Set Up Mac with T2 Chip

How to install and set up Zorin OS on a Mac computer with a T2 Security Chip.

If your Apple Mac computer has a T2 Security Chip, you’ll need to follow some additional steps to get Zorin OS installed and set up on your computer.

Mac models with a T2 Security Chip

You can use the System Information app on macOS to learn whether your Mac has this chip:

Press and hold the ⌥ Option key while choosing Apple menu → System Information.
In the left sidebar, select either “Controller” or “iBridge”, depending on the version of macOS in use.
If you see “Apple T2 chip” on the right, your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip.

If your Mac doesn’t have this chip and has an Intel processor, please instead view the standard installation guide for Zorin OS ›

If your Mac has an Apple silicon processor, you may be able to use an app called UTM to run Zorin OS in a virtual machine.

Learn more and download UTM ›

MacBook Pro models

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

MacBook Air models

MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2019)
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018)

iMac models

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)
iMac Pro

Mac mini models

Mac mini (2018)

Mac Pro models

Mac Pro (2019)
Mac Pro (Rack, 2019)

Installation process

Before installing Zorin OS, please follow the pre-installation steps in this guide ›
Follow the standard steps to start the installation of Zorin OS ›
If your keyboard or touchpad aren’t recognized in Zorin OS, please plug in a USB keyboard and/or mouse temporarily during the installation process.
When you reach the “Installation type” step in the installer, select the “Something else” option to manually partition the drive.
From the manual partitioner, delete the new partition you created during the pre-installation steps and use the newly freed space to create a standard Zorin OS partition for your installation. You can learn how to do this on our manual partitioner guide ›
After installing Zorin OS, restart your computer to boot into your new installation.
Make sure you’re connected to the Internet over Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable. If you’re unable to do so, you can try temporarily connecting to the Internet through your smartphone by following this guide ›
After connecting to the Internet, please install the latest updates from the Software Updater and restart your computer.

Open the Zorin Menu → Utilities → Terminal and enter these 7 commands:

CODENAME=jammy

curl -s --compressed "https://adityagarg8.github.io/t2-ubuntu-repo/KEY.gpg" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/t2-ubuntu-repo.gpg >/dev/null

sudo curl -s --compressed -o /etc/apt/sources.list.d/t2.list "https://adityagarg8.github.io/t2-ubuntu-repo/t2.list"

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/t2-ubuntu-repo.gpg] https://github.com/AdityaGarg8/t2-ubuntu-repo/releases/download/${CODENAME} ./" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/t2.list

sudo apt update

sudo apt install linux-t2 apple-t2-audio-config git build-essential

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

In the new Text Editor window, move the cursor to the line that looks like the following:
```
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
```
Add the text intel_iommu=on iommu=pt pcie_ports=native after quiet splash so this line looks like the following:
```
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_iommu=on iommu=pt pcie_ports=native"
```
Save the text file and close the Text Editor window.
In the Terminal, enter this command:
```
sudo update-grub
```
Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Additional setup

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

If you’re not able to connect to Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices, please try following the instructions in this guide ›

Touch Bar

If your Mac has a Touch Bar, please enter this command into the Terminal:

sudo apt install tiny-dfr

Afterward, restart your computer to apply the changes.

In order to configure your Touch Bar, enter this command into the Terminal and follow the on-screen instructions:

sudo touchbar

Audio

If you’re having issues with audio, please try entering these 4 commands into the Terminal:

sudo git clone https://github.com/kekrby/t2-better-audio.git /tmp/t2-better-audio

cd /tmp/t2-better-audio

./install.sh

sudo rm -r /tmp/t2-better-audio

Other

If you experience any other issues after the installation process, you can check out the guides on this site for additional solutions:

View t2linux Basic Setup guide ›

As Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu and Debian, you can follow the instructions for Debian-based Linux distributions there.