How To Update Your Old MacBook To Ventura Using OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Before your begin, make sure you have a USB stick or external drive large enough to contain the installer. Ideally >= 32GB.

Let’s Begin

Step 1

• Make sure your MacBook are supported. Check It Here

Step 2

• See if there is any potential issue regarding your MacBook and the OS version you picked. Check It Here

• Pay specific attention to graphical issues, it is common in AMD and Nvidia graphics with MacBook Pro models.

• If you think you cannot bear the issue, try Ventura. Again, read the doc there if you don’t want to brick your machine.

Step 3

• Download the latest version of OpenCore Legacy Patcher here.

• Scroll down for the latest release, find a section which looks like this: (Download only the GUI.app.zip)

Step 4

• Follow the official guide here to download macOS and install OpenCore to your USB drive.

Step 5

• Enjoy

You can thank the developers by donating here.

Potential problem & fix

Couldn’t finish downloading macOS pkg through the tool. (Encountered it myself.) To fix this:

• Copy the link for the selected MacOS inside the OpenCore Legacy Patcher tool.
• Paste it into Motrix downloader, download from it. It is free and open source, no worries.
• When it is downloaded, locate it using the OpenCore Legacy Patcher tool to continue to install.

Tips:

• Download could take very long. It took me about an hour and a half. Just be patient.

• After the install, make sure you have Post-Install installation as well, OpenCore Legacy Patcher should automatically run it.

• Install the OpenCore to your booting hard disk, so it doesn’t rely on your USB to boot.

I am now using a MacBook Air 2015 with SonomaOS while writing this article.

Cheers