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UniBeast: Install macOS Catalina on Any Supported Intel-based PC

Hi. I've been following this forum advise for weeks, and I've finally got all my parts to build mackintosh PC.
I've got Asus Z390P MB, Intel i5-9600K, Samsung EVO Plus M.2 and Kingston M.2 SSD, Sapphire Nitro RX 580 8GB graphics.
I'm trying to do my first install with Catalina, and I'm stuck on Step 4.
My computer boots from USB then I have this screen with: " boot macOS install from Install macOS Catalina " . After I click, there is Apple logo and progress bar and then it's stuck in the end. I've waited for about 2 hours so it definitely got stuck there.
I've tried in different USB ports and still nothing...
 
Hi. I've been following this forum advices for weeks and I've finally got all my parts to build mackintosh PC.
I've got Asus Z390P MB , intel i5 9600K, Samsung evo plus M.2 and kingston M2 SSD, sapphire nitro 580 8GB graphics.
I'm trying to do my first install with Catalina and I'm stuck on Step 4.
My computer boots from USB then I have this screen with: " boot macOS install from Install macOS Catalina " , then after I click there is Apple logo and progress bar and then it's stuck in the end. I've waited for about 2 hours so it definitely got stuck there.
I've tried in different USB ports and still nothing...


This is not a Support thread, but a Guide. For your problem you should create a new thread in:


However to get you started, boot using "Verbose" mode and post a photo of the screen where it sticks. To do this, at the Clover Menu press the SpaceBar and from the drop-down menu select "verbose" or "-v", then scroll to Return and boot from your drive. :thumbup:
 
I am learning. Thanks for the tutorial and practical experience!
 
worked perfectly... thank you
Worked Perfectly for me also! After many struggles over 1.5 days trying to upgrade from Mojave directly in Mac OS, and then trying to install Catalina from scratch via USB on a formatted drive, this alternate method finally worked. No more crashing or black screens. I used Multibeast only to install iMac profile 14,2 and nothing else. All the kexts, and extra kexts needed were placed into the EFI Clover folder. Very stable. This appears to the most stable approach I have tried in 10 years. Sleep works, extremely stable, and loads in 3 seconds from clover boot! I have never seen it that fast before! Usually takes 2 to 4 minutes to boot from clover! 3 seconds! woh oh woh! Even the clover itself loads much faster! less than 7 seconds. 10 to 15 seconds total max including bios. Latest version of Catalina has many security upgrades locking down operating system, including root user, root library folder, and any attempt to modify directly the operating system. Good for safety against so many Internet threats. So the work around sounds reasonable.
 
I'm using ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING EFI Intel i9-9900K.

I did a clean and easy install of macOS Catalina 10.15.3

Step 1. Download Catalina 10.15.3.

Step 2. Create a USB 16GB or higher using Mojave.

Step 3. Create a bootable USB with UniBeast 10.0.0 Catalina. Once created use Clover Configurator to mount your EFI copy and paste idrakus EFI Folder.

Step 4. In BIOS use Asus Secure Erase on your M2 SSD, in BIOS, Ai Overclock -Auto. In bios Asus
Multicore Enhancements - Disable In BIOS VT-d Disable, In Bios Above 4 G Decoding Enable,
BIOS Primary Display - Auto, iGPU Multi Monitor Enabled, Bios - DVMT Pre Allocated 64M,

Step 5. Install macOS Catalina

Step 6. Once Catalina Boots Using Clover Configurator, mount both your USB Catalina Boot thumb drive and the Catalina M2 SSD EFI folders. Copy the EFI form your USB Catalina Boot thumb drive to the Catalina M2 SSD EFI folders.

Step 6. Reboot and Enjoy
 

Attachments

  • idrakus.zip
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The following guide is a complete walkthrough for updating to or installing a fresh version of macOS Catalina. It requires no experience and all of the basic installation and post-installation tools are available on tonymacx86.com.

Please note: UniBeast 10 for Catalina is available, however MultiBeast 12 for Catalina has not been released yet. It will be available shortly. Until then, for a fresh post-installation use MultiBeast 11.3 for Mojave to install a SMBIOS and serial number. Then manually install essential kexts and optional patches.

Table of Contents


createUSB_icon.png
Step 2: Create a Bootable USB with UniBeast


Before You Begin
  1. Register here at tonymacx86! If you don't have a user account, create one!
  2. Get our latest UniBeast and MultiBeast tools from the downloads section.
  3. Purchase a 16GB or 32GB USB drive.
  4. Do a full backup of your system. We strongly recommend performing a full backup of your existing system using Carbon Copy Cloner. By doing this, you can always go back to your working installation.
UniBeast is a tool that creates a bootable installer out of your downloaded version of macOS. In order to start fresh, you'll need access to a functional computer running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 or later. This is a requirement, as you need access to the Mac App Store to download macOS and create the installation drive. To start from scratch, booting the 10.6 Snow Leopard Retail DVD directly, check out iBoot + MultiBeast.

Existing Clover users may do a direct update to macOS Catalina by simply running the Install macOS Catalina app as normal Mac users would. Follow these steps: Update Directly to macOS Catalina.

STEP 1: Download macOS Catalina
The full operating system is a free download for anyone who has purchased Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion or has a Mac preloaded with OS X Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, macOS Sierra, macOS High Sierra, or macOS Mojave.
1. Download the Application from the Mac App Store using your Apple ID on any of these specific Macs:​
MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)​
MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)​
MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)​
Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)​
iMac (Late 2012 or newer)​
iMac Pro (2017)​
Mac Pro (Late 2013 model or newer)​

2. Open Mac App Store
3. Log in with your Apple ID​
4. Download macOS Catalina

The Application Install macOS Catalina will appear in /Applications.
STEP 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive with UniBeast
Take a deep breath and take your time- this is pretty simple, but it's easy to miss things if you rush. Follow each step to the letter.
  1. If you are using a Mac running macOS Catalina that has System Integrity Protection (SIP) enabled, you must disable it using the following steps:
    1. Restart your Mac.
    2. Before macOS starts up, hold down Command-R and keep it held down until you see an Apple icon and a progress bar. Release. This boots you into Recovery.
    3. From the Utilities menu, select Terminal.
    4. At the prompt type exactly the following and then press Return:
      Code:
      csrutil disable
    5. Terminal should display a message that SIP was disabled.
    6. From the  menu, select Restart.
  2. Insert the USB drive
  3. Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
  4. Highlight the USB drive in left column (Note: in the Catalina version of Disk Utility, you must first select View / Show All Devices before you can see the USB drive there)
5. Click Erase button​
6. For Name: type USB (You can rename it later)​
7. For Format: choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
8. Click Erase then Done
9. Download and run UniBeast
9. Click Continue, Continue, Continue, Continue, Agree
10. At Destination Select, choose USB and click Continue
11. At Select OS Installation screen choose Catalina and click Continue
12. At Bootloader Options screen choose UEFI Boot Mode or Legacy Boot Mode. UEFI Boot Mode is recommended for 7/8/9/100/200/300 Series CustoMac desktops and all UEFI capable systems. Legacy Boot Mode is recommended for 5/6 Series CustoMac desktops and all BIOS based systems.​
13. (Optional) At Graphics Configuration screen choose the appropriate graphics option for your system and click Continue.​
14. Verify installation options, then click Continue, enter password and click Install
UniBeast will now create the bootable USB drive. The process will only take about 10 minutes, depending on system and drive speed. Do not unplug or stop during this time.
15. Drag MultiBeast to your completed USB drive.​

Clover Note: UniBeast delivers basic bootloader support based on our testing on recommended CustoMac systems. For further bootloader customization, download and run the official Clover package. Advanced users may also compile Clover by downloading the full source.

112836-9138584fd7536cb04487d99acc497a9b.jpg

STEP 3: Recommended BIOS Settings
If you're installing on a recommended CustoMac desktop with AMI UEFI BIOS, the options are simple. For other systems make sure to set your BIOS to Optimized Defaults, and your hard drive to AHCI mode. Here are standard AMI UEFI BIOS settings for
Gigabyte AMI UEFI BIOS, Gigabyte AWARD BIOS, ASUS AMI UEFI BIOS, and MSI AMI UEFI BIOS.
  1. To access BIOS/UEFI Setup, press and hold Delete on a USB Keyboard while the system is booting up
  2. Load Optimized Defaults
  3. If your CPU supports VT-d, disable it
  4. If your system has CFG-Lock, disable it
  5. If your system has Secure Boot Mode, disable it
  6. Set OS Type to Other OS
  7. If your system has IO Serial Port, disable it
  8. Set XHCI Handoff to Enabled
  9. If you have a 6 series or x58 system with AWARD BIOS, disable USB 3.0
  10. Save and exit.

STEP 4: Install macOS Catalina
You're almost done! All you need to do is boot from the USB drive and install!
  1. Turn on the computer
  2. Press the hotkey to choose boot device (F12 for Gigabyte motherboards, F8 for ASUS motherboards, F11 for ASrock motherboards)
  3. Choose USB

4. At Clover boot screen, choose Boot macOS Install from Install macOS Catalina
5. When you arrive at the Installer, choose language.​

If you have issues reaching the installer, you can use spacebar on boot screen to enter alternate boot modes such as verbose and safe mode. For more instructions on entering boot flags see Clover Basics and Switching Advice.

6. For a new installation of macOS, you MUST erase and format the destination drive according to the following steps before continuing.​
a. In the top menu bar choose Utilities, and open Disk Utility
b. Highlight your target drive for the Catalina installation in left column.​
c. Click Erase button​
d. For Name: type Catalina (You can rename it later)​
e. For Format: choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
f. Click Erase
g. Close Disk Utility

7. When the installer asks you where to install, choose Catalina
8. Upon completion, the system will automatically restart.​
9. Press the hotkey to choose boot device (F12 for Gigabyte motherboards, F8 for ASUS motherboards, F11 for ASrock motherboards)​
10. Choose USB
11. At the Boot Screen, choose Catalina
12. Complete macOS installation. The system will automatically reboot.​
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STEP 5: Post Installation with MultiBeast

Please note: UniBeast 10 for Catalina is available, however MultiBeast 12 for Catalina has not been released yet. It will be available shortly. Until then, for a fresh post-installation use MultiBeast 11.3 for Mojave to install a SMBIOS and serial number. Then manually install essential kexts and optional patches.

MultiBeast is an all-in-one post-installation tool designed to enable boot from hard drive, and install support for Audio, Network, and Graphics. The installation is complete, but the drive isn't bootable yet. Boot from the USB again, this time choosing Catalina.
  1. Press the hotkey to choose boot device (F12 for Gigabyte motherboards, F8 for ASUS motherboards, F11 for ASrock motherboards)
  2. Choose USB
  3. At the Boot Screen, choose your new Catalina installation.
  4. Complete macOS setup
  5. Open and run MultiBeast
6. If this is a fresh installation, click Quick Start. UEFI Boot Mode is recommended for 7/8/9/100/200/300 Series CustoMac desktops and all UEFI capable systems. Legacy Boot Mode is recommended for 5/6 Series CustoMac desktops and all BIOS based systems.​
7. Choose the appropriate Drivers options for your system.​
8. Click Customize for further options​
9. Click Print or Save to back up your configuration​
10. Click Build then Install
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11. Reboot​


Yay! You now have a fully updated bootable version of macOS Catalina on your CustoMac! And a super handy USB rescue drive. It's easy to get frustrated, but don't give up! If you get stuck, there are many users with similar hardware in the tonymacx86 Forum to provide support.

Thanks to all of the hard working developers, hackers, and testers all over the world without whom this guide would never have been possible.

Troubleshooting and Optimizations:
After you've completed the guide, things such as HDMI audio and iMessage may not work automatically. The list below should serve to fully optimize your system after initial setup.

Update Directly to MacOS Catalina
MacOS Catalina (10.15) Problems and Workarounds
UniBeast Troubleshooting Notes
macOS 10.15 Catalina: How to Mount Root Partition Read/Write for Post-Installation
EFI Mounter v3.1
[GUIDE] Installing 3rd Party Kexts - El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave +
Full Acceleration for Intel HD 3000 and older NVIDIA Graphics in macOS Catalina
An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins
An iDiot's Guide To iMessage
The New Beginner's Guide to USB Port Configuration
[Release] Hackintool (configuration utility)
[GUIDE] General Framebuffer Patching Guide (HDMI Black Screen Problem)
[Guide] Intel Framebuffer patching using WhateverGreen
macOS Native CPU/IGPU Power Management
[TOOL] [GENERATE PROPER PROBLEM REPORTING FILES]
[FAQ] READ FIRST! Laptop Frequent Questions
[Guide] Booting the OS X installer on LAPTOPS with Clover


This list will be updated.

Clover Bootloader Credits
UniBeast contains and delivers files from the Clover EFI Bootloader project. For more information and sources used see Clover EFI bootloader. Clover v2 is open source based on different projects: Clover, rEFIt, XNU, VirtualBox. The main is EDK2 latest revision.

Clover Note: UniBeast delivers basic bootloader support based on our testing on recommended CustoMac systems. For further bootloader customization, download and run the official Clover package. Advanced users may also compile Clover by downloading the full source.

Clover Developers:
Slice, with help of Kabyl, usr-sse2, jadran, Blackosx, dmazar, STLVNUB, pcj, apianti, JrCs, pene, FrodoKenny, skoczy, ycr.ru, Oscar09, xsmile, SoThOr, rehabman…

Source code credits:
Intel, Apple, Oracle, Chameleon, rEFIt and Xom.

Clover Source and Downloads:
Sourceforge: Clover
Github: Clover
Hi Mr Administrator,

I updated directly from Mojave. But sometimes the colour ball still rolling and a can't do anything. Probably i have to change something in clover config. I send printscreens excepted the machine id. Can you help me?

Hi, I confused about the note "MultiBeast 12 for Catalina has not been released yet ... for a fresh post-installation use MultiBeast 11.3 for Mojave to install a SMBIOS and serial number. Then manually install essential kexts and optional patches."

Because I would like to install Catalina directly, do I still use MultiBeast 11.3 to install a SMBIOS and serial number, and then manually install essential kexts and optional patches? Where can I find those essential kexts and optional patches, how do I install them? Thank you very much for help!
 
Hi, My MacBook Pro is running High Sierra currently. I can see 'Install macOS Catalina' app in /Applications folder. Do I have to install Catalina first before I create a Bootable USB Drive with UniBeast?
 
Updated failed but fresh install worked. I needed to do a fresh install anyway. It was time.
 
When is MultiBeast for Catalina OS coming out?
 
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