Sadly, these Macs are way too old to even boot Big Sur, so they do not support this patcher. Note: 2008 Mac Pros do work with Big Sur, but not with this patcher. I recommend checking out StarPlayrX's BigMac Patcher for those. The process of Installing macOS Big Sur on an unsupported Mac is to use the macOS Big Sur patch file, which will be applied to the primary USB boot. NOTE: The method is not suitable for ordinary users. You should also avoid using Mac models without Metal GPU. On older models, performance will be deficient.
- This video is about MacOs Big Sur WiFi fix for unsupported macbookDownload kext file and installation instructions from: https://mega.nz/file/4exXyIqI#S9UPvJ.
- Install Macos 10.15 Catalina On An Unsupported Mac. MacOS Big Sur 11.0 and later allows management of legacy system extensions for both Intel-based Mac computers and Mac computers with Apple silicon. How to manage legacy system extensions Kernel extensions that use previously deprecated and unsupported KPIs no longer load by default.
- Normally, you can obtain a copy of macOS Big Sur via System updates under System Preferences or can simply use App Store. But as you're using an unsupported Mac, you won't be able to get new updates as you're using unsupported Mac and Apple will block updates for new OS.
You start with creating a bootable USB with info from this post. Just pick Big Sur instead of the mentioned High Sierra.
Building/installing the patcher
After that follow these instructions,on how to install and use the OpenCore Legacy patcher.
Remarks
Macos Big Sur Unsupported Mac Update
- Erase/format the MAC HD/SSD before installation !! I really think that this does it more simple for the installer !!
- 'Mac OS Extended(journaled)' with an old non SSD HD
- With en SSD use 'APFS'
- The Mac rebooted several times during install.
- Don't remove the USB until at the very end.
- If you, like me, have a Mac which need the legacy video acceleration support please note that the Mac have a painfully slow display update before you have applied the 'Post-Install volume Patch'.
- Updating the Mac from Big Sur 11.4 to 11.5, made the messages.app stop working fixed in release 0.2.4
- Please note that 'Nightly Builds' are available but are for testing purposes only !!!