[Informations - English] Upgrading to macOS Sonoma

[AurelienAudero]

ℹ️ Ce guide est aussi disponible en Français ici

Contents

• What's changing in macOS Sonoma ?
  • Discover all the new features of the new release
  • Apple drops support for some SMBIOS
  • Hackintosh Broadcom cards are no longer officially supported
• How to upgrade ?

Discover all the new features of the new release

You can learn more about the new features of macOS Sonoma by visiting Apple's official website.

Apple drops support for some SMBIOS

As Apple drops support for some older Macs, some SMBIOS are not supported anymore by macOS Sonoma (see more).

The iMac18,1 and iMac18,3 SMBIOS, that were previously used by this EFI, are no longer supported and you need to regenerate your entire SMBIOS (SystemProductName, SystemSerialNumber, MLB and SystemUUID) because these SMBIOS correspond to the 2017 iMac models.

Hackintosh Broadcom cards are no longer officially supported

While macOS Sonoma drops support for some older Macs, the drivers allowing support for the Broadcom cards present in these Macs have been removed from macOS system files.

Thus, the only Broadcom cards that are still supported by macOS Sonoma are soldered to the logic board of the Macs supported by macOS Sonoma and are therefore not available for purchase at the moment, unlike the Fenvi T919.

How to upgrade

First, you need to understand that by upgrading to macOS Sonoma today, you will lose some features due to the drop of support for Hackintosh Broadcom cards (as said earlier). After the upgrade, the following features will no longer work :

• Wi-Fi
• AirDrop
• AirPlay and AirPlay to Mac
• Apple Watch Unlock
• Location Services
• Wireless Continuity Camera
• Wireless Continuity Markup
• Wireless Continuity Sketch
• Instant Hotspot
• Sidecar
• Universal Control

ℹ️ The support for Hackintosh Broadcom cards has been restored in the EFI v3.01 update (learn more)

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If you want to upgrade, you need to check what SMBIOS you are using right now :

• Download ProperTree by clicking here
• Mount your EFI
• Launch ProperTree and open the config.plist file present in EFI > OC
• Check the value in Generic -> SystemProductName

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If the value is iMac18,3 and you're using a dedicated GPU (AMD), we're sorry but your configuration is no longer supported by this EFI. If you want to continue using this EFI and upgrade to macOS Sonoma, we invite you to switch to a iGPU only configuration.

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If the value is Macmini8,1 make sure to update your EFI to the latest version. Once the update is complete, you're ready to upgrade to macOS Sonoma.

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If the value is iMac18,1 you will need to update your SMBIOS as this iMac model is no longer supported.
Follow these steps in order to update your SMBIOS :

1. Sign out of iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime
2. Update your EFI to the latest version
3. Download GenSMBIOS and extract it.
4. Launch the program by executing GenSMBIOS.bat if you're on Windows or GenSMBIOS.command if you're on macOS.
5. Once the script is running, pick the option 1 for downloading MacSerial.
6. Pick option 3 for selecting the SMBIOS and enter Macmini8,1 (case sensitive).

This will give you an output similar to the following :

  #######################################################
 #              Macmini8,1 SMBIOS Info                 #
#######################################################

Type:         Macmini8,1
Serial:       C07LNUYMJYVX
Board Serial: C07345500CDKXPGJC
SmUUID:       C58DD217-9C50-439D-9D72-E81D99DBB062
Apple ROM:    903C92E450A1

7. Check the generated serial number on Apple Check Coverage. You want to get this message back : "We’re sorry, we’re unable to check coverage for this serial number". If you don't get it, you need to regenerate another serial.
8. Using ProperTree, modify your config.plist file using the output given by GenSMBIOS :
   • The Type part gets copied to Generic -> SystemProductName.
   • The Serial part gets copied to Generic -> SystemSerialNumber.
   • The Board Serial part gets copied to Generic -> MLB.
   • The SmUUID part gets copied to Generic -> SystemUUID.
   • Don't use the Apple ROM part !
   • For Generic -> ROM, we use the MAC Address of the network interface, in all lowercase, and without :

ℹ️ For example :

• MAC : 00:16:CB:00:11:22
• ROM : 0016cb001122

9. Save your config.plist and you can reboot using your new EFI.
10. When the system is booted, click on the Apple Menu  (at the top left of your screen) then click on "About this Mac". If the window displays a Mac mini 2018, the SMBIOS update is successful.
11. You can now re-sign in to iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime and upgrade to macOS Sonoma.

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⚠️ NOTE AND WARNINGS :

• You need to have the latest version of Python installed to run GenSMBIOS.
• You and you alone are responsible for your Apple ID, read the guide carefully and take full responsibility if you screw up. Dortania, me and any other guides are not held accountable for what you do.

[AurelienAudero]

Hackintosh Broadcom cards are functional again with the new v3.01 version !

A temporary fix for Broadcom cards has been made available by the Dortania team through OpenCore Legacy Patcher but this fix requires disabling some macOS security features and also requires post-install patching.

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How this fix working ?

This fix is working by porting the macOS Ventura Broadcom drivers to macOS Sonoma but for this fix to work, we had to put macOS System Integrity Protection in a less secure state. We also had to completely disable Apple Mobile File Integrity and macOS Secure Boot.

⚠️ WARNINGS :

• These changes reduce the security of macOS and allow any application running with administrator privileges to have full access to macOS system files.
• Keep in mind that incremental system updates will no longer work once you applied root patches. Instead the complete macOS installer will be downloaded (≈ 13 GB).
• macOS updates will no longer appear in System Settings, you will have to go to the App Store and then search for "macOS Sonoma" to get the update.
• Before updating macOS, always make sure your EFI is updated to the latest version and that this version is compatible to the version of macOS you're updating to.

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How to bring back support for Hackintosh Broadcom cards :

• Update your EFI to the latest version
• Download the latest release of OpenCore Legacy Patcher
• Extract and open the downloaded file
• Click on the Post-Install Root Patch button
• Click on the Start Root Patching button
• When the patching is finished, it will prompt you to reboot, do it

Your Broadcom card is now fully functional again