Installing Mac OSX 10.15 Catalina on HP EliteBook Folio 9740m
You need to create the Installation USB on a Mac (real or a VM).
You can find VM images for Mac OSX suitable for use with Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation on the Internet. In this research, I used the Mac OSX 10.13 High Sierra VM deployed on VirtualBox to create the Installation USB for Mac OSX Catalina (I had instability issues when I tried to use the Mojave/Catalina VMs). Please remember to follow the instructions associated with deploying the VM on VirtualBox/Workstation – e.g., there are “vboxmanage” commands you need to run otherwise the VM will be stuck in a continuous reboot loop.
Also I found out the hard way that the latest VirtualBox (6.1.4-136177) crashed my Windows laptop on which I deployed the Mac OSX VM consistently once I started the VM. I then tried the older VirtualBox version 6.0.18-136238 and that worked with no issues. Also note that on Linux, you must register the VM (“vboxmanage registervm “) before running the other vboxmanage commands specified in the procedure for deploying the VM. You also need to add the Linux user you are running VirtualBox as to the Linux group vboxusers otherwise you will not be able to attach a USB drive to the VM. Remmeber to install the VirtualBox extension pack as well.
Install Windows. After partitioning is complete, Boot Camp will ensure your Mac shuts down to launch Windows installer program, which is in the USB memory stick. To download Windows 10 on macOS 10.15 in minutes, follow the prompts on the screen. When Windows starts up, another prompt will appear. MacOS 10.15, code name for Catalina, is the latest operating system shipped for Mac desktop and laptops. And it is the right time to create a bootable USB install USB based on Catalina becasue the signing certificates for old version of macOS and OS X are expired soon. This guide will show you how to make an install drive from the macOS Catalina 10.15 application. Having an install drive allows for deployment to multiple computers without re-downloading, performing clean installs, and booting to the installer’s built-in recovery tools for troubleshooting. To install macOS Catalina 10.15 on PC-Hackintosh you have to insert the created Bootable USB to your computer. After that, restart your computer, then press the Boot menu key of your computer. After that, the list of drives will appear whether you want to boot macOS Catalina from USB or CD/DVD. Choose the recommended one and press enter.
- Login to the mac OSX VM
- Download “macoS Catalina Patcher” utility abd use it to download the macOS catalina installation files from Apple
- Download https://github.com/chris1111/HP-Probook-EliteBook-Package-Creator
- The instructions for running it to create the boot installation USB are on the same page. There is also an English walk-through video at https://www.hackintosh-montreal.com/t7559-hp-probook-elitebook-macos#111778
- Summary:
– run the “Gatekeeper” app (it is in the HP-ProBook-EliteBook-Package-Creator directory after you decompress the downloaded zip file);
– run the Packager (needs Internet access) to create the “Create Install Media HP Laptop” app; attach a (minimum size 16GB) USB drive to the MAC oSX VM;
– run the “Create Install Media HP Laptop” app which launches disk utility app where you need to erase the whole USB drive with “Format” set to “Mac OSX Extended (Journaled)”, “Scheme” set to “GUID Partition Map”.
– once erase is completed, exit the disk utility and you will get a drive list from which you select the drive you just erased/formatted;
– you then get a dialog box asking you to select the location of your “Install macOS Catalina.app” (either “10.9 to 10.12” OR “10.13.to 10.15”), then browse to where you downloaded the installation files and select the “Install macOS Catalina” installer; the HP Probook/EliteBook creator app will then copy files to the USB;
– once completed, it will automatically launch the “Clover EFI” installation app, click the “continue” button, change the installation location to the USB drive that was just created (likely named “Install macOS Catalina”), click on the “Customize” button, the relevant selections for my laptop are below, then click “Install” button:
-> Install Clover in the ESP
-> Drivers off
-> Boot Sectors -> Install boot0af in MBR
-> Clover for BIOS (legacy) booting -> Clover EFI 64-bits SATA
-> BIOS Drivers, 64 bit -> Recommended drivers (all)
-> File System drivers (all)
-> UEFI Drivers -> Recommended drivers (all)
-> File System drivers -> apfs, Fat, HFSPlus
-> Memory fix drivers -> OsxAptioFixDrv
-> Additional drivers -> OsxFatBinaryDrv, PartitionDxe
-> Themes (select all)
-> Drivers Kext -> FakeSMC, VoodooPS2Controller
- Once done, copy the Gatekeeeper application and the HP-ProBook-EliteBook-macOS.pkg post-installation package to the USB drive volume “Install macOS Catalina”
- Eject the USB drive and plug it to your target HP laptop
- Power on your target laptop, press ESC key to interrupt the boot process, press F10 to enter BIOS setup – make the changes recommended on the “HP ProBook EliteBook Package Creator” web page then save and exit. For my laptop, the BIOS settings are: Deactivate Fast Boot, deactivate “SecureBoot”, set “Boot Mode” to “UEFI Hybrid (With CSM)”, deactivate LAN switching, deactivate Wake On LAN and Wake on USB, “SATA Device Mode” to “AHCI”, disable firewire/IEEE1394, disable “Trusted Execution Technology (TXT)”
- Boot the target HP laptop with the USB drive, use disk utility to erase the laptop’s disk – if you only see volumes and not the disk devices, select “View -> Show All Devices” from the Disk Utility menu (if planning to multiboot, use disk utility to create all the partitions you need – in my example I erased the HDD using “GUID Partition Map” scheme, then created 3 partitions: OSXHDD, LINUXOS, WINOS. I set all the non-OSX partitions set to type ExFAT), install the macOS Catalina to your newly formatted OSX volume.
- When completed, reboot with the USB in place, once started from the USB, select the option to boot from the OSX disk you just installed Catalina to – the install will continue – when it reboots again, select the option to boot from the OSX disk again, it may reboot again, select the OSX disk again, it will then boot to the GUI to complete the setup – go through the setup wizard to complete the configuration and create your login user account.
- At the desktop, open the USB install drive (should be named “Install macOS Catalina”), copy the Gatekeeper and HP-ProBook-EliteBook-macOS.pkg to your Desktop.
- Run gatekeeper and choose “Disable” to allow you to run software from any source
- Run the Post-Installer “HP-ProBook-EliteBook-macOS.pkg”, change the installation target location to your laptop disk, select the customize button, and select all the options necessary for your specific laptop (see video on the creator web page), and complete the clover installation. My customized selection were as follows:
HP-ProBook-EliteBook-macOS
-> HP Laptop Clover V2.5K r5103
-> 7 series macOS 10.12>10.15 -> Elitebook 9x70m
-> Intel HD 3000/4000 Graphics -> Intel HD 4000 -> Low screen 1366×768
-> HDMI -> HDMI Low screen
-> Fan Patch -> FanSmooth
-> SSDT Generator
-> Airport WIFI Fix -> AirportBrcmFixup (for Broadcom or Atheros for Atheros card)
-> Bluetooth
-> HWMonitor
-> Applications
- DO NOT reboot the laptop yet otherwise you will get kernel panics and it will be stuck in a loading/panic/reboot loop.
- Open Terminal app:
# sudo su -
# mount -o rw /
# mkdir /tmp/efi
# df -h
# mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /tmp/efi (*see note below)
# cd /tmp/efi/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/
# rm DSDT.dsl DSDT.aml SSDT.aml origin.dsl
Note: the EFI partition on the HDD may already be mounted (usually under /Volumes/ESP) so this mount command will throw a “Resource busy” error. If it is already mounted as /Volumes/ESP then you should “cd /Volumes/ESP/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ ” in order to delete the files indicated above.
- Edit /tmp/efi/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist and set the DefaultVolume to your OSX volume name, and the ScreenResolution key to your actual resolution (1366×768 for my laptop) if necessary.
Fix Sound: To get sound to work properly (AppleALC kext that comes with the post installer enables the headphone jack but not the in-built speaker), you need to use the VoodHDA kext:
- Download VoodooHDA 2.9.2 install package from https://github.com/chris1111/VoodooHDA-2.9.2-Clover-V15/releases
- Unzip the downloaded file and open/run the package
- Click the Continue button (x3), agree to the license terms, then click the Customize button -> Expand “VoodooHDA Clover UEFI/ESP” -> Select “macOS Catalina” -> “Install”
Macos 10.15 Install Bind
Eject the USB install drive, and reboot your “Mac” laptop, it should come up with WiFI, LAN, SD card, and Sound fully functional.
NOTE: the SSDT.aml was responsible was responsible for the continuous reboot “memory panic stackshot succeeded …” kernel panic that made my laptop continuously reboot. The only file you should have in the EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ directory in the EFI partition on your boot volume is the SSDT-FIXCAT.aml
Bootloader Setup: The easiest way to use CLOVER bootloader is to mount the EFI partition and copy EFICLOVERCLOVERX64.efi to EFI/Boot/BOOTX64.efi (yes, overwrite BOOTX64.efi if prompted). Note that if you are multi-booting and you installed Windows or Linux after installing Mac OSX, you may need to repeat the copy again afterwards if you still want to use CLOVER bootloader. Alternatively, you may setup your laptop (BIOS) to use CLOVER by setting up the BIOS: System Configuration -> Boot Options -> Define Customized Boot Option -> Add -> enter “EFICLOVERCLOVERX64.efi” -> in “UEFI Boot Order” (Move “Customized Boot to the top position) -> Save -> Exit. If you choose this alternative option, you should delete any other file that is in EFI/Boot/ directory.
Fun stuff: You can cast sound or video or your laptop desktop to a recent TV such as the Samsung series 8 that supports AirPlay. If I select my TV, I am prompted for the Airplay code which is displayed on my TV. You can even decide whether to just mirror your desktop to the TV or use the TV as a second screen (“As Separate Display”)!
Other: In Microsoft Windows, to mount the EFI partition on a O/S disk, run “mountvol <driveletter>: /s” from any admin cmd.exe session. To mount the EFI partition on a USB drive, run “mountvol” which will list all available volume, you can then run “mountvol <driveletter>: <?volume-name-as-displayed-in-mountvol-output>”
Disclaimer: if you like Mac OSX buy a real Mac. This is for educational research purposes only.
Acknowledgement: chris1111
Refs:
https://github.com/chris1111/HP-Probook-EliteBook-Package-Creator
https://www.hackintosh-montreal.com/t7559-hp-probook-elitebook-macos#111778
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/129305/how-can-i-enable-access-to-usb-devices-within-virtualbox-guests
macOS Catalina 10.15 is the latest operating system that runs on Apple Mac laptops and desktops. However, it is still in beta test and only available for part of Mac computers with high profile or enrolled in Apple Beta Program. Is there any way to upgrade the macOS to Catalina manually or install Catalina on Mac from scratch? The answer is Yes. But you have to download macOS Cataina DMG or the installer app.
If you are looking for the easiest way to download macOS Catalina DMG on a Macand but don't know how? Well, there are three ways by which you can instantly get the latest macOS installer without a hassle.
Part 1. Get MacOS Catalina DMG Via Direct Download Link
Macos 10.15 Install Brew
Many people prefer the direct download link of macOS Catalina as it is more flexible. You can unpack the DMG file and make a bootable Catalina installer USB, which can be used to install macOS on other computers. However, it is not easy to find the direct download link because Apple wants you to upgrade from Mac App Store. Fortunately, there are a few good websites that host the direct download link of macOS Catalina DMG. After that, you can burn the macOS dmg to USB to make it bootable for installation.
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 1: https://themacgo.com/macdownload/ (Wait a few seconds and the download starts automatically.)
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 2: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ELQXMuuVWddamLPG0RHjyvaNW4r628CM (Password: Geekrar.com)
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 3: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wazr84baudhi27h/macOS_Catalina_DMG_by_Geekrar.rar/file
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 4: https://sundryfiles.com/G54 (Premium account required for download!)
macOS Catalina 10.15 InstallESDDmg PKG Download Link : http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/61/56/041-83630-A_8RCIBB415Y/7jqh3nh97ood2mjej7hdgpx7fgh5c3fi9g/InstallESDDmg.pkg
macOS Catalina 10.15 VMware Image Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yrd1py7od5911zt/Catalina_Virtual_Disk_Image_by_Techsviewer.rar/file
macOS Catalina 10.15 VirtualBox Image Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yrd1py7od5911zt/Catalina_Virtual_Disk_Image_by_Techsviewer.rar/file
Tips: After downloading macOS Catalina .dmg file, it is time to make a macOS bootable USB from it. For this purpose, you can give a try on UUByte DMG Editor, one of the most popular software to create a Catalina USB installer on both Windows PC and Mac.
Part 2. Download macOS Catalina From Mac App Store
Apple always recommends its users downloading macOS install file from Mac App Store for security reasons. It is safe and easy. But the actual downloaded file is not an dmg file. Instead, it is an app called Install macOS Catalina, which is used to make the upgrade from current macOS to Catalina. For a clean install, it is better to download the dmg file and make an installer USB.
Note: Make sure to back up your Mac prior to installing macOS Catalina.
Step 1: Go to Mac App Store and search macOS Catalina. Then hit on 'Get' to download page.
Step 2: Doing this will open System Preferences followed by the section of Software Update, where you will find MacOS Catalina ready to download. Hit the option saying 'Upgrade Now' and download MacOS Catalina on your Mac.
Step 3: Next, macOS Catalina upgrade will ask for system reboot. Complete the process and install macOS Catalina on that computer.
Downloading macOS Catalina Install app works fine on my of newly devices but it could be problems for old Macs even it is officially supported by Catalina. If this is the case, then you have to patch the OS and install Catalina again. However, you need find a third-party app to do the dirty work. We will talk about this in Part 3.
Part 3. Download macOS Catalina 10.15 Installer with macOS Catalina Patcher
Although it may appear easy to try out the conventional approach of downloading macOS update in Software Update, there are a few known issues on old Macs shipped in 2013 or earlier, meaning the download progress can not be completed successfully. That's why macOS Catalina Patcher tool comes into help. This patching tool makes the job even simpler for installing macOS Catalina on unsupported Mac models.
However, the file size of these updates differs depending on the Mac device you are using. That means the downloaded update might not necessarily be the full installer version. For instance, if you wish to keep the installer file as archive for further application, or use it to generate bootable flash drive, this file size won't be sufficient.
Fortunately, with macOS Catalina Patcher tool, you can simply download the entire update of macOS setup from Apple's servers. Let's check out the stepwise instructions of how to use this software tool to download the macOS Catalina DMG.
Step 1: Download a copy of macOS Catalina Patcher from this link.
Step 2: After downloading and attempting to install, an error notification will be prompted. It is due to the unavailability of developer verification credential for macOS. Now, go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy. Then find the button saying 'Open Anyway' to let the app run.
Step 3: Open macOS Catalina Patcher app and from the main menu, navigate to Options to uncheck the box saying 'Auto-apply Post Install Patches'. As you are done with the previous step and move to the screen as in the link below, hit Download a Copy.
Macos 10.15 Install
Step 4: The following screen will notify the file size of macOS Catalina you are to download. The resolution is around 7GB and after the download, it will automatically get stored in the Downloads folder. Then hit Continue to initiate the process of download.
Step 5: The download time of the file will depend upon the internet connection and its speed. So, you might have to wait for some while for the process to complete. Eventually, the entire macOS Catalina setup file will be available on your device.
Closing Words
Well, that is all for the day. Hopefully, the above methods were helpful in guiding you on how to download macOS Catalina for both supported and unsupported Macs. When the download is finished, the next step is to burn the DMG file to USB. Then boot macOS from USB and starts the installation wizard.