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macOS Mojave on Dell G7 7588

Edit: There is a Catalina repo already, all the files in it can be used with Mojave. I have not had any time to explain things as on this README; but drivers and configuration files are updated, better use the ones in the Catalina repo.

As always, first things first, I will start mentioning that Nvidia cards drivers were dropped since macOS High Sierra, which means that If you want them working you will have to go back, however; Coffe Lake graphics are natively supported since macOS Mojave, that's good news so no need for much workaround with it. I have seen people on youtube as on forums claming to have macOS on the Dell G7 and they actually do but here's a thing, I checked their files, a couple videos and I can say those are probably not the best installations. No native macOS trackpad gestures, high CPU use all the time, no USB ports mapped, VoodooHDA leading to crappy sound and horrible input. Some people show their Geekbench 4 score and... well not too much to say it isn't either the best one. Hackintosh may not be that hard but you may need to read a lot to understand quite a few things and even come up with some solutions yourself for a perfectly working machine, lucky you, I have already done all that so follow the guide carefully and you will be able to experience the smoothness of macOS on this laptop.

What you need:

What’s working?

Imgur

What’s not working?

What you should know before starting:

Installation

1) Create the efi partition on a separate drive than Windows.

This should only be done by those who want macOS on a separate drive than Windows

We need to first create the efi partition on the drive macOS will be installed for that open CMD with elevated rights and enter the following code:

Diskpart
List Disk
Select disk # (# is the number of the drive you want to install macOS)
Create partition efi size=200
Format quick fs=fat32 label=“System”

Now on Windows go to Create and Format Hard Drive Partitions and create a partition with NTFS format with the desired space for macOS.

2) Create a bootable USB I use vanilla macOS and creating the USB is another story I won't cover, a great guide for this can be found here. When installing Clover make sure to pick your USB, only check "Install Clover for UEFI booting only", "Install Clover in the ESP" will be checked and in the UEFI Drivers section check only FSInject, ApfsDriverLoader and AptioMemoryFix or OsxAptioFixDrv3 in case AptioMemoryFix is not available on newer Clover versions. Carefully follow the guide and navigate to the downloaded USB Files folder, replace/copy the following files from the clover install folder on your USB:

3) BIOS

Enter the BIOS and change the following settings from their default values:

UEFI Boot Path Security -> Never

SATA Operation -> AHCI

Make sure Enable USB Boot Support and Enable External

USB Ports are checked

No security for the TB3 devices or they won't probably work on macOS.

PTT Security -> Disabled

Secure Boot Enable -> Disabled

Intel SGX -> Disabled

VT for Direct I/O -> Disabled

Auto OS Recovery Threshold -> Disabled

SupportAssist OS Recovery -> Disabled

BIOSConnect -> Disabled

If you have windows currently installed you may need to recreate the pin for logging with it after this changes.

4) Booting the installer

Use the default UEFI USB boot entry or create your own and make it to be the main one. Restart and select Install macOS from the Clover screen and wait for the installer to load. (May even take more than 10m depending on the USB speed, be patient)

5) macOS Installer

If you have ethernet connected it will ask to Set up your Apple ID, click on set up later. If not plugged just click on My Mac does not connect to the internet Go to disk utility and go to erase to format the created NTFS partition of the desired size for macOS with APFS named Macintosh HD (diskutil may exit), reopen and wait for it to finish erasing and creating the partition. Now complete the installation process with the desired language and stuff it wil take some time and restart a couple times do NOT touch anything nor shutdown the computer so make sure it is plugged in. After the system has been installed launch macOS from the USB with the Clover bootloader, then proceed to the final step of installing the correct drivers, clover bootloader to a drive so the USB is not needed to boot and setting the proper configurations to get the system running at best, because most things won't work right now, only the essentials to boot.

6) Post Installation

Login and set up your user. You can plug the ethernet but only login to you Apple ID after step 7 We first need to install Clover to the Macintosh HD drive, launch the clover install package and make sure you click on Change "Install Location" and set it for the internal drive, check same things as when creating the USB but also check "Install RC Scripts on Target Volume". Navigate to the POST INSTALL/Clover folder,copy/replace the config.plist, the SSDT-G7.aml from ACPI/Patched the kexts from the Other folder and finally the tonymacx86 theme. In the POST INSTALL folder there will be a another one named Kexts to /L/E/ which means that you should install the kernel extensions in it to /Library/Extensions/, to do that use Kext Wizard, KextBeast (my preffered) or any kext installer. Better leave /System/Library/Extensions/ clean and only install kexts to /L/E/.

Set up the ComboJack fix from the ComboJack repo or there will be a static noise with/without headphones plugged and will lead to high CPU frequency all time. The VerbStub.kext is already in the POST INSTALL/Clover/Others folder, just copy all kexts to the Other folder as stated in step 6. Reboot after installing it.

7) iMessage and FaceTime

To get both working we need to fake the Serial Number, Board Nuber, BIOS Version... for that follow this easy guide. Try using Clover Configurator which will generate some serials and stuff to simplify things. Choose MacBookPro15,2 on the mac list for energy purposes.

8) Sleep

Sleepimage is saved by default to RAM and disk, the system will first sleep and later hibernate (hibernatemode 3). To avoid hibernation and improve sleep by saving sleepimage only to RAM enter the following command in terminal:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

If it is not sleeping disconnect the AC adapter from the laptop and verify hibernatemode is set to 0 and no apps are mentioned to be preventing sleep by entering into terminal:

sudo pmset -g

Lastly use Intel Power Gadget to check for CPU power management, set Clover to be the main boot entry and enjoy you new Mac Hackintosh!

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