Dual Boot macOS and Ubuntu on 2011 iMac

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I need to dual boot Ubuntu and macOS on my High Sierra 2011 iMac (tried a VM and the VM is too much for my iMac’s specs, so I need access to “the full hardware” to run my Linux app).

I found instructions here: https://www.howtogeek.com/187410/how-to-install-and-dual-boot-linux-on-a-mac/

It seems I need to install rEFInd first. However, SIP is enabled, plus I have FileVault 2 enabled. It seems I need to manually install it using the Recovery Partition, plus I need to install it on the “ESP”. Does this sound about right?

Thanks!

Nathan Parker

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Why not use Live Linux USB stick and skip the hustle of dual-boot ?

https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-macos#1-overview

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Or using a VM to run Linux in it?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan already said the hardware won’t run the VM.

cheers, Paul

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Nathan Parker

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Already tried the VM, and it failed miserably. We spoke about a live drive, but we really need the internal drive in order to run it successfully. The app we’re running is Cisco Business Dashboard, so it is a little picky.

Nathan Parker

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+1 on finding rEFInd

Personally I would not dual boot and just run Linux on that old mac but…

If you are going to dual boot / repartition you might as well bring that unsupported macBook up to a currently supported OS.

Links to run macOS Catalina on your Unsupported Mac:

• macOS Catalina Patcher
• CatalinaOTAswufix
• Thread from macrumors: Catalina on Unsupported Macs

The Catalina Patcher will allow the creation of install media (19H2) and the CatalinaOTAswufix will allow update to the latest version (19H524) after installation.

Now back rEFInd. The file you want is the binary zip file found on the getting rEFInd from Sourceforge page via the rodsbooks website. The proper installation is demonstrated by this youtube video: rEFInd: How to Install and Boot Alternative OS on Mac. However, I’ve found that installing rEFInd via a Linux session works just as well. Using the refind-install script from the binary zip file should be all you need.

A couple of tips.

• Backup your files folders!
• If updating to Catalina, let the CatalinaOTAswufix run. I thought the machine was hanging on the first screen, the progress bar was full and it appeared that nothing was happening. The first screen takes 10 minutes to move on to the next step.
• Create and keep a separate USB flash drive created via the Catalina patcher tool that contains the macOS installation files along with the post install patches.
• Using the minus sign (-) allows you hide boot options in the rEFInd menu screen.
• After you install updates you may need to re-run the rEFInd-install script.

Best of luck. Let us know how it went.

 

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Nathan Parker

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SFB: ” If you are going to dual boot / repartition you might as well bring that unsupported macBook up to a currently supported OS. ”

If one does that, first must make sure that the version of macOS (le’s say Mojave” is fully updated before upgrading (let’s say, to Catalina). Otherwise both the update to Mojave and the upgrade to Catalina will race each other to install and the upgrade will fail.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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@OscarCP:

If one does that, first must make sure that the version of macOS (le’s say Mojave” is fully updated before upgrading (let’s say, to Catalina). Otherwise both the update to Mojave and the upgrade to Catalina will race each other to install and the upgrade will fail.

I’m not sure how the “race” upgrade condition could happen? The Catalina Patcher tool downloads the latest full version of Catalina offered by Apple (19H2) and then offers you the option to create an external bootable installer. You then use this bootable drive to partition the disk, upgrade / install Catalina, install post install patches, open terminal… (plus all the options were / are offered from the recovery partition).

Having this bootable drive is mandatory in order to reinstall the post install patches after running CatalinaOTAswufix.  CatalinaOTAswufix will cause the machine to bootloop after installing the update to 19H524. To stop the bootloop you must boot into the bootable drive and re-run the post install patches. Don’t forget to take your machine out of the “beta” update release program (Link: CatalinaOTAswufix by jackluke)

How to use the Catalina Patcher youtube video: https://youtu.be/wxFzZWqoCng

 

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Nathan Parker

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Got the dual-boot working. Here’s basically what happened:

1. I needed to manually install rEFInd using the Recovery partition and Terminal to bypass FileVault and System Integrity Protection. It went exceptionally well. Too easy
2. The breakdown happened when trying to partition my Mac for the Linux partition. I should have done it from Recovery or an external drive. Doing it inside macOS, it threw a kernel panic and also messed up my Recovery partition. After rebooting the Mac and running the “Password Reset” utility, I was back into macOS and all my data.
3. I had a backup Recovery partition on the Mac created using TechTool Pro’s eDrive software. Booted off of that and successfully re-partitoned my Mac.
4. To ensure my main Recovery partition works if I need it in the future, I quickly re-installed macOS in-place, as well as ran the update to the latest security updates.
5. I also ran DiskWarrior on the macOS partition to rebuild/optimize my Mac’s directory (all of the partitioning made the directory a little un-optimized).
6. With macOS fully in business, the bad news is the reinstall of macOS disabled rEFInd. I booted off of Recovery again (plus this verified that it was successfully working again). I re-ran the final “bless” command from the manual install instructions, rebooted, and rEFInd was back in business.
7. Back on macOS, I created a bootable Ubuntu installer using Ubuntu’s instructions. Rebooted and selected the bootable Ubuntu installer using rEFInd. Successfully installed Ubuntu.

The dual-boot is successfully working now. Only two issues are occurring at the moment:

1. The Ubuntu installation re-disabled rEFInd. I need to boot off of Recovery and likely run the “bless” command one more time. I can still boot into Ubuntu by holding down the Option key at startup. It functions just like Boot Camp would.
2. My Bluetooth Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard aren’t connecting to Ubuntu. Bluetooth works in Ubuntu, just not with these two devices. The Bluetooth Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard with my iMac are the older models without Lightning ports, so they’re Bluetooth only. I was able to borrow my iMac Pro’s newer Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard and connect them to the iMac using USB, and they worked with Ubuntu (but the Magic Trackpad and Keyboard kept trying to re-connect to my iMac Pro over Bluetooth). Long-term, I’ll pick up a low-cost USB mouse and keyboard (already found a couple that should work) I can plug into my iMac and use on the Linux side.

Nathan Parker

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Passing by and even though this is two years old I figure I should pass some wisdom.

My Bluetooth Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard aren’t connecting to Ubuntu.

Chances are this is miss-matching pairing keys between MacOS and Ubuntu (or between any OS for that matter on the same machine.) If you want to have these devices seamlessly work between OSes, you’ll need to extract and set pairing keys to match.

The venerable ArchLinux Wiki has a page covering it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Bluetooth#Dual_boot_pairing

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