Dual Booting Mac OS Mavericks & El Capitan/ Sierra

[cobl62]

Hi all,

I probably just got a simple question (which answer I probably can´t find as it is probably pretty simple o_O):

I got my system up and running with Clover and Mavericks.

 

As I would like to use a monitor with 10bit (8bit +FRC) color depth, I probably will need to install El Capitan or Sierra.

As I don´t want to switch to those OS in general but only for photo development, but I would like to use the 10bit color depth, I wonder how I install El Capitan on my second drive.

 

My theory is the following plan:

1. start Mavericks via Clover (already installed, EFI partition on the computer is used by clover)

2. Install El Capitan on second hard drive via Apples installation file, choose second hdd. (not with clover boot stick)

3. update clover on the EFI partition with the necessary kexts for this OS version

 

Is that the right way for installation of a second OS?

Am I able to choose the OS version in clover boot loader later?

 

Thanks for your replies in advance.

 

Ciao 

[Cyberdevs]

Hi all,

I probably just got a simple question (which answer I probably can´t find as it is probably pretty simple o_O):

I got my system up and running with Clover and Mavericks.

 

As I would like to use a monitor with 10bit (8bit +FRC) color depth, I probably will need to install El Capitan or Sierra.

As I don´t want to switch to those OS in general but only for photo development, but I would like to use the 10bit color depth, I wonder how I install El Capitan on my second drive.

 

My theory is the following plan:

1. start Mavericks via Clover (already installed, EFI partition on the computer is used by clover)

2. Install El Capitan on second hard drive via Apples installation file, choose second hdd. (not with clover boot stick)

3. update clover on the EFI partition with the necessary kexts for this OS version

 

Is that the right way for installation of a second OS?

Am I able to choose the OS version in clover boot loader later?

 

Thanks for your replies in advance.

 

Ciao 

Hi,

 

You can use SwitchResX or ResXtreme to change the color depth on your display.

 

 

About dual booting with mavericks and El Capitan, you might need to have different config.plist files with different setting, but the main thing that you need to keep in mind is to have all the kext files for your macOS in their related folder and by that I mean you need to have those kexts under /EFI/Clover/kexts/10.9 for Mac OS X Mavericks, /EFI/Clover/kexts/10.11 for Mac OS X El Capitan and /EFI/Clover/kexts/10.12 for macOS Sierra, OR, just simply have those kext file in /EFI/Clover/kexts/Other. But since you might need different sets of kext files it's better to keep them separated.

[cobl62]

Hi 

thanks for your reply.

 

Is my installation theory the right one? I install El Capitan as a normal Mac OS on a mac via my mackintosh Mavericks installation? (kext and config.list ok..)

[Cyberdevs]

You're welcome,

 

Your theory is correct, But remember:

 

As long as you are using two separated hard disks it will be ok, but if you are trying to install El Capitan on another partition of the same hard disk that you already have Mavericks on it might be difficult to get them to work correctly, some kexts and patches might be needed for your computer running El Capitan smoothly and there might be some conflicts with the settings for Mavericks.

 

If I understand correctly you have two hard disk drives with GUID partition scheme and they both have EFI partition and you can use one EFI partition for Mavericks,as you already do, and you can use another one for El Capitan.

 

My suggestion is to use mediacreation method to create the El Capitan installer rather than running it on the Mavericks just in case, you don't wan to mess the Mavericks up.

[cobl62]

thanks a lot again.

 

yes, I would like to definitely install both systems on a different hdd.

if I go the media creation way, you mean I should create a new clover boot stick with el capitan, right? Like I did the initial installation..?

there won´t be any conflicts with the boot loader installed on my first hard drive? 

So do I copy any files of clover on the second efi partition for booting like I did for Mavericks?

[Cyberdevs]

My pleasure

 

Yes that's exactly what I mean. Create a new USB installer for El Capitan.

As long as you want to boot into Mavericks you need to select the hard disk that you installed Mavericks and clover on, and if you want to boot into El Capitan you need to select that drive as the first bootable drive, you can do so by pressing the F8 key while the computer is booting.

 

You can keep the EFI folder of Mavericks unchanged just let it be as is, and create a new folder by simply installing the latest version of clover. If you can boot into El Capitan using the Mavericks settings you won't even need to install cover on the second partition. You need to test it and find out.

 

For El Capitan or macOS Sierra you can create bootable USB disk using createinstallmedia and install cover after the USB disk is ready.

 

Here is the commands for terminal just in case:

For macOS Sierra

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app --nointeraction

and 

For El Capitan:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app --nointeraction

Just remember in order to get clover to load the macOS correctly you need to have the kext files placed under their respective folders. e.g 10.11 for El Capitan and 10.12 for macOS Sierra and 10.9 for Mavericks. 

[cobl62]

Hi

I ran into a few problems.

I have created a new clover bootstick with sierra 10.12.6

Updated my clover on my running mavericks EFI Partition booted a few times it was fine.

Copied 2 config list with kexts for mavericks and sierra in different folders to the EFI partitions.

booted it was fine.

my installation stick was shown on the clover boot loader from my mavericks drive. choose it, came into the menu where I can choose if I want to restore or install, I stopped everything rebooted as I was unsure how to start the installation.

Now my first question:

do i start the installation of sierra via the clover boot loader of the stick or my first drive?

 

after booting again I went into the UEFI and choose the stick to boot, the boot loader started..but I ran into a black screen.

Rebooting resulted in the following:

I got only now and then into the UEFI via F2 - now not anymore. It stops at the ASUS start screen. Nothing happens

I rebooted plenty times after that still the same result.

I switched the computer off completely waited, I got into the UEFI, but after that again, it stops at the ASUS screen.

I repeated to switch off the computer completed (unplugged it) but now the only thing which I can get to is the ASUS screen.

 

Any idea what I can do? (apart from CMOS reset, if this really helps?)

[Cyberdevs]

Hi

I ran into a few problems.

I have created a new clover bootstick with sierra 10.12.6

Updated my clover on my running mavericks EFI Partition booted a few times it was fine.

Copied 2 config list with kexts for mavericks and sierra in different folders to the EFI partitions.

booted it was fine.

my installation stick was shown on the clover boot loader from my mavericks drive. choose it, came into the menu where I can choose if I want to restore or install, I stopped everything rebooted as I was unsure how to start the installation.

Now my first question:

do i start the installation of sierra via the clover boot loader of the stick or my first drive?

 

after booting again I went into the UEFI and choose the stick to boot, the boot loader started..but I ran into a black screen.

Rebooting resulted in the following:

I got only now and then into the UEFI via F2 - now not anymore. It stops at the ASUS start screen. Nothing happens

I rebooted plenty times after that still the same result.

I switched the computer off completely waited, I got into the UEFI, but after that again, it stops at the ASUS screen.

I repeated to switch off the computer completed (unplugged it) but now the only thing which I can get to is the ASUS screen.

 

Any idea what I can do? (apart from CMOS reset, if this really helps?)

Hi there.

Let's start from the issue at hand.

Did you install RC Scripts while installing clover on your USB stick?

[cobl62]

I am not sure .. can I check this afterwards?

[Cyberdevs]

it doesn't matter, If you did install the RC Scripts you have two options:

 

1. Detach all the hard disk from your pc, unplug the SATA and Power cable and turn on the PC and see if you can get into BIOS/UEFI.

2. If the option one didn't work you have to reset the CMOS

 

I ran into this problem couple of weeks ago and I had to reset the BIOS. It's so painful to reset the BIOS but it's the only option.

 

Do not use your USB disk to boot the system boot from your bootable HDD and once you're in, mount the EFI folder on you USB disk, backup ACPI, Config.plist, kext, themes and then delete the whole EFI folder and reinstall clover without the RC Scripts.

 

on your bootable device go to /private/etc and check if these folders are present "rc.boot.d" and "rc.shotdown.d" and delete them and reboot.

[cobl62]

I can get into the UEFI Bios, so no I only attach the usually running drive and start up again..?

[Cyberdevs]

If you can get into BIOS/UEFI change the boot device to the one that was working and see if you can boot into macOS using that hard disk.

 

The problem I described in my previous post that resulted to a frozen pc was that I could only see the Asus Logo but I couldn't get into BIOS, so I had to reset the BIOS to get my pc to boot normally again.

[cobl62]

ok, boot it, it looks absolutely fine to me... those files don´t exist in private/etc... Thanks a lot!!!!

It was always strange before: I had to boot the comp always twice to get into the clover boot loader..probably its somehow related..?

 

will reinstall clover on the stick in a minute..

 

so do I need to boot the clover on the stick or on the running hard drive for sierra installation?

[Cyberdevs]

Oh that's good

 

You don't actually need to boot from the USB stick to install macOS, if you have a bootable drive that has clover on it and if it's the latest version you can use it to boot from any macOS disk, either it's the installer or the installed version of macOS. You only have to choose which device you want to boot from.

 

and now about the Black Screen Issue, if you are using the GTX 760 and you get the black screen you can use these kexts to avoid the black screen issue: Lilu.kext and nVidiaGraphicsFixup.kext copy them in /EFI/Clover/kext/10.12 or /EFI/Clover/kexts/Other 

[cobl62]

Yeah, I am kind of happy that this little work around helped me!  

 

ok, cool. Lilu I got already, nvdiagraphicsfixup I will add..Then I will try now to install sierra via my harddrive clover.

Do I need to load the config file for sierra then already? Or just when I have already installed it and reboot into it?

[Cyberdevs]

You can use a single config.plist for Mavericks to High Sierra. I don't use Mavericks anymore but I have a single file for El Capitan, Sierra and High Sierra. I know you can use it for Mavericks to macOS High Sierra.

 

You can use the one that you already installed and if it ran into any problems you can reinstall it again.

[cobl62]

Oh ok. I will definitely try that..

 

I wonder if the smbios settings for sierra in the config can be a bit higher then mac 14,1? As I have a 4790k processor? Or does it not really matter?

for mavericks I have set it up as 14,1..

[cobl62]

ok so with my config file mavericks it seems to running, although system preferences always shut down immediately when I want to configure it..

[Cyberdevs]

Oh ok. I will definitely try that..

 

I wonder if the smbios settings for sierra in the config can be a bit higher then mac 14,1? As I have a 4790k processor? Or does it not really matter?

for mavericks I have set it up as 14,1..

SMBIOS does matter, It is crucial for having a proper CPU Power Management the best SMBIOS for your pc is iMac15,1 but I'm afraid the Mavericks is not supported by iMac15,1 that's why you need to use the iMac14,1 SMBIOS.

If you have more than one hard disk available in your PC you can separate the clovers for Mavericks and newer macOS supports.

 

iMac15,1's shipped with macOS Yosemite (10.10) Pre-Installed and it will support current macOSes (10.12 and 10.13).

[cobl62]

ok got it.

 

unfortunately I got a few different challenges now..

# the preference pane crashes all the time when I want to open the pref pane for mouse settings.

# mouse is not going so smoothly to the second monitor..

# but the most important one..I installed clover on the hard drive but the clover configurator is nowhere to find..opening the config file via right click, shows up clover - so I guess Sierra is hiding all third party app? how can I change this?

# when rebooting (either in Mavericks or Sierra (got sierra 10.12.6 now ) - it doesn´t matter) - it shows the ASUS start up screen and then the screen goes black. After a hard turn off of the comp and then booting the clover boot loader is shown again.

 

Any ideas how to solve those probs?

 

Thanks a lot again!

[Cyberdevs]

ok got it.

 

unfortunately I got a few different challenges now..

# the preference pane crashes all the time when I want to open the pref pane for mouse settings.

# mouse is not going so smoothly to the second monitor..

# but the most important one..I installed clover on the hard drive but the clover configurator is nowhere to find..opening the config file via right click, shows up clover - so I guess Sierra is hiding all third party app? how can I change this?

# when rebooting (either in Mavericks or Sierra (got sierra 10.12.6 now ) - it doesn´t matter) - it shows the ASUS start up screen and then the screen goes black. After a hard turn off of the comp and then booting the clover boot loader is shown again.

 

Any ideas how to solve those probs?

 

Thanks a lot again!

1. Go to ~/Library/preferences. Press Command+Shift+G and copy/paste ~/Library/preferences and delete the following plist files: "com.apple.preference.general.plist" and "com.apple.Preferences.plist" reboot the PS and if the preferences crash is fixed then you can adjust your Mouse settings.

 

2. Sierra doesn't hide the third-party apps, download the latest version of clover configurator here and copy it to Applications folder or any other path that you like. Right click on your plist file and select "Get Info" then from "Open with:" select "Other" (in Clover Configurator is not already listed) and then select "Other...". When the new window is popped up change "Enable" from "Recommended Applications" to "All Applications" and select "Clover Configurator" click "Always Open With" and then click "Add". 

 

3. Go to your BIOS/UEFI settings for and check your boot order and make sure the first bootable device is set to the one that has Clover bootloader on it and from "Boot" then "CSM (Compatibility Support Module) you have Launch CSM enabled and then set the Boot Device Control to UEFI only (Only if you don't use Legacy booting for any other operating systems) and then from "Boot from Storage Devices" set "UEFI driver first"

 

Save settings by pressing F10 and then the system will reboot.

 

And hopefully everything should be working as it suppose to.

[cobl62]

To 1. there are no such files in the named directory.

To 2. worked!

To3. I will try later and let you know.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Cyberdevs]

You're welcome

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cobl62]

Hey

so tried point 3 and unfortunately it does´t seem to work..

 

So do you have any other idea for point 1 and 3?

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Cyberdevs]

For the first problem from disk utility run First Aid and Repair Permission in mavericks and if that resolves the issue but for the 3rd problem I'm not sure what is causing the problem so no idea for now. I will do some thinking and if I come up with an idea I'll let you know.