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

[winson901]

Long time lurker who has really benefitted from all the discussion here who may finally be able to help!

I've had an 5500XT 8GB in an Akitio Node connected via TB3 and had to do a few changes to get it working.

Legacy mode was enabled in the Nuc settings for Thunderbolt Bios (not sure if this was needed but that's how I have it)
I added "agdpmod=pikera" to the boot flags in my config.plist

                <key>SystemAudioVolume</key>
                <data>Rg==</data>
                <key>boot-args</key>
                <string>keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 agdpmod=pikera</string>
                <key>csr-active-config</key>
                <data>AAAAAA==</data>
                <key>prev-lang:kbd</key>
                <string>en-US:0</string>

Lastly was to directly connect my DisplayPort cable to my EGPU. Good thing is for me that the EGPU seems to display the bios, OpenCore selector and Mac OS on my setup so it's all routing through the DP cable to my display.

I did disconnect the HDMI cable from the Nuc itself so everything runs on the EGPU. I had issues when dual booting Windows whenever the AMD Radeon drivers updated (it'd black screen on the egpu) so having a HDMI cable nearby for the onboard Intel graphics if you are dual booting might be worth it.

I've never had the GPU settings show up in Mac OS myself but as I was always using the EGPU for output anyway so that hasn't affected me just yet. You do lose a little performance when running the EGPU back through the TB cable to the Intel GPU so I wasn't really interested in doing that either.

And for info, my Thunderbolt section also shows "No drivers are loaded" even when I'm using the EGPU.

With any luck this might help in some way but anything else you may need, please do ask and I'll see what I can do for you.

The 5500XT is now in my Windows PC and the EGPU now has a RX 570 4GB in it for my nuc which is also working great.

Thank you Chazintosh! add agdpmod=pikera works for me. Also many thanks for clarifying "No drivers are loaded" under Thunderbolt page too because I seem to see some people have that info in other google search results. I'm fine with no eGPU icon on menubar too as long as it works well. Now I have solid results in "About This Mac -> Displays". (Sorry only has one very old and low resolution LCD nearby me )

 

[Chazintosh]

Thank you Chazintosh! add agdpmod=pikera works for me. Also many thanks for clarifying "No drivers are loaded" under Thunderbolt page too because I seem to see some people have that info in other google search results. I'm fine with no eGPU icon on menubar too as long as it works well. Now I have solid results in "About This Mac -> Displays". (Sorry only has one very old and low resolution LCD nearby me )

View attachment 493330

That's great news!

You wouldn't believe the confusion I had at the time when my 5500XT was detected, working fine in Windows but not outputting anything in Mac OS plus the thunderbolt part being empty. Overcoming these problems can be oddly satisfying.

Glad it's all working now!

 

[danilovitch]

Some modifications of NCU8OC6.1EFI.zip from post #894 by Leesureone

To quickly replace MLB, SystemSerialNumber, SystemUUID from config.plist via Terminal:

plutil -replace PlatformInfo.Generic.MLB -xml '<string>YOUR_MLB</string>' config.plist
plutil -replace PlatformInfo.Generic.SystemSerialNumber -xml '<string>YOUR_SERIAL_NUMBER</string>' config.plist
plutil -replace PlatformInfo.Generic.SystemUUID -xml '<string>YOUR_SYSTEM_UUID</string>' config.plist

Disable Verbose:

plutil -replace NVRAM.Add.7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82.boot-args -xml '<string>keepsyms=1 debug=0x100</string>' config.plist

Modify Boot Timeout:

plutil -replace Misc.Boot.Timeout -xml '<integer>4</integer>' config.plist

Hide Auxiliary (in boot menu):

plutil -replace Misc.Boot.HideAuxiliary -xml '<true/>' config.plist

Enable iconos, Themes:
Copy OpenCanopy.efi to /EFI/OC/Drivers/
the attached file is equivalent to OC6.1, this must correspond to your version of the OC
Replace /EFI/OC/Resources with the contents of unzipped Resources.zip

plutil -insert UEFI.Drivers.2 -xml '<string>OpenCanopy.efi</string>' config.plist
plutil -replace Misc.Boot.PickerMode -xml '<string>External</string>' config.plist

Enable ON/OFF of Bluetooth:
Copy IntelBluetoothInjector.kext to /EFI/OC/Kexts/

plutil -insert Kernel.Add.11 -xml '<dict><key>BundlePath</key><string>IntelBluetoothInjector.kext</string><key>Comment</key><string>Bluetooth Injector</string><key>Enabled</key><true/><key>ExecutablePath</key><string>Contents/MacOS/IntelBluetoothInjector</string><key>PlistPath</key><string>Contents/Info.plist</string></dict>' config.plist

Enable WiFi Beta Support (for OC6.1 and latter):
Copy AirportItlwm.kext to /EFI/OC/Kexts/

plutil -insert Kernel.Add.14 -xml '<dict><key>BundlePath</key><string>AirportItlwm.kext</string><key>Comment</key><string>Wi Fi</string><key>Enabled</key><true/><key>ExecutablePath</key><string>Contents/MacOS/AirportItlwm</string><key>PlistPath</key><string>Contents/Info.plist</string></dict>' config.plist

Hi, I am very interested in trying the "Enable ON/OFF Bluetooth and Enable WiFi Beta Support". I managed to set up a NUC8i3BEK2 with Catalina and OP 0.6.2, thanks to Leesureone's guides yesterday. With some fiddling it works very good now apart from Blt onoff and onboard wifi. Only thing am not so sure of is the best way to add your strings Code=Bash to get the kexts to work. I did try with ProperTree but did not quite understand exactly where I should enter your Codes. Can you give some info about that? This is my first Hack with OpenCore aswell, so quite many thinks to look for....

 

[zzmadd]

Hi all,

can anyone point to @Leesureone guide for NUC 8 i5 to run Catalina on this thread?
Is there an OpenCore guide too?
Thanks!!

 

[danilovitch]

Hi all,

can anyone point to @Leesureone guide for NUC 8 i5 to run Catalina on this thread?
Is there an OpenCore guide too?
Thanks!!

Hi, have a look at page 90, there are a lot of pre-made EFI. Just trying to fix wifi and a bluetooth onoff matter with OpenCore 0.6.2 and a NUC8i3BEK2. Its going fine I would say, have a look at page 369. You will need Xcode to activate the kexts. Meaning edit the config.plist. I did not touch Xcode for years, but placing the "activating code" under the Kernel segment seems to be wright, at least it works albeit the wifi is pretty slow, approx 40% speed. But its a Beta so its quite promising. Im new to OpenCore so maybe there is some easier way than to use Xcode. I don't know yet.
Also this is very good for USB https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/the-new-beginners-guide-to-usb-port-configuration.286553/

 

[roki303]

Long time user of NUC5 here which served me well. Decided to upgrade to NUC8i7BEH as the NUC5 was getting slow. I read (more or less) this thread and was able to get everything working. I used OC EFI from page 90 with some mods (Mainly disabled Intel Bluetooth and WIFI kexts as I don't use those - bought Apple card and used M2 slot, hoked that via cable to USB header HS05).

Now ... I'm still facing some issues.

1. I know that I have to enable internal USB headers HS05 and HS06 but I struggle with that even though I think it is straight forward. I followed the other guide, I generated USPOrts.kext but still not luck. I can see the port but it is not working. I also tried generated SSDTs but still no luck with those. I think all is good hardware wise because when I use USBInjectAll all works well (but I believe this is not a good way to do this plus I'm having issues with sleep when I do that). What am I missing?? I'm attaching screenshots one with my USBPorts and one with USBInjectAll enabled.

2. The second issue is HDMI. I'm getting sometimes a noise (like old TV noise). Attaching and detaching cable works. I wonder if I can tweak something or should I just switch to USBC -> DisplayPort cable.

 

[roki303]

I updated BIOS to latest (85) and I tried this build: https://github.com/zearp/Nucintosh

All seems to be working - including BT and WIFI. I still like the build from this thread @ page 90 as it seems a bit less bloated. I tried coping USBPorts but that didn't do much so I don't think the issue is with my USBPorts.kext. Must be somthing with SSDT or config that I'm missing. Just need to enable HS05 and HS06 headers.

Also discovered that you need to remove HS10 otherwise you will have sleep-wake issues with BT <-- THIS IS IMPORTANT step that seems to be missing here for people that use M2 slot with Apple Aircard.

Still facing issue with HDMI. Will try another cable maybe.

 

[pictureled]

Hello,
New around here but thanks to you I managed to get my NUC8i5 to work with OC6.2 with the files on page 90.
I would like to install windows on a second hard drive (Sata). But I don't know where to start after having read a lot of posts on it. I'm afraid of breaking mac OS.
Can any of you help me ?
Thank you

 

[danilovitch]

Thanks, personally it doesn't do anything for me so I'm not going to add it. Also I'm really not interested in maintaining another upload format. It's relatively easy to add it compared to starting from scratch. Here's how:

OpenCore beauty treatment | OpenCore Post-Install

dortania.github.io

Hi Leesureone, thanks a lot for sharing all EFS's for the NUC. I used the OpenCore 0.6.2 and it works very well on a NUC8i3BEK, the low model with NVME only ssd. With some additions also wifi seems to work quite good. I have one question and that is how did you come to conclusion about framrate settings? Sanity check says its not a CoffeLake cpu, and as far as I understand Hackintool suggests other numbers too. I mean perhaps not a big deal, your works, and putting something else there does not work to boot with. So if you have time to answer this it would be nice.

 

[danilovitch]

Hello,
New around here but thanks to you I managed to get my NUC8i5 to work with OC6.2 with the files on page 90.
I would like to install windows on a second hard drive (Sata). But I don't know where to start after having read a lot of posts on it. I'm afraid of breaking mac OS.
Can any of you help me ?
Thank you

Hi did you read this? https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Post-Install/multiboot/bootstrap.html#preparation Perhaps it will help. I think I would take away the MacOs disk before installing Windows in any case. After install put it back and take it from there, I think OpenCore will see both installations.