Update Directly to macOS Monterey

[tonymacx86]

Established users of macOS Big Sur who wish to update directly to macOS Monterey can do so just like a regular Mac would. This fully native method requires no USB creation or preparation and allows you to keep all of your files and settings.

Before you begin, 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 macOS Big Sur installation.

Guide: Update Directly to macOS Monterey

1. Update your existing bootloader. Bootloader update to latest OpenCore (0.7.4+) or Clover (r5141+) release- this is required for installation. For the purposes of this guide, we will reference Clover locations.​

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2. Open Clover configuration folder on the root of your system drive or EFI Partition using EFI Mounter v3. Copy VirtualSMC.kext and any other extra necessary kexts to /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other/. Updated AppleALC, Lilu, VirtualSMC and WhateverGreen may be required. If you need kexts, download them here. If you need precompiled SSDTs, download them here.​

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3. Download Install macOS Monterey Application from the Mac App Store. When complete, the app will open. Please note, the Application will disappear after use.​

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4. Choose system drive for install (Example: Macintosh HD). When complete, the computer will automatically reboot.​

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5. At Clover boot screen, choose Boot macOS Install option (Example: Boot macOS Install from Macintosh HD). Choosing your system drive will go back to your previous installation without updating.​

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6. Complete the installation process- the computer will automatically reboot a few times.​

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7. At Clover boot screen, choose Boot macOS option (Example: Boot macOS from Macintosh HD). The computer will then complete the update.​

Let us know how this guide works for you! Please post all help requests in Monterey Desktop Support and Monterey Laptop Support forum sections. Thanks and good luck!

Please post your question(s) as a standalone thread in the Monterey Desktop Support forum section. Violators will have their post removed.

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Official List of Apple Macs that can run macOS Monterey

iMac Late 2015 and later Model Identifier: iMac16,1 Mac Pro Late 2013 and later Model Identifier: MacPro6,1 iMac Pro 2017 and later Model Identifier: iMacPro1,1 Mac mini Late 2014 and later Model Identifier: Macmini7,1 MacBook Air Early 2015 and later Model Identifier: MacBookAir7,1...

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[wstrohm]

Guide: Update Directly to macOS Big Sur

Typo... and how about a step-by-step version for OpenCore booting? No luck so far... there is at least a Bluetooth problem with Monterey, long boot time, maybe even more.

 

[Stork]

Thanks, @wstrohm! Edited.

 

[iLikeHackintosh]

I had issues with this upgrade. I share my experience, so it might help someone else.

I used direct update. When I rebooted I got into "No port micro restart (we don't support SMC on this platform)" loop.

Then I decided to try update from USB installer adn I were able to avoid "No port micro restart (we don't support SMC on this platform)" loop, but then I run into "A required firmware update could not be installed." loop.

After doing some research I found the post, where user had similar issues and he changed SMBOS from iMacPro1,1 to iMac16.2. So I did change SMBOS from iMacPro1,1 to iMac16.2.and voila, I were able to complete the upgrade. After upgrade I reverted SMBIOS back to iMacPro1,1. System is running smoothly.

NB! Please update bootloader and all kext before the upgrade.

System:

• Motherboard: Z170X-UD5 TH
• CPU: i7-6700K
• GPU: Vega 56
• Bootloader: Clover 5142 (using OpenRuntime.efi)
• SMBIOS: iMacPro1,1

 

[vratnik]

Went flawlessly for me.
I searched OS Monterey in App store, clicked Get. It spawned "software update" setting panel with a dialog asking to download MacOS Monterey. After downloaded I clicked install and it took about 30-60 minutes till the first restart. I was doing other stuff meanwhile so it was in the background so I don't know how long it took. After the restart, I chose "Macintosh HD" item in OC. Then it popped tons of lines in verbose mode, did several restarts (no more "Macintosh HD" item on next restart, so I left it auto-booting as usual). I went away for a hour and when I returned, a fully booted updated OS was awaiting me.

jfyi, I updated Opencore and all kexts and the config.plist beforehand, which took most of the time and work.

 

[keniceland]

I went to Monterey from Big Sur 11.6.1 as direct update process. Using OpenCore (0.7.5).

The update went quite fine, at same point it was stuck but a reboot started Monterey properly.
Sometimes doing a simple shutdown the entire system gets stuck or sometimes during a normal usage it's rebooting due to crash, but not sure if this is a Monterey's instability or not..

 

[rehilliard]

Successful on a vintage HP Z240 workstation with i7-6700 with OC 7.4.
Had issues with HD 530 video when boot process switched modes. The settings for Big Sur wouldn't work. New settings:

<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)</key>
<dict>
<key>AAPL,ig-platform-id</key>
<data>00001619</data>
<key>framebuffer-patch-enable</key>
<data>01000000</data>
<key>framebuffer-stolenmem</key>
<data>00003001</data>
<key>framebuffer-fbmem</key>
<data>00009000</data>
<key>device-id</key>
<data>16190000</data>
</dict>

Big fun.

Does this mean that upgrading to this version puts me in some sort of security danger since this machine is only TPM 1.2 and not at least a 7th generation processor? There's another company that seems to think so.

Carry on.

 

[danilovitch]

I updated a NUC8i5 today. OpenCore 075. No problem at the update itself from App Store. However Bluetooth is not working anymore and it seems that the machine totally freezes at random. Boot time was quicker than BigSur.
I try to fix that in the next days.

 

[buyjoey]

This is kind of weird update for me. I used system update tool and it downloaded and reboot. And I chose machintosh Hd in oc but it stucked. I didnt use verbose mode so I dont know what happened. I restarted with bigsur and it looks like doing update now ) time remaining showing up. I hope it works! I will report after what happen.

 

[rehilliard]

Finally got around to upgrading the Thinkcenter M73 with OC 74.
Three reboots and about 35 mins later, upgrade from Big Sur 11.6.1 complete and everything work with no changes needed.