How to Upgrade your Unsupported Mac to macOS Sonoma
An EliteMacx86 Exclusive Guide - This guide covers the upgrade process of macOS Sonoma on Unsupported Macs, unofficially.Overview
Today, Apple announced their new macOS lineup i.e macOS Sonoma 13.0 which is Apple's newest and most awaited OS. Monterey added massive updates and improvements from its predecessor, Big Sur.
Packed with new features and functionality, the most noticeable update that can be seen and experienced is the new GUI. Featuring a much more "iOS" look and feel and is as smooth as butter. With each release of macOS, Apple removes support for old hardware.
Unfortunately, with the announcement of macOS Sonoma, Apple has officially dropped support up to Skylake. Luckily, for our users and readers, we'll provide you with a complete upgrade guide step-by-step.
If you've made an attempt to
install macOS Sonoma before reading this guide, you've probably been greeted with the Internet Recovery or no-entry sign immediately after booting from the Sonoma installer.
With this in mind, you'll have to use other ways to upgrade your Unsupported Mac to macOS Sonoma.
Compatibility
Before you proceed with a clean installation, we suggest you to check the compatibility of the Mac model.
Have another Mac model and want to run macOS Sonoma? You can find the complete list of supported Mac models for macOS Sonoma and check whether your Mac model is listed. The compatibility list is linked below.
macOS Ventura Compatibility - Can your Mac run it?
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Requirements
Before you start with this guide, here are the requirements for setting up macOS Sonoma on your unsupported Mac mini.
| Mac | Late 2009, Mid 2010, Mid 2011, and Late 2012 |
| Boot ROM Version | Latest Boot ROM installed |
| USB Flash Drive | At least 16GB |
If you meet the above requirements, you're good to go and can start with the guide.
For Clean Install of macOS Sonoma on Unsupported Macs
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STEP 1: Create a Backup of your Mac
Before you proceed with the installation, we advise you to perform a backup of your Mac. In case the installation fails or you encounter any issue with the installation, you can roll back to your existing installation.
To create a Backup for your Mac, follow the guide linked below.
STEP 2: Download macOS Sonoma
The next step is to download macOS Sonoma. Normally, you won't be able to get new updates as you're using an unsupported Mac and Apple will block updates for the new OS. However, there's another workaround available and you can download a copy of macOS Sonoma very easily. To download macOS Sonoma, follow the guide below
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STEP 3: Setup OpenCore
The next step is to set up OpenCore which will allow upgrading your Unsupported Mac to macOS Sonoma. Typically, involving the preparation of EFI using OCLP.
1. On your target Mac, boot to Desktop.
2. Apple menu > About This Mac>System Report
3. Note down the model identifier. In our case, it's Macmini7,1
4. Download OCLP.
5. Open OCLP and you'll see something similar to the screenshot attached below.
6. OCLP detects the Mac model automatically. However, it is still recommended to select the target Mac model identifier from the drop-down selection, especially if you're running OCLP from any other than the target Mac. To select the target Mac model, simply click on con Settings and select the target Mac model identifier from the drop-down selection under the Target Model option. In our case, it would be Macmini7,1. In addition, it would be good to disable verbose, if you don't want rolling texts on your screen during the booting and installation phase.
7. Click on Return to Main Menu and you should have something similar to the screenshot attached below.
8. Click on Build and Install OpenCore. Once the OpenCore is built, it will prompt you to view the log and install OpenCore to the target disk for booting.
9. When prompted, Click on Install to disk.
10. When prompted, click on OK to allow disk access.
16. Select the current disk on which an older version of macOS is installed. In our case, it's disk0 - CT240BX500SSD1
17. From the available FAT32 (ESP) Partition, select the disk to install OpenCore. When prompted, enter your system password
18. Once OCLP finishes installing OpenCore to the target disk, you'll see the following.
And within a few seconds, it will prompt to reboot.
19. Once, you're done with all the above processes, click on Reboot.
20. After clicking on Reboot, you'll see the confirmation dialogue box to restart your Mac. Simply click on Restart to restart your Mac
STEP 4: Boot using OpenCore
Once you're done with STEP #3, you need to boot using OpenCore. To boot using OpenCore, follow the steps below.
1. Restart your Mac and while restarting, hold down the option key and boot from EFI Boot with the OCLP icon.
2. When at OC Boot picker, select your system drive (the drive on which you have existing macOS) and press enter to boot and it will boot back to the old macOS.
STEP 5: Upgrade to macOS Sonoma
After booting using OpenCore, the next step is to upgrade to macOS Sonoma. To upgrade your Unsupported Mac to macOS Sonoma, follow the steps below.
1. From the Applications folder, right-click on Install macOS Sonoma beta and click on open
2. Click on Continue and then continue with the options as shown below.
Now, macOS Sonoma will begin installing to your selected disk.
3. Once the first phase completes, the installer will prompt for restarting your Mac and your Mac will restart automatically.
After restarting, it will continue the installation
Your Mac will restart again and when your Mac restarts, it will automatically boot from macOS Installer to continue the installation. If for any reason, the installer does not auto boot, select macOS Installer in the boot picker and then boot. The installation will continue. If you choose to boot from Macintosh HD or (your drive name), the system will boot back to your previous installation without upgrading to macOS Sonoma.
Once again, your Mac will restart and when your Mac restarts, it will automatically boot from Macintosh HD to continue the installation, like above and after it boots, you'll see something like below.
After this process, your Mac will complete the upgrade process and you'll be asked to enter your password to login into macOS Sonoma.
Enter your password and you have successfully upgraded to macOS Sonoma on your unsupported Mac.
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