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128keaton

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
2,029
418
Hey guys, its 128keaton. I wanted to make a quick guide for those who are stumbling through getting Yosemite on your unsupported Macs, namely Mac Pros and Mac Minis which are perfectly capable with some upgrades. Before you begin, if you have a Mac Pro, get a better graphics card, your default one will suck, thanks to Yosemite. The one that I am using as a stop-gap actually works fine for Yosemite, it is currently $35 (USD) on Newegg, if you want it, here is the link. Now on to the guide!

NOTICE: I am not responsible for erasing or breaking your Mac! Continue at your own risk!

This works on the public release with some 'shoe-horn'ing.

Prerequisites:
* An unsupported Mac, your choice if you deem it capable or not.
* SFOTT Beta [download] [mirror]
* A USB Drive (8GB).
* OS X Yosemite.app



Pre-install:

1. Download and install SFOTT from the link/mirror above.

2. Download Yosemite either from a suspicious location or from the Mac App Store (try using Mavericks Download Enabler if on unsupported Mac).

3. Rename 'Install OS X Yosemite.app' to 'Install OS X Yosemite Beta.app'.
Hopefully that will not need to happen in newer versions of the script.

4. Plug the USB drive into your Mac and format it as 'Mac OS Extended' and name it SFOTT.

(photos will be added later)

Note: 12a only needs to be done if your Mac Pro's graphic card doesn't have EFI boot. If it does, you can still use 12a, but you can also use 12b.

SFOTT:

1. Open SFOTTBeta and follow the instructions until you get to a numbered Terminal menu.

2. Go to the Extras menu (7) and then the Yosemite menu (9).

3. Select Yosemite Public Beta (2), since the official option is a placeholder, lol.
4.Go back to the main menu (1) and go to settings (3).

5. Select 'Choose USB/media for the sfott key' (2) and select the SFOTT usb key you made earlier.

6. Return to the main menu (5) and then go to settings (3) then select option 'Select the computer to use' (3).

7. Use option 'Choose current computer' (1) and then select 'Select OS X System Version' (4).

8. Select 'OS X Yosemite Beta' (1)

9. Select 'Select OS X Installer' (5) and select 'In the default /Applications Folder location (Faster)' (1) It should work if you renamed your installer specified above.

10. Go back to the main menu and select 'Create / Patch SFOTT Key' (4).

11. Select 'Create a New key in Autorun' (2). Follow the directions there.

12a. If you have a graphics card that doesn't support EFI boot, open System Preferences on the target Mac, plug in the SFOTT USB key, and open the 'Startup Disk' preference pane. Select the SFOTT key and reboot from the panel.

12b. If you are using a Mac with built-in graphics or your graphics card supports EFI boot, just reboot and hold down option after the chime.

13. Your install should continue as expected.


Troubleshooting:

1. The installer says 'OS X Cannot be Installed on this Machine':
Make sure you set your machine/board-id in step 6-7.
 
Last edited:

CrashHouse

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2014
10
0
PRAM reset

If you might experience a boot problem after a PRAM reset:

It's written down in the other thread click here. Thanx to Chung123

1. Boot into the SFOTT USB-stick.
2. Use disk utility to repair permissions of your system.
3. Reboot.

That should do the trick.
 

aaroman

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2013
29
18
AL
I want to do a completely clean install of Yosemite on my black MacBook 4,1.

Got the general release of Yosemite, renamed it "Install Yosemite Beta.app", and ran SFOTT. Enabled the Yosemite installer, and selected the above app. Selected an external drive I was willing to erase to create my bootable installer on as the SFOTT target, and selected the current computer as the system to install to (MacBook4,1 & Mac-F22788A9).

Created the new installer disk (aka "key") using Autorun. It appears that everything was moved to the drive correctly, with no errors.

However, when I try to boot to that drive which is selectable in the Startup Manager, it fails with no visible error message and instead boots to the internal hard drive on my system.

It should be noted that this MacBook currently is running Mountain Lion using the old MLPostFactor kit. Is this messing with the EFI installation for the new drive? Am I missing something else in the setup process?

(Very frustrated here, as I wasted my entire day off trying to get this to work. I'm just sayin'... Not that it's any of your concern.)
 

Lance LMD

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2014
3
0
Sfott usb key

Hi, I ended at this step......

12a. If you have a graphics card that doesn't support EFI boot, open System Preferences on the target Mac, plug in the SFOTT USB key, and open the 'Startup Disk' preference pane. Select the SFOTT key and reboot from the panel.

12b. If you are using a Mac with built-in graphics or your graphics card supports EFI boot, just reboot and hold down option after the chime.

I Can't understand this steps, because it appears on my Preference I saw my USB SFOTT it's not supported by EFI boot. What shall I do?
 

128keaton

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
2,029
418
Hi, I ended at this step......

12a. If you have a graphics card that doesn't support EFI boot, open System Preferences on the target Mac, plug in the SFOTT USB key, and open the 'Startup Disk' preference pane. Select the SFOTT key and reboot from the panel.

12b. If you are using a Mac with built-in graphics or your graphics card supports EFI boot, just reboot and hold down option after the chime.

I Can't understand this steps, because it appears on my Preference I saw my USB SFOTT it's not supported by EFI boot. What shall I do?

Use step 12a.
 

ididit86

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2014
1
0
Setting up usb key NOT on target computer

Hi, I screwed my current 1,1 Mavericks install and now do not have a boot loader or a working install to run this. I believe at some point I naively blessed the wrong partition and then nothing works. I had, previous to this, run through your awesome tutorial and it worked great! But then I had to go and screw an otherwise working install in the "setting by boot loader back up" part of this project.

So my question is, are there options in the script other than the process you outlined that would allow me to set up the key for my MP on my retina macbook pro I have?
 

Lance LMD

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2014
3
0
Installing OS X Yosemite

I press the SFOTT, the OS X Installation did not appear. It proceeds me at my main Drive.
 

Attachments

  • Sfott.jpg
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Lance LMD

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2014
3
0
We have the same result, it boots me on my hard drive. I can't install OS X Yosemite on my MacBookPro2,2. :(
 

ilegal31

macrumors member
Aug 8, 2014
90
0
I get this error creating the SFOTT key:

"Yosemite kernel tmp directory missing
WARNING, ERROR, kernel tmp directory or kernel file missing, Aborting
This is Mandatory for YOSEMITE, please download and install SFOTT again
until further notice, kernel is part of SFOTT install, and it is extracted manuallly via the Pacifist App".
 

mikeneko

macrumors newbie
Oct 1, 2014
13
0
Install Yosemite on any Mac (unsupported) SFOTT

Hi,

Thanks for your threat. I was looking for a good source for a long time.
Succeeded in creating the USB instaler but it only shows Application folder no Yosemite installer, unlike the other USB installer that I created for Mavericks. It booted fine though.
 

tbarhorst

macrumors newbie
Nov 17, 2014
2
0
OS X Yosemite v10.10.1 Update with SFOTT

I successfully updated my Mac Pro 1.1 using the SFOTT method. Worked great and haven't had any issues. However is the 10.10.1 OS X update safe to install? What about future updates?
 

rokkber

macrumors newbie
Nov 18, 2014
3
0
Updating to Yosemite 10.10.1

Hi, its safe to update Yosemite 10.10.1 if my mac pro 1.1 actually runs Yosemite via SFOTT? 10.10.1 overwrite EFI or similar issue? Thanks so much
 
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rokkber

macrumors newbie
Nov 18, 2014
3
0
Successfully Updated to Yosemite 10.10.1

Hi people, I took the risk.. Successfully updated to Yosemite 10.10.1 via AppStore official update, my Mac Pro 1.1 SFOTT Boot loader works OK with no problems. Its safe to update this way.

Mac Pro 1.1 | 2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon | 24 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM | ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB | Apple LED Cinema Display 27
 

richfinch

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2014
7
0
Hi,

Thanks for this awesome hack!

But I'm confused on the third step. :)

"3. Rename 'Install OS X Yosemite.app' to 'Install OS X Yosemite Beta.app'.
Hopefully that will not need to happen in newer versions of the script."

I have downloaded a DMG file of Yosemite and within that is the 'Install OS X Yosemite.app' but how do I change the name of it? It doesn't allow me to?

Thanks!!!
 

Shadowkahn

macrumors newbie
Sep 1, 2009
19
0
Cannot seem to download Yosemite from the App Store

Was planning to try out SFOTT Yosemite beta but cannot seem to get the new Yosemite build from the App Store - Mac UNSupported. Used SFOTT to upgrade my Mac Pro 2,1 to Mavericks, so was kind of hoping I was going to be able to get the Yosemite Download from the App store directly... Will I have to get in touch with my friend with a newer mac to get the file now? Sadly he's out of town for the next few months...
 

mikeneko

macrumors newbie
Oct 1, 2014
13
0
Hi,
Me, too successfully updated to Yosemite 10.10.1.
Thanks so much for your instruction!
 

gw463

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2014
101
124
italy
The newer update 10.10.2 breaks the installation, the update overwrites "boot.efi" . How to solve this problem thank's in advance
 

sukhwinder14

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2014
3
0
Is graphics acceleration issue solved with SFOTT?

Hi All,
I have installed yosemite on macbook 4,1 successfully but graphics acceleration is not there, not kexts have been loaded. So looking out for some solution to this.

Please tell me if installation using SFOTT will solve this issue and my mac would work fine??

Thanks in advance!!
 

richfinch

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2014
7
0
Hi,

Thanks for this awesome hack!

But I'm confused on the third step. :)

"3. Rename 'Install OS X Yosemite.app' to 'Install OS X Yosemite Beta.app'.
Hopefully that will not need to happen in newer versions of the script."

I have downloaded a DMG file of Yosemite and within that is the 'Install OS X Yosemite.app' but how do I change the name of it? It doesn't allow me to?

Thanks!!!

BUMP! I'm pretty sure this should be a simple task, could somebody please shed some light on how you do it?
 
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