How to install macOS Sierra on a regular Windows computer (Hackintosh)

READ ME PLEASE

If you CANNOT unzip files onto a flash drive, please step away from the keyboard and urgently read the book “Computer for Dummies: A Detailed Guide on How to Use a PC”!!!

1. All files are uploaded to MEGA.
Those who are having problems with it have re-uploaded it to the torrent in the comments. 2. Please don't ask me about installing Macs on laptops. I ask you to. Please. This is a very hemorrhoidal process. Install Ubuntu and connect the Mac theme. You will get the same experience 3. I rarely answer on Habré, write to VK for all questions. This manual/guide/etc was written for those who are too lazy to piece together this or that information about installing a Mac on a PC, everything is clear and straightforward. To begin with, before actually installing the system itself on a PC, we need to decide whether we need it or not, since the system itself is very specific in terms of installation and configuration, unless, of course, you have an Apple device. There is no point in explaining that deploying a system that was not originally planned for desktop PCs is a complex matter and it can take anywhere from 2 to N hours, depending on the compatibility of the hardware.

Now, let’s figure out what Hackintosh is: the word “hackintosh” was formed from the merger of two words “Macintosh” and “Hack”, which essentially means “hacked Mac”, although there is nothing to do with “hacking”.

In this guide, we will look at creating an installation flash drive from Windows (since this is the most popular system among “beginner hackintoshers”), installing the system on a blank disk, kernel extensions for your hardware and, in fact, installing and configuring the bootloader (it is at this point that many and problems arise)

Author's car:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460 3.2 GHz (Haswell) Memory: 16 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2048MB Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81-S2V (UEFI Bios)

ACHTUNG

The author DOES NOT GUARANTEE the performance of the system at the same level as his.
The system works differently on different machines and there is no need to blame the author for the “crooked instructions.” I would also like to point out that in this article the work is done with NVidia video cards and UEFI BIOS.
Well, let's go.

Additionally

- Sound

When it comes to sound, the situation is different.
If you have an external sound card, then simply download the drivers for it from the manufacturer’s website (analog devices, such as mixing consoles, do not require drivers and start up immediately). For an integrated sound card, use one of these kexts: VoodoHDA. Craftsmen have written down instructions for setting it up. I won’t copy-paste it, but will simply give a link to the archive.

The author recommends moving the kext by hand, however, this can all be done through the Kext Utility.

AppleHDA

Regarding AppleHDA

The following conditions must be met for it to work:

Availability of vanilla (pure) kext AppleHDA.kext in the system.
The presence of the HDEF section in your DSDT (or the clover fix FixHDA_8000->True)
Specify the layout in DSDT (or in the config.plist of the clover Devices->Audio->Inject->1,2,28...etc. Select from those specified for your codec above)
Remove ALL
sound patches (if they were in your config.plist) from the KextsToPatch section
Remove DummyHDA.kext (if used)
If you used VoodooHDA.kext, delete it. Also delete AppleHDADisabler.kext and rebuild the cache.
For Intel HDMI 4000/4600, a clover fix is required: UseIntelHDMI->True

Actually, that's all. Afterwards we get macOS Sierra ready to use.

New Photo Features

Indeed, quite a few improvements have been added to the photo program. This is how the editor in the program itself has been greatly improved. Now the functionality of the editor is very similar to the currently more popular Adobe lightroom.

Now you can search for photos faster using specified criteria. A special new counter shows selected pictures and allows you to drag them into albums or onto the desktop. You can rotate and add several photos to favorites at once, directly from the toolbar.

The side menu, which always remains on the screen, helps you quickly find the files you need. The advanced Import mode organizes photos by import date, so you can easily find photos from, say, a vacation. And the albums you create always remain in a visible place.

macOS High Sierra has many new sections in the Memories feature: activities, concerts, weddings, birthdays, sporting events, children, pets and more. Now it's even easier to find your favorite collections.

The new Loop effect lets you turn Live Photos into looped videos so you can watch them over and over again. With the Pendulum effect, you can play videos forward and backward. And the Long Exposure effect will help smooth out ripples in the water or lengthen the rays of light, as if it were shot with a DSLR camera. In addition, you can edit the Live Photo - remove some part of it or select a key frame.

Photos can be edited in third-party applications such as Photoshop and Pixelmator, and the edits will be automatically saved in your photo library. You can also download project extensions from the Mac App Store, allowing you to order photo prints, create web pages, and more. And all this right from the Photos app.

The thumbnails in the “People” album have become larger, and the sorting has become more precise, so you can easily find what you need. And if you use iCloud Music Library, this album will automatically sync across all your devices.

UPD from 05/14/2017

— In the comments, kind people re-uploaded the file from mega to torrent. This is due to the fact that many people have problems downloading a file from mega. To be honest, I didn’t know that Mega has a limit on download speed (I use a premium account). Also, please write all questions to me on VK, but check the comments first. There is a chance that your problem has already been solved there. Again, I am not responsible for any risk this may cause to your computer. I also want to clarify one point that the article is presented solely for educational purposes. The very fact of installing a hackintosh on a PC is a gross violation of Apple's policy regarding their system, which is punishable by law. The author does not encourage using MacOS on non-Apple computers and does not encourage changing the system's source code. — The end

A virtual reality

Building on the performance of Metal 2 and the new Macs, macOS High Sierra supports virtual reality content creation capabilities for the first time, so developers can create new games, 3D and virtual reality content on the Mac. Leading virtual reality companies are partnering with Apple to develop new tools for the Mac that will be available later this year. For example, Valve is optimizing the virtual reality platform SteamVR for macOS and will provide support for the HTC Vive headset, while Unity and Epic are customizing their virtual reality content development tools for macOS. Additionally, later this year, Final Cut Pro X will add support for professional 360-degree streams with the ability to import, edit, and export spherical video.

And a few more functions:

Searching in Mail becomes faster and easier thanks to Top Hits: current messages appear at the top of the list.
Siri's voice on Mac is more natural and expressive, and when you use Apple Music, the voice assistant takes your preferences into account, creates relevant playlists and answers questions about your music.
Simple tables have been added to Notes - now the user can type text in cells, edit tables, and move rows and columns.
Spotlight can find flight information, including arrival and departure times, flight delays, terminal or gate information, and even a map of your flight.
iCloud File Sharing lets you share any file from iCloud Drive and opens up new collaboration possibilities.

The developer version of macOS High Sierra is available now to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today and will be available to Mac users in public beta in June at beta.apple.com.

The full public release of macOS High Sierra will be available this fall as a free update in the Mac App Store.

Unfortunately, the number of models that can be updated to this release has been further reduced and the update will no longer be available to many. Whether you lose or gain from this will become clear in the future. But still, Apple’s strange policy of constantly throwing away its customers is starting to get annoying.

What do you need to install macOS Sierra on a Windows computer?

First of all, you need absolutely any Mac in order to be able to download the installation file from the Mac App Store. After this, you need to properly load it onto the USB flash drive.
The flash drive must be at least 16 gigabytes. If there are any files on the device, then you should copy them to a safe place, since the full formatting process will then occur.
It is imperative to have a computer with an Intel processor, as well as almost all components that are compatible with Mac. This point is extremely important, for this reason it is necessary to approach its solution especially carefully. If necessary, you need to visit some forums and find out more detailed information. If you install a Mac on incompatible hardware, it is quite possible that the system will not work correctly.
Always make backup copies of the data that is important to you so that you don't have to blame yourself for losing it later.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive if you don’t have a MacBook

If you don’t have a MacBook, you will need to download a system image from the Internet, as well as the BootDisk program. To create a bootable USB flash drive you need:

Insert the drive.
Open the program and click on the Format Disk button.
Click Restore Partition.
In the window that opens, specify the path to the system installation file and click the Open button.
After this, the process of writing the file to the flash drive will begin, which will take some time.
After finishing recording, you need to download MultiBeast and move the program to a USB flash drive.

macOS High Sierra is out - what's new, what devices it supports, full review

All the innovations of macOS High Sierra.

macOS High Sierra is a new version of the operating system for Mac computers, presented at WWDC 2020. Despite the name being similar to the previous update, macOS Sierra, High Sierra is a truly large-scale update that brings with it many technical improvements, new features and interface changes . A complete list of innovations implemented in macOS High Sierra is collected in this review.

Apple File System

With the launch of macOS Sierra last year, Apple announced plans to migrate its desktop operating system to the new Apple File System (APFS). With macOS High Sierra, this transition has been completed.

APFS is a 64-bit file system that is optimized for both modern flash drives and future storage technologies. APFS is the ultimate secure file system, offering crash protection, simplified on-the-fly backups, and built-in encryption.

APFS is not only secure, but also very fast compared to the previous HFS+ file system. All operations with files, from copying folders to determining folder sizes, are performed instantly. All Mac users will definitely notice a significant increase in speed.

To the table of contents.

HEVC

The improvements under the hood of macOS High Sierra don't stop with the introduction of a new file system. The update received support for highly efficient video encoding - HEVC or H.265. This video compression format uses more efficient algorithms compared to H.264. Videos in the new format are 40% smaller than the old format, saving valuable storage space on your Mac. At the same time, the video quality as a result of the new encoding format remains at the same level.

HEVC software encoding is available on all Mac models that support macOS High Sierra. Hardware HEVC encoding is only available on the newest models—the 2020 27-inch iMac, 2020 and newer MacBooks, and 2020 and newer MacBook Pros.

To the table of contents.

Metal 2

macOS High Sierra has another technical improvement that is no less impressive than the previous two. The new Mac operating system features the Metal 2 graphics engine, which speeds up graphics processing. Metal 2 will make it easier for developers to debug and deploy Metal applications, give them the ability to use the Metal Performance Shaders image processing and machine learning library, and also add support for virtual reality and external video cards.

Regular users will also notice the appearance of Metal 2 technology in macOS High Sierra. Since the engine is used in the operating system itself, many complex animations will play much more smoothly in it.

To the table of contents.

Photo

Among the standard apps in macOS High Sierra, the Photos app has received the most changes. It has an improved facial recognition system, new photo editing capabilities, new “Memories” categories, added Live Photo effects, an option for editing “live” photos and much more.

Major changes to the Photos app in macOS High Sierra are noticeable the first time you launch it. Photos now has an expanded sidebar that lets you quickly filter images from your library by keywords, media type, date, and more. This makes it much easier to find specific photos or videos.

Also in “Photos” there is an expanded list of imported objects, which shows all media files previously imported into the library in chronological order. The updated counter of selected images or videos is also worth noting.

The facial recognition feature in macOS High Sierra, just like in iOS 11 , has been significantly improved using advanced, ultra-precise neural networks. The Photos app has become much better at identifying people's faces in photos and adding those photos to the People album. With the arrival of macOS High Sierra, this album syncs with all devices running the latest Apple operating systems.

Two new professional photo editing tools have been added to the Photos app. We are talking about the ability to edit curves to fine-tune color and contrast and select a defining color in the image. In addition, Apple has added a number of new filters to the Photos app.

macOS High Sierra features enhanced integration with leading photo editing apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator. So, when you edit a photo in a third-party app, your edited version of the photo is automatically saved in your Photos library. Many other applications from the Mac App Store, aimed at working with pictures and videos, also received support for Photos.

The Memories section of the Photos app now supports more than ten new categories, including pets, kids, outdoor activities, weddings, birthdays, concerts, and more. This means that Photo will create more original collections of memories based on various events.

Finally, macOS High Sierra adds tools for editing Live Photos. The updated Photos app lets you trim excess Live Photo footage, mute audio, select a photo thumbnail, and add looping, long exposure, and pendulum effects.

To the table of contents.

Safari

During the presentation of macOS High Sierra, Apple executives said that the updated Safari browser is the fastest in the world, surpassing Google Chrome, Opera and other browsers in all tests. Independent testing, including ours, really confirms this. Safari was significantly ahead of the competition in all benchmarks. In one of the most popular benchmarks, JetStream Safari 11 scored 203 points, while Google Chrome 59 only scored 137.

Safari 11 is incredibly fast and feels lively. The browser opens pages in a fraction of a second, even when it comes to heavy resources. For example, our voluminous materials about the iPhone Edition and iOS 11 with a lot of images, the improved Safari loads in less than a second. No other browser demonstrates anything like this. In other words, Apple engineers managed to do something revolutionary with Safari.

In addition to technical improvements to Safari, macOS High Sierra introduces several new options. A feature has been added to the browser to block auto-playing videos on websites. After activating the option, all such videos will not start until you click on the play button. At the same time, if you do not want automatic playback to be blocked on a certain site, then the resource can be added to the white list.

Another nice addition to Safari in macOS High Sierra is the ability to prevent websites from collecting data about you. The browser uses machine learning to determine whether it is being tracked, becoming more advanced with each new Internet session. Please note that Smart Tracking is not designed to block ads.

Safari 11 also provides a wide range of options for customizing any specific website. You can define your own content blocking rules, page scaling, reading mode usage, and other settings for any site.

To the table of contents.

Mail

Search in the Mail app has been improved in macOS High Sierra. When you search for a specific email, the messages most relevant to your search will appear at the top of the list. This will allow you to quickly find the email you are looking for. The “smart” search algorithm takes into account the mail you have read, sent, messages from favorite contacts and many other parameters. This allows him to find the letters he needs faster and more accurately.

“Mail” was also improved technically. Apple developers have reduced the size of emails and attachments by 35%. The final change to Mail is the ability to use the app in full-screen Split View mode.

To the table of contents.

Siri

Siri's voice in macOS High Sierra has become more natural, more human-like. The voice assistant more accurately selects semantic accents and emphasizes the necessary words in sentences with intonations. Siri's English voice is the most noticeable change, but all other voices have been improved as well.

Siri has also become friends with Apple Music. The voice assistant is able to collect playlists on various topics, play music of a certain genre, and tell details about artists, songs and albums.

To the table of contents.

Notes

The Notes app now offers the ability to pin notes to the top of the list. Thanks to this, all your most important notes will always be in front of your eyes. In addition, the Notes application supports tables.

To the table of contents.

iCloud

The main innovation of iCloud in macOS High Sierra is the iCloud Messages feature. It stores iMessages in the cloud and syncs them across all devices linked to the same iCloud account. The function allows you to significantly save space in device memory, especially for users who actively use the messenger.

It's important to note that the iCloud Messages feature was removed in later beta versions of macOS High Sierra. It is assumed that this is a temporary measure and the option will return in the final version of the operating system.

The iCloud Drive cloud service in macOS High Sierra introduces the ability to share files. Users can send links to share files or folders with other people while keeping the rest of the cloud storage private.

Along with macOS High Sierra and iOS 11, Apple introduced new iCloud Family Plans. Shared cloud storage of 200 GB or 2 TB can be shared by up to six people. Of course, each user will only see their files saved to the cloud.

To the table of contents.

FaceTime

macOS High Sierra, like iOS 11, lets you take Live Photos during FaceTime video calls. A live photo is created by tapping the new button at the bottom of the call screen. In this case, both participants in the call receive a notification that a Live Photo has been created, and it is automatically saved in the media library.

To the table of contents.

Which Macs support macOS High Sierra

macOS High Sierra is compatible with all Mac models that support macOS Sierra.

MacBook late 2009 or newer.
iMac late 2009 or newer.
MacBook Air 2010 and newer.
MacBook Pro 2010 and newer.
Mac Mini from 2010.
Mac Pro 2010 and newer.

To the table of contents.

macOS High Sierra release date

The release date for the final version of macOS High Sierra will be announced at Apple's presentation on September 12. It is assumed that the update could be released either on September 12, or a week later - on September 18-19.

To the table of contents.