macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot
Instead of a long post, I edited this heavily to help solve the common problems faced across the 50+ pages of posts.
Quick Fix:
Problem: Clover doesn't load when I am using APFS.EFI (or w.e. its called)
Solution: I went into the BIOS then to Security -> PTT Security and disabled 'Intel Platform Trust Technology'.
I have included my attached EFI and install instructions for the following XPS 9343 config:
Dell XPS 9343 | i5-5200U | QHD+ | BIOS A19 | Catalina Public Beta
Following items need fixing:
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- More customization options on trackpad
- More patches for renaming more APCI...I plan to create a guide using Open Core probably after the next Public Beta release.
- Audio (well mine works, but I think I used a random firmware installer from a random EFI on Github... but it sucks away since the bass is all messed up, probably something that I won't bother attempting to fix until much later)
Install Instructions for using my Attached EFI:
0. Set-up macOS Installer using the vanilla way... Below is the Terminal command for Catalina Beta. Then mount the EFI of the installer place the EFI folder attached into the mounted EFI. Then the most important step, open the config.plist file using Clover Configurator and make sure to hit the 'Generate New' button in the SMBIOS section so your iMessage works properly.
Bash:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/[USB NAME] --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina\ Beta.app --nointeraction
1. Boot into Clover and select 'Install macOS from macOS Installer'
2. Set up your partition using Disk Utility... you can use APFS (Remember to use the 'Show All Devices' from that dropdown.
3. Then run the macOS Installer... and eventually your system will need to reboot/turn off.
4. Once back in Clover run
'macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot'... eventually your system will reboot/turn off, due to an error.
5. Go back into Clover and run
'macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot' again!
6. Ensure the following items are listed as Clover entries after the restart.
- Boot macOS Install from Install macOS Catalina Beta
- Boot FileVault Prebooter from Preboot
- Boot Recovery from Recovery
- Boot macOS from macOS
6. Now finally, run '
Boot FileVault Prebooter from Preboot'.
7. Now you can finally run 'Boot macOS from macOS'
My config mirrors yours, save for having the i7-5500U (A19 BIOS, QHD+). I'm attempting to do a clean install with Mojave rather than Catalina. Did a vanilla install of Mojave's installer to a GUID formatted USB3 drive, mounted EFI and transferred your EFI folder into the USB drive's. Ejected, disabled Intel Platform Trust Technology, booted using UEFI. Clover boots without issue. I select Install macOS from macOS Installer', and have an issue each time that I believe it DVMT related.
With that said, did you modify your DVMT-prealloc prior to deployment? I'm getting a kernel panic (cpu 2 caller 0xfffff7f8445c9b4): "Panic on FB memory manager Init. Required stolen memory size (5872056) is higher than available in (33550336 bytes)\n"@/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/GPUDrivers... each time I attempt to boot. Either way, appreciate the advice so far with this. No real need to attach my Clover folder since it's the same as yours.
Edit: Success.
Installed
BIOS A07, changed DVMT-prealloc using
this guide originally written for Sierra to setup_var 0x183 0x3, then uncommented ig-platform-id in your config.plist, and used Clover Configurator to generate a new serial in SMBIOS (though only serial, I didn't fill in all fields - figured I could just do this in Mojave before I use iMessage). Also went into the BIOS then to Security -> PTT Security and disabled 'Intel Platform Trust Technology'.
My installer was created using
RehabMan's guide (Option 2 (GPT, one partition), built Mojave 10.14.6, UEFI-only), substituting your EFI folder.
Booted Clover, booted Install macOS Mojave. Partitioned SSD to single HFS+, installed. Rebooted back to Clover, booted from 2nd entry. Rebooted back to Clover, booted from 2nd entry again to finish install. Had 4 entries in Clover at this point. Ran macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot, which gave Error loading kernel cache (0xe) - I let this sit for an hour, as your instructions mentioned "eventually your system will reboot/turn off, due to an error." - however, nothing happened, so I manually rebooted. Ran macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot, same error as former. Manual reboot, ran Boot Filevault from Prebooter from Preboot. Arrived at macOS Welcome screen. Connected to wifi, skipped AppleID Sign In, made it to desktop successfully.
Booting from Clover USB is working great, but I'm still sorting out booting directly from the SSD after changing the SMBIOS using Clover Configurator in order to get iMessage functioning. Getting an IGPU Graphics driver failed to load: cloud not register with Frambuffer driver halt for the time being.
Edit 2: Installed Clover to HDD again, mounted the computer's EFI, then re-copied the Clover folder (including my/your config.plist) to it. Now booting successfully. Also restored a Time Machine backup from a real Mac. Got an error with iCloud when first loading in after restoring, but after a reboot iMessage and Photos was working great. Last thing to solve is sound (getting the X symbol on the on-screen display when attempting to adjust), everything else is functioning as expected.