X299 Big Sur Support

[Compact]

I did also encounter the same situation.
What I've done to conquer this is "Completely format the destination disk (not the partition, but the entire disk) with APFS using DiskUtility".
For some reason, HFS+ is not working here.
Maybe I am wrong. But you guys should give this a try.
At least, this solve my problem.
Good Luck!

In my case, I fixed that too. I had CustomSMBIOSGuid set to True and I formatted my HD to HFS+. When I disabled that option and formatted my drive in Drive Utility as APFS, it worked. Seems like Big Sur isn't too good at converting HFS+ to APFS.

 

[Jevens]

In my case, I fixed that too. I had CustomSMBIOSGuid set to True and I formatted my HD to HFS+. When I disabled that option and formatted my drive in Drive Utility as APFS, it worked. Seems like Big Sur isn't too good at converting HFS+ to APFS.

Great to know...

 

[rustEswan]

In my case, I fixed that too. I had CustomSMBIOSGuid set to True and I formatted my HD to HFS+. When I disabled that option and formatted my drive in Drive Utility as APFS, it worked. Seems like Big Sur isn't too good at converting HFS+ to APFS.

Yeah I think this may be what happens with the installer - for some reason under certain circumstances it seems it fails to create the correct APFS volumes, I guess inc. the Preboot volume necessary to successfully complete an installation.

 

[TheBloke]

BIG SUR 11.1 (BETA) UPGRADE REPORT - GIGABYTE X299X DESIGNARE 10G

With all the reports of people unable to install Big Sur on X299 MBs, I thought I'd try an upgrade myself and report back, for the record and in case it's of any help to anyone with problems.

SUMMARY: I was able to upgrade a Catalina 10.15.7 install to Big Sur 11.1 Beta with no problems or incidents.

TIMING: The total install took approximately 1 hour, which breaks down as follows:

• 15 minutes (approx; I didn't time it): In Catalina, starting the Big Sur update process, leading to first reboot
• + 20 minutes: Time until second reboot
• + 4 minutes: Time until third reboot
• + 8 minutes: Time until fourth reboot
• + 11 minutes: Time until login screen appeared
• = 58 minutes total upgrade time

METHOD:

1. I first backed up my existing Catalina 10.15.7 install to a secondary SSD.
   1. I made the backup using SuperDuper!, which is macOS backup software capable of making fully bootable backups
   2. An alternative that also works well is Carbon Copy Cloner.
   3. FYI while both these tools are capable of making fully bootable backups of Catalina, they're not yet capable of making bootable Big Sur copies, due to the filesystem changes.
2. After the backup was done, I copied my current EFI folder to the EFI partition of the second SSD, so it was OpenCore bootable.
3. Before booting, I made the following minor changes to my OpenCore config.plist:
   1. I disabled AirportItlwm.kext, as I know it requires a different version for Big Sur
   2. I set DisableLinkeditJettison to true, as I've read this helps Big Sur
4. I removed all other SSD/NVMe drives.
5. I booted directly from the Catalina 10.15.7 install, using its copy of my OpenCore config.
6. I opted in to beta updates by running the following terminal command: sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Seeding.framework/Versions/A/Resources/seedutil enroll DeveloperSeed
7. I then started the update process from System Preferences -> Software Update.

I've described all this because I noted that a lot of the people who are having problems installing Big Sur seem to be trying a fresh install? At least that's the impression I got, looking at the screenshots from users like @rustEswan .

I haven't done a fresh install of macOS for 5+ years. I always do an upgrade over an existing install, because I have years worth of applications and settings and I prefer to update in place rather than try the "restore from backup" method. Also, I've never had any problems applying backups in place (I've been doing it since High Sierra), so I see no need to use any other method.

However I always do it on a copy of my main SSD. So if the upgrade fails or isn't bootable, I can carry on with my main SSD/NVMe drive and try the upgrade on a new copy sometime later.

So I'd be interested to know whether the users who have had all these problems are only trying a fresh Big Sur install, or whether any of them have tried an in-place upgrade to Big Sur from Catalina? If you have a spare SSD/NVMe drive, you can test this by cloning your existing drive onto the second drive.

MY OPENCORE 0.6.3 EFI (Gigabyte X299X Designare 10G) - MacPro 7,1 SMBIOS

I've attached the EFI I used for upgrading to Big Sur and booting it, in case this of any help to anyone.

I've not finished refining the EFI. I plan to make the USB.kext like lolflatsix has described, and I hope to reduce the number of SSDTs I'm using and use DeviceProperties instead.

But I can confirm that this EFI is working fine for me on both Catalina and Big Sur. So maybe it might help someone to look at it when working on their own problems.

Note that in config.plist I have removed my PlatformInfo details and replaced these with CHANGEME.

The EFI is using DEBUG versions of OpenCore and all Acidanthera kexts. OpenCore is configured for debug logging via Target = 65 (to disk, but not to screen.) The kexts are not configured for debug logging, but this can be added via boot-args.

The EFI has SIP disabled. This seems to be useful in Big Sur. For example, I was surprised to find that Little Snitch 4.6 still seemed to be fully working after my first Big Sur boot. I assume this must be because SIP is disabled. I had expected to have to either upgrade to Little Snitch 5, or else specifically allow the Little Snitch 4.6 kext to load via spctl kext-consent add MLZF7K7B5R. But in fact it's working fine.

 

[lwndow]

So I'd be interested to know whether the users who have had all these problems are only trying a fresh Big Sur install, or whether any of them have tried an in-place upgrade to Big Sur from Catalina?

For me this is both. Was not able to upgrade from Catalina to BS, so I opted to continually tinker and try to install it on a secondary NVMe. Haven't found the right combo yet.

 

[rustEswan]

So I'd be interested to know whether the users who have had all these problems are only trying a fresh Big Sur install, or whether any of them have tried an in-place upgrade to Big Sur from Catalina? If you have a spare SSD/NVMe drive, you can test this by cloning your existing drive onto the second drive.

For me it was both - installing from Catalina as an update left me with a non-bootable OS. Since then I've only been trying to install fresh from USB installer to a separate drive to leave me with a working OS install if all goes wrong - my latest install was performed on a real Mac to my target disk on a USB-C to SATA adapter which has worked.

Im intending to try clone, using dd, to my NVMe drive and see if that's still working correctly.

 

[TheBloke]

Ah that sucks. Sorry to hear you guys are having so many problems. @rustEswan I saw in your screenshots that you were installing to one drive while also having a Catalina drive installed?

Have you guys tried installing to a target disk when only that disk is installed, no second drives? Ie the only SSD/NVMe/USB drives connected are the Install Big Sur USB, and the target SSD/NVMe?

Just grasping at straws really as to what could be causing issues.

my latest install was performed on a real Mac to my target disk on a USB-C to SATA adapter which has worked.
Im intending to try clone, using dd, to my NVMe drive and see if that's still working correctly.

So you've got a working Big Sur install, made on a real Mac? And it boots on your X299 OK? Or you've not tried it yet, and will be trying it after a clone?

If that made-on-a-real-Mac install is confirmed to boot OK on the X299, then that would confirm the problem is somehow only with installation/upgrade, not normal running of the OS. Which would be useful info I would think.

 

[rustEswan]

So you've got a working Big Sur install, made on a real Mac? And it boots on your X299 OK? Or you've not tried it yet, and will be trying it after a clone?

If that made-on-a-real-Mac install is confirmed to boot OK on the X299, then that would confirm the problem is somehow only with installation/upgrade, not normal running of the OS. Which would be useful info I would think.

Yeah I've tried with just a single drive installed - same issue. Seems a lot of people are having the same issue and not just on X299 so there's got to be a hardware component or a config specific that causes the installer not to work correctly and I'm convinced its to do with APFS volumes not creating correctly due to the errors I see during the installer log.

Correct - I'm up and running flawlessly (apart from cosmetic stuff) just like my Catalina install.

It was actually quite simple - run the installer on a real Mac pointed at my target disk, once it finishes to where it wants to reboot, mount the targets EFI, copy over my working EFI folder from Catalina and Voila - works just as well as my Catalina install.

Big Sur just did its first full days work and I didn't even notice a hiccup all day.

 

[TheBloke]

OK, interesting. So at least it's confirmed that it's definitely the install/upgrade that causes the problem. So anyone who has access to a second BigSur-compatible hack (or real Mac) can do the install/upgrade that way.

I was just talking to an expert on a Hack Discord who said he thinks these X299 problems are down to NVRAM bugs / broken NVRAM on many X299 boards.

He said he didn't know of any solution unless "you know how to debug NVRAM writes in macOS. I think KGP has some BIOS modding threads with that"

I'm just passing that on, no idea if he's correct or if it's any help to anyone.

If I were you guys I'd start posting in some of the official OpenCore threads, and/or have one of you raise a GitHub issue on the OpenCore project. There's enough of you that there's a chance a developer will take interest and investigate a possible solution.

 

[TheBloke]

There's a Dortania guide that shows how to check if NVRAM is fully working: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Post-Install/misc/nvram.html#verifying-if-you-have-working-nvram

I'd suggest some of you who are having problems with Big Sur install/upgrade try that test, to see if you can confirm if your NVRAM is fully working or not.