Installing macOS Big Sur 11 on unsupported Mac Pro
Make sure to have Boot ROM 144.0.0.0.0 installed. If not please follow this guide: Installing macOS Mojave 10.14 and performing Mac Pro 5,1 Boot ROM update
We recommend macOS Big Sur 11.2.3 since newer versions introduced a race condition bug causing older Mac Pro's not to boot everytime.
If you have boot issues post installation like no entry symbol, you need to click EFI boot icon in boot picker to set NVRAM variables again. Then the system will boot normally.
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Step 2Insert USB stick to any USB port. It must be at least 16 GB in size.
From Finder menu click Go, then Utilites and double click Disk utility icon.
Select your USB stick from the left menu and click Erase button.
Type MyVolume in name field and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as format and GUID Partition Map as scheme. Then click Erase button to erase USB stick.
If you can't see Scheme field, click the View widget in the upper left corner of the Disk Utility window and choose Show All Devices. Now you should see your drive device descriptions with the drive name nested underneath. Select the drive description just above the drive name for the device you want to format. After that you will see Scheme in Erase window. |
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Step 3Visit https://github.com/barrykn/big-sur-micropatcher and click Code button then Download ZIP link.
The downloaded file should be automatically unpacked inside Downloads folder.
Move Install mac OS Big Sur file to Applications folder by drag and drop. |
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Step 4In Finder choose Go, then Utilites and double-click Terminal icon to launch Terminal. |
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Step 5Create bootable USB installer by typing a following command (all in one line), then press ENTER:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
Terminal will ask for password. Type your user password and press ENTER (password won't be shown not even under asterisk).
Creating bootable USB installer will take about 15-50 minutes depending on USB stick write speed. |
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Step 6As soon creating bootable USB installer is finished type another commands in Terminal to patch it and press ENTER after each of these (every command in one line) or just drag and drop micropatcher.sh file over Terminal window and press ENTER:
cd Downloads/big-sur-micropatcher-main
sh ./micropatcher.sh |
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Step 7Finally enter such command and press ENTER (all in one line) or just drag and drop install-setvars.sh file over Terminal window and press ENTER:
sh ./install-setvars.sh
Terminal will ask for users password (it won't be shown not even under asterisk).
Your USB installer is now patched. |
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Step 8Reboot your computer.
Press and hold Option key (on Mac keyboard) or ALT key (on Windows keyboard) and click an arrow under EFI boot icon.
Computer will be turned off automatically. This will set all proper NVRAM values needed for macOS Big Sur.
Make sure the USB flash drive is inserted into Mac Pro built-in USB hub (front or rear). Extra USB PCIe cards won't show a bootable flash drive.
WARNING: If you would ever reset NVRAM or you have no entry sign then you need to redo this step to be able to boot macOS Big Sur. |
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Step 9Power on your computer again.
Once again press and hold Option key (on Mac keyboard) or ALT key (on Windows keyboard) and click an arrow under Install macOS Big Sur icon.
This time click an arrow under Install macOS Big Sur to start macOS Big Sur installer. |
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Step 10If you haven't created blank APFS partition needed for macOS Big Sur yet, you can create one now by choosing Disk Utility. |
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Step 11If you have APFS partition ready, you can select Install macOS Big Sur and click Continue button to start the installation.
Continue macOS installation just like on a supported Mac. The system will reboot several times automatically during installation. |
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Step 12When installation is ready you will be presented with Migration Assistant. Leave the default radio button as is and just click Continue button. |
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Step 13Now you can move data from your old macOS installation. Click your previous macOS drive and then Continue button. |
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Step 14As soon your data is moved and you will see macOS Big Sur desktop, you need to reboot once again to patch kexts e.g. for Wi-Fi module to be operational.
Once again press and hold Option key (on Mac keyboard) or ALT key (on Windows keyboard) and click an arrow under Install macOS Big Sur icon.
macOS Installer will start again. Choose Utilites from Finder and then Terminal. |
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Step 15Type a following command in Terminal and press ENTER to start patching kexts (all in one line):
"/Volumes/Image Volume/patch-kexts.sh" "/Volumes/BIG SUR"
where BIG SUR is your macOS Big Sur partition name. |
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Step 16As soon patching kexts is finished your can reboot in normal mode and macOS Big Sur will be fully functional just like on a supported Mac. Enjoy! |