iMac · 2009

iMac 2009: the newest macOS it can run

Every iMac sold in 2009, what Apple supports, what OpenCore Legacy Patcher adds, and what to expect on each macOS version. Generated from the OCLP 3.0.0 source.

Checked against OCLP 3.0.0-rc.5 sourceUpdated November 5, 202617 min read

On this page 6 sections

Which iMac 2009 do you have?
macOS versions compared
Model by model
Installing on the iMac 2009
Common questions
Other Macs from 2009

Short answer

Apple stopped at OS X El Capitan to macOS High Sierra (depending on the model). With OpenCore Legacy Patcher the iMac 2009 runs macOS Big Sur through macOS Tahoe 26. Our pick for most people: macOS Monterey (its GPU has no Metal support, so newer versions lose more apps). No Intel Mac can run macOS 27.

Which iMac 2009 do you have?

Apple sold 3 different models as the iMac 2009. They can behave differently with OCLP, so check your model identifier: choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then More Info > System Report, and read Model Identifier. Or open Terminal and run sysctl hw.model

Identifier	Sold as	Graphics	Apple's last macOS	OCLP
`iMac9,1`	iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)	NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla) ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)	El Capitan	Yes
`iMac10,1`	iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)	High Sierra	Yes
`iMac11,1`	iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)	High Sierra	Yes

macOS versions compared

Apple supported by Apple, no patcher needed
OCLP runs with OpenCore Legacy Patcher
Legacy runs with OCLP; older “legacy Metal” GPU, more patches
No Metal runs with OCLP; GPU without Metal, apps that need Metal fail
No not possible

Model	Catalina10.15	Big Sur11	Monterey12	Ventura13	Sonoma14	Sequoia15	Tahoe26	Golden Gate27
iMac9,1	No	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No
iMac10,1	No	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No
iMac11,1	No	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No Metal	No

Model by model

iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) · iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)`iMac9,1`

Model identifier: iMac9,1
Board ID: Mac-F2218FA9
CPU generation: Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla)
ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi: Broadcom BCM4331 (legacy)
Last macOS from Apple: OS X El Capitan
T1 / T2 chip: None

Our pick

macOS MontereyNewest possible: macOS Sequoia

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla) + ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1), without Metal. Monterey keeps the most apps working on it. How we pick

iMac9,1: macOS Big Sur to Tahoe, and what OCLP patches on each
macOS	Status	Root patches OCLP applies
macOS Big Sur11.7.11	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Backlight Control · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Monterey12.7.6	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Ventura13.7.8	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Sonoma14.8.9	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Sequoia15.8.2	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Tahoe26.7.2	No Metal	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Golden Gate27	No	No Intel Mac can run macOS 27, with or without OCLP.

This model shipped with (or commonly runs) more than one GPU. OCLP picks the patch set for the GPU it finds: NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla) → Non-Metal; ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1) → Non-Metal.

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

What	iMac8,1	iMac9,1
Graphics	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1) + NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla)	NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla) + ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi	Broadcom BCM43224 (legacy)	Broadcom BCM4331 (legacy)
Storage	SATA 3.5, PATA	SATA 3.5
Ethernet	Marvell	Nvidia

Root patches on Tahoe. No longer needed: Legacy Audio.
Kexts OpenCore loads. Added: nForceEthernet.kext and AppleALC.kext. Dropped: MarvelYukonEthernet.kext, AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext and AppleIntelPIIXATA-Monterey.kext. (22 kexts on the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008), 21 here, from our builds.)

How much patching iMac9,1 needs on each macOS

macOS	Patch sets	Files installed	Files removed	KDK	MetallibSupportPkg
Big Sur	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Backlight Control · AMD TeraScale 1	32	56	No	No
Monterey	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · AMD TeraScale 1	41	56	No	No
Ventura	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1	46	56	Yes	No
Sonoma	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1	50	56	Yes	No
Sequoia	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1	56	56	Yes	No
Tahoe	Nvidia Tesla · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio · Legacy Backlight Control · Legacy USB 1.1 · AMD TeraScale 1	59	56	Yes	No

OCLP installs 32 files for this Mac on Big Sur and 59 on Tahoe. A Kernel Debug Kit is needed from Ventura.

From OCLP's own documentation

Universal Control. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware: Wi-Fi 4 / BT 2.1 EDR. Not out of the box. Hardware supports UC. Spoofing required. Dortania, Universal Control guide

OCLP changelog entries that name this Mac, newest release first, word for word:

2.0.0 Resolve AMD Navi MXM GPU detection for modded iMac9,x-12,x
2.0.0 Resolve AMD Navi MXM GPU detection for modded iMac9,x-12,x → Thanks @Ausdauersportler for the patch!
0.6.3 Implement MXM graphics handling for iMac9,1
0.6.3 Implement MXM graphics handling for iMac9,1 → Credit to [@Ausdauersportler](https://github.com/Ausdauersportler) for implementation
0.1.3 Fix iMac9,1 audio support
0.0.23 Fix iMac7,1 24" and iMac9,1 24" audio support
0.0.20 Fix CPU Calculation on early MCP79 chipsets (ie. iMac9,1, MacBook5,x)

On Tahoe this Mac needs Nvidia Tesla, Legacy Wireless, Modern Audio, Legacy Backlight Control, Legacy USB 1.1 and AMD TeraScale 1. What each of those restores, and what to keep ready when root patching: macOS Tahoe: what works and what does not.

Known issues

non-Metal GPU (macOS 11+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
USB 1.1 (macOS 13+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
Recommend upgrading to Metal GPU (source) Dortania, Supported Models

What OCLP puts on the EFI partition for iMac9,1 OpenCore 1.0.6 RELEASE · 21 kexts

From our build with the OCLP 3.0.0-rc.5 app's command line (--build --model iMac9,1) on a GitHub macOS runner, 2026-11-05. Boot arguments: keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -lilubetaall -nomt_core -btlfxallowanyaddr amfi=0x80.

Kexts Reasons are shown for kexts that set this Mac apart; the rest are explained in the kext glossary.

Lilu.kext 1.7.2
AAAMouSSE.kext 0.95-Dortania Translates SSE4.2 instructions to compatible code for SSE4,1 CPUs, required for AMD Metal drives Needed on: MacPro3,1.
telemetrap.kext 1.0.0 Ensures telemetry.plugin doesn't run, required for SSE4,1 CPUs Needed on: Penryn CPUs.
CryptexFixup.kext 1.0.5
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext 12.3.1 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel.kext 12.6 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel-Tahoe.kext 26.7 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext 1.0.0
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient.kext 1.0.0
ASPP-Override.kext 1.0.1 Forces ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin to outmatch X86PlatformPlugin and disable firmware throttling
nForceEthernet.kext 1.0.1 Inject old NVIDIA Ethernet kext to resolve networking in Catalina and newer Needed on: 2010 and older NVIDIA Ethernet require.
ECM-Override.kext 1.0.0
CatalinaIntelI210Ethernet.kext 1.0.0
corecaptureElCap.kext 1.0.2 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
IO80211ElCap.kext 2.0.1 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
AppleALC.kext 1.6.3-Jazzzny
BlueToolFixup.kext 2.7.2
Bluetooth-Spoof.kext 1.0.0 Injects extra data into certain bluetooth chipsets for recognition by the system Needed on: Models with the BCM2070 or BCM2046 chipsets.
CSLVFixup.kext 2.6.1
AMFIPass.kext 1.4.1
RestrictEvents.kext 1.1.7

Settings specific to this Mac

Overriding ACPI SMC matching 41 of 86 builds
Enabling BCM94328 Networking Support 19 of 86 builds
Fixing AVX hardcoding in JavaScriptCore 31 of 86 builds
Setting RestrictEvents patch arguments: sbvmm,jsc 28 of 86 builds

10 more settings are applied to most of the 86 Macs we built; they are listed in the full build log.

Full build log · config.plist · file list

Our build for iMac9,1 loads 21 kexts in an EFI folder of 20.6 MB. Across the 86 Macs we built, the median is 18; 60% of builds load fewer.

What owners reported for iMac9,1 5 reports on GitHub

5 issues were filed in OCLP's tracker with iMac9,1 as the machine model (5 closed, 0 open), filed 2021; the newest is from 2021-12-13. The topics that come up most, by keyword match in the title and text: install or update (3), wi-fi (1) and black screen or boot failure (1). These are owners' reports, not confirmed bugs, and all of them were filed on OCLP versions from before 2024, so many describe problems that have since been fixed.

#795 2021-12-13 · closed · Big Sur · 1 comment Installation stuck at “less than a minute remaining”
#642 2021-10-28 · closed · Monterey · 1 comment Hey DOSDUDE1 we need you!!!
#443 2021-08-16 · closed · Monterey · 2 comments imac9,1 -- no way to do post install steps when wifi isn't working.
#375 2021-07-07 · closed · Big Sur, macOS 10.14, Mojave, macOS 10.13, High Sierra · 1 comment can not select install disk

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)`iMac10,1`

Model identifier: iMac10,1
Board ID: Mac-F221DCC8
CPU generation: Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi: Atheros (AirPortAtheros40)
Last macOS from Apple: macOS High Sierra
T1 / T2 chip: None

Our pick

macOS MontereyNewest possible: macOS Sequoia

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1), without Metal. Monterey keeps the most apps working on it. How we pick

iMac10,1: macOS Big Sur to Tahoe, and what OCLP patches on each
macOS	Status	Root patches OCLP applies
macOS Big Sur11.7.11	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Monterey12.7.6	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless
macOS Ventura13.7.8	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1
macOS Sonoma14.8.9	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1
macOS Sequoia15.8.2	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1
macOS Tahoe26.7.2	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio · Legacy USB 1.1
macOS Golden Gate27	No	No Intel Mac can run macOS 27, with or without OCLP.

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

What	iMac8,1	iMac10,1
Graphics	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1) + NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla)	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi	Broadcom BCM43224 (legacy)	Atheros (AirPortAtheros40)
Storage	SATA 3.5, PATA	SATA 3.5
Ethernet	Marvell	Nvidia
Last macOS from Apple	OS X El Capitan	macOS High Sierra

Root patches on Tahoe. No longer needed: Legacy Audio, Legacy Backlight Control and Nvidia Tesla.
Kexts OpenCore loads. Added: nForceEthernet.kext, AirPortAtheros40-Tahoe.kext and AppleALC.kext. Dropped: MarvelYukonEthernet.kext, AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext and AppleIntelPIIXATA-Monterey.kext. (22 kexts on the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008), 22 here, from our builds.)

How much patching iMac10,1 needs on each macOS

macOS	Patch sets	Files installed	Files removed	KDK	MetallibSupportPkg
Big Sur	AMD TeraScale 1	19	30	No	No
Monterey	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless	24	30	No	No
Ventura	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1	28	30	Yes	No
Sonoma	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1	32	30	Yes	No
Sequoia	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Legacy USB 1.1	36	30	Yes	No
Tahoe	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio · Legacy USB 1.1	38	30	Yes	No

OCLP installs 19 files for this Mac on Big Sur and 38 on Tahoe. A Kernel Debug Kit is needed from Ventura.

From OCLP's own documentation

Universal Control. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware: Wi-Fi 4 / BT 2.1 EDR. Not out of the box. Hardware supports UC. Spoofing required. Dortania, Universal Control guide

OCLP changelog entries that name this Mac, newest release first, word for word:

0.1.5 Add iMac10,1 default dGPU pathing
0.1.2 Probe hardware for Backlight pathing on iMac10,1, iMac11,x and iMac12,x with Metal GPUs
0.1.1 Add MouSSE support to iMac10,1 with Metal AMD GPU
0.0.12 Add Backlight patches for modded Nvidia GPUs in iMac10,x-12,x
0.0.11 Support upgraded GPU detection in iMac10,x-12,x

On Tahoe this Mac needs AMD TeraScale 1, Legacy Wireless, Modern Audio and Legacy USB 1.1. What each of those restores, and what to keep ready when root patching: macOS Tahoe: what works and what does not.

Known issues

non-Metal GPU (macOS 11+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
USB 1.1 (macOS 13+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
Recommend upgrading to Metal GPU (source) Dortania, Supported Models

What OCLP puts on the EFI partition for iMac10,1 OpenCore 1.0.6 RELEASE · 22 kexts

From our build with the OCLP 3.0.0-rc.5 app's command line (--build --model iMac10,1) on a GitHub macOS runner, 2026-11-05. Boot arguments: keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -lilubetaall -nomt_core -btlfxallowanyaddr amfi=0x80.

Kexts Reasons are shown for kexts that set this Mac apart; the rest are explained in the kext glossary.

Lilu.kext 1.7.2
AAAMouSSE.kext 0.95-Dortania Translates SSE4.2 instructions to compatible code for SSE4,1 CPUs, required for AMD Metal drives Needed on: MacPro3,1.
telemetrap.kext 1.0.0 Ensures telemetry.plugin doesn't run, required for SSE4,1 CPUs Needed on: Penryn CPUs.
CryptexFixup.kext 1.0.5
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext 12.3.1 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel.kext 12.6 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel-Tahoe.kext 26.7 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext 1.0.0
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient.kext 1.0.0
ASPP-Override.kext 1.0.1 Forces ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin to outmatch X86PlatformPlugin and disable firmware throttling
nForceEthernet.kext 1.0.1 Inject old NVIDIA Ethernet kext to resolve networking in Catalina and newer Needed on: 2010 and older NVIDIA Ethernet require.
ECM-Override.kext 1.0.0
CatalinaIntelI210Ethernet.kext 1.0.0
corecaptureElCap.kext 1.0.2 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
IO80211ElCap.kext 2.0.1 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
AirPortAtheros40-Tahoe.kext 1.0.1
AppleALC.kext 1.6.3-Jazzzny
BlueToolFixup.kext 2.7.2
Bluetooth-Spoof.kext 1.0.0 Injects extra data into certain bluetooth chipsets for recognition by the system Needed on: Models with the BCM2070 or BCM2046 chipsets.
CSLVFixup.kext 2.6.1
AMFIPass.kext 1.4.1
RestrictEvents.kext 1.1.7

Settings specific to this Mac

Overriding ACPI SMC matching 41 of 86 builds
Enabling Atheros Networking Support 7 of 86 builds
Fixing AVX hardcoding in JavaScriptCore 31 of 86 builds
Setting RestrictEvents patch arguments: sbvmm,jsc 28 of 86 builds

10 more settings are applied to most of the 86 Macs we built; they are listed in the full build log.

Full build log · config.plist · file list

Our build for iMac10,1 loads 22 kexts in an EFI folder of 21.5 MB. Across the 86 Macs we built, the median is 18; 70% of builds load fewer.

What owners reported for iMac10,1 3 reports on GitHub

3 issues were filed in OCLP's tracker with iMac10,1 as the machine model (3 closed, 0 open), filed 2021 to 2022; the newest is from 2022-01-27. The topics that come up most, by keyword match in the title and text: black screen or boot failure (1). These are owners' reports, not confirmed bugs, and all of them were filed on OCLP versions from before 2024, so many describe problems that have since been fixed.

#915 2022-01-27 · closed · macOS 10.13, High Sierra · 2 comments Opencore 0.4.1 stops responding after downloading macos Monterey.
#907 2022-01-24 · closed · Monterey · 2 comments Hide OpenCore Picker on 0.4.1
#523 2021-09-30 · closed · Monterey · 2 comments Menu bar causes iMac to Crash, brought to login screen

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)`iMac11,1`

Model identifier: iMac11,1
Board ID: Mac-F2268DAE
CPU generation: Core i (Nehalem/Westmere)
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi: Atheros (AirPortAtheros40)
Last macOS from Apple: macOS High Sierra
T1 / T2 chip: None

Our pick

macOS MontereyNewest possible: macOS Sequoia

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1), without Metal. Monterey keeps the most apps working on it. How we pick

iMac11,1: macOS Big Sur to Tahoe, and what OCLP patches on each
macOS	Status	Root patches OCLP applies
macOS Big Sur11.7.11	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1
macOS Monterey12.7.6	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless
macOS Ventura13.7.8	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless
macOS Sonoma14.8.9	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless
macOS Sequoia15.8.2	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless
macOS Tahoe26.7.2	No Metal	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio
macOS Golden Gate27	No	No Intel Mac can run macOS 27, with or without OCLP.

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

What	iMac8,1	iMac11,1
CPU	Core 2 Duo (Penryn)	Core i (Nehalem/Westmere)
Graphics	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1) + NVIDIA GeForce (Tesla)	ATI Radeon HD 2000–4000 (TeraScale 1)
Wi-Fi	Broadcom BCM43224 (legacy)	Atheros (AirPortAtheros40)
Storage	SATA 3.5, PATA	SATA 3.5
Ethernet	Marvell	Broadcom
Last macOS from Apple	OS X El Capitan	macOS High Sierra

Root patches on Tahoe. No longer needed: Legacy Audio, Legacy Backlight Control, Legacy USB 1.1 and Nvidia Tesla.
Kexts OpenCore loads. Added: CatalinaBCM5701Ethernet.kext, AirPortAtheros40-Tahoe.kext and AppleALC.kext. Dropped: AAAMouSSE.kext, telemetrap.kext, MarvelYukonEthernet.kext, AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext and AppleIntelPIIXATA-Monterey.kext. (22 kexts on the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008), 20 here, from our builds.)

How much patching iMac11,1 needs on each macOS

macOS	Patch sets	Files installed	Files removed	KDK	MetallibSupportPkg
Big Sur	AMD TeraScale 1	19	30	No	No
Monterey	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless	24	30	No	No
Ventura	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless	27	30	Yes	No
Sonoma	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless	27	30	Yes	No
Sequoia	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless	29	30	Yes	No
Tahoe	AMD TeraScale 1 · Legacy Wireless · Modern Audio	31	30	Yes	No

OCLP installs 19 files for this Mac on Big Sur and 31 on Tahoe. A Kernel Debug Kit is needed from Ventura.

From OCLP's own documentation

Universal Control. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware: Wi-Fi 4 / BT 2.1 EDR. Not out of the box. Hardware supports UC. Spoofing required. Dortania, Universal Control guide

OCLP changelog entries that name this Mac, newest release first, word for word:

0.3.0 Add Legacy GCN support for iMac11,x and iMac12,x with upgraded GPUs
0.3.0 Add Legacy GCN support for iMac11,x and iMac12,x with upgraded GPUs → Note: iMac12,x with legacy GCN will fail to wake
0.1.2 Probe hardware for Backlight pathing on iMac10,1, iMac11,x and iMac12,x with Metal GPUs
0.1.1 Fix iMac11,1 and iMac11,3 Nvidia boot issues after PRAM reset

On Tahoe this Mac needs AMD TeraScale 1, Legacy Wireless and Modern Audio. What each of those restores, and what to keep ready when root patching: macOS Tahoe: what works and what does not.

Known issues

non-Metal GPU (macOS 11+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
USB 1.1 (macOS 13+) (source) Dortania, Supported Models
Recommend upgrading to Metal GPU (source) Dortania, Supported Models

What OCLP puts on the EFI partition for iMac11,1 OpenCore 1.0.6 RELEASE · 20 kexts

From our build with the OCLP 3.0.0-rc.5 app's command line (--build --model iMac11,1) on a GitHub macOS runner, 2026-11-05. Boot arguments: keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -lilubetaall -btlfxallowanyaddr amfi=0x80.

Kexts Reasons are shown for kexts that set this Mac apart; the rest are explained in the kext glossary.

Lilu.kext 1.7.2
CryptexFixup.kext 1.0.5
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext 12.3.1 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel.kext 12.6 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib-AVXpel-Tahoe.kext 26.7 Prevents AVXFSCompressionTypeZlib crash on pre AVX1.0 systems in 12.4+
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext 1.0.0
AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient.kext 1.0.0
ASPP-Override.kext 1.0.1 Forces ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin to outmatch X86PlatformPlugin and disable firmware throttling
CatalinaBCM5701Ethernet.kext 1.0.2 Inject old Broadcom Ethernet kext to resolve networking in Big Sur Needed on: 2011 and older Broadcom Ethernet require.
ECM-Override.kext 1.0.0
CatalinaIntelI210Ethernet.kext 1.0.0
corecaptureElCap.kext 1.0.2 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
IO80211ElCap.kext 2.0.1 Re-inject WiFi drivers from El Capitan Needed on: BCM94328, BCM94322 and Atheros chipsets.
AirPortAtheros40-Tahoe.kext 1.0.1
AppleALC.kext 1.6.3-Jazzzny
BlueToolFixup.kext 2.7.2
Bluetooth-Spoof.kext 1.0.0 Injects extra data into certain bluetooth chipsets for recognition by the system Needed on: Models with the BCM2070 or BCM2046 chipsets.
CSLVFixup.kext 2.6.1
AMFIPass.kext 1.4.1
RestrictEvents.kext 1.1.7

Settings specific to this Mac

Overriding ACPI SMC matching 41 of 86 builds
Enabling Atheros Networking Support 7 of 86 builds
Fixing AVX hardcoding in JavaScriptCore 31 of 86 builds
Setting RestrictEvents patch arguments: sbvmm,jsc 28 of 86 builds

10 more settings are applied to most of the 86 Macs we built; they are listed in the full build log.

Full build log · config.plist · file list

Our build for iMac11,1 loads 20 kexts in an EFI folder of 20.0 MB. Across the 86 Macs we built, the median is 18; 57% of builds load fewer.

What owners reported for iMac11,1 5 reports on GitHub

5 issues were filed in OCLP's tracker with iMac11,1 as the machine model (5 closed, 0 open), filed 2021 to 2022; the newest is from 2022-01-11. The topics that come up most, by keyword match in the title and text: graphics (3), sleep and power (1) and bluetooth (1). These are owners' reports, not confirmed bugs, and all of them were filed on OCLP versions from before 2024, so many describe problems that have since been fixed.

#883 2022-01-11 · closed · Monterey · 9 comments Monterey ASUS BT-400 (BCM20702A0) bluetooth dongle not working any more
#755 2021-11-23 · closed · Monterey · 1 comment Graphics Broken during work AND after hibernate (Radeon HD 4850)
#597 2021-10-21 · closed · Monterey · 1 comment OCLP build fails with error message below System: iMac11,1 GPU: AMD GCN R9 M370X (6820) This is one of the new
#547 2021-10-06 · closed · Monterey · 7 comments Monterey public beta on Imac 2009 non-metal GPU accelation problems

Installing on the iMac 2009

Choose iMac9,1 or iMac10,1 or iMac11,1 as the target model when OCLP builds OpenCore (it detects it automatically when you run OCLP on this Mac). Before that, install the newest macOS Apple offers for it, OS X El Capitan to macOS High Sierra (depending on the model), so the firmware is current. The steps themselves are the same for every Mac: How to install OpenCore Legacy Patcher.

Memory

Macs with 2 GB of memory cannot install macOS Sonoma or newer (Dortania, Supported Models). Upgrade the memory first if your Mac allows it.

Common questions

What does OCLP patch on a iMac 2009 running Tahoe?

The root patches for its hardware: Nvidia Tesla, Legacy Wireless, Modern Audio, Legacy Backlight Control, Legacy USB 1.1 and AMD TeraScale 1. Which one applies depends on the model identifier; the table above lists each. Updates to macOS remove them, and Post-Install Root Patch puts them back.

What is the latest macOS for a iMac 2009?

Officially, OS X El Capitan to macOS High Sierra (depending on the model). With OCLP: macOS Tahoe 26.7.2. macOS 27 does not support any Intel Mac.

Why do some apps not work on a patched iMac 2009?

Its graphics processor does not support Metal, Apple's graphics API. OCLP restores OpenGL acceleration, so the system runs smoothly, but apps that require Metal cannot run. That gets worse with each macOS version, which is why we suggest Monterey for these Macs.

Other Macs from 2009

MacBook Pro 2009 MacBookPro5,1, MacBookPro5,2, MacBookPro5,3, MacBookPro5,4, MacBookPro5,5
MacBook Air 2008–2009 MacBookAir2,1
MacBook 2009 MacBook5,2, MacBook6,1
Mac mini 2009 Macmini3,1
Mac Pro 2009 MacPro4,1
Xserve 2009 Xserve3,1

Keep going

How to installThe complete step-by-step guide for OCLP 3.0 macOS TahoemacOS 26 on unsupported Macs with OCLP 3.0 Mac compatibilityEvery Intel Mac and the macOS it can run, with and without OCLP

Something wrong or out of date on this page? Email hello@oclp.dev and we will fix it (see our corrections policy).

#Which iMac 2009 do you have?

#macOS versions compared

#Model by model

iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) · iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)iMac9,1

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) iMac8,1

How much patching iMac9,1 needs on each macOS

From OCLP's own documentation

Known issues

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)iMac10,1

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) iMac8,1

How much patching iMac10,1 needs on each macOS

From OCLP's own documentation

Known issues

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)iMac11,1

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) iMac8,1

How much patching iMac11,1 needs on each macOS

From OCLP's own documentation

Known issues

#Installing on the iMac 2009

#Common questions

What does OCLP patch on a iMac 2009 running Tahoe?

What is the latest macOS for a iMac 2009?

Why do some apps not work on a patched iMac 2009?

#Other Macs from 2009

Keep going

Which iMac 2009 do you have?

macOS versions compared

Model by model

iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009) · iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)`iMac9,1`

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)`iMac10,1`

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)`iMac11,1`

Compared with the iMac (20-inch, Early 2008) `iMac8,1`

Installing on the iMac 2009

Common questions

Other Macs from 2009