

Unacceptable (!), I taught. But then, I remembered that some people were running the current version on already obsolete machines. So I began to search... and was I reassured by the dozens of Mac-afficionados already running the macOS Big Sur beta1 on their unsupported MacBooks and Mac Minis.

The trick

Well then, with all those people already installing the beta on their unsupported Macs, I started to work on it for mine. Without spoiling you the ending, I was not expecting for it to work as well as it does (remember, I'm using it right now).

The basic principle of this 'hack' is to disable the verification of the system done by the installer and ideally force the installation by disabling some security aspects of macOS and adding a new library in the process that will help us achieve our goal.

If you follow very simple instructions, the end of the installation is pretty straightforward: in fact you will in the end be doing the same thing you would have been if your Mac had been compatible to start with.

Those additional steps done, some reboots, and an hour elapsed... et voilà! You are now rocking the last version of macOS (still in beta, remember) on your obsolete system.

As you can see in the screenshots above, first, it's really late, and second, everything works like a charm. From Maps, a Catalyst version of an iPad app, to the new System Preferences... all is great, great is all! The revamped notification center and widgets section, as well as the new control center are also all there for us to enjoy... without having spent any more money on it.

Let's get right to it then!

The catch (and how to fix it)

Before we go, you should know that your mileage may vary depending on which device you are following this tutorial with. Indeed, while some of them will have everything working as expected, most of them will lack support for Wi-Fi on macOS Big Sur...

Not to worry, though. The Mac community and the wonderful people participating on the MacRumors forums have seen worse! This is nothing a little patching can't fix. I'd like to thank libneko, jackluke and Andrey Viktorov for their insightful contributions on how to fix the Wi-Fi and his experience. I wouldn't have macOS Big Sur and working Wi-Fi on my iMac if it wasn't for them and other members of this forum.

In such manner, you'd be happy to know that my iMac is ready to roll on the latest version for at least another update cycle — with all functions working properly. If you too, you are experiencing the failed with 66 error or want to fix you Wi-Fi on macOS Big Sur, make sure to jump to step 10 or follow the entire tutorial below.

Also, just a little reminder that this tutorial is intented for Macs that are currently running macOS Catalina (10.15).

November 17th: Since the official launch of macOS Big Sur, more people are trying to follow this tutorial that was previously meant for the beta version. Thanks to some of you who gave me feedback by email, you might have some more luck with the Micropatcher if the following tutorial fails... Stay safe everyone!

Tutorial : macOS Big Sur beta 1 installation and Wi-Fi fix via kernel extension modification

Edit July: now that beta 2 and 3 are out, this tutorial and some links might not work anymore. I'll try to update the article with the final release so your mileage may vary.

Step 0: being aware of the risks

If you are not comfortable with Linux or the Mac terminal, please do not attempt this tutorial. If you attempt this tutorial only to make your Wi-Fi working on your already working macOS Big Sur partition, do not do it also if you are not very comfortable with a Terminal as it may completely break your system. Wait for a better solution or buy a cheap Wi-Fi dongle on Amazon instead.

Step 1: downloading the beta

Since your Mac isn't officially supported, the update will not be showing on your system, even when enrolled in the beta program. You'll need to download the special package directly from Apple CDN, here (9.56GB).

Step 2: downloading the additional library

Mac Os Big Sur Requirements

We need to inject an additional library named Hax.dylib during the installation process. You need to download it here (32KB).

Step 3: moving the library

To make it easier later (when we will use the $PWD variable in the Terminal), use the Finder to move or copy the library to your home folder. In my case this is /SAMSUNG SSD/Users/juliensatti/.

Step 4: booting into recovery mode

Before actually installing macOS Big Sur, we need to disable the system compatibility check layer, disable the system integrity protection (SIP), disable the verification of the libraries and, only then, insert our Hax.dylib in an environment variable.

To achieve all that, we first need to BOOT into recovery mode. Simply restart your Mac and immediately hold the CMD-R keys on reboot until you see the recovery OS.

Step 5: disabling SIP

Run csrutil disable in the recovery Terminal accessible in the menu bar under Utilities. You will also be able to check the success of the command, back in Catalina (so, after a reboot), by running csrutil status (optional).

Step 6: disabling compatibility check

Run the following command in the previoulsy opened Terminal in recovery mode: nvram boot-args='-no_compat_check'. Nothing should show up if successful.

Step 7: disabling libraries validation

First, REBOOT your computer into recovery mode (step 4). Then, open a new Terminal from there and run this long command: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true. If you get an error regarding sudo, try the same command without it.

Step 8: inserting the additional library

From the same Terminal, execute launchctl setenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES $PWD/Hax.dylib. This command will add the Hax.dylib library in your home folder as an environement variable.

Step 9: installing macOS, finally

To proceed with the proper installation of the system, REBOOT your computer in macOS Catalina (your original partition). Then, open the InstallAssistant.pkg package that you downloaded on step 1.

At the end of the process, a new app will be installed in your Applications folder (you can find it via Spotlight): Install macOS Beta.

IMPORTANT: If the computer on which you will be installing this version of macOS is not capable of a wired Ethernet connexion and if you do not have another computer on-hand, please also follow step 11 to 13 right now as you may not have a working Wi-Fi right away after the install.

The only thing left to do is to run this new application, select your target partition and wait

Please note that during the launch of the latter app it may seem stuck. It is not, the whole macOS Big Sur OS is being unzipped in the background, please wait. Additionnaly, you can check this by opening the Activity Monitor.

Once the OS is prepared to be installed, click 'Restart' and you should be on for dozens of automatic reboots. Wait for the installation to proceed, give it time.Some time later, you should now have macOS Big Sur beta1 installed on your obsolete Mac. Congrats!

— At this point your Wi-Fi should or should not be working —

My Wi-Fi is working

Great! It's over. Glad I could help! Updates should be arriving in the system preferences, as usual. Don't forget to enroll your Mac to the beta program to receive future betas along the way...

My Wi-Fi is not working

Well then, we have work to do. Be sure to know what you are doing. If you are not but still feeling lucky (and totally aware that you can break your whole system in an instant), then proceed to the steps below:

Step 10: testing the system

In order to make your life easier, try to run the following command from a macOS Big Sur Terminal: sudo mount -uw. If no error is returned as a result, please follow this tutorial from ASentientBot or this one if it still does not work, from libneko. Else, carry on.

Step 11: downloading an older version of the Wi-Fi kernel extension

An older kext (kernel extension) named IO80211Family.kext is necessary in order for the Wi-Fi to work. You can download it here (8.6MB, 20.5MB unzipped).

Step 12: creating the bootable USB

You'll need a bootable version of macOS Big Sur on a USB stick (or an external drive partition, as you wish).

To do this, open a Terminal, make sur that Install macOS Beta is still in your Applications folder and execute the following command by making sure to replace <USB/ Label> with the name of your USB stick or dedicated partition:sudo /Applications/Install macOS Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/<USB/ Label>/

Please note that this command will wipe the content on the volume selected.*

Step 13: copying the extension to the USB

Now that the bootable USB is done with the previous command, you can copy on it the IO80211Family.kext previously downloaded (and unzipped, if not already done).

Step 14: remembering Volume Group UUID and Preboot disk

From a Terminal window running on your installed macOS Big Sur system, run sudo kcditto. Take a picture with your phone of this window as it may come in handy later on.

Step 15: disabling authenticated root

1. REBOOT to the bootable USB drive of macOS Big Sur.
2. If you have FileVault enabled, neither the author of the original tutorial or I have tested it, but you should be prompted to enter password for the Big Sur installation.
3. Open a new Terminal window, from Utilities > Terminal.
4. Run csrutil authenticated-root disable to disable the authenticated root from the System Integrity Protection (SIP).
5. REBOOT to the bootable USB drive of macOS Big Sur, once more.

Step 16: mounting the volume

After reboot, open a new Terminal and:

1. Mount your Big Sur system partition, not the data one: diskutil mount /Volumes/<Volume Name. Please don't forget to replace <Volume Name> with the name of your volume. Always prepend spaces in volume name with, for example, in my case: diskutil mount /Volumes/SAMSUNG SSD
2. Remount it as readwrite: mount -uw /Volumes/<Volume Name>
3. Make a snapshot to restore if something wents wrong:/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs_systemsnapshot -s 'BeforeWifiKexts' -v /Volumes/<Volume Name>

You should see: <Volume Name> on /Volumes/<Volume Name> mounted as a confirmation.

Step 17: replacing the kernel extension (kext)

From the same Terminal:

1. Navigate to the extensions folder: cd /Volumes/<Volume Name>/System/Library/Extension
2. Backup current kext: mv IO80211Family.kext IO80211Family.kext.backup
3. Copy new kext from the USB drive, the latter always being mounted at /Volumes/Image Volume : cp -r /Volumes/Image Volume/IO80211Family.kext ..

Make sure there are no errors at the end of these commands. Nothing should appear, it's normal.

Step 18: installing the kernel extension (kext)

That's where things can start to go wrong, proceed cautiously.

From the same Terminal, run the following command: kmutil install --update-all --volume-root /Volumes/<Volume Name>.

You should see Brcm4360, Brcm4331 and some other kexts in the output. There MUST be no errors when running this command. You can see an example here.

Step 19: creating snapshot and making it bootable

Frpm the same Terminal, once again:

1. We need to create an APFS snapshot for our volume, running the following long command:/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs_systemsnapshot -s 'WifiKexts' -v /Volumes/<Volume Name>
2. Then, we need to mark it as bootable:/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs_systemsnapshot -r 'WifiKexts' -v /Volumes/<Volume Name>The only difference between these two commands, is -s after apfssystemsnapshot replaced with -r

You should see Attempting creation... and Attempting tagging... if everything went perfectly.

Step 20: copying updated BootKernelExtensions to the Preboot volume

Well, that's where things went south for me while following a tutorial of my own. I was told to mount the Preboot partition of the disk on which my installed macOS Big Sur is. At Step 1, the Terminal told me this was /dev/disk2s2. However, while executing the right command to mount this partition, well... no partition with this name was available.

My fix was to run in the current Terminal of my USB Big Sur volume the following command in order to list all the disks (and their partitions) connected to Mac : diskutil list. From there, you should look over to a partition named Preboot and make sure it's the right one (if it's not the only one).So anyway, once that was under control:

1. Mount the Preboot disk with diskutil mount /dev/<yourprebootdisk> (once again, look at the picture you took on step 13, or do what I did above).
2. Create a backup of Preboot data by:
   2.1. Navigating to the volume: cd /Volumes/Preboot;
   2.2. Listing the UUID(s): ls;
   2.3. Checking with your picture that this is the correct UUID and execute the following command by replacing <UUID> with your UUID: cp -r <UUID> <UUID>.beforewifikexts.
3. Navigate to the correct folder in Preboot with the UUID we just confirmed: cd /Volumes/Preboot/<UUID>/boot/System/Library/KernelCollections
4. Copy BootKernelExtensions from your volume to Preboot:cp /Volumes/<Volume Name>/System/Library/KernelCollections/BootKernelExtensions.kc .
cp /Volumes/<Volume Name>/System/Library/KernelCollections/BootKernelExtensions.kc.elides .

You should not see anything in return if the commands were successful.

We can also note that remembering the UUID wasn't really needed because in my case there were only one install base, but this way you can always verify...

Step 21: final

REBOOT to your installed macOS Big Sur system (the normal one). If you’re stuck on boot after approximately 10 minutes, well, you are in a state I wouldn't want to be in. THe only thing left to do is to reset your whole system via Recovery Mode... else:

1. Log in (Wi-Fi still should not work, that's normal).
2. Open a Terminal and run: sudo kcditto
3. Reboot.

Congrats! Wi-Fi should now work correctly.

In case something went wrong

To revert our changes, in the case they haven't entirely broken the system, REBOOT into your mac OS Big Sur USB and open a Terminal:

1. Make a backup snapshot bootable (notice -r instead of -s):/System/Library/Filesystems/apfs.fs/Contents/Resources/apfs_systemsnapshot -r 'BeforeWifiKexts' -v /Volumes/<Volume Name>
2. Mount Preboot as listed in step 19: cd /Volumes/Preboot
3. mv .broken where is your Volume Group UUID4. cp -r .beforewifikexts where is your Volume Group UUID
4. REBOOT to your macOS Big Sur original system and check. After that, you can try again, but don’t create BeforeWifiKexts snapshot and don’t copy preboot again! It’s meant to be done once.
   · · ·

That's the end of this large tutorial. Thanks again to all the contributors on MacRumors forums for their help... and long live to our Macs! I'll try to update this tutorial to see if the other betas break what we fixed with the Wi-Fi or not. Until then, thank you for passing by! 🤟🏼

· · ·

If you tried for yourself or liked this post, don't hesitate to share this article with people it might interest and please share your taughts below in the comments. 😄

It's that time of year again and with it, and a new macOS beta has been dropped. Here's all the info you need to get started.

Reminder that Dortania and any tools mentioned in this guide are neither responsible for any corruption, data loss, or other ill effects that may arise from this guide, including ones caused by typos. You, the end user, must understand this is beta software on unsupported machines so do not pester developers for fixes. Dortania will not be accepting issues regarding this mini-guide except for typos and/or errors.

This guide expects you to have a basic understanding of hackintoshing. If you are not familiar with it, we highly recommend you to wait until there is an easier and more straight-forward solution available.

# Backstory

More a mini-explainer as to why this release is a bit more painful than average macOS releases, the main culprits are as follows:

# AvoidRuntimeDefrag

With macOS Big Sur, the AvoidRuntimeDefrag Booter quirk in OpenCore broke. Because of this, the macOS kernel will fall flat when trying to boot. Reason for this is due to cpu_count_enabled_logical_processors requiring the MADT (APIC) table, and so OpenCore will now ensure this table is made accessible to the kernel. Users will however need a build of OpenCore 0.6.0 with commit bb12f5f or newer to resolve this issue.

# Kernel Collections vs prelinkedkernel

Since 10.7, the prelinkedkernel has been the default way for real macs to boot. This contained a very minimal amount of kexts to get a mac booted. This same bundle is what OpenCore uses to inject kexts, and was hoped to last quite some time. With macOS Big Sur, a huge change happened in where Apple no longer makes it the default form of booting.

Due to the hard work of @acidanthera, OpenCore gained experimental support for this new format in roughly 2 weeks, and we can now attempt to boot Big Sur on our hackintoshes without a Mac or VM - although you will likely run into some issues along the way.

# Prerequisites

Before we can jump head first into installing Big Sur, we need to go over a few things:

# A supported SMBIOS

Big Sur dropped a few Ivy Bridge and Haswell based SMBIOS from macOS, so see below that yours wasn't dropped:

• iMac14,3 and older
  • Note iMac14,4 is still supported
• MacPro5,1 and older
• MacMini6,x and older
• MacBook7,1 and older
• MacBookAir5,x and older
• MacBookPro10,x and older

If your SMBIOS was supported in Catalina and isn't included above, you're good to go!

For those wanting a simple translation for their Ivy and Haswell Machines:

• iMac13,2, iMac14,2 and iMac14,3 should transition over to using iMac15,1
• iMac14,1 should transition over to iMac14,4

# Supported hardware

Not much hardware has been dropped, though the few that have:

• Official Ivy Bridge U, H and S CPUs.
  • These CPUs will still boot without much issue, but note that no Macs are supported with consumer Ivy Bridge in Big Sur.
  • Ivy Bridge-E CPUs are still supported thanks to being in MacPro6,1
• Ivy Bridge iGPUs.
  • HD 4000 and HD 2500, initial developer beta forgot to remove drivers but more than likely to be removed in later updates.
• BCM94331CD based Wifi cards.
  • See Wireless Buyers guide for potential cards to upgrade to.
• Certain SATA controllers dropped
  • For some reason, Apple removed the AppleIntelPchSeriesAHCI class from AppleAHCIPort.kext. Due to the outright removal of the class, trying to spoof to another ID (generally done by SATA-unsupported.kext) can fail for many and create instability for others.
  • A partial fix is to block Big Sur's AppleAHCIPort.kext and inject Catalina's version with any conflicting symbols being patched. You can find a sample kext here: Catalina's patched AppleAHCIPort.kext
  • This will work in both Catalina and Big Sur so you can remove SATA-unsupported if you want.

Also note that AMD OSX has updated their patches, but they are experimental and unsupported and you will not obtain support for them:

And a special note for MSI Navi users, you no longer require the ATY,rom/-wegnoegpu patch to boot the installer!

# Up-to-date kexts, bootloader and config.plist

Ensure you've updated to the latest builds (not releases) of OpenCore and all your kexts, as to avoid any odd incompatibility issues. You can find the latest builds of kexts and OpenCore here:

• Driver Repo (contains OpenCore builds too).

You will also need to ensure you have a few NVRAM variables set:

• NVRAM -> Add -> 7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82:
  • boot-args:
    • -lilubetaall
      • Newest builds of Lilu(v1.4.6+) and most plugins do not require this boot-arg
    • vsmcgen=1
      • Newest builds of Lilu(v1.4.6+) and VirtualSMC(v1.1.5+) don't need this boot-arg
    • -disablegfxfirmware
      • Newer builds of WhateverGreen(v1.4.1+) resolves this

If you're unsure what version of OpenCore you're using, you can run the following in terminal:

• Note: The about command will require you to include bit 0x2 in Misc -> Security -> ExposeSensitiveData, recommended values for ExposeSensitiveData is 0x6 which includes bits 0x2 and 0x4.

# Known issues

With Big Sur, quite a bit broke. Mainly the following:

• Lilu
  • Mainly user-space patching has severely broke, meaning certain patches like DRM don't work
  • Kernel-space should be working correctly with v1.4.6, but plugins may require updates due to a complete rewrite of the patcher for Kernel Collection support.
• VirtualSMC
  • Some users may notice that even with vsmcgen=1 in boot-args, you'll still have VirtualSMC failing. To work around this, you may need to use FakeSMC till vSMC and Lilu issues are resolved.
  • Resolved with v1.1.5+
• Battery status
  • Currently RehabMan's ACPIBatteryManager is the only working kext for battery status.
  • Resolved with VirtualSMC v1.1.5+
• AirportBrcmFixup
  • Forcing a specific driver to load with brcmfx-driver= may help
  • BCM94352Z users for example may need brcmfx-driver=2 in boot-args to resolve this, other chipsets will need other variables.
• Intel HEDT hackintoshes failing to boot
  • This is due to Asus and many other OEMs excluding certain regions from your RTC device, to resolve this we can create a new RTC device with the proper regions.
  • OpenCorePkg includes a sample SSDT that goes in-depth: SSDT-RTC0-RANGE.dsl

And while not an issue, SIP has now gained a new bit so to properly disable SIP you need to set csr-active-config to FF0F0000. See here for more info: Disabling SIP

# Installation

For the installation, you'll need a few things:

• macOS Big Sur installer
• 12GB+ USB drive
• A Mac, hack, or pre-existing VM to download the installer and create install media
• Latest builds of OpenCore and kexts (see above)

# Grabbing the installer

To grab the Big Sur installer, download the beta profile from Apple's developer portal, then check for updates in System Preferences. If you don't have a developer account, you can use gibMacOS to download it:

Download gibMacOS and open gibMacOS.command:

Press M to change the Max OS, then enter 10.16 to switch the (update) catalog to the Big Sur one.

Press C to change the catalog, then select the number for the developer catalog.

Select the number for the Big Sur beta to start downloading it.

Once finished, open the InstallAssistant.pkg that was downloaded - it will be located in the gibMacOS/macOS Downloads/developer/XXX-XXXXX - Install macOS Beta folder. This package from Apple will create Install macOS Big Sur Beta.app in your /Applications folder.

Run the InstallAssistant.pkg and point this to whichever drive you're booting off of, this is where the Install.app will be dropped:

Once done, you should find it located in your Applications folder:

# Creating the installer

To create the USB is quite simple, grab your USB drive and open Disk Utility in macOS. Next format as follows:

• Name: MyVolume
• Format: macOS Journaled
• Scheme: GUID Partition Map

Once this is done, run the following command:

This will take some time so you may want to grab a coffee, once done your USB should be good to boot!(Assuming you updated OpenCore and co earlier)

# Installing

Installing macOS 11: Big Sur on a Hackintosh is fairly similar to how previous version of macOS were installed, with the main issues being:

• KernelCollections over prelinkedkernel (discussed above)
• Installation being much longer
  • This is due to the new snapshot feature of the OS
• Certain kexts breaking
  • Mainly Lilu and plugins, though quite obvious when they break

For the last one, if you get a kernel panic with Lilu we highly recommend you to update to the latest version with links we provided above. If errors are still not resolved, you may need to disable Lilu outright.

# Troubleshooting

# Stuck at Forcing CS_RUNTIME for entitlement

This is actually the part at where macOS will seal the system volume, and where it may seem that macOS has gotten stuck. DO NOT RESTART thinking you're stuck, this will take quite some time to complete.

# Stuck at PCI Configuration Begins for Intel's HEDT boards

As previously mentioned, Intel HEDT motherboards may have some issues revolving around their RTC device in ACPI. To resolve, you'll need to look at your RTC device and see which regions are missing. For more information, see here: SSDT-RTC0-RANGE.dsl

# Stuck on ramrod(^^^^^^^^^^^^^)

If you get stuck around the ramrod section (specifically, it boots, hits this error, and reboots again back into this, causing a loop), this hints that your SMC emulator is broken. To fix this, you have 2 options:

• Ensure you're using the latest builds of VirtualSMC and Lilu, with the vsmcgen=1 boot-arg
• Switch over to Rehabman's FakeSMC (you can use the MinKernel/MaxKernel trick mentioned above to restrict FakeSMC to Big Sur and up

And when switching kexts, ensure you don't have both FakeSMC and VirtualSMC enabled in your config.plist, as this will cause a conflict.

# DeviceProperties injection failing

With Big Sur, macOS has become much pickier with devices being present in ACPI. Especially if you're injecting important properties for WhateverGreen or AppleALC, you may find they're no longer applying. To verify whether your ACPI defines your hardware, check for the acpi-path property in IORegistryExplorer:

If no property is found, you'll need to create an SSDT that provides the full pathing as you likely have a PCI Bridge that is not documented in your ACPI tables. An example of this can be found here: SSDT-BRG0

• Note: This issue may also pop up in older versions of macOS, however Big Sur is most likely to have issues.

# Some kexts may not be compatible with Big Sur yet

There are a lot of kexts out there, and Big Sur is still pretty new. Not all kexts are working yet, so if you're experiencing a weird kernel panic, one thing you can try is booting with only the essential kexts (Lilu, VirtualSMC/FakeSMC, WhateverGreen) and seeing if it works. If so, you can enable kexts one by one to try to narrow down the issue.

# Virtual Machine Route

If you're still facing issues, or if with a new beta things break, you can try the virtual machine route to install on a disk and then transfer it over to your hack. Follow the following instructions to build install media and then install in a hypervisor.

Note: If you have an AMD CPU, this method isn't going to work.

# Building the Installation Media

Requirements:

• A computer or VM running macOS
• The desired macOS installation software installed to /Applications

Once you have the installation software installed to /Applications you will need to create a VDI of the installation media that will be used to install macOS in your VM. The instructions below are intended to be cut and pasted without editing unless specified.

First, set the IMAGE variable to the name of the installation you are installing. The example defines the image for Big Sur.

Next, create an empty 16GB image to host the media.

Verify that you have a 16GB file named 'Install macOS Beta.img' before continuing. After that, attach it to your macOS system as a virtual disk using the variable you created earlier.

Run diskutil list and verify that you have a disk attached that is type 'disk image'.

Now that the image is mounted, format it to Journaled HFS+.

Once the image is formatted, create the installation media.

Now detach or eject the virtual disk.

You now have a raw image of the installer. Follow the appropriate page for the hypervisor you'll be choosing: