System Specs

BIOS Settings

• Tweaker [TAB]
  • Extreme Memory Profile (XMP): Enabled (if supported by RAM)
  • Advanced CPU Settings
    • VT-d: Enabled (disabled in config.plist anyway, so only relevant to Windows)
    • Intel Speed Shit: Enabled
• Settings [TAB]
  • Platform Power
    • Platform Power Management: Disabled
    • ErP: Enabled (so USB Power turns off, after PC is shut down)
  • IO Ports
    • Internal Graphics: enabled (if CPU has integrated graphics). NOTE: The config.plist uses dGPU for Display(s) and iGPU for computational tasks only by default. If you want to use the iGPU to drive a display you need a different Framebuffer Patch (see “EFI Install Instructions” for details).
    • OnBoard LAN Controller: Enabled
    • Audio Controller: Enabled (if On-Board Sound Card is used)
    • Above 4G Decoding: Enabled
    • Re-Size BAR Support: Disabled
    • IOAPIC 24-119 Entries: Enabled
    • Super IO Configuration
      • Serial Port: Disabled
    • USB Configuration
      • Legacy USB Support: Disabled
      • XHCI Hand-off: Enabled
    • Network Stack Configuration
      • Network Stack: Disabled
• Boot [TAB]
  • CFGLock: Disabled (Option only available on newer BIOS versions)
  • Windows 10 Features: Windows 10
  • CSM: Disabled (to get rid of legacy code from DSDT)

Installing macOS

If you already have macOS installed but want to perform a clean install, you can either download macOS from the App Store or use ANYmacOS. It’s a hassle-free app than can download macOS High Sierra, Catalina and Big Sur. It also can create a USB Installer for you. And if you create multiple HFS partitions in the correct sizes, you can use it to create a multi macOS Installer USB Stick as well.

If you are on Windows or Linux, follow the guide provided by Dortania

EFI Install Guide for OpenCore

1. Download latest OC EFI Release and unpack it
2. Select the config of your choice and rename it to config.plist
3. Open config.plist with OpenCore Auxiliary Tools and adjust the following parameters according to your hardware and software configuration:
   • Change csr-active-config based on the macOS version to disable SIP (if you use the Kepler Patcher for NVIDIA Cards you have to disables SIP!):
     • For High Sierra: FF030000 (0x3FF)
     • For Mojave/Catalina: FF070000 (0x7FF)
     • For Big Sur: 67080000 (0x867)
     • For Monterey: EF0F0000 (0xFEF)
   • AMD GPUs may require additional boot-args. Check WhateverGreen repo to find out which you need.
   • If you want to use the Intel UHD 630 integrated graphics to drive a display, do the following in DeviceProperties > Add:
     • Disable PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)(put ## in front of it)
     • Enable #PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0) (delete the #)
4. Getting the Intel(R) I225-V Ethernet Controller to work in…
   

   macOS Version	Procedure
   macOS 12.0.1	Not working. Get a PCI LAN Card
   macOS 11.4	1. Disable PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0) (add # in front of it) 2. Go to Kernel > Patch and disable I225-V Patch 3. Add boot-arg dk.e1000=0 4. Save and reboot NOTE: This is the default configuration. If you are running Big Sur 11.4 and newer you don’t have to change anything here!
   macOS 10.15 to 11.3	1. Enable #PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0) (delete #) 2. Go to Kernel > Patch and enable I225-V Patch. 3. Delete/disable boot-arg dk.e1000=0 4. Save and reboot
   macOS 10.14 and older	I225-V Controller is not supported. You need an additional PCI Card.

5. Generate SMBIOS data for iMac20,1 or iMac20,2.
6. Save the config.plist
7. Copy the EFI Folder to a FAT32 formatted USB Stick
8. Reboot from USB Stick
9. Perform an NVRAM Reset (hit Space Bar to reveal Tools)
10. Boot macOS
11. If your system boots successfully, mount your ESP and copy over the EFI Folder to you HDD/SSD and reboot.
12. Continue with Post-Install!

Strengthen Security

Once you got macOS running, change the following settings to make your system more secure:

• Change UEFI > APFS: MinDate and MinVersion from -1 (disabled) to the correct values for the macOS version you are using. A list with the correct values for macOS High Sierra up to Big Sur can be found here.

  BACKGROUND: OpenCore 0.7.2 introduced a new security feature which prevents the APFS driver from loading if it does not match OS-specific Date (MinDate) and Version (MinVersion). If left at their default value 0 (as set in the sample.plist), the macOS partition will not show up in the Boot Picker unless Big Sur or newer is installed. For ease of use (and since I don’t know which macOS you will be using) I’ve deactivated this feature. If you plan to setup a multiboot system running various iterations of macOS you probably should leave it at -1. Otherwise you won’t be able to boot older macOSes.

• Change SecureBootModelfrom Disabled to j185f (for iMac20,2) or j185 (for iMac20,1). NOTE: Only applicable to macOS Catalina and newer. You should test these settings first using a USB flash drive since it can prevent the system from booting. Disable it for installing macOS Monterey if you have issues.

Optimizing CPU Power Management

You can follow my guide to use CPUFriendFriend to generate a CPUFriendDataProvider.kext alongside CPUFriend.kext to optimize the CPU Power Management for a more efficient performance. Have a look at the CPU behavior using Intel Power Gadget. The CPU idle frequency should be lower after adding the kexts:

Calculating Scan Policy (optional)

The items displayed in the Boot Picker Menu are based on a combination of bits representing supported devices (SATA, NVME, USB, etc.) and file systems (APFS, HFS, NTFS, etc.). There are 24 bits which can be turned on and off to modify what’s displayed in the Boot Picker. The combination of selected bits create what’s called the ScanPolicy. It’s located under Misc > Security in the config.plist. The default value of my EFI is 0 (everything). Although this is great for compatibility, it will also display EFI Folders on drives which are not the boot drive as well.

To change the ScanPolicy to your liking, you can make use of this online calculator: https://oc-scanpolicy.vercel.app/. I am using 2687747 for example which hides EFI Folders and NTFS Drives. If I need windows I just boot it from the BIOS Boot Menu (F12).

IMPORTANT: Calculating a wrong ScanPolicy can lead to the Boot Picker being empty, so you can’t boot into macOS. So make sure to test the value first by booting from FAT32 formatted USB Stick containing your EFI Folder with the new value for “Scan Policy”.

Changing Themes

Besides the 3 themes from Acidanthera which provide the standard macOS look and feel, I’ve added 2 additional themes by Chris1111: Minimal and Minimal-SSD. Neither of them is enabled by default. To enable them, do the following:

• Open config.plist
• Go to Misc > Boot and change PickerVariant to: chris1111Minimal or chris1111Minimal-SSD
• Save and reboot

To revert these changes, enter AcidantheraGoldenGate as PickerVariant and change the Flavour of the NVRAM Reset Tool back to Auto.

NOTE: For more Post-Install tweaks and tips, check out my small collection of Config Tweaks

Bootloader Chooser

I recently discovered BootloaderChooser which lets you pick the bootloader of choice prior to booting. This is how the folder structure looks like: 

Basically, you put the “Clover” Folder on the same level as the the “OC” Folder and then replace the “BootX64.efi” in the “BOOT” Folder with the one that come with the Bootloader Chooser. Then you can select which Bootloader you want to use. Pretty nice for setting up your USB flash drive having Clover and OC to chose from:

Patching-in Kepler Drivers

Apple removed Keppler support from macOS Monterey beta 7. So users of NVIDIA GeForce Cards from the Kepler family need to patch them back in post-install using Geforce-Kepler-Patcher. If you require this patch, you can no longer boot with SIP enabled, so you have to disable it!