[Guide] Installing Catalina 10.15.2 on the Thinkpad X220

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To complete this guide, you will need access to another computer with Mac OS, a 16+ GB USB stick, and Clover Configurator (y'know, the usual :P). Please note that the WiFi card the X220 comes with is not compatible with Mac OS, so you'll have to install a replacement; for this guide I'll be using the Atheros AR9285.

 

 

Before starting, you'll have to prepare your Thinkpad to run Mac OS by installing a custom bios. You can download the bios here to install it from Windows, or follow this guide if you don't have Windows on your Thinkpad. After installing the custom bios, you should then enter the bios settings. Go to the "Security" tab, select "I/O Port Access," and set "Bluetooth" to "Disabled." I found that WiFi wouldn't work without me doing this, but your mileage may vary.

 

 

Creating the USB Installer: First, format your USB stick as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition scheme. Then, download the Catalina installer from the App Store, along with Install Disk Creator. Use Install Disk Creator to turn your USB stick into a Catalina install disk. Then, open Clover Configurator and mount the EFI partition of your USB stick. Download Hackintosher-Catalina-10.15-EFI.zip, and copy the EFI folder from there into the EFI partition of your USB stick.

 

 

Installing Mac OS: On your Thinkpad, boot from the USB stick you created and select Mac OS Installer. Use Disk Utility to format your drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition scheme, then continue with the installation as normal. Your computer will restart a few times, simply continue booting from your USB stick and selecting your hard drive to boot from. Eventually, you should reach the post install setup screen.

 

 

Post Installation: Go through the setup process as normal. You won't have internet access yet, so simply skip setting up internet options for now. Once you have reached the desktop, open terminal and run "sudo spctl --master-disable" (without quotes). On another computer, download this ZIP file and extract it. Copy the extracted EFI folder along with Clover Configurator to a USB stick and plug it into your Thinkpad. On your Thinkpad, open Clover Configurator and mount the EFI partition on your hard drive. Copy the "BOOT" and "CLOVER" folder into the EFI folder on your hard drive.

 

 

For the next step, you will have to connect your Thinkpad to Ethernet for internet access. Once you're connected, follow these steps to optimize CPU power management.

 

 

Once you have completed the above steps and restarted, you can continue to getting graphics, sound, and WiFi working. To get graphics working, simply install the Legacy Video Patch and restart once it's completed.

 

 

To get audio and WiFi working, you will need Hackintool. Open Hackintool, go to the "Tools" tab, and on the lower in-app menu bar, click on the icon to "Disable Gatekeeper" and mount the System partition in Read/Write mode. After doing this, click the "Install Kexts" button at the bottom and choose AppleHDA_20672.kext (attached below). With Hackintool still open, run Atheros Installer 2.0. Let it do it's thing, then restart when prompted to.

 

 

Voila! You should now have Catalina installed on your Thinkpad X220 with graphics, sound, and WiFi all working perfectly. Credits to this guide, and this guide for Mojave, which provided a lot of useful info!

AppleHDA_20672.kext.zip

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Only the internal  sound device did not function at all