Currently running Catalina, want to move to Monterey

[kyury]

Hello everyone, I'm currently running a Catalina macOS version on the following HW:

Intel Core i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-Core Processor

Noctua NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler

Gigabyte Z370N WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard

G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory

Kingston SSDNow V+200 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Samsung 970 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

In Win Chopin HTPC Case w/150 W Power Supply

I would like to move to a newer version of OS, I imagine a simple in-place upgrade will break the system.
Any chance someone knows of a guide how to clean install Monetrey on my HW?

 

[bmoag]

If using Clover you need to change to OC. It is much easier to configure and update for macOS versions after Catalina. I used Clover for many years but I could not get it to work after Catalina although I believe some people are using it even with Monterey.

If not currently using OC you should find that, if you can follow instructions, the Dortania guide can be completed in an hour or so. The guide can be confusing about pre-built vs custom files, use the pre-builts. Obviously test boot with a USB key first.

You need to have a custom USB kext for subsequent versions of macOS. That is easier to make in Catalina if, as is likely, you are already using USBinjectall kext. If your custom USB kext works in Catalina it will work in all later versions of macOS. Not having that kext will break an in-place upgrade or fresh install of BigSur or Monterey. Since you have Catalina working your motherboard settings are correct so that will not be a problem faced by many new to the sport.

Once you have OC working with a custom kext, you may already have that, I would update to a USB based SSD before risking your current installation. If that works you can clone back from it and already have a backup clone.

 

[kyury]

Wow @bmoag thx for the detailed response! yet it all sounds too technical for me.
When I installed Catalina, I used a 'step by step', I'm kinda hoping someone has a something of a sort for Monterey.

 

[LasaterJ]

@bmoag I too wish to move from Catalina to Monterey (or Big Sur) and have similar hardware to @kyury:
Core i7-7700
Gigabyte Z270-Wifi (replaced the wifi and have native Bluetooth/Wifi support)
Kingston A400 M.2 SATA SSD
Radeon RX 570 graphics.

I have a (as far as I can tell) completely working Catalina installation with Clover, and I have followed the Dortania guide for OpenCore to install Monterey or Big Sur with no luck. (Well, some luck - OpenCore gets to the menu where I select which drive to boot, I select Install MacOS, and after spitting out a bunch of verbose text at an insane speed for a minute or so, it eventually reboots without ever successfully loading the installation GUI.) It sounds like I too need a custom USB Kext? (USB works fine for me in Catalina).

On my working Catalina drive, USBinjectall.kext is missing from \Clover\Kexts\Other on my EFI partition. Should I get it? How do I patch it to make it work with my motherboard? I'm a novice, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to avoid or delay buying a new 10th gen Intel motherboard and CPU to get Monterey working.

 

[Middleman]

@bmoag I too wish to move from Catalina to Monterey (or Big Sur) and have similar hardware to @kyury:
Core i7-7700
Gigabyte Z270-Wifi (replaced the wifi and have native Bluetooth/Wifi support)
Kingston A400 M.2 SATA SSD
Radeon RX 570 graphics.

I have a (as far as I can tell) completely working Catalina installation with Clover, and I have followed the Dortania guide for OpenCore to install Monterey or Big Sur with no luck. (Well, some luck - OpenCore gets to the menu where I select which drive to boot, I select Install MacOS, and after spitting out a bunch of verbose text at an insane speed for a minute or so, it eventually reboots without ever successfully loading the installation GUI.) It sounds like I too need a custom USB Kext? (USB works fine for me in Catalina).

On my working Catalina drive, USBinjectall.kext is missing from \Clover\Kexts\Other on my EFI partition. Should I get it? How do I patch it to make it work with my motherboard? I'm a novice, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to avoid or delay buying a new 10th gen Intel motherboard and CPU to get Monterey working.

You can try my build here for Z170 on Big Sur and Monterey > https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...4-ga-z170n-wifi-samsung-860-evo-rx550.313767/

The EFI should be compatible with your motherboard. While it uses USBInject.kext for enabling the USB, you eventually will need to create a custom USB build (use that instead and disable USBInject). You can use the USBMap tool for that under macOS > https://github.com/corpnewt/USBMap. Aside from that I'd suggest to change the aapl,ig-platform-id and device-id under Device Properties > PCIRoot for your Intel IGPU to the device values found here (which is 12590000 & 59120000) > https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...r-8m-cache-up-to-4-20-ghz/specifications.html.

You'll also need to disable the SSDT-GPU-Spoof in my EFI file as mine is a RX550 and needs to be spoofed. I've already enabled the AMD card under the NVRAM boot-arg setting so no need to add the agdpmod=pikera.

Do note that the version of OC I use in the EFI is OC 0.6.5. If you are using something like Opencore Configurator to edit the file I'd advise to use version 2.22.0.0. to open the file, as editing the config.plist with any other version may cause boot issues.

 

[kyury]

@bmoag I too wish to move from Catalina to Monterey (or Big Sur) and have similar hardware to @kyury:
Core i7-7700
Gigabyte Z270-Wifi (replaced the wifi and have native Bluetooth/Wifi support)
Kingston A400 M.2 SATA SSD
Radeon RX 570 graphics.

I have a (as far as I can tell) completely working Catalina installation with Clover, and I have followed the Dortania guide for OpenCore to install Monterey or Big Sur with no luck. (Well, some luck - OpenCore gets to the menu where I select which drive to boot, I select Install MacOS, and after spitting out a bunch of verbose text at an insane speed for a minute or so, it eventually reboots without ever successfully loading the installation GUI.) It sounds like I too need a custom USB Kext? (USB works fine for me in Catalina).

On my working Catalina drive, USBinjectall.kext is missing from \Clover\Kexts\Other on my EFI partition. Should I get it? How do I patch it to make it work with my motherboard? I'm a novice, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to avoid or delay buying a new 10th gen Intel motherboard and CPU to get Monterey working.

I had a similar issue that you have with boot, in the end i upgraded my bios to latest version and had to tweak it a bit and then it booted.
now i have a working Monterey with some issues:
1. slow boot times. apparently Monterey has issues with m2 ssds...
2. does not wake from sleep

about USBInjectAll, i'm actually using a custom USBPorts i've built using this guide:

USB Mapping | OpenCore Post-Install

also, i suggest to read another thread:

Clover to OC failure

Hi all, running Catalina on Clover for several years, all is working great! Now tried to remove Clover and switch to OC. Done all configuration's per OC Coffee lake guide on EFI, now cannot boot... When boot, receive: OpenCore Boot Menu (REL-078...) > 1. Reset NVRAM [Restart][Shutdown] and...

www.tonymacx86.com

other than that most of the stuff are working.
adding here my EFI using latest OC.
suggest you review it and make sure you need all drivers and etc.