You will learn how to install macOS Big Sur (or any other version of macOS) using OpenCore.

The main benefit of a Hackintosh compared to an official Macintosh computer, is that it is WAY cheaper. I created a Hackintosh computer that matches the Mac Pro specs for about 1/3rd the price of a Mac Pro. Some people have been able to create a Hackintosh for under $100.

This tutorial will focus mainly on how to install macOS on your hardware. I also created a video version that shows how to build a complete machine and then install macOS on it.

The video shows how to use a computer with macOS to create a macOS installer for your Hackintosh. In this written tutorial, you will learn how to create the macOS installer using macOS or Windows.

You can watch the video here:

It is not illegal to create a Hackintosh for personal use but it does go against Apple's End User License Agreement. So don't plan on taking this into an Apple store for repair. And in many places it is illegal to sell a Hackintosh.

The Hardware

Many computer parts work for Hackintoshes. But some do not. Check this website to see what hardware is compatible with a Hackintosh.

In the video above I demonstrate step-by-step how to build a computer that will work as a Hackintosh. In the video description is a list of the specific parts I used.

If you want to be safe, you can use exact parts I used in my build but it is possible to install macOS on a wide variety of hardware.

Downloading MacOS and Creating a Bootable USB Installer

For this step, you will need a USB drive that is at least 16GB. The process is different depending on if you are setting up the bootable USB installer using macOS or Windows. The process is much simpler to do on macOS, but it still possible on Windows.

If you can, find a Mac machine to use to create the bootable USB installer. But I'll cover the steps for macOS and Windows.

Using MacOS to Create the MacOS Installer

There are a few programs you'll need during this process so start by downloading them. Here are links for what you will need followed by the download instructions.

• ProperTree - Click the "Code" button, then "Download Zip"
• MountEFI - Click the "Code" button, then "Download Zip"
• OC_GEN-X - Download the zip file for the most recent release.

Open up the App store on macOS. Search for "Big Sur". Click "Get", and then "Download".

Format your USB drive using Disk Utility. To get into Disk Utility, just click the magnifying glass and type "Disk Utility.

Once Disk Utility is open, make sure that the view is set to show all devices.

Click the USB drive, then click "Erase" in the top menu.

Name the drive "MyVolume". Make sure the format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and that the scheme is GUID Partition Map. Then click the "Erase" button.

After the USB drive is prepared, open the Terminal in MacOS. You will use a command in the terminal to make the USB drive into a bootable installer for macOS.

If you are installing macOS Big Sur, type the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

If you are installing a different version of macOS, you can find the command for the version you are installing here.

You'll have to wait a bit for this to install. After this is done, open the OC_Gen-X program you downloaded earlier.

To open the program, you will have to right-click the icon, select "open", then select "open" again.

This is a software wizard that helps us easily prepare what we need to install MacOS on our particular hardware setup. It will go out and get everything we need except the SSDTs and put them in a folder for you.

You can also do this is a more manual method by following the OpenCore Install Guide. But this program simplifies things for us quite a bit and it is not available for Windows.

On this first screen under "System Type" choose the type of processor you have. Look in your processor's documentation to determine the name of the microarchitecture it uses. Getting this right is very important.

The type of processor I used is "Coffee Lake".

For most of the tabs in this program you can keep the default settings.

Under "Graphics" select "WhateverGreen" and under "Audio" select "AppleALC". Under "Ethernet" select "IntelMausi". These are very commonly used options but there is a small chance your settings will be different depending on your hardware and specific use case.

The SMBIOS is important and you will have to specify the correct System Model on that tab. For my setup I used "iMac19,1" but it could be different for you if you are using a different processor of a different operating system version.

To figure out what System Model to use, go to the Open Core Install Guide.

Select the section on the left side for your processor type (in my case it is "Coffee Lake"). Then find the heading "PlatformInfo". Scroll down a bit and you will see a table with the SMBIOS to use.

After selecting the appropriate System Model, click the "Generate EFI" button at the bottom.

An EFI folder has now been created on your desktop. We will now make some modifications to the contents.

You'll need to get the SSDT files. This is different depending on your processor.

You can find the list of the exact SSDT's you need at this link. Just select your processor type and download each of the required SSDTs.

Here are the links for the SSDTs needed for my Coffee Lake system.

• SSDT-PLUG-DRTNIA
• SSDT-EC-USBX-DESKTOP
• SSDT-AWAC
• SSDT-PMC

Once all of those files are downloaded, move them into your EFI folder. They should be moved to this subfolder: EFI/ACPI/OC

Now you will will use the MountEFI program downloaded earlier to mount the hidden EFI partition on the USB drive.

Right-click on MountEFI.command and click "open", then "open" again.

Select your USB drive. It should have a name like "Install macOS Big Sur" since we made it into a bootable installer for MacOS. In the screenshot below, it is option 2.

You now have a mounted EFI partition and an EFI folder from OC Gen-X. Drag the EFI folder into the EFI partition.

Open ProperTree.command which you downloaded earlier. Like before you can open it by right-clicking and selecting "open".

Once ProperTree is running, go to "File -> Open". Select the EFI partition, then the "OC" folder, then open the "config.plist" file.

The first thing we need to do is to inject all of the files in the EFI folder into the "config.plist" file.

So go to "File", then select "OC Snapshot". Make sure you're on the EFI partition. Go to the "EFI" folder, then the "OC" folder. And click the "Choose" button.

A dialog box could pop up here about what version to use. If this happens, click "Yes".

Now go back to "File", then select "OC Clean Snapshot" and select "Choose".

The OC Gen-X program helped simplify all the required setup. At this point you should verify that everything is setup correctly according the the official install guide.

Here is the guide for Coffee Lake. If you are using a different type of processor, just select your type in the left menu.

You can verify the quirks are set correctly in the config.plist file. They should all be correct.

You need to do additional setup in the config.plist file to make sure the onboard graphics work. Find the "DeviceProperties" section, and then copy the following characters to add.

PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)

Note that this if you processor is not Coffee Lake, the exact thing you need to add under "DeviceProperties" could be different. Search for "Device Properties" in the OpenCore guide for your processor type to confirm what to add under "DeviceProperties" in the config.plist file.

Under "DeviceProperties", click on "Add". Then right click and choose "New child under 'Add' (+)".

Double-click where it says "New String" and just paste the text into the field and hit enter. Then select in the next column where it says "String" and make sure that it is set to "Dictionary".

Next, we need to add more children under it and it should eventually look like this:

Below is the text from the image above that you need to add (if you system is Cofee Lake).

Now in the config.plist file, find the NVRAM section.

Update the "boot-args" so the text is "-v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 alcid=1".

Now we'll change the language to English. So next to where it says "prev-lang:kbd", change "data" to "String" and set the value to "en-US:0" and hit enter.

If you want a different language just go to this link to find what language code to use.

The config.plist file is now done. So go to "file", then "save". You are now completely done setting up the bootable drive. So just eject the drive, and then you can plug it in to your Hackintosh.

Skip the next Windows section and go to the heading "BIOS Setup".

Using Windows to create the macOS Installer

The first step to creating a macOS installer on Windows is to download OpenCore. Make sure to download the zip file for the most recent release.

Unzip OpenCore and then go to /Utilities/macrecovery/. Next copy the folder path for the macrecovery folder:

Source: OpenCore Docs

Open a Command Prompt and change directories into the macrecovery folder that you just copied using the command cd [PASTE_FOLDER_NAME].

It should look something like this:

Source: OpenCore Docs

Now in the Command Prompt, run one of the following commands depending on what version of macOS you want. If you don't already have Python, you will have to install it first.

# Mojave(10.14)
python macrecovery.py -b Mac-7BA5B2DFE22DDD8C -m 00000000000KXPG00 download

# Catalina(10.15)
python macrecovery.py -b Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86 -m 00000000000000000 download

# Big Sur(11)
python macrecovery.py -b Mac-E43C1C25D4880AD6 -m 00000000000000000 download

This will take some time, however once you're finished you should get either BaseSystem or RecoveryImage files:

Source: OpenCore Docs

Now open up Disk Management and format the USB drive as FAT32. Follow these steps from the OpenCore Docs:

1. Right click the Start Button on your task bar and select Disk Management.
2. You should see all of your partitions and disks. On the bottom half, you'll see your devices. Find your USB.
3. You'll want to format the USB to have a FAT32 partition.
4. If you have multiple partitions on the USB, right click each partition and click Delete Volume for your USB.
5. Right click the unallocated space and create a new simple volume. Make sure it is FAT32 and at least a gigabyte or two big. Name it "EFI".
6. Otherwise, right click the partition on the USB and click Format and set it to FAT32.

Source: OpenCore Docs

Next, go to the root of this USB drive and create a folder called com.apple.recovery.boot. Then move the downloaded BaseSystem or RecoveryImage files. Please ensure you copy over both the .dmg and .chunklist files to this folder:

Source: OpenCore Docs

Now grab OpenCorePkg you downloaded earlier and open it:

Source: OpenCore Docs

Here we see both IA32(32 Bit CPUs) and X64(64 Bit CPUs) folders, choose the one that's most appropriate to your hardware and open it. Next grab the EFI folder inside and place this on the root of the USB drive along side com.apple.recovery.boot. Once done it should look like this:

Source: OpenCore Docs

At this point you will have to continue setting up your EFI folder. Because of the complexity of this step and all the different possible options depending on your setup, you should follow along with the official documentation for the next few steps.

Here are the links to the instructions for the next steps when using Windows to create the bootable USB installer. Note that the screenshots in the documentation show a mac but the steps apply to Windows as well. For setup using a mac, you don't have to go through these steps because there is a wizard that does all of them automatically.

Adding The Base OpenCore Files

Gathering Files

Getting started with ACPI

BIOS Setup

I'll show you how I setup my BIOS for my Hackintosh. The BIOS software is specific to my motherboard and yours may look a little different. If yours looks different, do you best to find equivalent setting in you software, if yours looks different. Note that BIOS setting are easy to experiment with and you don't have to have all the same settings as me to get everything working.

Boot the computer up and then hit the "Delete" key to get into the BIOS.

Most setting can be left as the default. Here are the settings that should be updated:

Under Advanced, "Above 4G Decoding" should be Enabled.

Under Advanced, and then under Serial Port Configuration, turn "Serial Port" to Off.

Under Advanced, and then under USB Configuration, set "XHCI Hand-off" to Enabled.

Under Boot, and then under Boot Configuration, set "Fast Boot" to Disabled

Under Boot, and then under Secure Boot, set "OS Type" to Windows UEFI mode.

The final thing you need to do is to go under Boot > Secure Boot > Key Management. Then select "Clear Secure Boot Keys".

Now go to Exit and select "Save Changes & Reset".

MacOS Setup

After the computer restarts, hit F12 to get into the boot menu. Choose "Install MacOS Big Sur (External).

The next few screenshots are a little blurry since I was videotaping my monitor and did not focus correctly. Sorry about that.

After it loads, the macOS Utilities screen should appear. Select "Disk Utility".

Click the dropdown menu toward the top and click "Show All Devices". Then select your hard drive and click "Erase" at the top.

You can name the drive anything you like. For Format, make sure to choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and for Scheme choose "GUID Partition Map"

After the drive is erased, close Disk Utility and select "Install MacOS Big Sur". You will have to choose the hard drive you just formatted. And then you will have to wait as macOS is installed.

The computer should restart back into the boot menu. Select "MacOS Installer".

At this point you will set up the computer just like you would a brand new Mac computer. After the setup, macOS Big Sur will load.

There is one more thing left to do. You have to copy the EFI folder from the hidden EFI partition on the USB stick to the EFI partition on the hard drive you installed macOS on.

On the new Hackintosh, go to the web browser and download MountEFI. This is the same program you used before, if you created the installer on a mac. After clicking the link, click the "Code" button, then "Download ZIP".

Go to the downloads folder and and right click on MountEFI.command and open it.

Use the program to mount the EFI partitions from both the hard drive on your Hackintosh and the USB drive called "Install MacOS Big Sur". First select one, then the other.

After both partitions are mounted, you will need to copy the EFI folder from the USB EFI partition over to the hard drive EFI partition.

At this point you can restart the computer and take out the USB drive. The Hackintosh is complete!

Let’s talk about Hackintosh-ing — the installation of Mac OS X on PC hardware.

If you want a Mac-compatible computer, but don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars, a Hackintosh can help you code for iOS without buying a Mac.

So without further ado, here’s a quick overview of how to build a Hackintosh, its benefits, and hazards you should watch out for.

Well the HP Elitebook 8470p #hackintosh is now built. Time to carry on with @FreeCodeCamp -ing, now that I’m mobile pic.twitter.com/w1psj9Gkud

— Simon Waters (@developersimon) June 12, 2016

What is a “Hackintosh”?

For a number of years now, Apple Macs have shipped with Intel processors, the very same ones found in a PC. In fact, quite a number of hardware components are similar on both PC and Mac, aside from the shiny aluminum case.

And some intelligent people have figured out a way to install Mac OS X standard PC hardware, thereby fooling it into thinking it’s a real Mac.

The main benefit is, of course, price. Building your own Hackintosh from a list of pre-vetted components known to be compatible will cost you considerably less than a real Mac.

The downside to all this is that building a Hackintosh is that it’s not for the faint-hearted — it takes some research and some knowledge of building a PC, and an element of trial and error to get a fully working system.

Luckily for us, there are a lot of really great resources online to help in building a Hackintosh.

My personal favorite is www.tonymacx86.com, where you’ll find hardware buying guides. It also showcases handy installer tools such as Unibeast and Multibeast, which pretty much create a Hackintosh for you if you have the right hardware.

How do I get started?

Your best bet is to head over to this beginners post and get reading to familiarize yourself with it all.

In a nutshell, you start by getting a hold of the latest version of Mac OS X. This guide will help you.

You then use Unibeast to create a USB installer of Mac OS X, which will boot on a PC. Once you boot with this USB, you are able to install Mac OS onto a hard drive of your choice.

The final step is to use Multibeast, which allows you to customize your installation, installing custom Mac drivers (known as “kexts” — kernel extensions). These talk to all your hardware and make sure it’s all recognized as “official” Mac components. It also allows you to boot into Mac OS X without needing the USB drive created earlier, giving you a standalone Mac system.

What are the benefits?

The main benefit to using a Hackintosh is a much better cost/performance ratio compared to a real Mac. You can save a thousand dollars or more.

Because you can use off-the-shelf hardware, you can in theory build a Mac-compatible computer that is more powerful than any Macs that Apple sells.

You also get to experience the pure joy of using Mac OS X, which is of course a far superior OS than Windows. (Cue the flame war).

Finally, you get access to XCode for development. You can create an Apple ID as normal and use it to publish your apps to the App Store.

What are the pitfalls?

Updating to the next version of Mac OS X comes with some risks. You can mostly mitigate these risks by using the Clover bootloader, which keeps all your custom Hackintosh files in a separate area on your hard drive, called the EFI partition. This partition won’t be overwritten by an OS update.

You may not get everything working correctly the first time, so you need to spend a fair bit of time Googling error codes to find out what’s gone wrong. There are very few problems for which there’s no pre-discovered solution, though.

Can I turn my laptop into a Hackintosh?

Yes, you can! It’s a bit trickier though, because you are far more limited in hardware customization options than you would be with a desktop computer.

It will either work, or it won’t. Your best bet is to simply Google “laptop model” + “Hackintosh” and see what comes up.

I did my own research, and can tell you that the HP Elitebook 8470p works perfectly, once you swap out the WiFi card for a $2 one from China on eBay. I picked mine up from a UK laptop refurbishment company for GBP£120 (around USD $180–200). It’s the i5 2.6 Ghz version, with the 14-inch standard definition screen. A lot cheaper than repairing my broken 2008 Macbook Pro!

As you can see, it is recognized as a mid 2012 Macbook Pro.

What’s the best hardware to use for a Hackintosh?

If you’re looking to build a new computer from scratch, head over to www.tonymacx86.com and look at the latest buyers guide (updated monthly). Any components you pick from that list will work, but the most important are the motherboard and CPU. I’ve found that RAM and storage barely make any difference. With a fully-compatible motherboard (Gigabyte’s work well), you won’t need any external ethernet or WiFi cards, as you’ll have everything working “out-of-the-box”.

Here’s the current Hackintosh configuration I use for my for my desktop computer:

• Gigabyte Z97-SLI Motherboard
• Intel 4770K CPU @ 3.5 Ghz
• 16GB Corsair RAM (2x 8GB sticks)
• Gigabyte 760 OC Windforce edition GFX
• 128GB SSD for the OS
• 3TB and 1.5TB 7200 HDs for storage

The SSD works great. I can boot my desktop in about 10–15 seconds.

Back when I started Hackintoshing in around 2009–10, I use an ancient Asus P5K with Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor as my Mac Pro, to compliment my real Macbook Pro early 2008 edition.

How much does it cost?

It’s entirely dependent on which components you buy, of course, but you can expect to pay a great deal less than a real Mac. Especially if, like me, you already have a range of PC parts lying around (monitor, keyboard, mouse, case, hard drives etc).

You don’t really need to invest in a fancy graphics card. The onboard Intel HD4000 that comes with Core CPUs is compatible.

My desktop rig was upgraded last year for about £100 (motherboard), £165 (CPU), and £90 (RAM). I already owned the rest of the components.

What can I use my Hackintosh for?

Anything you’d use a real Mac for. I tend to use my for day-to-day stuff. I also use it in coding my video game in Unreal Engine, which is inspired by the 1980s video game Spindizzy. The main advantage is that I can also export my game to iOS, because XCode is required for iOS development.

What about Windows?

The beauty of a desktop Hackintosh is that you can (with a bit of work) dual boot Mac OS X and Windows from the same hard drive. However, before you attempt this, it’s worth pointing out that to save any future headaches, you really should consider just using a separate hard drive for each OS. This is due to some technicalities with bootloaders being overwritten once you install Windows. Google “Dual Boot Hackintoshes” for more info.

Next steps

Get yourself over to tonymacx86.com and start your research. From a user experience point of view, once you are up and running, there is no difference between a Hackintosh and a real Mac, other than the shiny box it comes it. In terms of performance, you will get far more for your money, and these days stability is just as good as a real Mac.

Happy Hackintoshing!

Originally published at simonwaters.co.uk on June 30, 2016.