Struggling to upgrade

Feartech said:

haven't used that script but I have used GibMacOS script

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JordanOrlando said:

I downloaded the latest version of "Clover Configurator" and used it for steps #4 and #5 above (mounting the USB drive's EFI partition and installing Clover onto it), if that's what you you mean. This is of course distinct from the 2017 version of Clover that's on my working Sierra boot drive — the source for the "config.plist" that I copied over to the USB drive (which didn't work, as nothing I've tried has worked).

As I've explained, I haven't even gotten to the "Install Big Sur" portion of the process...I'm still just trying to make a bootable "Install macOS Big Sur" USB drive. I don't really understand 1) whether the EFI partition (with its "CLOVER" directory, including its all-important "config.plist" file) on the USB install drive is the same as the one that will end up on my (2nd) boot drive once the install is complete; or 2) how it gets there.

I was able to do all the equivalent steps in 2017 — successfully configuring the Sierra install I'm using to this day — because (if I recall correctly) I was able, back then, to find a detailed guide on this site that explained how to use the widgets in Clover Configurator to properly set up the "config.plist" file and which kexts to copy over. I haven't been able to find anything like that, this year, for Big Sur (of course it's possible that I'm missing something obvious here on the site). As I explained above, I did go get the list of kexts that I found and copy them over, but it didn't work; I didn't end up with a bootable USB drive.

There are several fundamental ideas I'm not understanding, obviously (and, I apologize for my obtuseness if I'm simply overlooking prominently-placed explanations). For example, in theory, since I have a 100% working Sierra install, that means I've got a 100% working EFI containing Clover (with its config.plist file) for my hardware...but, of course, it corresponds to the Sierra OS. Presumably, a bootable USB installer — one made using Sierra's Disk Utility and the "createbootablemedia" script (that that sudo command runs from inside the "Install macOS Big Sur" package) — is going to boot using some version of Big Sur...which of course means that the working Sierra Clover on my working boot drive's EFI partition won't work with it (since it can't patch the kexts or anything else since Apple's moved everything around several times between Sierra and Big Sur).

I know Big Sur will run on my motherboard/CPU because I found examples here of people doing just that.

Thanks for responding.

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antieatingactivist said:

Just wanted to make sure you understand that updating "Clover Configurator" is not the same thing as updating the Clover Bootloader. Opencore was suggested to you, and yeah, its great, its what I use, and its probably what you should eventually migrate to, but there is a chance that just upgrading your Clover Bootloader could make your Big Sur installation boot. There is no way that a several year old version of clover will boot it. It only recently gained the ability to boot Big Sur.

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JordanOrlando said:

I actually was not aware of that! I forgot how I did it back in 2017—I assumed that I was installing the latest Clover, but actually I wasn't. Thank you very much.

It seemed impossible to determine why my USB installer wasn't booting — I got a "forbidden" symbol or a lot of arcane logging or both. (Hence my asking questions here.)

I've decided, based on the cumulative advice I've gotten here, to take the plunge and switch to OpenCore.

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antieatingactivist said:

There is no problem with treating such a big jump in Operating system with a complete re-do. You're likely to run into less stubborn bugs that way. Opencore is extremely well documented and I assume it is what most people are using these days. Also, its much less likely to break with OS updates. Good luck!

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maninvan said:

TBH it's easier to go over the to OpenCore site and follow their step by step guide to create a OpenCore EFI folder. The docs are really good, and the process to get to boot is pretty painless. I setup on a new SDD, and when I had a bootable image I boot my SSD that was using Clover/Catalina, and upgraded to BigSur with no issues
(Though be warned if you are uisng USBInjectAll.kext you need to use 11.2 or less until you create a USBMaps.Kext of your usb port layout - again, easy if you follow the guide)

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