GUIDE How to Boot macOS Installer on Desktops and Laptops using Clover [UEFI/Legacy] - Clover Install Guide

[EliteMacx86]

How to Install macOS on PC/Laptop using Clover [UEFI/Legacy] - Clover Install Guide​

Installing OS X/macOS can be adventurous on non-Apple computers. However, booting the OS X/macOS installers on a non-Apple computer can be challenging for new users. It's one of the major challenges you'll face in installing macOS on your target hardware when booting the OS X/macOS installer through the USB. This guide is intended for those who wish to use Clover as a Bootloader and it covers a step-by-step process to boot the OS X/macOS installer on your target Desktop or Laptop using the Clover bootloader along with the installation and post-installation. Both, installing via Clover UEFI and Clover Legacy are described in this guide.

By following this guide, you'll also be able to create a complete Clover EFI for your particular system from scratch. This guide supports both Intel Desktops and Laptops as well as AMD Desktops and Laptops, with UEFI/Legacy boot mode. Of course, the hardware compatibility must be taken care of. Those who are still using Clover as a primary bootloader, can either switch to OpenCore or can follow Clover Installation Guide.

Although UEFI Capable Systems have several advantages over Legacy, there can be systems that do not support UEFI booting and are only capable of Legacy booting. But if you do have a system that supports UEFI booting, it is recommended to use UEFI booting over the legacy boot.

• If you have a computer that is UEFI capable, follow the UEFI instructions.
• If you have a system that doesn't have UEFI capabilities, then follow the Legacy instructions.

In addition, this guide involves a pure bare metal installation. However, if you're interested in installing macOS on Virtualized platforms, you can follow one of the guides as per your needs linked below:

What is Clover?​

Clover is a bootloader - Unlike any other bootloader such as GRUB, it is an advanced bootloader especially designed to boot macOS/OS X on Non-Apple computers and is capable of booting a variety of other Operating Systems including Windows and Linux. OpenCore differs a lot from Clover and has been designed with security and quality, allowing us to use many security features found on real Macs such as System Integrity Protection and FileVault. Moreover, configuring an OpenCore EFI (used for booting) is way less complex than Clover and provides much more modern functionality than Clover. Although, still lacks some of the great features which are implemented in Clover such as on-the-fly hot patching. However, there are more advantages to using OpenCore due to its easy-to-configure in nature and regular updates. More in-depth information can be found in Why you should use OpenCore over Clover and other Bootloaders.

For users who are not familiar with OpenCore or if they haven't used it before, this guide may seem a bit complex to them, but it is quite simple if you read and go through the steps carefully. Those users who are familiar with OpenCore or have used it before will find this guide relatively easy to follow than any other guide!

Although Clover still has some advantages over OpenCore, such as adding boot args on the fly, disabling patches on the fly, and what not. However, since the Big Sur release, Clover lost its ability to boot as an independent bootloader and now depends on the OpenCore .efi to boot.

In addition, now since release, Clover includes the same OpenCore Quirks and fixes as it uses the same OpenCoreRuntime.efi driver.

Using Clover, you can also use Hotpatching on the fly, which lacks in OpenCore and you have to use an SSDT for every such fixes.

However, this gives you both the flavor.

The only limitation is Clover cannot boot from DMG unlike OpenCore and as there is no cross-platform tool for editing the .plist file, it requires a running macOS system.

Can I skip this guide and use the Clover EFI from somewhere else?​

The purpose of this guide is to show how to create a macOS Bootable USB and create Clover EFI which can be used to install macOS on a target hardware, provided that the hardware is compatible. Where, creating EFI is the main essence of the guide as that's what most people are looking for. It is strongly advised to create a configuration (Clover EFI) from scratch without the involvement of someone's else configuration and files and this is where this guide comes into place.

Using Clover EFI from another system or picking from the Internet (mostly from Github or other forums) is relatively easier than creating on your own, but will not result in many benefits due to the difference in the hardware and the vendor. Although it may be capable of booting macOS on a target system, these pre-made EFIs not only come with a lot of unnecessary and irrelevant SSDTs, Kexts, Quirks, and settings but sometimes also include custom branding and are usually way lot cluttered than the vanilla method and are generally not reliable (missing hardware functionality and/or features or even random freezes, crashes, etc.) which is not the preferred choice. Often, it becomes difficult to inject patches, Device Properties, and Quirks due to being prevented from being injected which is one of the reasons why most of the vanilla guides and/or post-install steps generally don't work with such EFIs. Everything is injected forcibly to ensure the macOS installer boots anyhow on the target system, which still fails in several cases.

Moreover, just because the random EFI you use boots on a target device, it does not necessarily mean every hardware component and the related functions are performing as expected. There could be known performance-related issues i.e. getting less performance than the system is capable of or it may not perform well on your system in general (even if it is working for the primary user). In addition, despite having the same hardware configuration, there are chances that your system may require some additional configuration than the EFI you're using to boot. Most of the users just want to boot the macOS installer on their systems, without getting to know the basics involved which is the key and this is why it makes it more difficult to troubleshoot if such configuration fails to boot the macOS installer on the target system and such users don't have clue where the problem is coming from.

Just to avoid reading and investing time into building a proper EFI, several users use the EFI of someone else. This is a very common practice often followed by new users building their OpenCore EFI and this is why such users run into different issues and invest their time effortlessly to fix the junk. Rather than investing time in troubleshooting the installation and fixing someone's else EFI configuration, which is not even intended for your particular system, it would make more sense to create your own OpenCore EFI and move in the right direction in the first place. Using someone's EFI not only makes it difficult to boot the macOS installer, but it invites way more issues than it could have originally. A lot of problems can be eliminated just by following the guide precisely.

Due to all these reasons, using OpenCore EFI from some other computer or user is never advised and such practice is highly discouraged, especially on this forum. If you don't follow the guide carefully, after a point of time, you will end up frustrated if you lack time and patience. Of course, it's your computer and you have the right to decide whether to install macOS for your use case or not.



Installing OS X/macOS is exciting on a non-Apple computers. Its a journey, so you'll have to be patience. You'll require time and patience.


Although, booting the OS X/macOS installer isn't that difficult (if done correctly), but can be a real pain if you plan to escape the essence and are in a rush. Most people just want the installer to boot on their systems, no matter how, without knowing the basics, and it's such a bad practice that it leaves the system unstable or with errors, leading to unusable as soon the system is used and with the time, the user discovers the issues the system has and after one point of time, it can no longer be used to perform the key tasks.


That way, you'll spend more time fixing things, leading you to frustration and what not.

 

[Luigi86]

Good job thanks!!

 

[alexk345]

I can read all if i can boot mac... it crashes on boot

 

[EliteMacx86]

I can read all if i can boot mac... it crashes on boot

Is that Clover?

 

[alexk345]

it crashes in all. Can someone give me clover EFI that work on G73sw asus laptop Sandy bridge 2630qm with nvidia 460m graphics. Urgent