Getting started with OpenCore

Before we can jump head first into making an OpenCore based system, we need to go over a few things.

Prerequisites

[CRUCIAL] Time and patience.
- Don't start working on this if you have deadlines or important work. Hackintoshes are not something you should be relying on as a work machine.
[CRUCIAL] KNOW YOUR HARDWARE
- Your CPU name and its generation
- Your GPUs
- Your storage devices (HDD/SSD, NVMe/AHCI/RAID/IDE configuration)
- Your laptop/desktop model if from an OEM
- Your Ethernet chipset
- Your WLAN/Bluetooth chipset
[CRUCIAL] A BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF COMMAND LINES AND HOW TO USE A TERMINAL/COMMAND PROMPT
- This is not just [CRUCIAL], this is the basis of this whole guide. We can't help you if you don't know how to cd to a directory or delete a file.
[CRUCIAL] A machine that is compatible as seen in the Compatibility section.
- Hardware Limitations page
[CRUCIAL] A minimum of:
- 16GB USB if you're going to use macOS to create the USB
- 4GB USB if you're going to use Windows or Linux for USB creation
[CRUCIAL] An Ethernet connection (no WiFi dongles, Ethernet USB adapter may work depending on macOS support) and you must know your LAN card's model
- You must either have a physical Ethernet port, or a compatible macOS Ethernet dongle/adapter. In case you have a compatible WiFi card, you can also use that.
  - Note the majority of WiFi cards are not supported by macOS
- For people who can't use ethernet but have an Android phone, you can connect your Android phone to WiFi and then tether it using USB with HoRNDIS.
[CRUCIAL] Proper OS Installation:
- Be it:
  - macOS (a fairly recent one would be better)
  - Windows (Windows 10, 1703 or newer)
  - Linux (Clean and properly functioning, with Python 2.7 or later)
- For Windows or Linux users, 15GB of free space on the drive you're working on. On Windows, your OS disk (C:) must have at least 15GB of free space.
- For macOS users, 30GB of free space on the system's drive.
- Most tools used in this guide will also require Python installed
[CRUCIAL] Latest BIOS installed
- In most cases, updating your BIOS will provide the best support for macOS
- The exception to this are MSI 500-series AMD motherboards, read more at Motherboard Support

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