Step by step: How to upgrade with OpenCore Legacy Patcher. We checked how well it runs on six Macs – from MacBook Pro 2016 to Air 2011.
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With the OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP) there has been an open source and free tool since the end of 2020 that makes a macOS upgrade on older Macs relatively easy. It goes without saying that this is not official software supported by Apple in any way.
If you are already familiar with OCLP and have followed our guide to installing macOS 12 Monterey on older Macs, for example, you can jump straight to the practical part “Creating a boot stick for macOS 13 Ventura” in the second half of the article. Early versions of OCLP were comparatively complicated and had many pitfalls. If that has put you off in the past, or if you have even failed, feel free to try the patcher again: It is now quite user-friendly and carries out most of the steps automatically.
You can read our experiences with installing the patched macOS 13 on MacBook Pro 2016, MacBook Pro 2015, iMac 5K 2014, Mac Pro 2013, Mac mini 2012 and MacBook Air 2011 at the end of the article.
