How To Install macOS Big Sur On Unsupported Mac?

macOS Big Sur, the major update to the Mac operating system is finally available for download free-of-cost. If you have a Mac running on macOS Catalina, then there are high chances that your computer might not support macOS Big Sur officially. However, there are ways to install macOS Big Sur at least on some of the unsupported Macs like the mid-2012 or the early-2013 MacBook Pro.

macOS Big Sur Supported Models

• Apple MacBook 2015 and later
• Apple MacBook Air and Pro Late 2013 and later
• Apple Mac mini 2014 and later
• Apple iMac 2014 and later
• Apple iMac Pro 2017 and later (all models)
• Apple Mac Pro 2013 and later

macOS Big Sur Unsupported Models

• Apple MacBook Air 2012
• Apple MacBook Pro 2012 and Early 2013 MacBook Pro
• Apple 2012 Mac Mini
• Apple 2012 and 2013 iMac

How To Install macOS Big Sur On Unsupported Macs?

As this is not an official way to install macOS Big Sur, it is in the best interest of the user to take the entire backup, as this process may lead to permanent data loss. One can either take a backup to an external hard drive or can use cloud services like iCloud to back up the data.

Download the macOS installer (PKG) from Apple's developer website, and download the macOS installer (PKG) hack from the MacRumors forum. Unzip the hack folder and copy the "hax.dylib" to the home folder.

Then open the Assistant.pkg from the hack folder, which should install the necessary files on to your Mac and install the software from the same, which is around 20MB.

Turn off your Mac and boot it into recovery mode by pressing Command + R during the startup. From the recovery, go to utilities > terminal and type "csrutil disable" and press enter. Next, authenticate using your user name, password on the terminal, and enter these commands.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plistDisableLibraryValidation -bool true
launchctlsetenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES $PWD/Hax.dylib

Boot the system, and run the macOS 11 Big Sur installer app. Depending on your internet speed, it should take anywhere between 30 minutes to a few hours to fully install macOS Big Sur on your unsupported Mac.

Via