OpenCore Install Guide

# Converting from Clover to OpenCore

So you see the new fancy OpenCore bootloader and just dying to try it out, well you've come to the right place! Many things in Clover have feature parity with OpenCore but many do not, here we'll be going over what you can bring over and what you cannot.

To get started, we have some resources that will aid you:

# Cleaning the Clover Junk in macOS

So to start, Clover would like to give a big F*** You if you're using emulated NVRAM. Why? Well it likely installed some trash that's a pain in the arse to get rid of. You will need to have SIP disabled to clean it up.

Things to check for:

  • /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/EmuVariableUefi-64.efi
  • /Volumes/EFI/nvram.plist
  • /etc/rc.clover.lib
  • /etc/rc.boot.d/10.save_and_rotate_boot_log.local
  • /etc/rc.boot.d/20.mount_ESP.local
  • /etc/rc.boot.d/70.disable_sleep_proxy_client.local.disabled
  • /etc/rc.shutdown.d/80.save_nvram_plist.local​

If folders are empty then delete them as well:

  • /etc/rc.boot.d
  • /etc/rc.shutdown.d​

Users of Clover's Preference Pane will also need to remove these:

  • /Library/PreferencePanes/Clover.prefPane
  • /Library/Application\ Support/clover

# Removing kexts from macOS(S/L/E and L/E)

A common tradition with Clover was to install kexts into macOS, specifically System/Library/Extensions and Library/Extensions. Reasoning being that Clover's kext injection system was known to fail either with OS updates or just spontaneously. Thankfully with OpenCore, a much more robust and stable injection mechanism's been made that is far harder to break. So time to do a bit of spring cleaning.

Note: OpenCore will fail to inject kexts already in your kernelcache so cleaning this out will also resolve those issues

Now open up terminal and run the following:

sudo kextcache -i /

This command will yell at you about any kexts that shouldn't be in either S/L/E or L/E.

Remove all hack kexts:

sudo -s
touch /Library/Extensions /System/Library/Extensions​
kextcache -i /​
  • Note, macOS Catalina will need the mount -uw / command to mount the system drive as Read/Write

# Cleaning the Clover Junk in your hardware

The other thing that Clover may have hidden from you is NVRAM variables, this is bad as OpenCore won't overwrite variables unless explicitly told via the Delete feature found under NVRAM -> Delete. To fix this, we'll need to clear then via OpenCore's ClearNvram feature.

In you config.plist:

  • Misc -> Security -> AllowNvramReset -> True

And on your initial boot of OpenCore, select Reset NVRAM boot option. This will wipe everything and reboot the system when finished.

  • Note: Thinkpad laptops are known to be semi-bricked after an NVRAM reset in OpenCore, we recommend resetting NVRAM by updating the BIOS on these machines.

# Optional: Avoiding SMBIOS injection into other OSes

By default OpenCore will inject SMBIOS data into all OSes, the reason for this is 2 parts:

  • This allows for proper multiboot support like with BootCamp (opens new window)
  • Avoids edge cases where info is injected several times, commonly seen with Clover

However, there are quirks in OpenCore that allow for SMBIOS injection to be macOS limited by patching where macOS reads SMBIOS info from. These quirks can break in the future and so we only recommend this option in the event of certain software breaking in other OSes. For best stability, please avoid

To enable macOS-only SMBIOS injection:

  • Kernel -> Quirks -> CustomSMBIOSGuid -> True
  • PlatformInfo -> UpdateSMBIOSMode -> Custom