macOS Patcher

macOS Patcher is a command line tool for running macOS Sierra, macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave, and macOS Catalina on unsupported Macs

End of Development

This project has been archived and won't receive future updates or support. For more information please visit this page.

Supported Macs

MacBooks

• MacBook4,1
• MacBook5,1
• MacBook5,2
• MacBook6,1
• MacBook7,1

MacBook Airs

• MacBookAir2,1
• MacBookAir3,1
• MacBookAir3,2
• MacBookAir4,1
• MacBookAir4,2

MacBook Pros

• MacBookPro4,1
• MacBookPro5,1
• MacBookPro5,2
• MacBookPro5,3
• MacBookPro5,4
• MacBookPro5,5
• MacBookPro6,1
• MacBookPro6,2
• MacBookPro7,1
• MacBookPro8,1
• MacBookPro8,2
• MacBookPro8,3

iMacs

• iMac7,1 (with an upgraded C2D CPU only)
• iMac8,1
• iMac9,1
• iMac10,1
• iMac10,2
• iMac11,1
• iMac11,2
• iMac11,3
• iMac12,1
• iMac12,2

Mac minis

• Macmini3,1
• Macmini4,1
• Macmini5,1
• Macmini5,2
• Macmini5,3

Mac Pros

• MacPro3,1
• MacPro4,1

Xserves

• Xserve2,1
• Xserve3,1

Supported Graphics Cards

• Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6000 series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4000 series and older with acceleration.)
• Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 500 series and older, i.e. 8600M(GT)/8800M(GT), 9400M/9600M(GT), 320M/330M)
• Pre-Metal Intel video cards (Intel HD Graphics 3000 and Intel HD Graphics Arrandale)

Supported Versions of macOS

• 10.12 Sierra
• 10.13 High Sierra
• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

Known Issues

Brightness Control and Sleep

If you have a MacBook4,1, you might notice two little applications have been installed along with macOS Patcher's other patches. They help solve specific issues on the MacBook4,1 and should be opened and configured after patching. NoSleep is open source and can be found on GitHub. Brightness Slider is made by ACT Productions and can be found on the Mac App Store.

Affected devices:

• MacBook4,1

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.12 Sierra
• 10.13 High Sierra
• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

Graphics Acceleration

If you have a MacBook4,1, your Mac won't support graphics acceleration with this patcher. This means brightness control and sleep won't work (see above) and applications that rely on your graphics card will perform slower or will simply not work.

Affected devices:

• MacBook4,1

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.12 Sierra
• 10.13 High Sierra
• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

AMD Radeon HD 5000/6000 Series Graphics Card Acceleration

Currently, it is not possible to get full graphics acceleration on an AMD Radeon HD 5000 or 6000 series graphics card. macOS will be almost unusable without graphics acceleration. This includes the 15" and 17" MacBook Pro systems (MacBookPro8,2 and 8,3). If you want to enable GPU acceleration on these machines, you'll need to disable the AMD graphics card (This will work on MacBook Pro 8,2 and 8,3 systems ONLY. You CANNOT disable the AMD GPU in an iMac.) Weird colors will also be produced when running Mojave with one of these graphics cards installed/enabled.

Affected graphics cards:

• AMD Radeon HD 5000 or 6000 series

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

Built-in iSight Camera

Currently, built-in iSight cameras do not work correctly on some machines. It seems to be hit or miss, but when installing, expect your iSight camera to be non-functional. If you have a MacBook4,1, your iSight camera will not work.

Affected devices:

• MacBook4,1 (won't work)
• All (hit or miss)

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.12 Sierra
• 10.13 High Sierra
• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

Trackpad

Trackpad multi-finger gestures on both machines not supported in Mojave. While the trackpad works and is fully usable, Mojave detects it as just a standard mouse, preventing you from changing some trackpad-oriented settings. If you have a MacBook4,1 with a Magic Trackpad, it will not work.

Affected devices:

• MacBook5,2
• MacBook4,1

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.12 Sierra
• 10.13 High Sierra
• 10.14 Mojave
• 10.15 Catalina

All Photos Tab

In the Photos app, there is no tab for "All Photos." However, if you right-click any photo, you can choose, "Show in All Photos" and the expected "All Photos" functionality is displayed.​ You can also set up a smart album, call it "All Photos" and use search criteria "Date Captured is after 1/1/1970".

Affected versions of macOS:

• 10.15 Catalina

Usage

Create Installer Drive

Step 1

Download the latest version of the patcher from the GitHub releases page.

Step 2

Open Disk Utility and select your installer drive, then click Erase.

Step 3

Select Mac OS Extended Journaled and click Erase.

Step 4

Unzip the download and open Terminal. Type chmod +x and drag the script file to Terminal, then hit enter. Then type sudo, drag the script file to Terminal, and hit enter.

Step 5

Drag your installer app to Terminal. Then select your installer drive from the list and copy and paste the number.

Erase System Drive (optional)

These Steps are optional. A clean install is recommended but not required. It's recommended to make a Time Machine backup before erasing your system drive.

Step 1

Open the Utilities menu and click Disk Utility. Select your system drive and click Erase.

Step 2

Select Mac OS Extended Journaled or APFS and click Erase. Don't select APFS if your Mac doesn't support APFS.

Install the OS

Step 1

Boot from your installer drive by holding down the option key when booting and selecting your installer drive from the menu. Then select your language from the list.

Step 2

Close Disk Utility if you used it to erase your system drive, then click Continue.

Step 3

Select your system drive, the drive to install the OS on, and click Continue.

Wait 35-45 minutes and click Reboot when the installation is complete. Then boot into your installer drive using the previous instructions.

Patch the OS

This is the important part. This is the part where you install the patcher files onto your system. If you miss this part or forget it then your system won't boot.

Step 1

Open the Utilities menu and click Terminal. Type patch and hit enter. Make sure to select the model your drive will be used with. Then select your system drive from the list and copy and paste the number.

Wait 5-10 minutes and reboot when the patch tool has finished patching your system drive. Then boot into your system drive and setup the OS.

Restore the OS

If you've switched to a new Mac or just want to remove the patcher files from your system, you can run the restore tool from your installer drive.

Step 1

Boot from your installer drive by holding down the option key when booting and selecting your installer drive from the menu. Then select your language from the list.

Step 2

Open the Utilities menu and click Terminal. Type restore and hit enter. Make sure to select the model you selected when you last patched. Then select your system drive from the list and copy and paste the number.

Step 3

You can choose to remove all system patches or the APFS system patch if you have it installed. Don't remove the APFS system patch if your Mac doesn't support APFS.

Wait 5-10 minutes if you selected to remove all system patches, then reinstall the OS. If you selected to remove the APFS system patch, then you don't need to reinstall the OS, and you can boot back into your system drive afterwards