Run MacOS Ventura on Unsupported Mac with OpenCore
Do you have an older Mac that is not able to run MacOS Ventura, but that you’d like to run MacOS Ventura on? You may be able to accomplish that through the help of a third party tool called OpenCore.
While the official list of Macs compatible with MacOS Ventura is fairly limited and requiring a Mac built from 2017 onward, many earlier Macs still have plenty of hardware power and life left in them. OpenCore allows you to install MacOS Ventura on unsupported Mac models, offering a way to run the latest system software versions on Mac computers that Apple has decided to no longer support.
Unsupported Mac Models That Can Run MacOS Ventura with OpenCore
OpenCore Legacy Patcher will allow you to run MacOS Ventura on some Macs going all the way back to 2008 and 2007. The full list of officially unsupported Macs that can run Ventura with OpenCore is as follows:
- 2008 – 2016 MacBook
- 2009 – 2017 MacBook Air
- 2008 – 2016 MacBook Pro
- 2009 – 2017 Mac mini
- 2007 – 2017 iMac
- 2008 – 2013 Mac Pro
Keep in mind that not all features will work on these older Mac models, for example Stage Manager will not work on every Mac. Additionally, some older Mac models have GPU hardware that is not necessarily optimized or compatible with Ventura, but you can get more information about those specifics at the OpenCore project website.
Installing MacOS Ventura on Unsupported Mac
If you’re interested in installing and running macOS Ventura on unsupported Mac hardware, you’ll want to download the OpenCore Legacy Patcher application, and read through the guide on the OpenCore projects github page:
Essentially you will download and patch an installer application that is modified to install and run MacOS Ventura on Mac hardware that is not part of the official supported Mac list.
The installer you build from within OpenCore can even be used to make a bootable installer for Ventura for an unsupported Mac.
It’s important to remember that OpenCore is offered by a community driven effort and is an unofficial approach to running MacOS Ventura system software on Macs, so Apple will offer no assistance if something goes wrong. There is a Discord server available for OpenCore where you can find limited support and assistance if needed, but overall this should be considered a project and tool that is best reserved for advanced Mac users who are comfortable modifying system software and running software that is outside any warranty or support.
Do you use OpenCore to run MacOS Ventura on an unsupported Mac? What do you think of the experience? Let us know in the comments.
I am using OpenCore to install Venura on my mid-2013 MacBook Pro. But after installing, it says macOS update assistant has error in updating and won’t boot to OS. How do I fix it?
Hi, also got a 2025 MacBook Pro. Any performance drop at all with ventura, any issues even small ? Is it really 100% ?
Hi,
Wondering how good ventura works on your MacBook Pro 2015. Any performance issues at all ? I work mainly with premiere and after effects, do you use this ?
I have a late 2015 iMac 27 and a 2016 MacBook Pro which I’d like to upgrade. But don’t want a performance drop just for a pretty os
MacOS Ventura has worse performance than MacOS Monterey on all of my Macs. It just seems worse at resource management, and there is more system bloat. My Ventura Macs with 16GB RAM struggle.
really happy, now already one of my 17″ MBPs runs again! Thanks to the community! The second one is on it’s jolly way to be upgraded…
On my mac pro 2013 installed Ventura: now this machine can’t communicate anymore with the other computers on the network :(((
Can you please explain what’s the advantage to create a USB installer first instead of installing OLCP right on your Mac and patch your local OS, just to use the update function afterwards to upgrade to Ventura?
Hi! I have an Early 2009 Mac mini too. Did you have any problems booting the installer? I am trying for two days and got stuck on early boot. Do you have any advice?
I used OpenCore to install Ventura on my ancient MacBookPro 7,1. (Thank You) Today I got notice of an update to macOS Ventura 13.2.1, but it will not install. Could the fact that I needed OpenCore to install Ventura prevent me from applying this update?
Running Ventura on 2008 iMac 4G RAM running okay Could be better Only issue I’m having is the version that it says I’m on it is back with Catalina which also isn’t natively supported on that machine so I’m not sure how to get around that yet…
Running Monterey 12.6.3 on early 2009 Mac Mini. Everything works wonderful. Only problem with OCLP so far is MS Word 2021 (I understand it´s present with Ventura as well). There are HUGE artifacts when selecting any text. No way to get rid of them. It’s a patcher´s “bug”. Only way to overcome is use Word version 16.43 or older. Current Office version (at this writing) is 16.70. Other MS apps not affected. The OCL patcher is an excellent saver for old machines, but you REALLY, REALLY have to upgrade internal disk to SSD otherwise you’re wasting your time.
Thank you for this extremely useful information.
I had the same problem on my mid-2011 macbook air.
With WORD 16.43 it works fine.
OCLP 0.6.1
I’m running MacOS Ventura, Monterey & High Sierra on this MacPro 2008. There are caveats of course, 15 yo machine!
Only one gripe, PATA DVD drive not detected!
Usual Maps & Photo Booth not displaying, may be my GPU : Nvidia Quadro 4000 not metal compatible.
Of course there is no Bluetooth except in High Sierra.
Still working on that problem.
MacPro is 8 core, 32 GB RAM, 2 x SSD, added USB 3.0 card.
Also have 2013 iMac Running Ventura flawlessly, & 2015 MBP also.
Keep up the good work guys n gals.
OCLP is excellent. MacBook Pro mid 2012 13” runs beautiful with Ventura. I even upgraded the wifi to AC standard, and going to sell my Mac mini 2018.
Had 2009 poly MacBook on Monterey as well as MB Pro 2010, also very nice (didn’t go to Ventura on these).
Read the OCLP GitHub page and all will be clear.
Installed Monterey on an iMac 13.1, everything works except JavaScript on Safari or Safari Technology Preview, all the other browsers work perfect. As of now, I’m using Safari without JavaScript. Any ideas?
did you solve this problem?
I’ve got both Monterey AND Ventura on my MacPro 5,1 late 2009 with GTX 680 video card on two independent SSDs. Everything runs smoothly but:
On Ventura:
– no BT (yet)
– Adobe Lightroom CC doesn’t support HEIC format photos from my iPhone XI Pro Max (black box in Edition panel).
On Monterey:
– everything works as expected, including Lightroom CC.
To install both systems on two separate drives on your Mac Pro, you’ll want to install at first any of them, then take that drive out, and only then install the second system on the second drive. This is necessary in order to avoid the mess with several EFI’s on booting. Put then back the first drive and you’ll have a nice dual boot available at your fingers.
I have Monterey installed on an iMac 13.1, everything works fine so far except some pages don’t load properly on Safari or Safari Preview. The same pages load fine on Firefox. Still checking everything out.
I’ve got Ventura on a 2015 Macbook Pro and it runs great. Going to try a Trash Can 2013 Mac Pro soon as well.
The main problem I had, with my 2011 iMac, when installing Monterey a week ago is that programs like Keynote and Powerpoint crash or freeze up when in full screen. Even when I put the display in greyscale, this still happens, so I think the issue is not simply the old graphics card. (Keynote displaying a bunch of graphs and equations can’t be that problematic. My ancient iPhone can handle it.) I am reluctant to upgrade my late 2012 iMac and have the same problems. Is there any comprehensive list of known issues? A few are mentioned on the OCLP website.
Also, as a minor note, once you turn off SIP, the system remembers, so that even when it is turned on again, it still prevents you from using eg Apple Pay. (This is probably a good idea, given the (hopefully small) risk of injecting malware via a 3rd party install, but it is best to make users aware of such limitations.
Having said that, it will likely keep my 2011 iMac out of the e-waste dump (third-world landfill) for a few more years.
I patched my late 2012 27″ iMac 2 years ago in order to run Big Sur. 2 days ago I patched it with OCLP 0.61 and installed Monterey. Works flawlessly! I also tried Ventura 13.3 beta on a second SSD but ran into issues with the NVDIA graphics patch. Can´t recommend Ventura, Monterey a definitive YES, go for it.
How best to save and restore if it doesn’t go well? Time Machine is the obvious answer but what if the OCLP install goes so badly I can’t run TM?
if installation failed, you can go back using TM no problem, I did it dozen times. You only need to attach your TM backup external and in recovery select TM backup recovery and you can reinstall to TM backed up version. (before run the TM, remember to format the HDD to the appropriate schema)
I have using Dosdude’s Mojave patch for my MBA2010
and now on my MBP12 and love Monterey!
just they want a 6 instead of 5 to boot,
which goes into a cycle, so im ignoring that from now.
but everything works!
and these Macs stay out of the tech waste heap!
I’m running Monterey on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1. Works great, with a few minor issues. (BTW: OCLP has multiple OS versions you can install.)
I had “show stopper” problems running Ventura. For instance, Bluetooth didn’t work. They may have fixed that by now.
The remaining “non-show stopper” problem I have with Monterey is that the paste buffer isn’t getting stuff from some third-party extensions, such as Alfred, which has a multi-item paste buffer I can’t be without. It often won’t paste it without following with a CMD-V.
That’s a real old version of OCLP!
Version 0.6.1 has solved most of the problems people were having with Ventura.