Change CPU Name in About this Mac

[Shaneee]

I finally found a way to change the CPU name from the Intel one that shows to AMD. Here you can see mine reported correctly,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tutorial is a bit advanced. If you can't understand it reply with your CPU and macOS version and I'll upload one for you.

 

 

To start you will want to download iHex from the App Store. Here is a link for it,

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ihex-hex-editor/id909566003?mt=12

 

 

You'll need to know what your CPU is shown as in About this Mac before you start. For mine it was shown as Intel Xeon Quad-Core.

 

Once that's installed open Finder and navigate to,

System/PrivateFrameworks/AppleSystemInfo.framework/Versions/A/

 

Copy the AppleSystemInfo file to your Desktop and make an extra copy in the Documents to be sure. Now rename the original file inside the framework to AppleSystemInfoBackup.

 

Once you've done that open iHex and drag the AppleSystemInfo file onto the iHex window. From here you can expand the window so it's easier to read. 

 

Now in the menu bar choose, Edit > Find > Find and change the type to Text and search for CPU. Your screen should look something like this,

 

 

Now find the Intel CPU string that your system is showing and note how many characters long it is. This includes the spaces. For my example Intel Xeon is 10 long was changed to AMD FX4300 which is also 10. 

 

Once you've done that from the Menu bar choose File > Save. A popup may appear, just click on Save.

 

Now you need to open up Terminal and enter this command,

 

sudo codesign -f -s - ~/Desktop/AppleSystemInfo

 

 

Enter your password and you should see "replacing existing signature". Once that's done put the modified file back inside the Framework and open up About this Mac. You should now see your changes  :thumbup: 

 

Enjoy.

[spakk]

Great Job Shaneee 

[derInselfan]

Krass

[mfc88]

You may need to run this command to see the file:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

You can use this to restore hidden system files (after you're done):

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

Here's the full AppleSystemInfo path:

 

 

There appears to be two locations...

 

~ Line 18700  (0x04990 -  0x04C1A) -- This address block will change "Processor Name"

 

~ Line 59840 (0x0E9F0) -- ????

 

 

For those not inclined with Hex, here's an ASCII to Hex converter (unselect "0x and comma separator for output")

http://tomeko.net/online_tools/ascii.php?lang=en

 

 

If you have a processor name that is longer or shorter than the allocated 0x10-1C bytes, then you can use or remove the subsequent addresses as long as you separate the processor name with at least 1 byte of "00" at the end (do not confuse 0x00 with blank spaces = 0x20):

 

Longer:

Shorter:

[gills83]

 

Yes 

 

[Badruzeus]

Cool..!!! 

[Gigamaxx]

I've been searching for this! Cool! I found an old guide from SL but the fix was no longer in the coreservices section mentioned, I spent a few hours with iHex searching numerous files. Thanks again, hopefully this works for Ryzen labeling.

[AkimoA]

Hacker    ! 

 

now someone fix Clover for AMD , so we can use this as Clover Patch without touching vanilla files !  that would be sexy as hell  

[Shaneee]

Hacker    ! 

 

now someone fix Clover for AMD , so we can use this as Clover Patch without touching vanilla files !  that would be sexy as hell

 

It's possible to use Clover CPU types and FakeCPUID to show the CPU as unknown then all you need to modify is the Info.plist string as shown in papiercul's screenshot.

[Huckleberry Pie]

What if we have Clover name these processors automatically based on their CPUID? Or in the case of a fake CPUID, have an option to edit the reported CPU model without the need to edit any system files.

[Jono4191]

@Shaneee

 

Could you do the settings for me please?

 

Using a AMD Ryzen 5 1600 running macOS 10.12.5 (Clover v4077)

 

Thank you very much

[Gigamaxx]

What if we have Clover name these processors automatically based on their CPUID? Or in the case of a fake CPUID, have an option to edit the reported CPU model without the need to edit any system files.

 

I've tried, but it wants to add ACPICPU power management for Intel CPUs instant kernel panic.

[Xsario]

Thank you Shaneee

 

[Shaneee]

@Shaneee

 

Could you do the settings for me please?

 

Using a AMD Ryzen 5 1600 running macOS 10.12.5 (Clover v4077)

 

Thank you very much

 

What does the system currently report the CPU as?

[ergot]

Hi Can you please help me to change CPU name?

2.5Ghz Intel Xeon E5-2670

Im on MacOS High Sierra DP8 - no need to change that

[Shaneee]

Hi Can you please help me to change CPU name?

2.5Ghz Intel Xeon E5-2670

Im on MacOS High Sierra DP8 - no need to change that

 

If it's showing as Unknown then navigate to System\Library\PrivateFrameworks\AppleSystemInfo.framework\Versions\A\Resources\English.lproj and open up AppleSystemInfo.strings in TextWrangler. This app is on the App Store. Find the following and change it to what you want.

 

From this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Unknown</string>

To this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Intel Xeon E5-2670</string>

[ergot]

 

If it's showing as Unknown then navigate to System\Library\PrivateFrameworks\AppleSystemInfo.framework\Versions\A\Resources\English.lproj and open up AppleSystemInfo.strings in TextWrangler. This app is on the App Store. Find the following and change it to what you want.

 

From this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Unknown</string>

To this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Intel Xeon E5-2670</string>

Thanks!

sorry I did it in a wrong folder )

Edited September 1, 2017 by ergot

[slikvic]

 

If it's showing as Unknown then navigate to System\Library\PrivateFrameworks\AppleSystemInfo.framework\Versions\A\Resources\English.lproj and open up AppleSystemInfo.strings in TextWrangler. This app is on the App Store. Find the following and change it to what you want.

 

From this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Unknown</string>

To this,

	<key>UnknownCPUKind</key>
	<string>Intel Xeon E5-2670</string>

 

OK so it worked now in about my Mac its showing the corrected processor but now my Bluetooth stopped working and what was a 10 second boot time now is taking a slightly longer 16 sec. ?? Any thoughts

[Shaneee]

OK so it worked now in about my Mac its showing the corrected processor but now my Bluetooth stopped working and what was a 10 second boot time now is taking a slightly longer 16 sec. ?? Any thoughts

 

Changing that string to show the correct CPU wouldn't affect bluetooth or boot time. Unless something else changed it should still work.

[IUTniun]

Great  Shaneee thank you

[slikvic]

This is really weird and of course timing was exactly the moment I changed the name that it stopped working? But I ordered a new Motherboard as I figured it must have shorted or something. I ordered the same exact one and all the changes had been made (Changing the CPU name) prior to swapping the replacement board (Gigabyte Aorus 370x gaming 5 w/8700k 32 gig ram and a wifi add on card) and just completed the swap out and of course theres still no Bluetooth? Now it worked perfectly for 2 days and since the original install went down I did a complete reinstall deleting all APFS containers, everything? This is really strange Any idea how I can reinstall just the bluetooth drivers/ kexts ? maybe they were deactivated by OS X or something while the old board with the problem existed? I have a dual boot system w/windows and on the other board Windows couldn't initialize the Bluetooth either, but now since the swap it detected & activated? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, None the less your method for changing the cpu name worked flawlessly Thanks 

[galova]

Hi Shaneee!

My About this Mac tab shows Processor unknown

I'm running Sierra 12.6 with Ryzen 5 1600 cpu.

Is there a way to fake the CPU to make it suggest it's some Xeon or something instead of name hacking?

I suspect this may be a reason why Adobe soft fails to run on my machine. It crashes on splash screen. I tried both Photoshop and Illustrator and it crashes.

 

I may be wrong but maybe it needs some "correct answer" about the cpu from OS to initialize application engine. It gets some weird data and it makes it crash.

 

Will you help please?

[slikvic]

Hi Shaneee!

My About this Mac tab shows Processor unknown

I'm running Sierra 12.6 with Ryzen 5 1600 cpu.

Is there a way to fake the CPU to make it suggest it's some Xeon or something instead of name hacking?

I suspect this may be a reason why Adobe soft fails to run on my machine. It crashes on splash screen. I tried both Photoshop and Illustrator and it crashes.

 

I may be wrong but maybe it needs some "correct answer" about the cpu from OS to initialize application engine. It gets some weird data and it makes it crash.

 

Will you help please?

 

 

 

I did reinstall OSX and the bluetooth is now working ? Not sure why but I am hesitant to change the name again ? Seeing this post makes me question if its possible that the name has anything to do with OS X or applications from working properly, are you certain the name has no impact on other resources ?

[galova]

 

 

I did reinstall OSX and the bluetooth is now working ? Not sure why but I am hesitant to change the name again ? Seeing this post makes me question if its possible that the name has anything to do with OS X or applications from working properly, are you certain the name has no impact on other resources ?

This is actually what I suspect with pro software making weird things.

I really need making Adobe hellware work on my hackintosh pc.

Adobe are known for "special" approach to their software. So whatever it be - wrong cpu name, cpuid or something else, retrieved from system environment during initialization process when it starts and, application may get some variables, which do not match hardware specific conditions set within programming.

 

I guess that Adobe never considered running native osx ports of their applications to be running on non-Apple machine so they didn't include AMD cpu to its running presets. Pro software is mostly hardware dependent, so I think it always asks the computer what hardware environment is onboard to start some processes with specific configuration presets.

Like "Here we got Xeon 8 core 16 threads and Radeon GPU some model 6GB RAM, set CPU optimization preset number 8, use GPU OpenCL 2.1".

When it gets some wrong data during intialization it may crash. This is what I suspect.

My CPU is AMD Ryzen 5 1600. I wonder how I make OS X think it's some closest Intel analog to be sure it can run same commands so that Photoshop or any other software would see no difference.

[marco.pisellonio80]

Hello, Shanee, great work.

Is there a way to change Graphic section? I should like to add the ® in my Intel® HD 520. Trying to insert it in the DSDT/SSDT it gives me error when decompile it, it says there is wrong codification.

Thank you in advance.