Hackintosh Install Full Guide

Step 0: Preparation

You will need a computer running macOS already to follow this guide. If you do not have a Mac you will need to spend some time setting up a virtual machine on your Windows/Linux PC first.

vmware workstation
vmware macos unlocker workstation
unlocker: https://github.com/paolo-projects/unlocker.git
Download macOS Catalina Image file for VMWare

Step 1: Download macOS Catalina

Download Catalina 10.15 from the Mac App Store

For machines that need a specific OS release or can’t download from the App Store, you can use the gibMacOS utility.

Now let’s grab gibMacOS, then unzip it into a local directory.

Next run the gibMacOS.command to download macOS.

Once finished, we have to either extract the installer or build it:

Extracting the installer
- For macOS 11+
Building the installer
- For 10.15 and older

Extracting the installer

For macOS 11 and newer, Apple now packages up the installer into the InstallAssistant.pkg. This will be located under gibMacOS/macOS Downloads/.

Run the InstallAssistant.pkg and point this to whichever drive you’re booting off of, this is where the Install.app will be dropped:

Once done, you should find it located in your Applications folder:

Building the installer

For macOS 10.15 and older, the installer will be downloaded in pieces and will need to be built. Here we’ll want to run the BuildmacOSInstallApp.command:

You will be prompted for the macOS installer files which were downloaded to macOS Downloads folder in the gibMacOS directory.

From the Finder, drill down to the folder containing the downloaded files and either drag it to the command line or “Cmd+C” and paste it to the terminal.

Once the task is completed, exit the utility. You will find the Install file in the directory.

Move the newly created image to the Applications folder

Step 2: Setting up the installer

Create the macOS Catalina flash drive

Plug in an external drive with at least 12GB space as that’s how much the installer will require. Connect USB in virtual machine.

Formatting the USB Drive
- Launch Disk Utility
- Note: By default, Disk Utility only shows partitions – press Cmd/Win+2 to show all devices (alternatively you can press the View button), click on the View drop down below the close minimise buttons. Choose Show All Devices from the options. Now you will see the external root drive in addition to the volume below it.
- Select the root drive in the sidebar (the next step won’t work if you only select the volume).
- Click on Erase
- Set the following settings:
  - Name: MyVolume (Note you will need to replace the term ‘MyVolume’ in the createinstallmedia command below with whatever name you give your drive).
  - Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  - Scheme: GUID Partition Map
- Click Erase
This step will add a second hidden EFI partition needed to create a boot loader.

Create install media

1

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

Step 3: Catalina EFI Partition & Clover Files

In the virtual machine:

Mount EFI Partition:
1. Download Clover Configurator
2. Open Clover Configurator
3. Select Mount EFI under TOOLS
4. Click Mount Partition for Install macOS….
5. Click Open Partition
Drop my EFI Folder in:
1. Delete the folder called EFI in the partition you mounted (If it exists)
2. Download Hackintosher-Catalina-10.15-EFI.zip (replace yours EFI)
3. Unzip Hackintosher-Catalina-10.15-EFI
4. Copy the unzipped EFI folder
5. Paste the EFI folder downloaded from this website into your mounted EFI partition or /Volumes/EFI
6. Unmount EFI partition

Step 4: Custom your EFI (Optional)

Generating a DSDT table

Catalina requires an extra step to the install where we must spoof the EC device. To do that we must first prematurely boot into the Clover Menu then press F4 to generate a DSDT file map.

Restart or boot the computer you want to install Catalina on with the flash drive is plugged in
Boot from the UEFI partition of the flash drive by either selecting it as a temporary boot device or setting it as priority in BIOS settings.
You will be brought to the Clover Bootloader Menu
Press F4 and that will generate an DSDT onto the EFI partition of your flash drive located in /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/origin
Return to your other Mac or boot back into the virtual machine you were using.

Catalina Desktop EC Spoofing

do not use for laptops

Bootloader – Configuring Clover config.plist for Install

We now need to configure the file in our EFI folder called config.plist to work with our hardware by opening and modifying it with Clover Configurator.

Step 5: BIOS – Recommended Settings

UEFI Booting set to Enabled and set Priority over Legacy
Secure Boot : Disabled
Fast Boot : Disabled

Step 6: Install macOS Catalina

Booting the Catalina flash drive Installer

After doing the above steps restart your computer and boot from the UEFI partition of the flash drive by either selecting it as a temporary boot device or setting it as priority in BIOS settings.
You are now in the Clover Menu. Use the arrow keys to verify Boot macOS Install from Install macOS Catalina is selected
Press Enter

Disk Utility Partitioning for macOS Catalina

Press Continue when the installer appears
Select your language
Select Disk Utility from the install menu
Select Show All Devices from the drop down menu by pressing the View button at the top left top left corner of the Disk Utility window.
Select the disk you will be installing macOS and either select Partition to add space for macOS or Erase if you want to start clean
If you get the Apple File System Space Sharing popup select the Always partition checkbox and click Partition
Disk Drive Settings:
- Name: (It can be named anything you want), for example: Catalina
- Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- Scheme: GUID Partition Map
Click Partition or Erase when ready
Quit Disk Utility after successfully reformatting or partitioning the drive for Catalina.

Install macOS Catalina 10.15

Select Install macOS from the main menu
Click Continue
Click Agree for the Software Terms Licenese Agreement
Click Agree second agreement prompt
Select the Drive macOS will be installed on
Click Install and wait

Complete the Catalina Install

Select Boot macOS Install from Catalina
The installer will load up and you’ll see an apple logo and loading bar briefly before an automatic restart happens:
Reenter the Clover Menu on Restart
Select Boot macOS Install from Catalina again
The same apple logo and loading bar will appear again, but time this time it will reach the end.

Catalina Hackintosh First Boot

Select Boot macOS from Catalina and the Catalina will begin booting for the first time
Select Language and click Continue
Select Keyboard and click Continue
Click Continue for Data & Privacy
If prompted select My computer does not connect to the Internet and click Continue
Select Don’t transfer any information now
(Option) Sign into an Apple ID or click Set Up Later at the top
Click Agree to the Terms and Conditions
Fill out Computer Account macOS login profile and click Continue
(Optional) Choose Customize Settings at Express Set Up if you don’t want to be monitored through Location and Siri.
Choose Your Look and click Continue
Welcome to macOS Catalina!

Step7: Copying the EFI Partition from the Flash Drive to the macOS Catalina Drive

Now that we’re in macOS we want to be able to boot macOS without needing to have the USB flash drive plugged in. To do that all we have to do is copy and paste the EFI folder on the UEFI partition of the flash drive to the UEFI partition of the hackintosh disk.

Open Clover Configurator
Mount the EFI of the USB Flash Drive
Press Open EFI or navigate to the EFI location of the flash drive in Finder
Copy the EFI Folder onto your desktop
Open Finder and Eject All the Flash Drive
Using Clover Configurator Mount the EFI of the drive disk you just installed Mac OS on
Press Open EFI or navigate to the EFI location of the drive in Finder
Delete the mostly empty EFI Folder located on the mounted drive
Paste or Move the EFI from your Desktop to the EFI partition of the drive /Volumes/EFI/ the existing EFI on the disk

You will now be able to boot macOS without the USB Flash Drive

Step 8: Post-Install Changes

Now that you have macOS up and running here are some post install steps to help you.

Test audio output if its not working you may need to change something called an audio layout-id which is a single number in your config.plist
- Not working? Follow the layout step of the audio guide to get your chipset working Read: Hackintosh Audio Guide – Layout ID ←
All system files were moved to a read-only partition meaning /L/E or /S/L/E can’t be edited by you when adding or removing kexts.
- To get around this after Catalina is installed these folders need to be mounted with write privileges through the Terminal app with sudo mount -uw /
You should also be able to access the internet since I included kexts for four Ethernet chipsetes, there are four of them in EFI/Clover/kexts/Other you may delete the ones you don’t need.
darkwake=0 is set as a bootflag in config.plist by default. darkwake=8 might be better for waking up an ASRock or MSI motherboard.
If you have issues with restarting when trying to shutdown try changing FixShutdown in config.plist under Acpi > Fixes