Mojave compatibility. Mojave arrived in September 2018 and supported the following Macs: MacBook (Early 2015 or newer) MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer) Mac mini. If you want to check compatibility before downloading the installer, learn about the minimum requirements for macOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, or Yosemite. You can also check compatible operating systems on the product-ID page for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro.
Here’s a complete list of Macs that are compatible with Mojave OS: Mac Pro (2010 or later with Metal-compatible graphics cards) Mac Pro (Late 2013) iMac Pro (all models) iMac (Late 2012 or later) Mac Mini (Late 2012 or later) MacBook Pro (Mid-2012 or later) MacBook Air (Mid-2012 or later) MacBook (Early 2015 or later). Which Macs are compatible with macOS Mojave? MacBook (Early 2015 or newer) MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer) Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) iMac (Late 2012 or newer).
Apple’s new macOS Mojave doesn’t support the old Macs prior to 2012. It was a shocking news for me too.
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I have an old, not for me actually, MacBook Pro which I purchased at the end of 2010. I was expecting Apple won’t drop the support of Mojave for MacBook Pro 2010 model, at least not for this time. But I was wrong. The latest Majove doesn’t support it too.
There is no need to worry. Even the oldest Windows 95 can be installed on Mac computer. There is a solution to every problem.
I don’t want to upgrade my MacBook Pro right now, especially when a new model is rumored to be released in next month.
Another choice for me was to buy a graphics card which supports Metal. In fact, it was the most feasible solution for to get installed Majove on my unsupported Mac right now.
Metal is natively supported by all Macs introduced since 2012. It means the following Nvidia, AMD and Intel family cards are compatible.
-Intel HD Graphics 400, Iris 5000 & 6000 family
-Nvidia GT 600M, 700M family
-AMD R9 M family
To check which GPU (graphics processing unit) is installed on your Mac computer, click on the Apple icon in the top left corner and then click on “About This Mac”.
There are a number of third-party vendors which sell graphics cards with integrated Metal support specifically designed for Mac computers. While searching for a compatible graphics card, I found that I could install Mojave on my MacBook Pro Mid 2010 model by using a software known as macOS Mojave Patcher Tool. Kudos to DosDude1 who developed tested, and released it as a free app.
By using this software, we could install the latest macOS version on early 2008 Macs.
Here is the step by step method to run Mojave on unsupported Macs.
The whole process can be divided into four parts.
- Part 1. Getting all the required things
- Part 2. Downloading the macOS Mojave Installer App
- Part 3. Making a bootable Mojave USB drive
- Part 4. Installing and Patching Mojave OS on the unsupported computer
We will discuss each part in details in the following paragraphs.
Part 1: Requirements to Run Mojave on Old Macs
Four things are required to get macOS Mojave installed on your forgotten-by-Apple Mac.
- Your Mac computer
It could be an early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro. The following models include under this category.
– MacPro3,1
– MacPro4,1
– iMac8,1
– iMac9,1
– iMac10,x
– iMac11,x
– iMac12,x
– MacBookPro4,1
– MacBookPro5,x
– MacBookPro6,x
– MacBookPro7,1
– MacBookPro8,x
It could be late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook. The following models include under this category:
– MacBookAir2,1
– MacBookAir3,x
– MacBookAir4,x
– MacBook5,1
It could be early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook including the following models:
– Macmini3,1
– Macmini4,1
– Macmini5,x
– MacBook5,2
– MacBook6,1
– MacBook7,1
And it could be Xserve2, 1 and Xserver3, 1.
- A USB drive in 16GB size or above
- macOS Mojave patcher tool. Download it here.
- A copy of the Mojave software.
Part 2: Download macOS Mojave Installer Software
MacOS Mojave software can be downloaded as an Installer App from Mac App Store using the computer which supports Mojave.
If you don’t have Mojave supported Mac, you can download the Mojave Installer App using patcher tool. Open the macOS Mojave patcher tool. If it doesn’t open and says it is from an unidentified developer, right click on the tool’s icon and click on “Open” from sub-menu and then enter your Mac’s Admin name and password. After the verification, you can open it with the left double-click.
If you don’t remember your macOS password, here are the solutions to reset it.
Go to Tools in the Menu bar and then hit “Download macOS Mojave”.
I recommend using the built-in downloader tool because it will download the latest and the compatible Installer app.
Mojave Installer app is about 5-6GB in size and it may take some time depending on the speed of your internet.
If the internet connection interrupts while downloading the file, don’t worry. The downloading process will resume where it left. Simply download the Mojave software again but point it to the same location where you were already downloading and saving the installer app.
Part 3: Create a Bootable Mojave USB Drive
In order to create a bootable Mojave USB Installer drive, follow these steps.
Step 1: Insert 16GB or above USB drive into your USB port of your Mac.
Step 2: Open Disk Utility and erase the USB drive in OS X Extended (Journaled) format. Give a proper name before erasing. I gave the name “macOS Mojave” to my USB drive.
If you are new to Mac, get the basic information about how to make a Partition, erase the current partition and how to make a bootable USB drive.
Step 3: After the drive is erased, open “macOS Mojave Patcher” tool.
Step 4: Point the Patcher tool to the downloaded Mojave Installer app which is downloaded in Part 2.
Step 5: Now select the target USB drive you just formatted.
Step 6: Hit the “Start Operation” button on the patcher tool and let it make the USB bootable with Mojave.
Step 7: It will show “Complete” when the process is done.
Part 4: Installing and Patching macOS Mojave
In this fourth and final part, we will install and patch the macOS Mojave on our old Mac computer. Follow the steps below to complete the remaining procedure.
Step 1. Restart your computer and hold down the “Option” key as soon as the Mac starts up.
Mojave System Requirements
Step 2: Select the USB drive, which was named as “macOS Mojave” as the startup disk.
Step 3: If you want to upgrade your current macOS to macOS Mojave, simply use the continue button to proceed and follow step 5. But if you want to install it on another partition or want to erase the current partition first, then follow the Step 4.
Step 4: Open Disk Utility from the bottom left panel.
Select the volume you want to erase. Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Or if you have got late-2009 and later machines with SSD drives, you can also use APFS format.
If you don’t want to install Mojave on current volume, you can also create a new partition and install it there. Mojave takes approximately 18GB space on hard drive. So at least make a 25GB partition to test the new macOS.
If you want to use it for all routine work, set the partition size according to your needs.
Step 5: Select the volume and press “Continue” to begin the installation process.
Step 6: The installation process takes about 20 minutes to complete. When it is done, reboot your Mac back into installer drive while holding down the “Option” key again.
Step 7: This time select “macOS Post Install” app from the bottom left panel.
Step 8: Select the model of your computer and the volume on which you installed Mojave and then click the “Patch” button. The tool will automatically select the required patches according to the model of your computer.
Step 9: Press the “Reboot” button when the patch is complete.
Step 10: The computer will reboot with macOS Mojave installed on it.
Step 11. If it doesn’t work properly on the restart, boot your Mac back into the installer USB drive, select macOS Post Install again, and this time also select “Force Cache Rebuild” option. Once the patch is complete and the cache is rebuilt, reboot.
Mojave Macbook Pro 2012
Step 12: Upon restart, complete the setup process and start using your Mac with a Mojave operating system.
Happy Mojaving!!
For additional information and to know more about the known issues, please visit DosDune1’s website. He is an awesome guy.
Note: You will see a new “Patch Updater” app in the Applications under “Other” folder. It will alert you when new patches are available for your computer.
Your Mac will get the future Mojave updates as other supported computer do. If you don’t see the updates, or your computer doesn’t work properly after applying the update, use the step 11 of Part 4 to enable all patches.
Mojave is still one of the most popular macOS desktop operating system in late 2020, which occupies around 20% market share of entire macOS. There are still millions of Macs or Hackintosh running Mojave as its primary OS. However, if the computer was crashed or broken, you have to reinstall macOS Mojave on it to solve the problem.
In this post, we will share a detailed tutorial on how to create a macOS Mojave bootable USB installer. At this time, we will use a Windows PC (Windows 10 laptop) as you are unable to get into the Mac. Honestly, it is much easier to create macOS bootable USB on Mac with createinstallmedia command in Terminal. You can refer to Part 6 of this tutorial if you have a Mac to do this.
Part 1: MacOS Mojave Hardware Requirement
If Your Mac was shipped with Mojave in default, then there is no need to check hardware compatibility at this time. For system downgrade or upgrade, you have to make sure your Mac hardware meet the minimal requirement for installing macOS Mojave.
For Mac:
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
- MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
- Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017)
However, if you prepared to install macOS Mojave on a Hackintosh, the requirements are different and much complex. You should do your homework more carefully. Below is an overview requirement.
For Hackintosh:
- CPU: Intel 8th or 9th Generation
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Storage: 128 GB SSD or HDD.
- Motherboard: Compabible with CPU (Asus, MSI Preferred)
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Recommended
Mojave Requirements Macbook Air Keyboard Cover
Part 2: Download macOS Mojave DMG File
macOS Mojave has two types of installation format. One is via Install Mojave App where you can directly download from Mac App Store. This option is not available on Mac with a new version of macOS that is newer than Mojave.
The other installation media is via Mojave dmg file, which contacts all the files and boot information for installing macOS Mojave in a compressed structure. However, you need to burn dmg to USB first before it is used as a bootable media. Now, you can download macOS Mojave DMG file the following resources:
Download Link 1: https://archive.org/download/macOS_Mojave.dmg
Download Link 2: https://sundryfiles.com/9tz
Part 3: Create macOS Mojave Bootable USB Installer on Windows 10 PC
You have completed the preparation process in above steps and it is time to create a bootable Mojave USB installer from the download dmg file. Unfortunately, the USB would be bootable if just simply copying the dmg file to USB drive without additional actions because the booting code is not written to USB via file copy. Instead, you should use third-party software to help you create a macOS Mojave USB drive from DMG file.
UUByte DMG Editor is such a tool for burning dmg file to USB drive. It will copy all installation files and write boot information to USB drive as well. After burning, the USB is bootable and can be used as a media to install macOS. The following is the details for creating macOS Mojave bootable USB drive.
Step 1: Click the Download button and save the .exe file on your Windows PC; then double click it to start the installation process.
Step 2: Insert a USB drive into the PC and open DMG Editor software from desktop shortcut. Now, click Next button at the right side of Burn module.
Step 3: Now, you need to import the downloaded Mojave dmg file into the program and choose the USB drive name from drop-down menu.
Step 4: When the preparation is done, click Burn button to start burning macOS Mojave dmg file to target USB device. You have to wait for 5-10 minutes for this.
This is one of most reliable ways to create macOS Mojave bootable USB drive on a Windows PC. You can use DMG Editor on latest Windows 10 as well as Windows 8/7/XP.
Part 4: Install macOS Mojave from USB Drive on Mac
After creating macOS Mojave bootable USB drive, it is the right time to install Mojave on your Mac. If possible, make sure taking a backup of important data on your Mac. The installation process will format the drive and this will delete all your personal data and apps from Mac.
To get started, please connect the USB drive to Mac and power on the computer. Keep pressing the Option key and you see the Startup Manager in a few seconds. Click on the USB drive name with your mouse to enter into installation page. Next, select the internal drive and finally click Continue button to begin the installation process.
Note: For installation on a Hackintosh, you need additional tool to configure the boot loader, such as OpenCore or Clover. After that, plug the USB into Hackintosh and set USB as the first boot device in BIOS. By doing this, you will manage to get into Mojave install wizard.
Part 5: Possible Issue and Fix
According to our research, there might be a few issues during this process, which were reported by online users. Below is a list of most common issues you may come across. Please don't be scared as we also share possible fix to help you out!
USB Not Showing up in Startup Manager: If the USB drive burned with DMG Editor did not show up in Startup Manager, it means the burning process failed. The most possible reason is that the dmg file was corrupted, you need to download it from another source and burn it again.
No available drive for installation. Mojave is built with APFS but the old Macs come with HFS or HFS+. You have to boot into macOS Recovery mode and format the drive to APFS with Disk Utility app.
It could be more issues with Hackintosh and we don't have less epxerience on this topic. Please go to Hackintosh blog or forum for more accurate solutions.
Conclusion
Mojave Requirements Macbook Air Case
The above are the necessary steps intended to create a macOS Mojave bootable USB on a Windows 10 PC. Please read them carefully, especially the hardware requirement section. You won't be able to install Mojave on a Mac that does not meet its technical specification. You can also send us email if you have issue not being solved by your own.