OpenCore Install Guide

# Ryzen and Threadripper(17h and 19h)

Support Version
Initial macOS Support macOS 10.13, High Sierra

# Starting Point

So making a config.plist may seem hard, it's not. It just takes some time but this guide will tell you how to configure everything, you won't be left in the cold. This also means if you have issues, review your config settings to make sure they're correct. Main things to note with OpenCore:

  • All properties must be defined, there are no default OpenCore will fall back on so do not delete sections unless told explicitly so. If the guide doesn't mention the option, leave it at default.
  • The Sample.plist cannot be used As-Is, you must configure it to your system
  • DO NOT USE CONFIGURATORS, these rarely respect OpenCore's configuration and even some like Mackie's will add Clover properties and corrupt plists!

Now with all that, a quick reminder of the tools we need

WARNING

Read this guide more than once before setting up OpenCore and make sure you have it set up correctly. Do note that images will not always be the most up-to-date so please read the text below them, if nothing's mentioned then leave as default.

# ACPI

ACPI

# Add

Info

This is where you'll add SSDTs for your system, these are very important to booting macOS and have many uses like USB maps (opens new window), disabling unsupported GPUs and such. And with our system, it's even required to boot. Guide on making them found here: Getting started with ACPI (opens new window)

Required SSDTs Description
SSDT-EC-USBX (opens new window) Fixes both the embedded controller and USB power, see Getting Started With ACPI Guide (opens new window) for more details.
SSDT-CPUR (opens new window) Fixes CPU definitions with B550 and A520 motherboards, do not use if you don't have an AMD B550 or A520 system. You can find a prebuilt here: SSDT-CPUR.aml (opens new window)

Note that you should not add your generated DSDT.aml here, it is already in your firmware. So if present, remove the entry for it in your config.plist and under EFI/OC/ACPI.

For those wanting a deeper dive into dumping your DSDT, how to make these SSDTs, and compiling them, please see the Getting started with ACPI (opens new window) page. Compiled SSDTs have a .aml extension(Assembled) and will go into the EFI/OC/ACPI folder and must be specified in your config under ACPI -> Add as well.

# Delete

This blocks certain ACPI tables from loading, for us we can ignore this.

# Patch

This section allows us to dynamically modify parts of the ACPI (DSDT, SSDT, etc.) via OpenCore. For us, our patches are handled by our SSDTs. This is a much cleaner solution as this will allow us to boot Windows and other OSes with OpenCore

# Quirks

Settings relating to ACPI, leave everything here as default as we have no use for these quirks.

# Booter

Booter

This section is dedicated to quirks relating to boot.efi patching with OpenRuntime, the replacement for AptioMemoryFix.efi

# MmioWhitelist

This section is allowing spaces to be passthrough to macOS that are generally ignored, useful when paired with DevirtualiseMmio

# Quirks

Info

Settings relating to boot.efi patching and firmware fixes, for us, we need to change the following:

Quirk Enabled Comment
DevirtualiseMmio NO If you have a TRx40 system, enable this and follow the instructions here: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/extras/kaslr-fix.html (opens new window)
EnableWriteUnprotector NO
RebuildAppleMemoryMap YES
ResizeAppleGpuBars -1 If your firmware supports increasing GPU Bar sizes (ie Resizable BAR Support), set this to 0
SetupVirtualMap YES - Note X570, B550, A520 and TRx40 boards might need this disabled
- X470 and B450 with late 2020 BIOS updates might also require this disabled
SyncRuntimePermissions YES
More in-depth Info
  • AvoidRuntimeDefrag: YES
    • Fixes UEFI runtime services like date, time, NVRAM, power control, etc
  • EnableSafeModeSlide: YES
    • Enables slide variables to be used in safe mode.
  • EnableWriteUnprotector: NO
    • This quirk and RebuildAppleMemoryMap can commonly conflict, recommended to enable the latter on newer platforms and disable this entry.
    • However, due to issues with OEMs not using the latest EDKII builds you may find that the above combo will result in early boot failures. This is due to missing the MEMORY_ATTRIBUTE_TABLE and such we recommend disabling RebuildAppleMemoryMap and enabling EnableWriteUnprotector. More info on this is covered in the troubleshooting section
  • ProvideCustomSlide: YES
    • Used for Slide variable calculation. However the necessity of this quirk is determined by OCABC: Only N/256 slide values are usable! message in the debug log. If the message OCABC: All slides are usable! You can disable ProvideCustomSlide! is present in your log, you can disable ProvideCustomSlide.
  • RebuildAppleMemoryMap: YES
    • Generates Memory Map compatible with macOS, can break on some laptop OEM firmwares so if you receive early boot failures disable this
  • ResizeAppleGpuBars: -1
    • Will reduce the size of GPU PCI Bars if set to 0 when booting macOS, set to -1 to disable
    • Setting other PCI Bar values is possible with this quirk, though can cause instabilities
    • This quirk being set to zero is only necessary if Resizable BAR Support is enabled in your firmware.
  • SetupVirtualMap: YES
    • Fixes SetVirtualAddresses calls to virtual addresses
    • B550, A520 and TRx40 boards should disable this quirk
  • SyncRuntimePermissions: YES
    • Fixes alignment with MAT tables and required to boot Windows and Linux with MAT tables, also recommended for macOS. Mainly relevant for RebuildAppleMemoryMap users

# DeviceProperties

DeviceProperties

# Add

Sets device properties from a map.

By default, the Sample.plist has this section set for audio which we'll be setting up by setting the layout ID in the boot-args section, so removal of PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1b,0x0) is also recommended from the Add section.

TL;DR, delete all the PciRoot's here as we won't be using this section.

# Delete

Removes device properties from the map, for us we can ignore this

# Kernel

Kernel Kernel Patches
Kernel

# Add

Here's where we specify which kexts to load, in what specific order to load, and what architectures each kext is meant for. By default we recommend leaving what ProperTree has done, however for 32-bit CPUs please see below:

More in-depth Info

The main thing you need to keep in mind is:

  • Load order
    • Remember that any plugins should load after its dependencies
    • This means kexts like Lilu must come before VirtualSMC, AppleALC, WhateverGreen, etc

A reminder that ProperTree (opens new window) users can run Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + R to add all their kexts in the correct order without manually typing each kext out.

  • Arch
    • Architectures supported by this kext
    • Currently supported values are Any, i386 (32-bit), and x86_64 (64-bit)
  • BundlePath
    • Name of the kext
    • ex: Lilu.kext
  • Enabled
    • Self-explanatory, either enables or disables the kext
  • ExecutablePath
    • Path to the actual executable is hidden within the kext, you can see what path your kext has by right-clicking and selecting Show Package Contents. Generally, they'll be Contents/MacOS/Kext but some have kexts hidden within under Plugin folder. Do note that plist only kexts do not need this filled in.
    • ex: Contents/MacOS/Lilu
  • MinKernel
    • Lowest kernel version your kext will be injected into, see below table for possible values
    • ex. 12.00.00 for OS X 10.8
  • MaxKernel
    • Highest kernel version your kext will be injected into, see below table for possible values
    • ex. 11.99.99 for OS X 10.7
  • PlistPath
    • Path to the info.plist hidden within the kext
    • ex: Contents/Info.plist
Kernel Support Table
OS X Version MinKernel MaxKernel
10.4 8.0.0 8.99.99
10.5 9.0.0 9.99.99
10.6 10.0.0 10.99.99
10.7 11.0.0 11.99.99
10.8 12.0.0 12.99.99
10.9 13.0.0 13.99.99
10.10 14.0.0 14.99.99
10.11 15.0.0 15.99.99
10.12 16.0.0 16.99.99
10.13 17.0.0 17.99.99
10.14 18.0.0 18.99.99
10.15 19.0.0 19.99.99
11 20.0.0 20.99.99
12 21.0.0 21.99.99
13 22.0.0 22.99.99
14 23.0.0 23.99.99
15 24.0.0 24.99.99

# Emulate

Info

Needed for spoofing unsupported CPUs like Pentiums and Celerons and to disable CPU power management on unsupported CPUs (such as AMD CPUs)

Quirk Enabled
DummyPowerManagement YES
More in-depth Info
  • Cpuid1Mask: Leave this blank
    • Mask for fake CPUID
  • Cpuid1Data: Leave this blank
    • Fake CPUID entry
  • DummyPowerManagement: YES
    • New alternative to NullCPUPowerManagement, required for all AMD CPU based systems as there's no native power management.
  • MinKernel: Leave this blank
    • Lowest kernel version the above patches will be injected into, if no value specified it'll be applied to all versions of macOS. See below table for possible values
    • ex. 12.00.00 for OS X 10.8
  • MaxKernel: Leave this blank
    • Highest kernel version the above patches will be injected into, if no value specified it'll be applied to all versions of macOS. See below table for possible values
    • ex. 11.99.99 for OS X 10.7
Kernel Support Table
OS X Version MinKernel MaxKernel
10.4 8.0.0 8.99.99
10.5 9.0.0 9.99.99
10.6 10.0.0 10.99.99
10.7 11.0.0 11.99.99
10.8 12.0.0 12.99.99
10.9 13.0.0 13.99.99
10.10 14.0.0 14.99.99
10.11 15.0.0 15.99.99
10.12 16.0.0 16.99.99
10.13 17.0.0 17.99.99
10.14 18.0.0 18.99.99
10.15 19.0.0 19.99.99
11 20.0.0 20.99.99
12 21.0.0 21.99.99
13 22.0.0 22.99.99

# Force

Used for loading kexts off system volume, only relevant for older operating systems where certain kexts are not present in the cache(ie. IONetworkingFamily in 10.6).

For us, we can ignore.

# Block

Blocks certain kexts from loading. Not relevant for us.

# Patch

This is where the AMD kernel patching magic happens. Please do note that if coming from Clover, KernelToPatch and MatchOS from Clover becomes Kernel and MinKernel/ MaxKernel in OpenCore. The latest AMD kernel patches can always be found on the AMD Vanilla GitHub Repository (opens new window).

Kernel patches:

To merge:

  • Open both files,
  • Delete the Kernel -> Patch section from config.plist
  • Copy the Kernel -> Patch section from patches.plist
  • Paste into where old patches were in config.plist

You will also need to modify four patches, all named algrey - Force cpuid_cores_per_package. You only need to change the Replace value. You should change:

  • B8000000 0000 => B8 <core count> 0000 0000
  • BA000000 0000 => BA <core count> 0000 0000
  • BA000000 0090 => BA <core count> 0000 0090
  • BA000000 00 => BA <core count> 0000 00

Where <core count> is replaced with the physical core count of your CPU in hexadecimal. For example, an 8-Core 5800X would have the new Replace value be:

  • B8 08 0000 0000
  • BA 08 0000 0000
  • BA 08 0000 0090
  • BA 08 0000 00
Core Count => Hexadecimal Table
Core Count Hexadecimal
2 Core 02
4 Core 04
6 Core 06
8 Core 08
12 Core 0C
16 Core 10
24 Core 18
32 Core 20
64 Core 40

# Quirks

Info

Settings relating to the kernel, for us we'll be changing the following:

Quirk Enabled Comment
PanicNoKextDump YES
PowerTimeoutKernelPanic YES
ProvideCurrentCpuInfo YES
XhciPortLimit YES Disable if running macOS 11.3+
More in-depth Info
  • AppleCpuPmCfgLock: NO
    • Only needed when CFG-Lock can't be disabled in BIOS. AMD users can ignore
  • AppleXcpmCfgLock: NO
    • Only needed when CFG-Lock can't be disabled in BIOS. AMD users can ignore
  • AppleXcpmExtraMsrs: NO
    • Disables multiple MSR access needed for unsupported CPUs like Pentiums and certain Xeons
  • CustomSMBIOSGuid: NO
    • Performs GUID patching for UpdateSMBIOSMode set to Custom. Usually relevant for Dell laptops
    • Enabling this quirk in tandem with PlatformInfo -> UpdateSMBIOSMode -> Custom will disable SMBIOS injection into "non-Apple" OSes however we do not endorse this method as it breaks Bootcamp compatibility. Use at your own risk.
  • DisableIoMapper: NO
    • AMD doesn't have DMAR or VT-D support so irrelevant
  • DisableIoMapperMapping: NO
    • AMD doesn't have DMAR or VT-D support so irrelevant
  • DisableLinkeditJettison: YES
    • Allows Lilu and others to have more reliable performance without keepsyms=1
  • DisableRtcChecksum: NO
    • Prevents AppleRTC from writing to primary checksum (0x58-0x59), required for users who either receive BIOS reset or are sent into Safe mode after reboot/shutdown
  • ExtendBTFeatureFlags NO
    • Helpful for those having continuity issues with non-Apple/non-Fenvi cards
  • LapicKernelPanic: NO
    • Disables kernel panic on AP core lapic interrupt, generally needed for HP systems. Clover equivalent is Kernel LAPIC
  • LegacyCommpage: NO
    • Resolves SSSE3 requirement for 64 Bit CPUs in macOS, mainly relevant for 64-Bit Pentium 4 CPUs(ie. Prescott)
  • PanicNoKextDump: YES
    • Allows for reading kernel panics logs when kernel panics occur
  • PowerTimeoutKernelPanic: YES
    • Helps fix kernel panics relating to power changes with Apple drivers in macOS Catalina, most notably with digital audio.
  • ProvideCurrentCpuInfo: YES
    • Provides the kernel with CPU frequency values for AMD.
  • SetApfsTrimTimeout: -1
    • Sets trim timeout in microseconds for APFS filesystems on SSDs, only applicable for macOS 10.14 and newer with problematic SSDs.
  • XhciPortLimit: YES

# Scheme

Settings related to legacy booting(ie. 10.4-10.6), for majority you can skip however for those planning to boot legacy OSes you can see below:

More in-depth Info

  • FuzzyMatch: True

    • Used for ignoring checksums with kernelcache, instead opting for the latest cache available. Can help improve boot performance on many machines in 10.6

  • KernelArch: x86_64

    • Set the kernel's arch type, you can choose between Auto, i386 (32-bit), and x86_64 (64-bit).
    • If you're booting older OSes which require a 32-bit kernel(ie. 10.4 and 10.5) we recommend to set this to Auto and let macOS decide based on your SMBIOS. See below table for supported values:
      • 10.4-10.5 — x86_64, i386 or i386-user32
        • i386-user32 refers 32-bit userspace, so 32-bit CPUs must use this(or CPUs missing SSSE3)
        • x86_64 will still have a 32-bit kernelspace however will ensure 64-bit userspace in 10.4/5
      • 10.6 — i386, i386-user32, or x86_64
      • 10.7 — i386 or x86_64
      • 10.8 or newer — x86_64

  • KernelCache: Auto

    • Set kernel cache type, mainly useful for debugging and so we recommend Auto for best support

# Misc

Misc

# Boot

Info

Quirk Enabled Comment
HideAuxiliary YES Press space to show macOS recovery and other auxiliary entries
More in-depth Info
  • HideAuxiliary: YES
    • This option will hide supplementary entries, such as macOS recovery and tools, in the picker. Hiding auxiliary entries may increase boot performance on multi-disk systems. You can press space at the picker to show these entries

# Debug

Info

Helpful for debugging OpenCore boot issues:

Quirk Enabled
AppleDebug YES
ApplePanic YES
DisableWatchDog YES
Target 67
More in-depth Info
  • AppleDebug: YES
    • Enables boot.efi logging, useful for debugging. Note this is only supported on 10.15.4 and newer
  • ApplePanic: YES
    • Attempts to log kernel panics to disk
  • DisableWatchDog: YES
    • Disables the UEFI watchdog, can help with early boot issues
  • DisplayLevel: 2147483650
    • Shows even more debug information, requires debug version of OpenCore
  • SysReport: NO
    • Helpful for debugging such as dumping ACPI tables
    • Note that this is limited to DEBUG versions of OpenCore
  • Target: 67
    • Shows more debug information, requires debug version of OpenCore

These values are based of those calculated in OpenCore debugging

# Security

Info

Security is pretty self-explanatory, do not skip. We'll be changing the following:

Quirk Enabled Comment
AllowSetDefault YES
BlacklistAppleUpdate YES
ScanPolicy 0
SecureBootModel Default Leave this as Default for OpenCore to automatically set the correct value corresponding to your SMBIOS. The next page goes into more detail about this setting.
Vault Optional This is a word, it is not optional to omit this setting. You will regret it if you don't set it to Optional, note that it is case-sensitive
More in-depth Info

  • AllowSetDefault: YES

    • Allow CTRL+Enter and CTRL+Index to set default boot device in the picker

  • ApECID: 0

    • Used for netting personalized secure-boot identifiers, currently this quirk is unreliable due to a bug in the macOS installer so we highly encourage you to leave this as default.

  • AuthRestart: NO

    • Enables Authenticated restart for FileVault 2 so password is not required on reboot. Can be considered a security risk so optional

  • BlacklistAppleUpdate: YES

    • Used for blocking firmware updates, used as extra level of protection as macOS Big Sur no longer uses run-efi-updater variable

  • DmgLoading: Signed

    • Ensures only signed DMGs load

  • ExposeSensitiveData: 6

    • Shows more debug information, requires debug version of OpenCore

  • Vault: Optional

    • We won't be dealing vaulting so we can ignore, you won't boot with this set to Secure
    • This is a word, it is not optional to omit this setting. You will regret it if you don't set it to Optional, note that it is case-sensitive

  • ScanPolicy: 0

    • 0 allows you to see all drives available, please refer to Security (opens new window) section for further details. Will not boot USB devices with this set to default

  • SecureBootModel: Default

# Serial

Used for serial debugging (Leave everything as default).

# Tools

Used for running OC debugging tools like the shell, ProperTree's snapshot function will add these for you.

# Entries

Used for specifying irregular boot paths that can't be found naturally with OpenCore.

Won't be covered here, see 8.6 of Configuration.pdf (opens new window) for more info

# NVRAM

NVRAM

# Add

4D1EDE05-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B38C14

Used for OpenCore's UI scaling, default will work for us. See in-depth section for more info

More in-depth Info

Booter Path, mainly used for UI modification

  • DefaultBackgroundColor: Background color used by boot.efi
    • 00000000: Syrah Black
    • BFBFBF00: Light Gray

4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102

OpenCore's NVRAM GUID, mainly relevant for RTCMemoryFixup users

More in-depth Info

7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82

System Integrity Protection bitmask

  • General Purpose boot-args:
boot-args Description
-v This enables verbose mode, which shows all the behind-the-scenes text that scrolls by as you're booting instead of the Apple logo and progress bar. It's invaluable to any Hackintosher, as it gives you an inside look at the boot process, and can help you identify issues, problem kexts, etc.
debug=0x100 This disables macOS's watchdog which helps prevents a reboot on a kernel panic. That way you can hopefully glean some useful info and follow the breadcrumbs to get past the issues.
keepsyms=1 This is a companion setting to debug=0x100 that tells the OS to also print the symbols on a kernel panic. That can give some more helpful insight as to what's causing the panic itself.
npci=0x3000 This disables some PCI debugging related to kIOPCIConfiguratorPFM64 and gIOPCITunnelledKey. This is an alternative to having Above 4G Decoding enabled in your BIOS. Do not use this unless you don't have it in your BIOS. Required for when getting stuck on [PCI configuration begin] as there are IRQ conflicts relating to your PCI lanes. Source (opens new window)
alcid=1 Used for setting layout-id for AppleALC, see supported codecs (opens new window) to figure out which layout to use for your specific system. More info on this is covered in the Post-Install Page (opens new window)
  • GPU-Specific boot-args:
boot-args Description
agdpmod=pikera Used for disabling board ID checks on some Navi GPUs (RX 5000 & 6000 series), without this you'll get a black screen. Don't use if you don't have Navi (ie. Polaris and Vega cards shouldn't use this)
-radcodec Used for allowing officially unsupported AMD GPUs (spoofed) to use the Hardware Video Encoder
radpg=15 Used for disabling some power-gating modes, helpful for properly initializing AMD Cape Verde based GPUs
unfairgva=1 Used for fixing hardware DRM support on supported AMD GPUs
nvda_drv_vrl=1 Used for enabling NVIDIA's Web Drivers on Maxwell and Pascal cards in macOS Sierra and High Sierra

  • csr-active-config: 00000000

    • Settings for 'System Integrity Protection' (SIP).
    • csr-active-config by default is set to 00000000 which enables System Integrity Protection. You can choose a number of different values but overall we recommend keeping this enabled for best security practices. More info can be found in our troubleshooting page: Disabling SIP

  • run-efi-updater: No

    • This is used to prevent Apple's firmware update packages from installing and breaking boot order; this is important as these firmware updates (meant for Macs) will not work.

  • prev-lang:kbd: <>

    • Needed for non-latin keyboards in the format of lang-COUNTRY:keyboard, recommended to keep blank though you can specify it(Default in Sample config is Russian):
    • American: en-US:0(656e2d55533a30 in HEX)
    • Full list can be found in AppleKeyboardLayouts.txt (opens new window)
    • Hint: prev-lang:kbd can be changed into a String so you can input en-US:0 directly instead of converting to HEX
    • Hint 2: prev-lang:kbd can be set to a blank variable (eg. <>) which will force the Language Picker to appear instead at first boot up.
Key Type Value
prev-lang:kbd String en-US:0

# Delete

Info

Forcibly rewrites NVRAM variables, do note that Add will not overwrite values already present in NVRAM so values like boot-args should be left alone. For us, we'll be changing the following:

Quirk Enabled
WriteFlash YES
More in-depth Info

  • LegacySchema

    • Used for assigning NVRAM variables, used with OpenVariableRuntimeDxe.efi. Only needed for systems without native NVRAM

  • WriteFlash: YES

    • Enables writing to flash memory for all added variables.

# PlatformInfo

PlatformInfo

Info

For setting up the SMBIOS info, we'll use CorpNewt's GenSMBIOS (opens new window) application.

For this example, we'll choose the MacPro7,1 SMBIOS but some SMBIOS play with certain GPUs better than others:

  • MacPro7,1: AMD Polaris and newer
    • Note that MacPro7,1 is exclusive to macOS 10.15, Catalina and newer
  • iMacPro1,1: NVIDIA Maxwell and Pascal or AMD Polaris and newer
    • Use if you need High Sierra or Mojave, otherwise use MacPro7,1
  • iMac14,2: NVIDIA Maxwell and Pascal
    • Use if you get black screens on iMacPro1,1 after installing Web Drivers with an NVIDIA GPU
  • MacPro6,1: AMD GCN GPUs (supported HD and R5/R7/R9 series)

Run GenSMBIOS, pick option 1 for downloading MacSerial and Option 3 for selecting out SMBIOS. This will give us an output similar to the following:

  #######################################################
 #               MacPro7,1 SMBIOS Info                 #
#######################################################

Type:         MacPro7,1
Serial:       F5KZV0JVP7QM
Board Serial: F5K9518024NK3F7JC
SmUUID:       535B897C-55F7-4D65-A8F4-40F4B96ED394
Apple ROM:    001D4F0D5E22

The order is Product | Serial | Board Serial (MLB)

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.

The Apple ROM part gets copied to Generic -> ROM.

Reminder that you need an invalid serial! When inputting your serial number in Apple's Check Coverage Page (opens new window), you should get a message such as "Unable to check coverage for this serial number."

Automatic: YES

  • Generates PlatformInfo based on Generic section instead of DataHub, NVRAM, and SMBIOS sections

# Generic

More in-depth Info

  • AdviseFeatures: NO

    • Used for when the EFI partition isn't first on the Windows drive

  • MaxBIOSVersion: NO

    • Sets BIOS version to Max to avoid firmware updates in Big Sur+, mainly applicable for genuine Macs.

  • ProcessorType: 0

  • SpoofVendor: YES

    • Swaps vendor field for Acidanthera, generally not safe to use Apple as a vendor in most case

  • SystemMemoryStatus: Auto

    • Sets whether memory is soldered or not in SMBIOS info, purely cosmetic and so we recommend Auto

  • UpdateDataHub: YES

    • Update Data Hub fields

  • UpdateNVRAM: YES

    • Update NVRAM fields

  • UpdateSMBIOS: YES

    • Updates SMBIOS fields

  • UpdateSMBIOSMode: Create

    • Replace the tables with newly allocated EfiReservedMemoryType, use Custom on Dell laptops requiring CustomSMBIOSGuid quirk
    • Setting to Custom with CustomSMBIOSGuid quirk enabled can also disable SMBIOS injection into "non-Apple" OSes however we do not endorse this method as it breaks Bootcamp compatibility. Use at your own risk

# UEFI

UEFI

ConnectDrivers: YES

  • Forces .efi drivers, change to NO will automatically connect added UEFI drivers. This can make booting slightly faster, but not all drivers connect themselves. E.g. certain file system drivers may not load.

# Drivers

Add your .efi drivers here.

Only drivers present here should be:

  • HfsPlus.efi
  • OpenRuntime.efi
More in-depth Info
Key Type Description
Path String Path of the file from OC/Drivers directory
LoadEarly Boolean Load the driver early before NVRAM setup, should only be enabled for OpenRuntime.efi and OpenVariableRuntimeDxe.efi if using legacy NVRAM
Arguments String Some drivers accept additional arguments which are specified here.

# APFS

By default, OpenCore only loads APFS drivers from macOS Big Sur and newer. If you are booting macOS Catalina or earlier, you may need to set a new minimum version/date. Not setting this can result in OpenCore not finding your macOS partition!

macOS Sierra and earlier use HFS instead of APFS. You can skip this section if booting older versions of macOS.

APFS Versions

Both MinVersion and MinDate need to be set if changing the minimum version.

macOS Version Min Version Min Date
High Sierra (10.13.6) 748077008000000 20180621
Mojave (10.14.6) 945275007000000 20190820
Catalina (10.15.4) 1412101001000000 20200306
No restriction -1 -1

# Audio

Related to AudioDxe settings, for us we'll be ignoring(leave as default). This is unrelated to audio support in macOS.

# Input

Related to boot.efi keyboard passthrough used for FileVault and Hotkey support, leave everything here as default as we have no use for these quirks. See here for more details: Security and FileVault (opens new window)

# Output

Relating to OpenCore's visual output, leave everything here as default as we have no use for these quirks.

More in-depth Info
Output Value Comment
UIScale 0 0 will automatically set based on resolution
-1 will leave it unchanged
1 for 1x scaling, for normal displays
2 for 2x scaling, for HiDPI displays

# ProtocolOverrides

Mainly relevant for Virtual machines, legacy macs and FileVault users. See here for more details: Security and FileVault (opens new window)

# Quirks

Info

Relating to quirks with the UEFI environment, for us we'll be changing the following:

Quirk Enabled Comment
UnblockFsConnect NO Needed mainly by HP motherboards
More in-depth Info

  • DisableSecurityPolicy: NO

    • Disables platform security policy in firmware, recommended for buggy firmwares where disabling Secure Boot does not allow 3rd party firmware drivers to load.
    • If running a Microsoft Surface device, recommended to enable this option

  • RequestBootVarRouting: YES

    • Redirects AptioMemoryFix from EFI_GLOBAL_VARIABLE_GUID to OC_VENDOR_VARIABLE_GUID. Needed for when firmware tries to delete boot entries and is recommended to be enabled on all systems for correct update installation, Startup Disk control panel functioning, etc.

  • UnblockFsConnect: NO

    • Some firmware block partition handles by opening them in By Driver mode, which results in File System protocols being unable to install. Mainly relevant for HP systems when no drives are listed

# ReservedMemory

Used for exempting certain memory regions from OSes to use, mainly relevant for Sandy Bridge iGPUs or systems with faulty memory. Use of this quirk is not covered in this guide

# Cleaning up

And now you're ready to save and place it into your EFI under EFI/OC.

For those having booting issues, please make sure to read the Troubleshooting section first and if your questions are still unanswered we have plenty of resources at your disposal:

# AMD BIOS Settings

  • Note: Most of these options may not be present in your firmware, we recommend matching up as closely as possible but don't be too concerned if many of these options are not available in your BIOS

# Disable

  • Fast Boot
  • Secure Boot
  • Serial/COM Port
  • Parallel Port
  • Compatibility Support Module (CSM) (Must be off in most cases, GPU errors/stalls like gIO are common when this option is enabled)
  • IOMMU

Special note for 3990X users: macOS currently does not support more than 64 threads in the kernel, and so will kernel panic if it sees more. The 3990X CPU has 128 threads total and so requires half of that disabled. We recommend disabling hyper threading in the BIOS for these situations.

# Enable

  • Above 4G Decoding (This must be on, if you can't find the option then add npci=0x3000 to boot-args. Do not have both this option and npci enabled at the same time.)
    • If you are on a Gigabyte/Aorus or an AsRock motherboard, enabling this option may break certain drivers(ie. Ethernet) and/or boot failures on other OSes, if it does happen then disable this option and opt for npci instead
    • 2020+ BIOS Notes: When enabling Above4G, Resizable BAR Support may become an available on some X570 and newer motherboards. Please ensure that Booter -> Quirks -> ResizeAppleGpuBars is set to 0 if this is enabled.
  • EHCI/XHCI Hand-off
  • OS type: Windows 8.1/10 UEFI Mode (some motherboards may require "Other OS" instead)
  • SATA Mode: AHCI

# Once done here, we need to edit a couple extra values. Head to the Apple Secure Boot Page

⟵ Apple Secure Boot ⟶