MacOS Mojave Patcher (formerly macOS High Sierra Patcher and macOS Sierra Patcher) is a small yet powerful tool that can help you create a bootable USB drive that can be used to install macOS Mojave on Mac computers older than late 2009, basically acting as a macOS Mojave patch for unsupported Macs. This can be obtained from the Mac App Store using a machine that supports Sierra, or can be found online. A USB drive that's at least 8 GB in size - A copy of the tool - Download here (Current version: 4.2.7)- View changelog and download older versions here Known issues: - Unsupported WiFi modules in some systems.

While the yearly major macOS update system is free to install, it is still limited to Macs that Apple deems compatible, and every year a generation of Macs essentially becomes obsolete. This is despite the fact that Apple is eager to emphasize that macOS is a widely compatible operating system.

As it happens, there are still people with close to ten-year-old Apple desktop computers still in use on a daily basis, likely performing a range of lighter tasks.

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Which Macs Don't Support High Sierra

For some reason Apple doesn't want to allow these Macs to run one of its latest operating systems, namely macOS 10.13 High Sierra. This leaves the following Macs on macOS 10.11 El Capitan:

• MacBook Pro – late-2009 or earlier models
• MacBook – late-2008 or earlier models
• MacBook Air – 2009 or earlier models
• iMac – late-2008 or earlier models
• Mac Mini – 2009 or earlier models
• Mac Pro – 2009 or earlier models.

These machines are considered obsolete and vintage by Apple. The company defines vintage products as those that have not been manufactured for more than five years but less than seven years ago. Obsolete products are those discontinued more than seven years ago.

How To Install macOS High Sierra on Unsupported Macs

Though Apple doesn't support the above hardware officially, someone has thought about sharing the love for these older machines. A developer known as DOSDude1 has written a patch that works on Macs with the Penryn architecture. Using this still imposes certain limitations, but at least makes it possible to install macOS High Sierra on the following Macs:

• Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro (MacPro 3,1 and 4,1, iMac 8,1 and 9,1, MacBook Pro 4,1, 5,1, 5,2, 5,3, 5,4, and 5,5).
• Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook (MacBook Air 2,1, MacBook 5,1).
• Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook (Mac Mini 3,1, MacBook 5,2)
• Early-2008 or newer Xserve (Xserve 2,1, Xserve 3,1).

If you happen to own any of the Penryn Macs mentioned above, the macOS High Sierra Patch Tool written by DOSDude1 will make running the latest software possible. But remember, with High Sierra you will also migrate to the Apple File System, and it is highly recommended that you first disable SIP because it may prevent the patch from working at all.

Installing the operating system on any of these Macs will require some technical knowledge, so it is not recommended for novice users. Also, a backup of your data is always a good idea in case anything goes wrong.

While there is a full step-by-step tutorial and video tutorial available on DOSDude1's website, it’s good to get a summary of the basics, which start with downloading the macOS High Sierra Installer app from the Mac App Store:

1. Format a USB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) via Disk Utility.
2. Open the macOS High Sierra Patcher tool, navigate to the High Sierra Installer App, then select your pen drive and click “Start Operation”.
3. Boot from the USB drive by holding down the option key after reboot.
4. Install macOS normally, reboot back on the installer drive, and then open the “macOS Post Install” application.
5. From the options, select the Mac model you own. This step is important, because it contains the optimal patch for that specific model.
6. Click the “Patch” button, and after the process has finished, click “Reboot”.

The Reason Not To Install macOS High Sierra on an Unsupported Mac

As you may have already experienced with other types of officially unsupported machines, the probability of having issues is much higher. The same applies in this case, too, since the macOS High Sierra Patcher will render your iMac 8.1 Broadcom Wi-Fi chip useless for certain models.

Macs that use the Broadcom BCM4321 Wi-Fi module will not have functional Wi-Fi when running High Sierra. Another issue that has been highlighted by the developer is that the trackpad in the MacBook 5,2 isn't fully supported in this version of OS.

These are just a few of the possible issues that could arise, and this is before even mentioning the various potential software errors that you can run into by using out-of-date hardware. Without getting the proper knowledge beforehand, you'll need to revert back to the previous state of the Mac, which won't be an easy process, especially not without a Time Machine backup.

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Want to install macOS High Sierra, but your Mac is not on the supported list? In this detailed guide, we will learn how to install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac models. Installing macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac can be achieved with macOS High SierraPatcher file. We have a detailed guide ahead that will help you install macOS High Sierra on unsupported MAC.

You can also read: How to install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac? 5 Easy Steps with Patch file and How to Install macOS Catalina on Unsupported Mac: 9 Easy Steps

This article will help you install macOS High Sierra 10.13.x on your Mac with macOS High Sierra Patcher. The article will be useful to owners of outdated Mac models but quite workable today.

Also, Mac models’ owners officially supported by the macOS High Sierra operating system may face the fact that installing the system imposes a new APFS file system, which may be undesirable for the user for various reasons. For example, some owners of Mac Pro 5.1 or Mac Pro 4.1 models installing macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (the last build) can install the operating system on the Mac OS Extended (logging) section and not apply Patch.

Which Mac models will support macOS High Sierra?

Early 2008 or newer Mac Pro, Xserve, iMac and MacBook Pro:

• MacPro3,1
• MacPro4,1
• Xserve 2,1
• Xserve 3,1
• iMac8,1
• iMac9,1
• MacBookPro4,1
• MacBookPro5,1
• MacBookPro5,2
• MacBookPro5,3
• MacBookPro5,4
• MacBookPro5,5

End of 2008 release or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:

• MacBookAir 2,1
• MacBook 5,1

Early 2009 release or newer Mac Mini or White MacBook:

• Macmini 3,1
• MacBook 5,2

Which Mac models will not support macOS High Sierra?

Unsupported Mac High Sierra Iso

Release 2006-2007 all models Mac Pro, iMacs, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini:

• MacPro1,1
• MacPro2,1
• iMac4,1
• iMac5,1
• iMac5,2
• iMac6,1
• iMac7,1 *
• MacBookPro1,1
• MacBookPro2,1
• MacBookPro3,1
• Macmini1,1
• Macmini2,1

The iMac 7.1 of 2007 is compatible if the CPU is upgraded to the T9300 Core 2 Duo (Penryn).

MacBook 2006-2008 models:

• MacBook1,1
• MacBook2,1
• MacBook3,1
• MacBook4,1

2008 MacBook Air:

• MacBookAir 1,1

More on High Sierra incompatibility

Built-in iSight cameras: iSight’s built-in cameras are currently not working properly on some machines. It’s likely to work but know before you install it, your iSight camera may not work.

Trackpad (MacBook 5.2 only). The trackpad in MacBook5.2 is not fully supported in High Sierra. Although it works and is fully usable, High Sierra detects it as a normal mouse, preventing you from changing some trackpad-oriented settings.

Macs that use the Broadcom BCM4321 (BCM94321) WiFi will not have functional WiFi when high Sierra is launched, and support for these modules has been discontinued since macOS Sierra. This usually applies to MacPro3.1, MacBook5,2, MacBookPro4,1, iMac8.1, Macmini3.1, and MacBookAir2.1 computers. Please note that not all of these machines will have an unsupported map. It is just a list of machines that are known to come with this card in some configurations.

You can find out that you have an unsupported card by opening System Profiler (click on Apple’s Mac’s System Report) and click on Wi-Fi in the Network section. Note the value for the map type field.

Below are ID Wi-Fi modules that don’t work in High Sierra:

• (0x14E4, 0x8C)
• (0x14E4, 0x9D)
• (0x14E4, 0x87)
• (0x14E4, 0x88)
• (0x14E4, 0x8B)
• (0x14E4, 0x89)
• (0x14E4, 0x90)

FOR EXAMPLE, any ID not listed above (0x14E4, 0x8D) is a supported card and will work great in High Sierra.

Install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac: What you’ll need?

1. Mac OS High Sierra installer file.
You can download it from the Mac App Store with a high Sierra-enabled computer or a built-in download feature directly from the macOS High Sierra Patcher. Start macOS High Sierra Patcher and select “Tools and Download macOS High Sierra…” As shown in the picture below:

2. USB drive at least 16GB

3. macOS High Sierra PatcherFile
Download the latest version: Link

See the list of changes (in English) and download previous versions of the utility from below:

How to install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac? 5 Easy Steps with Patch file

1. Insert your USB drive (remember at least 16GB), open the disk utility, and format it as OS X Extended (Journaled). For reference, follow the snapshot below:

2. Open the previously downloaded “macOS High Sierra Patcher” utility and find your copy of the macOS High Sierra Installer program, usually a macOS installer that is usually used to download into the Applications folder. For reference, follow the snapshot below:

There should be a window that the utility successfully checked the application macOS High Sierra Installer. Click OK. For reference, follow the snapshot below:

3. Then select the USB drive in the drop-down list on the right and press the “Start Operation” wide button. For reference, follow the snapshot below:

Mac High Sierra Update Problems

4. When the installation flash drive is ready, it is necessary to load it from it. To do this, turn off the Mac and turn it on again, holding the Option (Alt) button and select the macOS High Sierra. For reference, follow the snapshot below:

Note: Follow steps 5 and 6 if you want to do a clean installation. If you already have experience installing macOS, you can skip these steps and install the High Sierra operating system on that previous version of OS X, after which an on-site update will be performed.

5. Once the installation program is loaded, open the Disk Utility from the utility menu or double-click it in the utility window in the bottom left corner of the screen.
For reference, follow the snapshot below:

6. Select the drive or section you want to install macOS High Sierra on and click Erase, then select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS. When you format the entire disk, make sure you select the GUID markup.

• Use APFS for 2009 models and later, will work, as on macOS High Sierra.
• It’s a good idea to use APFS only if you’re installing High Sierra on an SSD drive.

If you have a Mac that didn’t initially support High Sierra (and therefore can’t download from the APFS volume initially), please note:

• If you use APFS, you won’t have a Recovery HD.
• If you decide to use APFS, the loader will be installed by the utility later, as the built-in software of these unsupported machines does not support the loading from the APFS volumes. This is not exactly a native (native) download method, but it won’t cause any working High Sierra. The demo process of such a download can be seen below.

7. Next, install the MacOS High Sierra as usual on the desired volume.

It should be noted that if you install the operating system on an officially supported Mac model for any reason, then at this stage, the installation is complete, and you don’t need to do 8-11 steps. Just reboot your Mac.

8. Once the installation is complete, restart again by holding the Option (Alt) key and select the macOS High Sierra again. Once downloaded, open the “mac OS Post Install” app. For reference, follow the snapshot below:

9. You’ll open a window from the top in the “Choose your Mac Model” section of the drop-down list to choose your Mac model. Once you’ve selected the Mac model, the optimal checkboxes (ticks) will be marked automatically for your model. You can also tick other ticks of your choice you don’t need them.

10. At the bottom of the Select Volume section in the drop-down list, select the volume you just installed on Mac OS High Sierra and click “Patch.” When the utility installs all the patches, you select click “Reboot.” The Mac can rearrange the cache within minutes before restarting.

If the system doesn’t work properly after the restart for some reason, download back to the installation drive, re-start “mac OS Post Install” and select “Force Cache Rebuild” before restarting. In most cases, this is not necessary.

11. After the restart, your Mac should be loaded into a fully operational operating system macOS High Sierra.

For more information:

High Sierra installs the “Patch Updater” program in the Application/Utility folder when you install The Mac OS Post Install tool. This program will alert you when new patch updates are available for your machine and ask you to install them. If you don’t have Patch Updater installed, but you want to install it, you can download and install this program, click on the link and unpack the archive after downloading it.

Reinstalling patches:

During the macOS High Sierra update, some of our fixes may be overwritten. You can reinstall these fixes with a click to update the patches. To do this, open the Patch Updater app and select “View Installed Updates” or use the “View and Show Installed Updates” menu in the menu line.

To re-install one of the patches, click the right button on it in the list and select “Re-install…”. You can also click “Re-install All” to reinstall all installed fixes at once.

Update:

System updates, such as 10.13.1, should be installed as normal if “Software Update Patch” has been tagged in the mac OS Post Install tool or you installed it later using InstallPatchUpdater. If for some reason, updates don’t show up or are installed incorrectly, you need to reinstall the software update fix with the Patch Updater app.

If the system doesn’t start properly after the update is installed, you’ll need to download the corrected install volume and re-start the fix after installing it on the High Sierra volume. Make sure you choose “Force Cache Rebuild” before the reboot.

How to install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac: FAQs

I’VE SUCCESSFULLY CREATED A USB DRIVE, BUT WHEN DOWNLOADED, THE RUN INDICATOR FREEZES HALFWAY.

Check out your copy of the Installation mac OS High Sierra installation. Download the latest version of the installation of the operating system Install mac OS High Sierra. Check out the macOS High Sierra Patcher version. It should be version 1.1 or higher.

HIGH SIERRA PATCHER SAYS “ERROR COPYING FILES…”.

Make sure the USB drive is available for recording. Try reformatting it, or try another USB drive.

PATCHER IS SHOWING ME THE ERROR OF “MOUNTING FAILED”

Make sure the macOS High Sierra is installed correctly. The size should be about 5GB. If you’ve used the “Skip App Verification” option, you’ve probably chosen a macOS High Sierra that doesn’t have the original installer and it doesn’t contain the files you need.

THE HARD DRIVE SECTION DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE SCREEN AT THE TIME OF INSTALLATION.

Make sure FileVault is off. You can manually disable it with the terminal, use the instructions by clicking on the link.

I SEE THE “NO” SYMBOL WHEN I RUN HIGH SIERRA AFTER A SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION.

Make sure that after installation, you’ve been doing the Mac OS Post Install tool and patching the volume on which the macOS High Sierra is installed, as described above in 8-10 steps.

I SEE THE “NO” SYMBOL WHEN I START WITH A USB DRIVE

Check out the list of supported and unsupported Macs at the top of this page. Make sure your device is on the support list.

I SEE A “NSURL” ERROR MESSAGE WHEN I TRY TO UPDATE YOUR COMPUTER THROUGH THE APP STORE

This is usually the result of an inappropriate set of directory URLs. To fix it, give the command in the “sudo softwareupdate-clear-catalog” terminal and then run Patch Updater.

SAFARI, APP STORE AND/OR MAIL APP STOPPED WORKING AFTER SYSTEM UPDATE

Download and run the Onyxapp, select the Maintenence tab, then click “Run.”

IMPORTANT!!! WHEN YOU TRY TO INSTALL HIGH SIERRA, YOU SEE A MESSAGE SAYING”NO PACKAGES ALLOWED TO INSTALL”

This is due to the incorrect setting of the date and time in the system. To fix this, you need:

1. Open the terminal after downloading from your USB installer to set a date.
2. In the terminal, please command: date 0318125014 and click Enter
Now you can continue installation, and this message will not be displayed.

Should I Upgrade To High Sierra

You can also follow our other guides:

Macos High Sierra Requirements

How To Install MacOS High Sierra On VirtualBox On Windows (Using VMDK): 8 Step Ultimate Guide
Download macOS High Sierra ISO For VMware & Virtualbox (Working checked on 2nd Jan, 2020)
Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 DMG File
How To Install macOS High Sierra on VirtualBox on Windows PC (Using ISO): 5 Easy Steps
How to share folders on VirtualBox & Vmware? (Windows-MAC) Step by Step Guide

Conclusion: How to install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac

I hope this guide on How to install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac was useful for you. You can install macOS High Sierra on unsupported Mac by using the macOS High Sierra Patch file. I have shared all the download links above. If you are still facing any issues, you can comment down your query.