OpenCore Install Guide

# Getting started with OpenCore

Before we can jump head first into making an OpenCore based system, we need to go over a few things.

# Prerequisites

  1. [CRUCIAL] Time and patience.
    • Don't start working on this if you have deadlines or important work. Hackintoshes are not something you should be relying on as a work machine.
  2. [CRUCIAL] KNOW YOUR HARDWARE
    • Your CPU name and its generation
    • Your GPUs
    • Your storage devices (HDD/SSD, NVMe/AHCI/RAID/IDE configuration)
    • Your laptop/desktop model if from an OEM
    • Your Ethernet chipset
    • Your WLAN/Bluetooth chipset
  3. [CRUCIAL] A BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF COMMAND LINES AND HOW TO USE A TERMINAL/COMMAND PROMPT
    • This is not just [CRUCIAL], this is the basis of this whole guide. We can't help you if you don't know how to cd to a directory or delete a file.
  4. [CRUCIAL] A machine that is compatible as seen in the Compatibility section.
  5. [CRUCIAL] A minimum of:
    • 12GB USB if you're going to use macOS to create the USB
    • 4GB USB if you're going to use Windows or Linux for USB creation
  6. [CRUCIAL] An Ethernet connection (no WiFi dongles, Ethernet USB adapter may work depending on macOS support) and you must know your LAN card's model
    • You must either have a physical Ethernet port, or a compatible macOS Ethernet dongle/adapter. In case you have a compatible WiFi card, you can also use that.
      • Note the majority of WiFi cards are not supported by macOS
    • For people who can't use ethernet but have an Android phone, you can connect your Android phone to WiFi and then tether it using USB with HoRNDIS.
  7. [CRUCIAL] Proper OS Installation:
    • Be it:
      • macOS (a fairly recent one would be better)
      • Windows (Windows 10, 1703 or newer)
      • Linux (Clean and properly functioning, with Python 2.7 or later)
    • For Windows or Linux users, 15GB of free space on the drive you're working on. On Windows, your OS disk (C:) must have at least 15GB of free space.
    • For macOS users, 30GB of free space on the system's drive.
    • Most tools used in this guide will also require Python installed

Finding your hardware ⟶