GUIDE How to Enable Card Reader on macOS [Clover/OpenCore]

[EliteMacx86]

How to Enable Card Reader on macOS [Clover/OpenCore]

An EliteMacx86 Exclusive Guide - This guide covers the implementation of Card Reader on macOS using Clover and OpenCore.

Overview
A card reader can be an essential requirement for users who are into editing or photography. On some of the hardware, the Card Reader may work OOTB, without any need for drivers or .plist editing. But most of the time, the Card Readers don't work OOTB. You'll need to enable it manually. Card Readers are either on USB or PCIe Bus. For the moment, only Realtek Card Readers are supported. For more information on supported models, refer to the support list below.

Supported Device ID and Vendor ID

Device ID	Vendor ID
5209	10EC
5227	10EC
5229	10EC
522A	10EC
5249	10EC
5286	10EC
5287	10EC
5289	10EC
525A	10EC

STEP 1: Adding required kext

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To enable the Card Reader support, you'll need to add Sinetek-rtsx.kext

1. Download the Sinetek-rtsx.kext from the downloads section of this forum.
2. Mount your ESP.

For Clover:
If you're using Clover, copy the kext from Release to EFI/Clover/Kext/Others

For OpenCore:
If you're using OpenCore, copy the kext to EFI/OC/Kexts. You'll also need to add the kext entry in the Kernel section of your config.plist

STEP 2: Restart your System

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After performing all the above steps, restart your system for the applied changes to take effect.

NOTES: The Card Reader information will not load under  > About This Mac>System Report>Card Reader. Most of the PCIe Cards don't work with macOS due to a lack of drivers.

Problem Reporting

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Details:

1. macOS version
2. Copy of IOReg
3. Kextcache output

Screenshots:

• Hackintool>PCIe
• About This Mac

Files:

• For Clover, compress EFI/Clover, exclude the themes folder.
• For OpenCore, compress EFI/OC.

Notes:

• Do not include complete EFI folder.
• Put all files in a folder with your name, compress files as Zip and attach files using site attachments only.
• Do not use any external links.

 

[VinylNerd]

Hello, i have 5227 reader in T440P and and tried following your guide but its not 100% clear to me what to do.

it sais "If you're using OpenCore, copy the kext to EFI/OC/Kexts. You'll also need to add the kexts entry in Kernel section of your config.plist"

when you say both kexts, do you mean one of the kexts from one folder and the kext from the debug folder or do you mean the kext and the dsym kext?

i also noticed that the kext file you speak of is not in the downloads folder, so maybe you are talking about some other kexts i am unaware of?

 

[EliteMacx86]

Hello, i have 5227 reader in T440P and and tried following your guide but its not 100% clear to me what to do.

it sais "If you're using OpenCore, copy the kext to EFI/OC/Kexts. You'll also need to add the kexts entry in Kernel section of your config.plist"

when you say both kexts, do you mean one of the kexts from one folder and the kext from the debug folder or do you mean the kext and the dsym kext?

i also noticed that the kext file you speak of is not in the downloads folder, so maybe you are talking about some other kexts i am unaware of?

The post has been fixed now. Yes, the downloads will be added soon. The only kext which you need to add is "Sinetek-rtsx.kext."