I would like to install Ubuntu Desktop, 18.04 or 20.04 on my macbook pro 2019 16" so it would be on dual boot but I'm having problems with it. MBP is running Big Sur 11.5.2. Right now, I have Windows 10 installed with Bootcamp.
Problem description:
- start up MBP holding option buttonscreenshot
- select either of the flash drive ones and after about 5 seconds, I get Apple logo on the screen with loading bar
- Then it shows that there's an necessary updatescreenshot
- I press update, apple logo comes on with loading bar
- shutdown
- boots up
- apple logo with loading bar
- hold down option to get Boot Select menu
- select usb drive
all of the above repeats itself
What have I done:
- tried different Linux distros
- tried sandisk usb-c flash drive and also type-a flash drive with apple usb-c to usb-a adapter. no difference. both show up the same on the Startup Manager window
- tried the same flash drives on my older MBP where there is no T2 chip. works like a charm
- entered recovery mode, Startup Security Utility, under Secure Boot, selected No Security. under External Boot, selected Allow booting from external drive
- for writing ISO to flash drive, I have used balenaEtcher
- for x reason, I also made seperate partition for Ubuntu, but that didn't change a thing. just thought that maybe macOS wants to see seperate partition or something like that
- tried my coworkers macbook pro, exactly the same model, specs etc. exactly the same problem.
Am I doing something wrong or is it impossible to install Linux on MBP with T2 chip as dual boot?
2 Answers
Linux support for the Keyboard & Trackpad, the networking drivers, and the T2 security chip only just recently got merged into the mainline Linux Kernel. I'm fairly sure you need at least kernel version 5.4+ to get some of these features working and I believe v5.6 may be necessary for T2 support. I don't recall which of the post v5.4 releases has T2 support.
Currently you cannot easily install Linux onto an Apple computer which uses the T2 security chip because the Linux Kernel with the T2 support is not included in any of the currently released distributions as a default kernel. If you want to run Linux on this laptop, then you will most likely need to first install Linux to an older Mac or other UEFI booting PC and install the latest v5.6 kernel. I would suggest trying to boot this customized Linux boot disk externally to confirm you use the built-in keyboard, trackpad, and either WiFi or ethernet. Then clone the Linux install to the internal SSD (again you will need a boot disk with support for the T2 security chip).
I do not recommend dual booting this laptop with both macOS and Linux unless you have good backups and are prepared to perform a clean install or restore from backup since you will at some point most likely do something which will prevent either OS from booting and possibly risk losing access to all the data in one or both operating systems.
You cannot disable the T2 chip as it is an integral part of the system. The most you can do is disable some of the security settings to allow a non-Apple OS to boot and to allow booting from an external drive.
I had followed the guide on and was successful. You may even contact their discord server for help.
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