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How to Prepare for Big Sur

Isn't logging in Apple ID and dealing with Apple official servers on a Hackintosh kinda risky for Hackintosh world in general?

I'm asking because I Hackintosh like 8 years now but on my iCloud devices I have iPhone 12, iPhone 6s and an iPad 2018, though I use my Hackintoshs as daily computers, laptop and desktop.
Many people are logged into iCloud services with their hacks, I am not sure that there is much risk. Sometimes you will see someone had some kind of issue but for the most part I believe that it is sortable.
 
Many people are logged into iCloud services with their hacks, I am not sure that there is much risk. Sometimes you will see someone had some kind of issue but for the most part I believe that it is sortable.
Let's hope it doesn't affect the Apple environment so we keep our hobby alive.
 
Let's hope it doesn't affect the Apple environment so we keep our hobby alive.
For me this was not really a hobby it was a result of a lack of options. And while they added lots of options since they are being yanked back. I would have been ok with using a M1 mac with an EGPU but it seems like they are not going to compile eGPU drivers for M1 at least not yet.
 
I am still rather uncertain about how SMBIOS and related settings relate to Apple account logins. I am currently running Catalina on a GA-h97-D3h/Haswell build, booting with OC (currently 6.1, will upgrade to 6.4) using SystemProductName 14,2.

I want to try Big Sur, and, so, apparently, I will need to go to 15,1. If at all possible, I would prefer to have the Big Sur install be viewed as the same machine under my AppleID.

I already have a legit MB-Air, an iPad, an iPhone, a second hack all under this Apple ID. I use the AppleID to sync various stuff across all these, in particular iMessage. I have in the past registered two or three other hackintosh installs, but so far have avoided any getting tagged as invalid.

In OC config.plist I use PlatformInfo/Automatic: True, and in PlatformInfo/Generic I have these settings (details masked):

MLB : D25aaaaaaaaaaaaa
ROM : <bbbbbbbbb bbbb>
SystemProductName : iMac14,2
SystemSerialNumber : D25ccccccccc (not sure if 1st three digits match with MLB is conincidence or required)
SystemUUID : dddddddd-dddd-dddd-dddd-dddddddddddd

Some posts in this thread and elsewhere seem to be saying that I can use 15,1 and generate new SystemSerialNumber and SystemUUID (with the usual checks), then paste back in my previous MLB and ROM, and the AppleID login and sync will work fine, though the usual two factor authorization will need to be done from another registered device. (Of course AppleID/iCloud logout before any PlatformInfo settings are changed)

But other posts in other threads seem to say that there are critical dependencies among all or most of MLB/ROM/SystemProductName/SystemSerialNumber/SystemUUID which might cause boot and OS issues or iMessage login troubles. Trying to google and research all this is even more confusing because the nomenclature for the various SMBIOS-related settings is often inconsistent across various Clover/OC guides and setup and inspection tools.

Can anyone point me to a definitive explanation on how these settings are interrelated and which are considered as machine-specific by AppleID-related functions?
 
Hello Guys,

I am currently running Mojave build on my System, and I want to upgrade to Big Sur using OpenCore 0.7.9. I have carefully followed the official guide, but I'm getting stuck on error "stuck-on-eb-log-exitbs-start".
So, finally, I have decided to do system upgrade from Mojave. So please can anyone explain me what steps need to take for successful installation. (I'm using Clover. I am really missing Big Sur capable UniBeast here.)


Thanks.
 
As many people have been running system-definitions - the model of Apple Mac your Hackintosh is emulating - which will no-longer be supported under Big Sur, if you would like to upgrade when the time comes you will need make some changes to your config.plist.

I've been happily running system-definition iMac14,2 for many years but this is an old Mac model which will not be supported going forward with Big Sur. So I need to prepare now.

To get this thread started I'll show you what I needed to do. YMMV but I hope what we can all add to this thread will be useful, or at the very least a pointer as to required actions.

1) Open config.plist in Clover Configurator or OpenCore Configurator.

2) Go to the SMBIOS (Clover) or PlatformInfo / DataHub-Generic-PlatformNVRAM (OpenCore) section.

3) Open TextEdit and copy and paste into a new document your present Serial Number, Board Serial Number and System UUID. Save this safely.

4) Open the pull-down menu next to Model Lookup / Check Coverage buttons and select your new, compatible system-definition. For my iMac14,2 machine I chose to upgrade to iMac17,1. (iMac19,* might be a closer match to my hardware but there are other considerations for these two). This will populate all the necessary fields.

** What you do next is your choice and the important thing here is not to change your definition too many times while connected to the Internet or Apple might lock your ID until you contact them, so take care. I'll explain a reason for the two choices later on.

5) You can choose to create a new Mac as far as Apple is concerned and save all the changes the Configurator has made. You will then be required to re-authorise your iCloud connection with your password when you reboot. This will log a "new" machine against your Apple ID.

OR

You can paste back in the Serial-Number, Board Serial Number and System UUID from the TextEdit document you created earlier. This will restore your "Apple Mac" as far as Apple is concerned, but again you will need to re-authorise iCloud when you reboot.

** Bear in mind if you have expensive software applications locked to serial-numbers or SUUIDs to activate them, then re-using your old SMBIOS serials might be required. Though this should work, software developers can be very clever in their activation methods. A good idea would be to do some on-line research just in case you are actually unable to upgrade to Big Sur, or beyond an earlier macOS version, because of these restrictions.

Other issues:

6) POP email accounts will not log-on, asking you to input your passwords for each mail-box again. This will not work. You will need to delete each mail account and set-up as new again. This will work but re-download all messages left on your servers.

7) Changing serial-numbers like this has the potential to give you a serial that does not match the hardware it is on. Apple encodes some date info in the number. However, this does work and maybe required for that software activation.

Okay, that's my first post on this subject. Please chime in with your findings, agreements/disagreements, so we can all help each other upgrade successfully to Big Sur.

:)
I have followed this to the point that I can get Big Sur to install, but I can not get it to connect to the Internet. I need to know how to get that part working. I don't use WiFi dongles, I have Ethernet cable. Its on the Optiplex by Dell.
 
As an alternative to the copy/paste approach you could save a copy of your current config.plist which you could then use to get back to where you started from if everything goes udders upwards.
Hi @P1LGRIM I'm about to change my Syst Def from 14,2 to 15,1. I'm using Clover. How can I create a backup if this update mess with my boot. I already copied my EFI folder to a USB flash, but what if I can't boot anymore? How can I use this EFI backup? Thanks for any guide you can provide. :)
 
As many people have been running system-definitions - the model of Apple Mac your Hackintosh is emulating - which will no-longer be supported under Big Sur, if you would like to upgrade when the time comes you will need make some changes to your config.plist.

I've been happily running system-definition iMac14,2 for many years but this is an old Mac model which will not be supported going forward with Big Sur. So I need to prepare now.

To get this thread started I'll show you what I needed to do. YMMV but I hope what we can all add to this thread will be useful, or at the very least a pointer as to required actions.

1) Open config.plist in Clover Configurator or OpenCore Configurator.

2) Go to the SMBIOS (Clover) or PlatformInfo / DataHub-Generic-PlatformNVRAM (OpenCore) section.

3) Open TextEdit and copy and paste into a new document your present Serial Number, Board Serial Number and System UUID. Save this safely.

4) Open the pull-down menu next to Model Lookup / Check Coverage buttons and select your new, compatible system-definition. For my iMac14,2 machine I chose to upgrade to iMac17,1. (iMac19,* might be a closer match to my hardware but there are other considerations for these two). This will populate all the necessary fields.

** What you do next is your choice and the important thing here is not to change your definition too many times while connected to the Internet or Apple might lock your ID until you contact them, so take care. I'll explain a reason for the two choices later on.

5) You can choose to create a new Mac as far as Apple is concerned and save all the changes the Configurator has made. You will then be required to re-authorise your iCloud connection with your password when you reboot. This will log a "new" machine against your Apple ID.

OR

You can paste back in the Serial-Number, Board Serial Number and System UUID from the TextEdit document you created earlier. This will restore your "Apple Mac" as far as Apple is concerned, but again you will need to re-authorise iCloud when you reboot.

** Bear in mind if you have expensive software applications locked to serial-numbers or SUUIDs to activate them, then re-using your old SMBIOS serials might be required. Though this should work, software developers can be very clever in their activation methods. A good idea would be to do some on-line research just in case you are actually unable to upgrade to Big Sur, or beyond an earlier macOS version, because of these restrictions.

Other issues:

6) POP email accounts will not log-on, asking you to input your passwords for each mail-box again. This will not work. You will need to delete each mail account and set-up as new again. This will work but re-download all messages left on your servers.

7) Changing serial-numbers like this has the potential to give you a serial that does not match the hardware it is on. Apple encodes some date info in the number. However, this does work and maybe required for that software activation.

Okay, that's my first post on this subject. Please chime in with your findings, agreements/disagreements, so we can all help each other upgrade successfully to Big Sur.

:)
Hi @UtterDisbelief !
I have followed your steps to change my syst def from 14,2 to 15,1. I can boot with no issues, but now, The information in "About this Mac" shows the older system (iMac (27-inch, Late 2013).
In system report everithing seems fine.


Model Name: iMac


Model Identifier: iMac15,1


Processor Name: Intel Core i7


Processor Speed: 3.99 GHz


What should I do??
 
Hi @UtterDisbelief !
I have followed your steps to change my syst def from 14,2 to 15,1. I can boot with no issues, but now, The information in "About this Mac" shows the older system (iMac (27-inch, Late 2013).
In system report everithing seems fine.


Model Name: iMac


Model Identifier: iMac15,1


Processor Name: Intel Core i7


Processor Speed: 3.99 GHz


What should I do??

Well, as far as I'm aware, the iMac15,1 system-definition wasn't inrtoduced until 2014/2015, so that implies that maybe you reverted some of the SMBIOS info from your older set-up? Perhaps to avoid re-activating software or affecting your iCloud account?

Otherwise there has to be something conflicting which is overriding the sys-def upgrade.
 
Well, as far as I'm aware, the iMac15,1 system-definition wasn't inrtoduced until 2014/2015, so that implies that maybe you reverted some of the SMBIOS info from your older set-up? Perhaps to avoid re-activating software or affecting your iCloud account?

Otherwise there has to be something conflicting which is overriding the sys-def upgrade.
Yes, indeed. I copied/pasted the Serial-Number, Board Serial Number and System UUID. Other fields were automatically filled by clover when selecting 15,1.
 
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