Tech

How to enable Thunderbolt 3 Hack To Unsupported Devices Using 'TB3 Enabler'[Video]

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The latest MacBook Pro can get hacked to use unsupported Thunderbolt 3 devices via TB3 Enabler.

Khaos Tian explained that Apple impedes the support of some Thunderbolt 3 devices by implementing software blocks that effectively renders unsupported devices useless to be used by the system. Using TB3 Enabler allows the user to bypass this blocks allowing access to unsupported Thunderbolt 3 devices.

According to Khaos Tian, he is not sure why Apple decided to block the support some categories of Thunderbolt 3 peripherals under the MacOS. Connecting these devices will get you an "Unsupported" message under the Thunderbolt Device Tree, he stated.

Tian in the same publication says that looking around the system he found that the block is software related and found it possible to bypass this block by patching the related text that implements the blocking mechanism. What he did was modify IORhunderboltFamily and allowed "Unsupported" Thunderbolt 3 peripherals to work under MacOS Sierra.

A word of caution, using this method has its downside. Bear in mind that this Dock is not covered officially by MacOS support and therefore has its limitations, according to 9TO5Mac. According to Apple, the software block is purely a business decision that surrounds certification rather than the outright technical decision as confirmed reply to Tian in a Tweet by Apple's product manager.

Tian also reported that the main downside he encountered using this method in enabling unsupported Thunderbolt 3 devices is keeping the System Integrity Protection disabled. He adds, that the hack only works on the latest publicly available version of the MacOS.

He also stated that he took steps just to be careful by he can make no guarantees. The hack is sensitive and the user is warned if they ever decide to run the script.

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