Get your EFI¶
Open the Builder pane and press start. It asks a handful of questions and writes the folder.
Where it can read the answer off your machine it says so next to the question, but it never picks for you - detection can be wrong, and a wrong answer that arrives already ticked is one nobody rechecks.
What your hardware means for macOS¶
First it says what it found:
Hardware for macOS from this machine
CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4200U CPU @ 1.60GHz supported haswell, laptop profile
Graphics Intel(R) HD Graphics Family [8086:0a16] supported Intel iGPU, haswell
Audio Realtek ALC283 supported AppleALC, 11 layouts to try
Ethernet Intel Ethernet supported IntelMausi.kext [8086:1559]
Wi-Fi Intel Wi-Fi supported AirportItlwm.kext [8086:08b3]
Bluetooth Intel Bluetooth supported IntelBluetoothFirmware.kext
Storage no NVMe - nothing to add
Trackpad Alps Pointing-device supported on PS/2, which VoodooPS2 covers
Camera TOSHIBA Web Camera - FHD supported USB, so the class driver handles it
Card reader Realtek PCIE CardReader unknown no support data for card readers
Nothing here is known to be unsupported.
unknown means no table here has anything to say about that part, not that it
will fail. Nothing on this screen stops the build - if a card is unsupported it
says so and suggests replacing it, and the choice stays yours.
The Machine pane shows the same reading at any time, without starting a build.
The questions¶
[1] Which machine is this EFI for?
detected: This machine
1) This machine <- detected
2) Another machine, and I have its hardware report
3) Another machine, and I do not have one
4) Neither - just write this machine's report, to build for it elsewhere
> 1
[2/5] What kind of machine is this?
detected: Laptop
1) Desktop
2) Laptop <- detected
> 2
[3/5] Which CPU generation?
detected: Kaby Lake
...
10) Kaby Lake <- detected
> 10
[4/5] Board or laptop brand?
detected: hp
3) HP <- detected
> 3
[5/5] Which macOS are you installing?
...
The first question matters because the USB stick is usually made on a computer that already works, not on the one being built for. See Building for another machine.
Which macOS, and why it is not only about kexts¶
A config claims a Mac identity, and macOS decides what it will install from that identity rather than from your hardware.
The failure this prevents
Ask for Tahoe on a config that claims MacBookPro14,1 and the install stops
without saying why, because Apple serves that model up to Ventura.
The builder checks this before you get there. If the identity in your profile is not served the release you asked for, it names the ones that are and offers to set one - same family first, and never the identity already in use. Decline and it builds what you asked for and tells you what will happen.
What it offers along the way¶
None of these are asked unless your answers make them relevant, and every one of them can be declined.
-
SSDTs
It opens SSDTTime inside the window for the patches your platform needs, and you work through that tool's own menu right there.
-
USB ports
Mapping them now, on this machine, produces the port map macOS needs instead of the generic one.
-
Framebuffer and device-id
On Intel graphics it offers the framebuffer id for your chip, and where WhateverGreen's documentation says a fake device-id is required - Ice Lake G1 parts among them - it offers that too, quoting the sentence it came from.
-
Trackpad
An I²C or SMBus trackpad gets asked about separately, because PS/2 and SMBus want different kexts.
Network cards¶
Last, because without one the machine cannot finish the install:
Ethernet
8086:15b8 needs IntelMausi.kext Intel Ethernet, v1.0.8
Wi-Fi
8086:2723 needs AirportItlwm.kext Intel Wi-Fi, v2.3.0
Add these to the EFI?
1) Yes, for every macOS version they support
2) Yes, for one macOS version only
3) No, leave them out
Choosing every version puts each kext in with the macOS range it applies to and lets OpenCore load the right one, so one EFI boots any of them. Choosing one version puts in only what that release needs.
Intel Wi-Fi is the exception: it is built separately for each macOS, so it always asks which.
Then it writes the EFI folder and offers to open it.