[Guide] Intel NUC7/NUC8 using Clover UEFI (NUC7i7Bxx,NUC8i7Bxx,etc)

[chinese_spy]

Question for you guys- my NUC all of a sudden died on me and won’t turn on after working great for almost a year. I got a replacement through RMA. I swapped my drive and ram and the new one boots but when I get to the OS HDMI gives me a lot of errors (it looks like intermittent rainbow snow). It only happens if I operated at my normal resolution (ultrawide) but doesn’t seem like an issue at 1080p.

I tried trashing my EFI folder and using the one from Post 903. I also tried the EFI folder from a couple pages ago.

Any thoughts?

if I had such a problem with my nuc, I would try to boot windows on it, and if issue still existed it’s clear to be hardware related. Otherwise it’s Clover/kexts issue.

 

[chinese_spy]

Is there a particular brand NVME card that is more compatible with a hackintosh?
Are there differences speed wise?
Based on price, I think I’ll go with a 500GB.

A lot of questions considering how bad is my English (sorry for that), but I try to give some answers.
I prefer Samsung NVMe cards, they are fast and reliable. My nuc works well with 970 evo (bios update to v 73 is mandatory). Of course you may use another brand and model after reading some reviews/reports. Most of configs don’t have any issues, but sometimes it’s happens.

My thoughts about TM: it should be 100% external. Speed doesn't mean much, you may use usb3 HDD or network Drive. And if you decide to migrate on another Mac/Hack it can be easily done via migration assistant.

Be aware of using TM on SSD, it died very fast. Use HDD instead.

If you got NVMe drive in your config, don’t forget to install/copy NVMe driver to Clover drivers folder.

For making an accurate copy from one drive to another which will be used on the same PC I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[lend27]

Thank you for all your help.
Can you give me more info regarding the NVME driver? I thought it was just plug and play for the NUC.
What exactly do I need to do to make sure I can use the NVME as my boot drive?
Can I format the NVME drive in APFS and still use as boot drive?
Thanks!

 

[chinese_spy]

Can you give me more info regarding the NVME driver? I thought it was just plug and play for the NUC.

To make NVMe drive visible in OsX you should activate checkbox NvmExpressDxe under Additional drivers or just copy this driver to UEFI folder. Next step is to boot from your regular ssd and copy whole ssd to NVMe via CCC. When cloning is complete reboot and try to bool from NVMe. If boot from NVMe is successful, install Clover on it, select as a first bootable drive in BIOS and you are done.

 

[lend27]

To make NVMe drive visible in OsX you should activate checkbox NvmExpressDxe under Additional drivers or just copy this driver to UEFI folder. Next step is to boot from your regular ssd and copy whole ssd to NVMe via CCC. When cloning is complete reboot and try to bool from NVMe. If boot from NVMe is successful, install Clover on it, select as a first bootable drive in BIOS and you are done.

OK, I copied the driver to mu UEFI folder.
I’ll finish tomorrow when I get my drive.
Thanks again!

 

[lend27]

OK, I copied the driver to mu UEFI folder.
I’ll finish tomorrow when I get my drive.
Thanks again!

Mission Accomplished!
I followed your advice and all went well.
I booted from and I am running nicely from the NVME M.2 drive.
Thanks again!

 

[paniniham]

To new users trying to load Mojave on an NUC8x please be aware this guide is no longer being maintained.
With recent bios updates being pushed out by Intel above version 56 as well as updates by Apple to Mojave beyond 14.2 the guide has become outdated and no longer works as is.

Two additional things are needed at a minimum to be able to reach the Mojave install window.

1. An updated version of the Clover bootloader must be installed, I suggest version 4290 or higher, although slightly older versions will probably work but have not been tested. Rehabman’s version available through the terminal commands in his original guide on Github will cause the installer to halt.

2. An updated config.plist containing an ACPI/DSDT/Patch for an RTC issue that will also cause the installer to stall if your bios is a version higher than 56

***Some users are also apparently unaware that their Samsung 970 EVO plus SSD will also cause install failure if the firmware is not updated first. Visit the Samsung Website for instructions on how to create a bootable USB drive for firmware updates.

The attached EFI folder has all of the above as well as some fixes for onboard Audio and USB C functionality.

If you decide to use it it’s as simple as creating a bootable USB drive using UniBeast and then replacing the EFI folder with the attached.

Once Mojave install is complete and you have then installed an updated version of Clover to your hard drive replace the EFI folder on your hard drive with the same attached folder to finish the job. Afterwards I highly suggest you use Clover Configurator to create a unique serial number (although “continuity” is not an issue unless you have gone the route of adding a Wireless/ Bluetooth card in the one available M2 slot with the appropriate adapter mentioned in various NUC posts). Cheers

Edit: If you have issues with crackling sound from the headphone jack several users have reported success installing all kexts, with the exception of FakeSMC.kext, to the Library/Extensions folder. Audio over HDMI and the headphone jack both should work. (You can probably install all of kexts there, including FakeSMC.kext, if you prefer)


Updated EFI with Clover Version 5018 7/22/19

Not sure if you remember me but you helped me alot with crackling audio (aux) by installing the kext on to the OS. It has been going great so far, however, one this has been bugging me is that despite working audio, the volume at max is like windows as 50%. -> Facetime audio sounds so little that I have to resolve to my iPhone.
Any suggestions ?

 

[posarelli]

How do you have video configured in your config.plist? What boot arguments are you using? Be aware not all 4k monitors are supported.

Hi, sorry for the delay after my last question.
Here I am.

NUC is an i5 8th gen. low profile with M.2 SSD (NUC8i5BEK).

Flickering/green problem still there.

Mymonitor is an LG 27UD59

And this (attached file) is my config.plist...

If someone can help me... Tnx in advance.

 

[Leesureone]

Not sure if you remember me but you helped me alot with crackling audio (aux) by installing the kext on to the OS. It has been going great so far, however, one this has been bugging me is that despite working audio, the volume at max is like windows as 50%. -> Facetime audio sounds so little that I have to resolve to my iPhone.
Any suggestions ?

Are you using CodecCommader.kext? It helps amplify output.

https://bitbucket.org/RehabMan/os-x-eapd-codec-commander/downloads/

 

[Leesureone]

Hi, sorry for the delay after my last question.
Here I am.

NUC is an i5 8th gen. low profile with M.2 SSD (NUC8i5BEK).

Flickering/green problem still there.

Mymonitor is an LG 27UD59

And this (attached file) is my config.plist...

If someone can help me... Tnx in advance.

Try my config.plist...easier than trying to explain what changes to make.