The Hackintosh Thread

[ZGR]

Anyone dual-booting Windows 10 x64 Anniversary + OS X on the same SSD? I am encountering a strange problem since updating my Windows 10 to the Anniversary update.

Basically when selecting W10 on boot after updates are installed, I can no longer boot into Windows. When selecting the OS, it simply kicks me back to the bootloader! Going into UEFI BIOS and exiting fixes the problem, letting me boot into Windows...
Never encountered this before until I was on the new Anniversary update.

@Noo - Congrats! Thinkpads make the best Macbooks
Can you get the fingerprint reader to work? That would be slick!

 

[Noo]

There's no driver for fingerprint reader otherwise it would be cool. Dual booting anything on the same hard drive is a bad idea, windows always break them. For the Thinkpad I have the MacOS running on the mSata and Windows 10 running on the SSD, not a single problem when you install them on separate hard drives.

 

[Kaido]

UniBeast has been updated for macOS Sierra support:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/unibeast-7-0-1-update.203029/

They've made the switch over to Clover (EFI bootloader v2.3 r3766), which means that support for previous Mac operating systems has been removed - this is a 100% Sierra kit. Also, because Sierra won't boot with previous system definitions (ex. MacPro3,1 & MacPro4,1), the default config is now iMac14,2. As per usual, download Sierra from the Mac App Store & use UniBeast to write it to a USB stick. If you want a super-fast SSD, there is an NVMe patch available:

https://github.com/RehabMan/patch-nvme/blob/master/README.md

Note that the 960 Pro's are coming out shortly & add another 1000 MB/s of speed to the existing 950 chips (as well as larger capacities...the current Samsung chip maxes out at 512GB, but the new ones are also available in 1TB & 2TB sizes).

 

[Tyranicus]

I'm pretty sure they switched to Clover for Unibeast when El Capitan came out.

 

[Kaido]

I'm pretty sure they switched to Clover for Unibeast when El Capitan came out.

Correct, it was actually a change for both Yosemite & OS X El Capitan. But as of the updated version (7), it is Clover-only, Sierra-only, so if you want to support older versions of the OS on your hack for whatever reason, you'll need to go backwards to v6. v5 had Chimera & went up to Yosemite, v6 was the bridge for both Yosemite & El Capitan, and v6 is now exclusive for Sierra.

Glad to see progress is still being made!

 

[SKORPI0]

Successful install of Sierra to my Asus X79 Sabertooth mobo (see sig) with UniBeast 7.01 using Clover 3766 as boot loader. Used MultiBeast for post install. Takes a while to load to desktop.
As usual audio still does not work. So for now using a bluetooth speaker.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ierra-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.200564/

 

[ZGR]

Dual booting anything on the same hard drive is a bad idea, windows always break them./QUOTE]

It requires more upkeep and general awareness of updates, but I am a big advocate for dual booting OS X and Windows on a single drive once FULLY backed up. Even if Windows overwrites the bootloader, you can easily reinstall it. If Windows breaks itself, you can pop in a thumbstick and repair it.

So yeah, having an individual OS on each drive is more convenient and requires less upkeep, but having 2 OS's on a single drive allows for easier deployment once the drive is fully cloned. I also prefer to use all my spare drives just for data storage as I must use exFAT for OS compatibility.

 

[Kaido]

Successful install of Sierra to my Asus X79 Sabertooth mobo (see sig) with UniBeast 7.01 using Clover 3766 as boot loader. Used MultiBeast for post install. Takes a while to load to desktop.
As usual audio still does not work. So for now using a bluetooth speaker.

Noice! I'm still using my $10 Syba Stereo USB adapter, works great! (no drivers required!)

https://www.amazon.com/external-Adapter-Windows-Microphone-SD-CM-UAUD/dp/B001MSS6CS/

Sadly, I may be stepping away from Hackintosh...my wife wants to move to a laptop (rose MB, apparently the M5 chips are pretty decent for Photoshop etc.) for portability. I live off a Chromebook these days. I do have a couple other PC's kicking around...one for running my VR setup (Vive), which requires Windows, and a Kangaroo PC ($99 palm-sized Atom system with Win10) on my kitchen TV. We were going to upgrade her hack with a larger HDD & some other goodies, but in the interest of increasing space at home, we can nix the full desk & desktop setup & just use the laptop at the dinner table or wherever as needed. Amazing how times change thanks to technology...

 

[SKORPI0]

Noice! I'm still using my $10 Syba Stereo USB adapter, works great! (no drivers required!)

https://www.amazon.com/external-Adapter-Windows-Microphone-SD-CM-UAUD/dp/B001MSS6CS/
.

Thanks for the idea. Ordered exact item from Newegg, paid $5.99, no tax, Super Eggsaver (4-7 bus. days) $0.00.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186035

Plugged it in a usb port and detected as C-Media USB Audio Device. Used my old Logitech Z-5300e and sound is a lot better than the Memorex MW212 bluetooth speaker I've been using.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for the idea. Ordered exact item from Newegg, paid $5.99, no tax, Super Eggsaver (4-7 bus. days) $0.00.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186035

Plugged it in a usb port and detected as C-Media USB Audio Device. Used my old Logitech Z-5300e and sound is a lot better than the Memorex MW212 bluetooth speaker I've been using.

Yeah, native drivers + it's cleaner than the onboard analog out from most motherboards (my really old hackintosh boards would pick up system sounds & crackle a bit).

 

[destrekor]

Yeah, native drivers + it's cleaner than the onboard analog out from most motherboards (my really old hackintosh boards would pick up system sounds & crackle a bit).

Yup, because of the audio driver issue, I had made the switch to Asus Xonar U7 USB. I don't regret the purchase one bit - it blows away my onboard audio in both Windows and Mac, and it does a fantastic job with headphones. I don't have super high-resistance cans (Sennheiser HD598SE), but it drives them perfectly, far more than I can possibly take advantage of. Actually I haven't tried them with regular speakers, I haven't had the opportunity but will soon have that option and I can't wait.


On that note, ugh, I really need to fix my clover boot. Update to 10.11 screwed the display output for me, as I had to do numerous tweaks to get multi-monitor on my Radeon 290X to work well. I tried for awhile but gave up. I get my "mac fix" from my MBP and I love Windows 10, but I do very much want to get back to work on it and see if I can fix it up.

 

[CuriousMike]

I just turned my PC into a Hackintosh this weekend.
If I would have started with Yosemite or El Capitan, I would have shaved HOURS off the time it took to get working.
All the time was due to me trying to get my R9 390 working - it wasn't until I went with El Capitan that my video card works.

I'm using an MSI H81M-E33 V2 motherboard, i5-4590 and the aforementioned R9 390.
The only item that doesn't work EDIT are the front EDIT USB 3 ports.

 

[destrekor]

I just turned my PC into a Hackintosh this weekend.
If I would have started with Yosemite or El Capitan, I would have shaved HOURS off the time it took to get working.
All the time was due to me trying to get my R9 390 working - it wasn't until I went with El Capitan that my video card works.

I'm using an MSI H81M-E33 V2 motherboard, i5-4590 and the aforementioned R9 390.
The only item that doesn't work EDIT are the front EDIT USB 3 ports.

So you are using El Capitan and not Sierra?

 

[CuriousMike]

So you are using El Capitan and not Sierra?

That is correct, I am using El Capitan.

To be clearerer; I had Sierra up and running but
1 - The internal Intel 460 graphics worked, but was limited to 1920x1080 over HDMI. Not sure who was at fault here; the internet had disagreeing sentiments as to who was at fault.
2 - I wanted my R9 390 to work - and nothing I could do would get it to boot into native res. I had the problem most others talk about; it boots, but at 1280x1024 (something low res) and the card reporting 5MB of VRAM. This was after trying various 0xnnnnn card id's, forcing the VRAM to the 8192, etc etc.

 

[sureshk]

Hi guys, running 10.11.6 a clover built.

my issue is i cant seem to connect to another Mac in the home network. The thing is i can i can SHARE SCREEN of the other Mac, but can't connect to share folders.



upon entering the password...the window gives a 'no no nod' !



This issue is only in my 10.11.6 built. Other Macs in network seem to be able to share folders. Also this built can connect to a windows XP to retrieve files from it (but I've never tried it the other way around...since the XP needs some tweaking)



Any idea what is wrong ....cant share folders from either way. Thanks

 

[KeithP]

Beta Pascal drivers next week.

-KeithP

 

[Kaido]

Beta Pascal drivers next week.

-KeithP

Bah, beat me to it!

I'm guessing the upcoming Mac Pro redesign will have PCIe slots (or a Razer Core-style eGPU bay), as I believe the last PCIe-capable Mac Pro was the Mac Pro (Mid 2012) model: (available 2012 to 2013, until the trash can came out)

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp652?locale=en_US

It's not a bad machine (officially maxed out at two 6-core Xeons & 64-gigs of RAM), but it is 5 years old at this point, which is ancient in computer years, plus it only has PCIe 2.0 slots (one x16 and two x4 in x16-size slots, with a max of 300w combined). You can buy an Asus motherboard off the shelf for $479 that supports dual 22-core Xeons & a terabyte of RAM today, so this gives me hope that Apple is actually going to be getting really serious about Pro-level equipment in coming years. And of course, yay for native Hackintosh support! Discussion thread here:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-announces-pascal-graphics-drivers-coming-to-macos.218790/

Special note from the 9to5 Mac article:

We have reached out to Nvidia for a statement about compatibility down the line with lesser 10-series cards, and I’m happy to report that Nvidia states that all Pascal-based GPUs will be Mac-enabled via upcoming drivers. This means that you will be able to use a GTX 1080, for instance, on a Mac system via an eGPU setup, or with a Hackintosh build. Exciting times, indeed.

I'm curious how much of this is driven by the 2018 Mac Pro & how much is driven by the DIY community. This will definitely be a huge boost to Hackintoshers who want a machine with a modern GPU, as well as those who want to dual-boot for gaming.

 

[Kaido]

Will be following this build for sure:

https://9to5mac.com/2017/04/06/nvidia-gtx-pascal-drivers-mac-hackintosh/

 

[KeithP]

Will be following this build for sure:

https://9to5mac.com/2017/04/06/nvidia-gtx-pascal-drivers-mac-hackintosh/

Yeah, I saw that. I am reasonably sure I will be building my first Hackintosh this summer.

-KeithP

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, I saw that. I am reasonably sure I will be building my first Hackintosh this summer.

-KeithP

It's a good time to get into it, for 2 reasons:

1. It's ridiculously easy to build one these days thanks to Tonymac's system.

2. You can now use a 10-series NVIDIA card, so if you want a modern GPU or want to dual-boot into Windows for gaming, it's cake

Some notes:

1. You'll want to buy the last-gen system for maximum compatibility (6th-gen Intel). Not a huge deal, as the top chip, the Core i7-6700K, is a 4ghz quad-core CPU...not bad! That will probably change with the 2018 Mac Pro release (new drivers), but for now, follow the guide on Tonymac:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/april/2017

2. I personally prefer to dual-boot on separate drives for convenience. It makes backups a lot easier. I use Macrium for Windows & SuperDuper for Mac; both let me make image clones of the boot drives. That is, if you're planning on dual-booting.

3. I like to run a "vanilla" system, which means my Mac boot drive ONLY has Mac files on it. There are a couple ways to do that. First, install the bootloader to a USB stick instead of the boot drive, then set the BIOS to boot to that stick. This does a few things. First, it keeps all of the Hackintosh files on the USB stick instead of the hard drive. Second, it still lets you select Mac or Windows to boot into. Third, it lets you tinker with different bootloader configurations very easily, because you can just swap USB sticks to try different one outs.

Second, if the motherboard's onboard audio isn't natively supported, I prefer to use a $10 USB sound card (Syba's stereo adapter). It usually sounds better than onboard anyway (no hiss from motherboard noise pickups). Doesn't require a driver to be installed, which again means you have a "clean" Mac drive.

Third, if the motherboard's onboard network ports aren't natively supported, I prefer to use a PCI/PCIe card (either for Ethernet or Wi-fi). Same deal, no drivers required if you buy a card that has native OSX support.

It's not a big deal for everyone, but I like the idea of having a 100% clean OSX-only boot drive that I can literally swap into a real Mac if needed. It also makes backups easier because doing system clones can lose the custom bootloader partitions & information, which isn't a huge deal because it only takes a minute to re-install, but for me, it's easier to have everything natively supported & have the bootloader on a USB stick. Very, very convenient to work on your system that way. Also, nothing gets bothered by system updates since nothing but OSX lives on the boot drive. So it's not a requirement, but it does make for an easy way to manage your system.

Just make sure to read through the build threads on the various Hackintosh forums to see about the installation process, hiccups, compatibility, BIOS version & settings, and so on. Building a Hackintosh used to be a real labor of love, but if you buy compatible hardware & follow pre-written guides, it can go a lot smoother for you these days!

 

[KeithP]

Thanks for the tips!

-KeithP

 

[KeithP]

I have been wondering something about Hacintoshes, I guess this is a good as time as any to ask…

Assume I have built a working Hacintosh. Used compatible hardware, everything is working fine. Then I install virtual machine software (parallels, Fusion, VirtualBox, whatever) and it too is working perfectly without issue. If I create a macOS VM, is it potentially more stable running in the VM then the host OS on the Hackintosh itself?

In other words, would the VM software (assuming it has no issues which is a big assumption) essentially insulate the guest copy of macOS from potential Hackintosh compatibility issues when updating the OS? Could you simply never bother with updating the Hacintosh OS and do all your day-to-day computing in the VM letting it update normally?

-KeithP

 

[Kaido]

I have been wondering something about Hacintoshes, I guess this is a good as time as any to ask…

Assume I have built a working Hacintosh. Used compatible hardware, everything is working fine. Then I install virtual machine software (parallels, Fusion, VirtualBox, whatever) and it too is working perfectly without issue. If I create a macOS VM, is it potentially more stable running in the VM then the host OS on the Hackintosh itself?

In other words, would the VM software (assuming it has no issues which is a big assumption) essentially insulate the guest copy of macOS from potential Hackintosh compatibility issues when updating the OS? Could you simply never bother with updating the Hacintosh OS and do all your day-to-day computing in the VM letting it update normally?

-KeithP

Apple allows OSX virtualization on Mac hosts, so yes. VMware Fusion supports Sierra: (10.9 through 10.12 can be virtualized "officially")

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion.html

The catch is, last time I used it, there was no support for GPU acceleration with an OSX VM, so everything ran sluggish (even Youtube was useless). This may have changed, as I haven't virtualized Sierra on Fusion 8.5. At least previously, there was only 3D acceleration support for Windows VM's. So it's more or less useless for normal use, although maybe that has changed in newer versions.

If you do want to do a crazy build, check out unRAID, which has support for GPU pass-through:

https://lime-technology.com/virtualization-host/

You can basically make a VM, map a physical GPU to it, assign USB ports to it, and plug in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to that directly. With a KVM switch, you can swap between a Windows gaming system & a Mac DCC system. Downside is you'll want a beefy CPU, lots of RAM, and you'll need a couple video cards. Lots of crazy stuff out there to play with!

 

[MotionMan]

First!



Thanks for setting this up (I keep threatening to build a Hack, but have not gotten around to it, YET).

MotionMan

Still first after all these years, and still threatening to build a Hack, too.

Maybe after I retire...

MotionMan

 

[Zaap]

What amazes me, is the SandyBridge i7 Hackintosh I built a year BEFORE this thread...(my SIG machine) is still running strong! It's had quite a few upgrades since then, but it's still getting the job done, rock solid.

I've toyed with the idea of replacing it with a newer one many times, but just have never really needed to.