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jaromeyer / XPS9570-Catalina

macOS Big Sur for the Dell XPS 15 9570 using the OpenCore bootloader.
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:warning: Since I have completely switched over to using Linux, this repo won't receive any updates in the forseeable future. Nevertheless most parts of the guide still apply and there are various other great repos for the XPS 9570.

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Dell XPS 15 9570 Big Sur

A collection of all resources needed to run macOS Big Sur on a Dell XPS 15 9570

🔍 Overview

This is more of a compilation of information and configs from various repositories and forums than a place where real development happens. This repository should contain everything needed to get Big Sur up and running on your specific Dell XPS 9570 configuration.

ℹ️ Current Status

Feature Status Notes
Intel iGPU ✅ Working Fully supported. Both 2560x1440@144Hz over HDMI and 4k@60Hz over DisplayPort have been tested
Trackpad ✅ Working Full gesture support. Probably the best trackpad experience on a non-mac.
iMessages and App Store ✅ Working Just follow the guide below
Speakers and Headphones ✅ Working To permanently fix headphones follow the instructions here
Built-in Microphone ✅ Working
Webcam ✅ Working Fully working, is detected as Integrated Webcam
SD Reader ✅ Working Fully supported, but rather slow
Handoff ✅ Working
Unlock with Watch 🔶 Buggy Works, but it tends to disable itself after sleep or reboot
Wi-Fi/BT 🔶 Working, but not OOB The stock Killer card must be replaced with a compatible one. See here
Thunderbolt/USB-C 🔶 Partially working Normal USB-C and charging work as intended. Thunderbolt works, but hotplugging is broken. Thunderbolt devices and docking stations have to be attached prior to boot to work properly. However, display over Thunderbolt seems to hotplug fine.
Touchscreen 🔶 Working, but high power consumption The touchscreen works fine and emulates a huge trackpad. This means you can do all native macOS gestures. However, power management isn't that great. Battery drain is very high. If you don't need it, you can disable it completely.
NVIDIA GPU ❌ Not working Will never work because of Nvidia Optimus and Apple completely dropped Nvidia support beginning with Mojave. Thus it's completely disabled to save power.
PM981 SSD ❌ Not working Even with NVMeFix, which promises to fix Kernel Panics caused by the PM981, there are random shutdowns. Just replace it with a SATA M.2 drive or a supported NVMe one.
Fingerprint reader ❌ Not working Probably will never work, because proprietary Goodix drivers that only exist for Windows are needed. Disabled to save power.

💾 Installation

Follow this guide if you have never set up a Hackintosh before.

Creating a bootable installer

To start you need a USB flash drive with at least 12GB of available storage and a local copy of macOS. The installer for macOS Big Sur can be obtained from here.

Next, you want to format the USB flash drive using Disk Utility. Click on “View” in the toolbar and choose “Show All Devices” to see all physical disks instead of only partitions. Select your USB flash drive, name it “MyVolume” and format it HFS+/Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID Partition Map.

Now you are ready to create the installation media. Use the following command to start the process. It may take a while depending on the USB flash drive you are using.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

If your USB flash drive has a different name, replace MyVolume with the name of your volume.

After the installer says that it's done, the volume now contains the macOS Big Sur installer and is ready to boot on a real Mac. However, because we are building a Hackintosh, we have to take an additional step and install the OpenCore bootloader. To do this, you first have to mount the EFI partition. This is where OpenCore and all its configuration files go. Use the following command to list all disks.

sudo diskutil list

Find the EFI partition of your USB flash drive. Normally its entry 1 under /dev/disk2. Use the following command to mount the EFI partition - in this case, disk2s1.

sudo diskutil mount disk2s1

Now that you have access to the EFI partition, the real fun starts.

Configuring EFI

Clone this repository to get the base EFI folder as well as all additional kexts and patches. Now you will have to prepare the EFI folder for your exact hardware configuration. There are two different configs. Find the one that matches your specific XPS model and rename it to config.plist. Read through the hardware section to learn more about the different options. Once everything is configured properly, copy the folder into the EFI partition you have mounted in the previous step.

Booting the installer

After having created the installer USB flash drive, you are ready to install macOS on your XPS. Make sure SSD mode is set to AHCI mode instead of RAID in BIOS otherwise, macOS won't be able to detect your SSD. Select your USB flash drive as boot media and go through the macOS installer like you would on a real mac. Once you have come to the desktop, advance to the next step.

Post Installation

Congratulations! You have successfully booted and installed macOS. At this point, you just have to copy the EFI folder you have prepared in a previous step to the SSD. Mount the EFI partition of your SSD with

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1

and copy your customized EFI folder into the newly mounted EFI partition. You should now be able to boot your computer without the USB flash drive attached. If you're having issues with specific parts like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Audio, have a look at the corresponding sections in this repository and open an issue if you are unable to solve them.

🛠 Hardware

This section talks about configuring the EFI folder for your exact hardware.

Almost all changes are done inside the OpenCore configuration file. I strongly recommend using either ProperTree or Xcode to edit EFI/OC/config.plist.

🔈 Audio

Without any modifications, the headphone jack is buggy. External microphones aren't detected and the audio output may randomly stop working or start making weird noises. Sometimes un- and replugging the headphones works, but that's pretty annoying and unreliable. To permanently fix this issue you will have to install this fork of ComboJack.

📶 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth

The stock Killer Wi-Fi card will never be supported in macOS. So to use Wi-Fi, you will have to replace it for a supported card. This repository is configured to work out-of-the-box with both the Dell DW1830 and DW1560 wireless adapter.

Another option for a fraction of the price would be the Dell DW1820a. However it is a bit slower than the cards mentioned above and in my experience has problems with some 5GHz networks.

📺 Display

This repository contains configs for both FHD and 4K. Just choose the one that matches your setup and rename it to config.plist.

Also, I strongly suggest enabling subpixel antialiasing for the FHD screen.

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

🔋 Power management

Hibernation is not supported on a Hackintosh and everything related to it should be completely disabled. Disabling additional features prevents random wakeups while the lid is closed. After every update, these settings should be reapplied manually.

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo rm -f /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo mkdir /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo pmset -a standby 0
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0
sudo pmset -a powernap 0
sudo pmset -a proximitywake 0
sudo pmset -b tcpkeepalive 0 (optional)

For the best power management it's recommended to disable CFG lock and let macOS do the power management. Follow this guide to do so. For more information about CFG lock, have a look here.

⚡️ Performance

CPU power management is done by CPUFriend.kext while CPUFriendDataProvider.kext defines how it should be done. CPUFriendDataProvider.kext is generated for a specific CPU and power setting. The one supplied in this repository was made for the i7-8750H. In case you have another CPU, you can use one-key-cpufriend to generate your own CPUFriendDataProvider.kext.

ℹ️ Changing Serial Number, Board Serial Number, and SmUUID

NOTE: With the stock Killer Wi-Fi card, iMessage will never work.

To use iMessage and other Apple services, you need to generate your own serial numbers. This can be done using Hackintool. Go to the “Serial“ tab and make sure model is set to MacBookPro15,1. Use the barcode-with-apple button to check your generated serial numbers. If the website tells you that the serial number isn't valid, everything is fine. Otherwise, you have to generate a new set.

Next you will have to copy the following values from Hackintool to your config.plist:

Reboot and Apple services should work.

If they don't, follow this in-depth guide. It goes deeper into ROM, clearing NVRAM, clearing Keychain (missing this step might cause major issues), and much more.

🔧 Tweaks

This section talks about various optional tweaks that enhance your experience

⤵️ Undervolting

Undervolting your CPU can reduce heat, improve performance, and provide longer battery life. However, if done incorrectly, it may cause an unstable system. My preferred method is using VoltageShift.

Using ./voltageshift offset <CPU> <GPU> <CPUCache> you can adjust the voltage offset for the CPU, GPU, and cache. Safe starting values are -100, -75, -100. From there you can start gradually lowering the values until your system gets unstable.

🤔 Frequently Asked Questions

I have a Samsung PM981 SSD, will it work?

The Samsung PM981 (or more precise the controller it uses) is known to cause random kernel panics in macOS. Up until now, there was no way to even install macOS on the PM981 and the only option was to replace it with either a SATA or a known working NVMe SSD. However, recently a new set of patches, namely NVMeFix was released. It greatly improves compatibility with non-apple SSDs including the PM981. Thanks to those patches, you can now install macOS, but there is still a chance for kernel panics to occur while booting.

Acknowledgments