Kexts

macOS kernel drivers. OpenCore can inject or block drivers. You put them in EFI/OC/Kexts, but they also have to be specified in the Config.plist. We will take care of the latter at a later step.

Did you know?

Kext stands for Kernel EXTension. Wowie!

Note

On macOS, kexts appear as a special file type with a bleach-white lego piece as the icon.

On other operating systems, kexts appear as plain folders that end in .kext.

Necessities

Danger

You cannot boot at all without these.

Lilu 10.4+

Does arbitrary kext, library and program patching inside macOS.

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VirtualSMC 10.4+

Emulates Apple’s SMC.

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VirtualSMC plug-ins

SMCProcessor 10.7+

Monitors CPU temperatures on Intel. Included with VirtualSMC.

SMCProcessorAMD 10.13+

Monitors CPU temperatures on AMD.

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SMCRadeonSensors 10.14+

Monitors AMD GPU temperatures. Supports AMD iGPUs.

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SMCSuperIO 10.6 64-bit only

Monitors fan speeds. Included with VirtualSMC. Do not use on AMD.

SMCBatteryManager 10.4

Monitors laptop battery status. Included with VirtualSMC. Do not use on desktops.

SMCLightSensor 10.6 64-bit only

Adds support for ACPI Ambient Light Sensor. Included with VirtualSMC. Do not use on desktops.

SMCDellSensors 10.7+

Monitors fan speeds on Dell systems that support System Management Mode (SMM). Included with VirtualSMC.

Graphics

Danger

You may only use one of the below kexts. They conflict with each other.

NootRX 11.0+

Provides patches for AMD Navi 2x cards, adds support for Navi 22 cards.

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NootedRed 10.15+

Provides graphical acceleration for AMD Vega iGPUs.

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WhateverGreen 10.6+ 64-bit only

Provides patches for Intel iGPUs and for AMD and NVIDIA dGPUs to allow for graphical acceleration, frame-buffer patching, backlight control, etc.

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Audio

AppleALC 10.4+

Patches Apple’s audio stack (AppleHDA/AppleGFXHDA) to allow unsupported audio codecs and HDMI audio.

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Ethernet

LucyRTL8125Ethernet 10.14+

RTL8125 (2.5GBe Realtek) driver, ported from Linux.

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RealtekRTL8111 10.14+

RTL8111 (1GBe Realtek) driver, ported from Linux.

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RealtekRTL8100 10.14+

RTL8100 (10/100MBe Realtek) driver, ported from Linux.

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AppleIGC 10.15+

I225-V/I226-V Ethernet driver, ported from Linux.

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AppleIGB 10.9+

Fork of IntelMausi for Intel I210 and I211 Ethernet.

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IntelMausi 10.9+ 10.6-10.8 with IntelSnowMausi

Driver for the majority of Intel Ethernet cards.

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AtherosE2200Ethernet 10.12+

Driver for the majority of Atheros Ethernet cards.

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Caution

Aquantia cards on AMD need CaseySJ’s patches.

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth

Itlwm 10.13+

Supports most Intel Wi-Fi cards. AirportItlwm uses macOS’ Wi-Fi stack, and Itlwm uses Heliport to connect to networks.

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IntelBluetoothFirmware

Supports most Intel Wi-Fi cards. On macOS 11 and lower you need to use all 3 included kexts.

Caution

On macOS 12+ you need to use IntelBluetoothFirmware and IntelBTPatcher from the aforementioned, and BlueToolFixup from BrcmPatchRAM.

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AirportBrcmFixup

Patches the AirPort kexts to allow non-native Broadcom cards to use the native Wi-Fi stack.

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BrcmPatchRAM

Patches the Bluetooth stack to allow non-native Broadcom (and all other ones in macOS 12+ with BlueToolFixup) to use the native Bluetooth stack.

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Tip

If your Wi-Fi card is unsupported and you don’t have Ethernet, you can use HoRNDIS to enable Android USB tethering. iPhone USB tethering doesn’t work in recoveryOS.

USB

XLNCUSBFix 10.13+

USB fix only for AMD FX CPUs.

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GenericUSBXHCISB (USB fix hack)

A modified version of GenericUSBXHCI, exclusively for working around a USB hang on or near “PCI Configuration End” when using an AMD laptop. Don’t use if you don’t have this issue, see its README for more information.

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USBToolBox

USB mapping tool. Works best on Windows.

Caution

Enable “Use Native Classes” in settings and don’t use the USBToolBox kext. It will prompt for your chosen SMBIOS when building, so save this as the last step.

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USBMap

USB mapping tool. Works only in macOS.

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Input

VoodooPS2 10.11+

Driver for PS/2 peripherals. Used for laptop keyboards or PS/2 mice/keyboards on desktops.

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VoodooI2C 10.13+

Driver for I2C input devices.

Satellites

Danger

You cannot figure out the device type from just branding or display name.

Danger

You should use only one satellite, do not put them all together; they might conflict.

Device type	Satellite
HID	VoodooI2CHID
ELAN	VoodooI2CELAN
FTE	VoodooI2CFTE
Atmel Multitouch Protocol	VoodooI2CAtmelMXT
Synaptics	VoodooRMI (also supports SMBus)
Alps	AlpsHID

Tip

HID is a very common device type. If you’re on an AMD laptop, it is highly likely that your touchpad is wired through it. Still, double check.

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VoodooSMBus 10.14+

For input devices wired through the SMBus controller (I2C-i801) and also some peculiar ELAN SMBus input devices.

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Storage

NVMeFix 10.14+

Patches the NVMe stack (IONVMeFamily) to support Autonomous Power State Transition (APST), and to fix timeout kernel panics on some NVMe controllers.

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EmeraldSDHC 10.13+

Driver for eMMC storage devices.

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Extras/Miscellaneous

AppleMCEReporterDisabler 12.3+

Disables AppleIntelMCEReporter which panics on AMD systems and even some Intel systems.

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ForgedInvariant 10.6+

Synchronises the TimeStamp Counter (TSC). Necessary for laptops, maybe also desktop APUs.

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RestrictEvents 10.13+

Fixes the CPU name in About This Mac, and the memory and PCI warnings on MacPro7,1 SMBIOS. Also allows forcing VMM to fix OTA updates on T2 SMBIOSes on macOS Sonoma+, amongst other features.

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ECEnabler 10.7+

Allows macOS to read EC fields over 8 bits long, removing the need to split them manually. Do not use on desktops. Necessary for laptop battery status to work properly.

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BrightnessKeys 10.11+

Provides support for ACPI brightness change notifications (which usually come from your keyboard’s function (FN) keys).

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