Install macOS Sonoma on unsupported models

macOS Sonoma has been released and traditionally that also means that the list of Mac hardware that no longer supports the latest macOS release has increased. In this post, the idea is to explain you how you can work around that limitation and still run macOS Sonoma on your unsupported Apple hardware. In a lot of cases, your unsupported Mac is still very much capable of running the latest version of macOS so it would be a waste not to try this.

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Install Windows 11 on a Mac Pro 1,1 or 2,1

The last official Apple-supported operating system for the classic Mac pro 1,1 or 2,1 is OS X Lion. With some workarounds it is possible to go up to OS X El Capitan but that’s where it stops. Since El Capitan got released back in 2015, most software developers dropped support for it a while ago and as good as all popular tools and applications are no longer running on El Capitan. As a valid alternative to macOS, Windows is an option here. This post covers how to get Windows 11 on your Mac Pro 1,1 or 2,2, which will allow you to install the latest software versions and get the latest patches and updates.

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Install macOS Ventura on unsupported models

As with any new macOS major release, Apple decided to drop support for quite some older models. That means that it is not possible to run Ventura on that hardware in an official way. In a lot of cases these machines are more than capable of running the latest macOS release so in this post I will explain you step by step how to get macOS Ventura installed on unsupported Mac hardware.

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Create a bootable Windows 11 installation USB on macOS

It’s fairly easy to create bootable USB installation media for Windows 11 when using Microsoft’s Media creation tool from Windows. Unfortunately this tool is not available for macOS. This post explains you how to do this without using a Windows-based PC or VM and without using BootCamp assistant. This can come in handy when trying to install Windows on your Mac or PC or when there is simply only an Apple Mac available and you need to boot the Windows installer for various reasons. The media will work to install Windows 11 on both a Mac or regular PC.

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Install macOS Monterey on unsupported models

macOS Monterey was released a few days ago. Just as with most new releases of macOS, also for macOS Monterey, Apple decided to remove official support for some of the older Mac hardware. In general anything older than a 2015 model is no longer supported. This doesn’t necessarily mean that those Mac models cannot handle the new operation system, in most cases it would run it just fine. Luckily, if you want to, there are always ways to get around these restrictions. In this article, I will describe step by step how to install macOS Monterey on officially unsupported models by using OpenCore Legacy Patcher.

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Install Windows 11 natively on your Mac without Parallels or BootCamp Assistant

As most know, it is possible, and quite easy, to install Windows 10 on your x86-based Mac. Wether it’s a Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini or Macbook. Now, as Windows 11 has some specific hardware requirements like TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, you will not pass the hardware check. An unmodified installation will fail to get installed exactly due to this. In this article, I’ll explain how to get around these limitations and to get Windows 11 properly installed and working on your Mac.

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Perform a clean install of macOS on your device

There are several good reasons to perform a fresh install. For example if you want to replace your working or broken disk with a bigger or faster model, you bought a second hand device and want to be sure no traces of the previous owner remain, you are selling it yourself or maybe you have some issues with your current install, etc. This post will explain how to perform a fresh installation of the current or an older version of macOS, using a USB drive, on your Mac.

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Install macOS Big Sur on unsupported models

Apple often removes support for newer macOS version for older hardware. Even if this hardware would be perfectly capable of running the new version, you are out of luck and will not be able to install that new version in a supported way. Fortunately in most cases there is a workaround or patch available to get that version up and running. In this article, I’ll go through the process of creating a bootable USB drive which allows installation of macOS Big Sur on unsupported models. This allows for both a fresh installation or an upgrade.

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Create a bootable Windows 10 installation USB on macOS

It’s fairly easy to create bootable USB installation media for Windows 10 when using Microsoft’s Media creation tool. Unfortunately this tool is not available for macOS. This post explains you how to do this without using a Windows-based PC or VM and without using BootCamp assistant. This can come in handy when trying to install Windows on your mac or when there is simply only an Apple Mac available and you need to boot the Windows installer for various reasons.

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Complete Mac Pro 4,1 soft- and hardware upgrade – All the way up to Big Sur

The classic Mac Pro has always intrigued me in some way. There is something about the whole concept and design that really attracts me. From the outside, now more than 10 years after the release of it, it still looks nice and up to date. Everything about it tells you that this is a powerful machine. Internally, the design is different from what is considered standard but it works very well. Although Apple did their best to restrict this, after performing some minimal and relatively cheap upgrades to a Mac Pro 4,1, it is still more than usable in 2021. In this post I will go, step by step, through the upgrade process for a cMP 4,1 from both hardware as software perspective, all the way up to a performant Big Sur Mac Pro machine.

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Install Windows 10 on a MacBook (Air) 2019/2020 with T2 chip

For quite a long time now, Apple supports running Windows on your x86-based MacBook. The supported method is to use BootCamp Assistant. Although this does work in a lot of cases, there might be reasons to manually install Windows on your MacBook. For example if you want to get completely rid of macOS. Other reasons could be dropped support for older MacBooks, the ability to use a custom/modified Windows installation or if you want to install on an external drive. This post explains how to install Windows on a 2019/2020 MacBook (Air) equiped with a T2 security chip without using BootCamp Assistant.

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