Install

Prerequisites

  • A USB stick (8 GB+) you don't mind erasing — used to flash the macOS installer and as your initial boot device
  • A macOS machine (real or virtual) to download the installer and run createinstallmedia
  • Access to the BIOS of the 7740 (press F2 at boot): disable Secure Boot, enable UEFI boot, set SATA to AHCI
  • Your own generated SMBIOS triplet — see step 4 below

Step 1 — Flash the macOS installer USB

On any working Mac (a hackintosh on the same machine counts, after first boot):

# Download "Install macOS Ventura" from the App Store, then:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia   --volume /Volumes/MyUSB
# Confirm by typing Y at the prompt

Step 2 — Mount the USB's hidden EFI partition and copy this repo's EFI onto it

# After createinstallmedia finishes:
sudo diskutil mount disk2s1   # adjust diskN to your USB
# disk2s1 is the EFI partition that appeared after flashing
cp -R Dell-Precision-7740-OpenCore-EFI/EFI /Volumes/EFI/
# Result: /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT, /Volumes/EFI/EFI/OC, ...

If the USB doesn't have an ESP you can mount, format any spare USB as FAT32 (MBR partition scheme) and copy the same directory — the boot loader doesn't care which FAT32 it lives on.

Step 3 — Configure BIOS on the 7740

  1. Press F2 at Dell splash → BIOS Setup
  2. General → Boot Sequence: enable UEFI boot, set the macOS USB first
  3. General → Boot List Option: UEFI
  4. Secure Boot → Secure Boot Enable: OFF
  5. System Configuration → SATA Operation: AHCI
  6. Virtualization → VT for Direct I/O: OFF (causes panics on macOS)
  7. Apply & Exit (the machine will reboot into the OC picker)

Step 4 — Generate your own SMBIOS

The repo's config.plist ships with the MLB / ROM / SystemSerialNumber / SystemUUID zeroed out (all bytes 0x00). Do not boot without replacing these. Use corpnewt/GenSMBIOS:

git clone https://github.com/corpnewt/GenSMBIOS.git
cd GenSMBIOS
python3 GenSMBIOS.command
# Pick MacBookPro16,4
# It outputs: Serial, Board Serial (MLB), SmUUID

Then open EFI/config.plist in ProperTree (or any plist editor) and paste the three values into PlatformInfo → Generic:

  • SystemSerialNumber — the Serial
  • MLB — the Board Serial (must differ from SystemSerialNumber)
  • SystemUUID — the SmUUID
  • ROM — your wired MAC address (any LAN/WiFi NIC), format 112233AABBCC with no colons

After saving, also visit checkcoverage.apple.com with the Serial to confirm it is not already registered.

Step 5 — First boot from USB

  1. Plug the USB, press the power button
  2. The OpenCore picker (theme Acidanthera/GoldenGate) appears with timeout 5s
  3. Select Install macOS Ventura → press Enter
  4. Verbose log scrolls; you should land on the macOS installer GUI in 1–3 min
  5. Use Disk Utility to erase your target NVMe as APFS / GUID partition map (do NOT create an MS-DOS partition; the EFI partition will be auto-added)
  6. Run "Install macOS" → reboot when prompted

Step 6 — Copy the EFI to the internal disk

After the OS finishes installing and you boot back from USB into the new system:

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1   # the internal ESP
cp -R /Volumes/EFI/EFI /Volumes/EFI/   # copy this repo's EFI onto internal disk
# or, if you want a clean copy:
sudo cp -R Dell-Precision-7740-OpenCore-EFI/EFI /Volumes/EFI/

Reboot. In the BIOS, switch the boot order so the internal NVMe comes first. From now on you can unplug the USB.

Step 7 — Post-install essentials

macOS portable defaults to "Safe Sleep" (hibernatemode=3), where the RAM image is written to /var/vm/sleepimage on every sleep. On a hackintosh, that image cannot be replayed by OpenCore, so a deep sleep turns into a cold reboot with kernel panics. The fix is to force RAM-only sleep plus disable every variant that would re-enable disk-based sleep. Per Apple's PMSET(1) manual, the canonical "never hibernate" set on a portable is:

# hibernatemode=0: RAM-only sleep, no sleepimage written
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

# standby=0: kernel does NOT auto-hibernate after standbydelay
sudo pmset -a standby 0

# autopoweroff=0: EU ErP Lot6 default (hibernate after 4h on AC) is OFF
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0

# Optional cleanups once you have set the above:
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo touch /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo chflags uchg /var/vm/sleepimage

Verify with pmset -g — every relevant field should show 0.

# Disable wake-on-everything that drains battery inside a bag:
sudo pmset -a proximitywake 0   # iCloud-proximity wake
sudo pmset -a powernap 0        # background fetch while asleep
sudo pmset -a womp 0            # Wake on LAN
sudo pmset -a acwake 0          # wake when charger plugged in
sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0    # keep network alive during sleep
sudo pmset -a lidwake 1         # DO keep lid-open wake enabled

The repo also ships HibernationFixup.kext which patches the hibernation flow at the kernel level so that even if some app forces Safe Sleep, the wake path stays clean. With the kext plus the pmset settings above, the lid close / open cycle is reliable on the 7740.

TRIM (non-Apple NVMe only)

If you installed onto a non-Apple NVMe (most PC NVMe brands), enable TRIM. This requires SIP to be temporarily lowered — the repo's default csr-active-config = e7030000 (SIP=0x3e7, partial disable) actually allows trimforce to run, so no extra SIP work is needed:

sudo trimforce enable   # confirms twice, then reboots
# Confirm after reboot:
system_profiler SPNVMeDataType | grep TRIM
# Expected: "Yes"

HiDPI on the built-in 1920x1080 panel

macOS Monterey (12) and later ignore the legacy DisplayResolutionEnabled plist key; use the on-screen Scaled resolutions menu. macOS Big Sur (11) and earlier:

# Big Sur and earlier only:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver DisplayResolutionEnabled -bool YES

On Monterey+: System Settings → Displays → hold the Option (Alt) key while clicking the "Scaled" radio button → the 1680x1050 HiDPI mode appears alongside the native 1080p. That is the only HiDPI mode the 7740's 1920x1080 panel supports.