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[Solved] Downgrade from Mojave to High Sierra

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Feb 24, 2017
Messages
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Motherboard
MSI Z170 M5
CPU
i7 6700
Graphics
980ti Hybrid
Hi everyone - I naively upgraded forgetting about the lack of driver support for my 980ti. I'm now stuck with only really two options, buy an AMD or downgrade to High Sierra. Since this is an edit workstation, right now it would be easier to downgrade.

What are the steps to do this properly? Is there any easy way to keep my kexts, etc in place?

So far I have made a bootable USB with the last version of High Sierra.

Thank you.
 
Well if you're using Clover, then your config.plist and kexts would remain in place. All of these reside inside a hidden EFI partition on your system drive. If that's the case, then you may be able to just reinstall High Sierra as-is. Did you modify any kexts and patches before upgrading?

Did you create a bootable backup of your High Sierra system drive before you upgraded? If not, please do so in future. You should always keep a bootable backup handy of your Hackintosh system drive, well, and all other data of course. I can't stress that enough.
 
Well if you're using Clover, then your config.plist and kexts would remain in place. All of these reside inside a hidden EFI partition on your system drive. If that's the case, then you may be able to just reinstall High Sierra as-is. Did you modify any kexts and patches before upgrading?

Did you create a bootable backup of your High Sierra system drive before you upgraded? If not, please do so in future. You should always keep a bootable backup handy of your Hackintosh system drive, well, and all other data of course. I can't stress that enough.

Yes, I do use clover. The issue is, when I boot up using a USB drive with High Sierra on it, I cannot install High Sierra because "a newer version of macOS is installed"

I have all my kexts and config copied to the USB drive.
 
You have to format your hard drive and install again macOS and Clover. You can copy your EFI folder, so you can put them back once macOS and Clover have been installed.

Since it's a workstation, it would be much easier to switch to AMD. Just install Lilu (if you don't have it), WhatEvergreen, enable iGPU in the BIOS (for HEVC hardware decoding) and put the card in. You don't have then to worry to always search for the latest Nvidia Web driver or to wait for them to be released. Especially if you use FCPX, you'll benefit from a RX580 or Vega56/64.
 
Ah in that case, just format your system drive then with Disk Utility when you boot the installer. You just have to go to Utilities at the top and select Disk Utility from the dropdown menu.

I'd also agree with Michelinu above that it's just generally easier with AMD cards overall, unless you absolutely need CUDA.
 
Success! I was really surprised that even wiping my system drive using Disk Utility didn't remove my EFI partition. That was my big worry / confusion!

For anyone who needs to do this in the future, here are the steps I followed:
1. Downloaded High Sierra from the link in this thread
2. Created a bootable startup usb drive using the terminal command:
Code:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app
Note: this will take some time; so be patient.
3. Restart your computer and choose "boot using macOS High Sierra install bootloader" from the clover menu.
4. After a few minutes, you are brought to the install menu, at this point if you try to simply choose "install macOS" the sytstem will not let you since "a newer version of macOS is already installed on this drive" -- therefore, choose Disk Utility.
5. Select your system drive and click "Erase" choose APFS.
6. After the format is complete, go back to the main menu and choose "Install macOS." You will be guided through the install process. This will take some time, so be patient.
7. The computer will restart, and then again select "boot using macOS High Sierra install boot loader" the installation process will complete and the computer will restart a third time.
8. Upon restart, choose "macOS High Sierra" from your clover menu. This should complete the process and you should be up and running.

Hope this helps.
 
Since it's a workstation, it would be much easier to switch to AMD. Just install Lilu (if you don't have it), WhatEvergreen, enable iGPU in the BIOS (for HEVC hardware decoding) and put the card in. You don't have then to worry to always search for the latest Nvidia Web driver or to wait for them to be released. Especially if you use FCPX, you'll benefit from a RX580 or Vega56/64.

I use mostly Adobe products -- I would love to switch to AMD, but I'm worried about losing a lot of performance. I only have a 980ti but it kicks butt even being as old as it is. Thoughts?
 
I use mostly Adobe products -- I would love to switch to AMD, but I'm worried about losing a lot of performance. I only have a 980ti but it kicks butt even being as old as it is. Thoughts?
In fact, the alternative driver for Nvidia Graphics Card loses more performance than AMD ones since the release of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4. It is said that the latest version of FCPX requires macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 or later?
 
Success! I was really surprised that even wiping my system drive using Disk Utility didn't remove my EFI partition. That was my big worry / confusion!

For anyone who needs to do this in the future, here are the steps I followed:
1. Downloaded High Sierra from the link in this thread
2. Created a bootable startup usb drive using the terminal command:
Code:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app
Note: this will take some time; so be patient.
3. Restart your computer and choose "boot using macOS High Sierra install bootloader" from the clover menu.
4. After a few minutes, you are brought to the install menu, at this point if you try to simply choose "install macOS" the sytstem will not let you since "a newer version of macOS is already installed on this drive" -- therefore, choose Disk Utility.
5. Select your system drive and click "Erase" choose APFS.
6. After the format is complete, go back to the main menu and choose "Install macOS." You will be guided through the install process. This will take some time, so be patient.
7. The computer will restart, and then again select "boot using macOS High Sierra install boot loader" the installation process will complete and the computer will restart a third time.
8. Upon restart, choose "macOS High Sierra" from your clover menu. This should complete the process and you should be up and running.

Hope this helps.

Hey,

Is there a way not to erase the main drive and proceed to the installation?

Thanks in advance!
 
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