Warning
I am not responsible for any damages you may cause installing MacOS on your Laptop.
THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ANY EFI.
With this repository I would like to create a semi-guide to install MacOS on the Thinkpad T14s Gen 2 (Amd version) using OpenCore and showing what works and what does not.
You have to build your own EFI by following Dortania guide and ChefKiss Guide as you may have a slightly different configuration than mine.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U With Radeon Graphics
- GPU: Integrated Vega 8 2GB (VRAM adjusted in BIOS)
- RAM: 16GB 4266 MHz
- Storage: 512GB SSD NVME (WDC PC SN730 512G)
- Audio Codec: Realtek ALC257
- Wireless Card: Intel AX210 WIFI 6E + Bluetooth 5.3
- LAN: Realtek GbE 8111 Family
- Screen: IPS 1920x1080 (500 nits variant)
- PS2 Keyboard and I2C Trackpad, Trackpoint and Touchscreen
- 2x USB-C 3.2 gen 2
- 2x USB 3.2 gen 1
- HDMI 2.0
- Dock extension connector
- SmartCard Reader
| BIOS | Section | Setting | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Config | Network | Wake On Lan | Disabled |
|
| Network | Wake On Lan From Dock | Disabled |
||
| Display | UMA Frame Buffer Size | 512MB+ |
2GB would be preferable | |
| Power | CPU Power Management | Enabled |
||
| Power | Sleep State | Linux |
||
| Security | Security Chip | Security Chip | Disabled |
Only if you have problems with sleep/wake functionality |
| Memory Protection | Exectuion Prevention | Enabled |
||
| Virtualization | AMD V (TM) Technology | Enabled |
||
| Secure Boot | Secure Boot | Disabled |
Can be enabled after installation complete if you sign OpenCore |
This section only cover general compatibility of MacOS. I have not tested every version. For compatibility status see Status.
SMBIOS: MacBookPro16,3 (MacBookPro16,2 for Tahoe 26.x)
Min version: Catalina 10.15.x Max Version: Tahoe 26.x
Recommended: Ventura 13.x
| Version | Note |
|---|---|
| Catalina 10.15 | Could have some issue with NootedRed |
| Big Sur 11 | |
| Monterey 12 | |
| Ventura 13 | |
| Sonoma 14 | Noticebly more unstable than Ventura because of NootedRed |
| Sequoia 15 | Noticebly more unstable than Ventura because of NootedRed |
| Tahoe 26 | Noticebly more unstable than Ventura because of NootedRed. No official audio support |
The CPU could, actually, support High Sierra 10.13 and superior but, as there's no way to get proper Graphics acceleration, as NootedRed does not support anything below Catalina 10.15, I counted them as Unsupported
You must have a usb stick formatted in FAT32 where you put OpenCore and the MacOS recovery.
You must use your Target Laptop to set up your SSDT and USB and you should have a second PC for troubleshooting.
You should update your BIOS before trying to install MacOS.
Download OpenCore debug (This will provide us more logs to help us troubleshooting in case of problems.)
Download ProperTree (a .plist editor)
Download GenSMBIOS (to generate your SMBIOS)
In Windows Download SSDTTime (to generate your SSDT)
In Windows Download USBToolBox (to map your USB)
You can either follow Dortania and ChefKiss guides (Highly recommended)
or you can follow these steps (Not recommended because this only applies to my precisely laptop configuration that could not be the same as yours, resulting in errors.)
You should only rely on this guide for the Troubleshooting and Post-Install sections.
Download MacOS recovery using Dortania guide
You can install every MacOS version from Catalina to Sequoia (Recommended Ventura as it is the most stable so far)
From the OpenCore.zip you've just downloaded, take the EFI folder from the X64 folder and put it on your USB stick.
Into the EFI you have 2 folder, open the OC one then you will have another 5 folders, from the Drivers one you have to delete everthing except for OpenRuntime.efi and you have to download HFSPlus.efi.
Then, you have to go on the Tools folder. Here you have to delete everything except for UEFIShell.efi (You can also keep CleanNVRAM.efi to reset the NVRAM but note that it is known to brick some thinkpads making them unbootable so i would prefer not to).
I DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSABILITY IF YOU BREAK YOUR LAPTOP.
You have to download the following kextd and put them into your Kexts folder :
| Kext | Note |
|---|---|
| Lilu | |
| VirtualSMC | From the zip folder that you get when you download this kext you have to also pick SMCBattery |
| SMCProcessorAMD | Optional. Gives SMC reading for the CPU |
| SMCRadeonSensors | Optional. Gives SMC reading for the GPU |
| NootedRed | Could cause some problem on Sonoma+ so, during the installation process and the out of the box experience, disable It, change the background to a static one and change your account avatar to a normal photo, then you can re-enable It. |
| AppleALC | You can use alcid=11 as codec in your boot-args |
| RTL8111 | Use version 2.4.2 as version 2.5.0 is not meant for AMD CPUs |
| Itlwm or AirportItlwm | If you're installing Ventura or lower you can use AirportItlwm as it enables native wifi but, if you're installing Sonoma+, itlwm + heliport is reccomended (Read the guide from the link to understand better) |
| OpenIntelBluetooth | On macOS 12+ you need to use IntelBluetoothFirmware and IntelBTPatcher from the zip that you just downloaded, and BlueToolFixup from BrcmPatchRAM. |
| VoodooPS2 | |
| VoodooI2C | This enables just trackpad but, If you want, you can also add VoodooI2CHID to also enables touchscreen. |
| NVMeFix | |
| AppleMCEReporterDisabler | |
| ForgedInvariant | |
| ECEnabler | |
| BrightnessKeys | |
| iBridged |
In Windows, download USBToolBox, extract It and open windows.exe. Go in the settings and enable Native Classes then,
select Discover Ports and plug a USB 3 device and a USB 2 device in each port. Once you're done with mapping, go to
Select Ports, adjust anything that is not set correct and then press K to build the kext then, put it into your kext folder.
From the OpenCorePKG folder, open the docs folder then copy the sample.plist file and put it on your usb stick into the OC folder, then rename it into config.plist.
Now, follow Dortania guide to setup your config.plist.
In Windows, download SSDTTime, extract It and open SSDTTime.bat.
Dump your ACPI table pressing P.
Then, you have to choose this options.
USBX (Choose B).
RTCAWAC (If It says that you do not need It, skip It.).
PluginType
USB Reset
FakeEC Laptop
XOSI (Choose A)
PNLF
ALS0
Now, go into the Results folder and take every .aml file and put it into your OC/ACPI folder. Now, from the SSDTTime folder use the PatchMerge.bat file to merge your config.plist with the patch that SSDTTime created for you then, go to ProperTree again and perform an OC Snapshot.
You will likely get stuck at [EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START] so you have to follow this guide.
For my experience, you just have to set EnableWriteUnprotector -> True, RebuildAppleMemoryMap -> False and SyncRuntimePermissions -> False, then MacOS Recovery will boot (If you need to dualboot windows using opencore you have to set SyncRuntimePermissions -> True).
If you're using Itlwm instead of AirportItlwm, in Recovery, you won't initially have access to the Wifi panel, as you can't use Heliport, so you have to edit the info.plist that you find inside itlwm.kextto manually add your Wifi info into the configuration to allow Itlwm to connect to it without Heliport. If you can't get it to work and you can't use your ethernet, if you have an android device you can use as usb tethering, you can install HoRNDIS.kext.
For Monterey and older, if you followed the guide, bluetooth should work Out Of The Box, but if you installed Ventura+ you have to do some trouble shooting.
Go into your NVRAM>7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82 section on your .plist file and add this under the corrispondent Add and Delete sections:
| Key | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
| bluetoothInternalControllerInfo | Data | 00000000 00000000 00000000 0000 |
| bluetoothExternalDongleFailed | Data | 00 |
For Sonoma and older, if adding the NVRAM values does not work, you can try adding -btlfxnvramcheck in your boot-args.
For Sequoia and newer, if adding the NVRAM values does not work, you can try adding -btlfxallowanyaddr in your boot-args.
Now your bluetooth should work properly.
Install AMDHelper and enable the patches that you need for the apps that don't work/chromium based apps that cause graphical issues with NootedRed.
That's due to the PowerManagement being non-existent. Install AMDHelper and enable battery optimisation (Performance will be drastically reduced).
If you want to to have fan and sensors reading, fan control and other thinkpad's features that you have on windows like battery treshold or full function keys functionality, you can install YogaSMC
Requires some addittional SSDT that you have to compile by yourself using your DSDT.aml and the example SSDTs that are available on their site.
As Apple removed AppleHDA since Tahoe Beta 2, there is no official audio support, but, with the help of some tools, we can add It back using this guide instead of OCLP.
Note
I firstly installed ventura and then I upgraded to Sequoia and I did not test any other version but everything in this status should apply to every MacOS version installable on this Thinkpad. Let me know if It is not so.
- Working = Works out of the box or with some troubleshooting
- Partially Working = Working but with some occasional problems
- Not Working = Does not work and probably never will
- Not Tested = Not tested but would probably works
This applies only to stable releases.
- GPU acceleration and backlight control
- Audio + Jack + HDMI Audio
- Keyboard, Trackpoint and Trackpad's buttons
- Wifi (Trough AirportItlwm in Ventura and older, trough Itlwm + Heliport in Sonoma and newer)
- Bluetooth (See Bluetooth issue)
- HDMI
- SMC Sensor reading
- Clamshell mode
- Volume and Brightness function keys
- USB
- Modern standby (I couldn't get MacOS to go into sleep mode while using
Modern Standby or Windows Standbyso I had to switch back intoS3 Standby or Linux Standbyin the bios. Other than that, standby works just fine). - Trackpad and Touchscreen (They actually work pretty well but they work inconsistently as, occasionally, they just don't work and you have to restart the entire system to get them to work. Right now I don't really know what's causing that issue).
- Internal microphone (Could work if you switch from AppleALC to VoodooHDA. Note that the quality of the audio of the speakers will be lower if you switch to VoodooHDA).
- Internal camera
- PowerManagement (See Poor battery life and heating)
- Battery threshold (It could probably work. I think that, probably, my YogaSMC's SSDTs are just bad).
- USB-C display port
- LAN with Dock extension connector
- SmartCard reader
- @acidanthera for OpenCore and many kexts
- @corpnewt for ProperTree, SSDTime and GenSMBIOS
- @dortania for their amazing guide
- @alvindimas05 for AMDHelper
- @USBToolBox for USBToolBox
- @ChefKissInc for their also amazing guide, NootedRed, SMCRadeonSensor and ForgedInvariant
- @1Revenger1 for ECEnabler
- @zxystd for Intel Wireless Card kexts
- @Mieze for RTL8111
- @zhen-zen for YogaSMC
- @jwise for HoRNDIS
- @perez987 for their Secure Boot guide
- @CloverHackyColor for VoodooHDA
- @macos86 for SMCProcessorAMD
- @perez987 for AppleHDA back on Tahoe
- @Carnations-Botanica for iBridged