MacOS 11 Big Sur: How to Download & Run on Mid-2012 MacBook Pro & Other Unsupported Apple Devices

The new update for all Apple computer products released on Thursday, November 12. The new macOS 11 "Big Sur" launched, and man it's great! The new addition of the control center in the top menu as well as many other features makes this very appealing. Just the design itself is amazing.

Unfortunately, there are many users and Apple fans who were disappointed when they found out that their device could not run the new software. Apple announced that many iMacs, MacBooks, and other products will not be supported with Big Sur, and instead will only stay with Catalina.

I was one of those customers. I own a non-retina mid-2012 MacBook Pro. I've owned it for about 7-8 years now, and it's the best computer I have ever owned. I still think it's better than today's MacBooks that are out right now.

Two years ago, I upgraded my 2012 MacBook Pro with new specs. It used to have 8GB RAM, but now it has 16GB. I used to have a 750GB HDD drive but then swapped it out for a 1TB SSD drive. These upgrades make my Mac much faster and like new again.

My computer is one of the last upgradeable MacBook Pros, so it sucked that I couldn't get the new update because I know that it probably run the new software without much problem.

There are others with 2013 MacBooks, 2012 iMacs, and other devices that are more than capable of running Big Sur, but are simply unsupported now—likely due to the age of the device.

I saw many users complaining on Twitter about this, but luckily I found a solution. I had been scouting a Reddit thread for the past few weeks at r/BigSurPatcher. Some amazing folks have been working on a patcher to allow Big Sur to run on unsupported devices.

I took the gamble on release day to run this patcher. After seeing some reviews of other folks with my kind of laptop having Big Sur and running with no problem, I decided to give it a try. It ended up working!

Take a look:

Patched macOS 11 Big Sur onto my mid-2012 MBP 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/LJaBphIuRB
— Josh Dhani (@JoshDhani) November 13, 2020

It has been working flawlessly with no issues. I used the official release software, and I haven't had any problems. Some in the past with my type of MacBook have had issues such as WiFi and Bluetooth, causing them to buy and replace with a new WiFi/Bluetooth card.

However, I did not have to do any of that. I don't think you'll be running into those problems either, depending in your device. If you have a MacBook like mine, pay attention to the specs. I have 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM. If you have 128GB HDD and 4GB RAM, Big Sur may not work as well.

Be sure to check the Reddit thread for more info on if your device works, or keep on reading as well.

UPDATE: It is now much easier to update to Big Sur. Click here for the new way.

How to Download/Run "Big Sur" on an Unsupported Apple Device

First things first, download the latest version of the Patched Sur software created by Reddit user "BenSova" HERE.

After that, follow these steps that he wrote in the documentation HERE. I will paste the steps below, but be sure to check the link just in case he has updated it since the time of this writing.

Steps:

What is Patched Sur?
Patched Sur is a UI patcher for macOS Big Sur, designed to make it easy to run macOS 11 on unsupported Macs. This patcher hopes to allow any user of any knowledge to patch their Mac, while still giving you freedom on how you want to use your Mac.
Compatibility
To see if your Mac is supported click here.
How do I use Patched Sur?
1. Download Patched Sur, (.dmg not .zip), from the GitHub releases page.
2. Open the dmg file, right click on the app, and click open.
3. The first three prompts are just information explaining the following:
A quick intro into Patched Sur
How much functionality you will get out of macOS once the patching process is complete
How the patcher works, and what it does to your Mac
4. Next, you can choose what update track you would like to update with. Release is the default (however, it is currently unavailable, since macOS Big Sur is not released yet), but you can also choose Public Beta and Developer Beta.
5. Then, you can select whether you want to update macOS from Catalina to Big Sur (or Big Sur to Big Sur if you are switching from a different patcher) or do a clean install of Big Sur (currently unavailable).
6. After that, your Mac will start downloading @barrykn's micropatcher for kexts and a couple other resources.
7. Now, you will be able to choose what version of macOS to download. By default it will show the latest version based on your selected release track, but if you click View Other Versions, you can choose a different one or your own.
8. Once the download is finished, you need to enter your password, so Patched Sur can install the package. Then, after you select the USB drive you want to use to install macOS, the patcher can copy the installer onto the USB.
9. Finally, the USB gets patched and you are ready to start installation!
10. Reboot your computer, but immediately start holding down the Option/Alt key as soon as your Mac turns on.
11. Select the yellow EFI Boot drive, (if there are multiple unplug and replug in your drive and select the EFI Boot that disappeared and reappeared). Then, your Mac will quickly turn off, so turn it back on while, again, holding down Option/Alt. Then, select Install macOS Big Sur Beta.
12. Once the installer boots, select reinstall macOS and agree to the Terms and Conditions. Then, select the drive you want to install Big Sur onto, (it should be the same drive you ran the patcher on).
13. After the installer is done, (it will take a while and appear to get stuck), log in to your Mac and open Patched Sur from your Applications folder or LaunchPad.
14. Open the Patch Kexts section and enter your password. Then, you should be able to reboot and enjoy Big Sur!
How do I choose a my own installer? (v0.0.2+)
To choose a different installer that you already have downloaded, click View Other Versions. Then, click Find an Installer and navigate to the InstallAssistant.pkg or Install macOS Big Sur Beta.app file you would like to use.
How would I update macOS? (Not in current release)
To update macOS, follow the steps below.
1. Launch the post-install app and click Update macOS.
2. Select the version you want to update to, (the latest version should be pre-selected).
3. Once it finishes downloading the package, it will prompt you to insert a USB drive, (unless Install macOS Big Sur Beta is plugged in, in which will skip the prompt and select the drive).
4. Copy the installer onto the USB.
5. Boot into the installer and reinstall macOS onto your Big Sur drive.
6. Once that is complete, you can boot into macOS, rerun the post-install patch kexts tool, and enjoy the latest version of macOS Big Sur.