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.

• VirtualSMC (10.4+)

  Emulates Apple’s SMC.

VirtualSMC plug-ins

• SMCProcessor (10.7+)

  Monitors CPU temperatures on Intel. Included with VirtualSMC.

• SMCProcessorAMD (10.13+)

  Monitors CPU temperatures on AMD.

• SMCRadeonSensors (10.15+)

  Monitors AMD GPU temperatures. Supports AMD iGPUs.

• 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.

• NootedRed (10.15+)

  Provides graphical acceleration for AMD Vega iGPUs.

• 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. Do not combine with the other aforementioned graphics kexts.

Audio

• AppleALC (10.4+)

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

Ethernet

• LucyRTL8125Ethernet (10.14+)

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

• RealtekRTL8111 (10.14+)

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

• RealtekRTL8100 (10.14+)

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

• AppleIGC (10.15+)

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

• AppleIGB (10.9+)

  Fork of IntelMausi for Intel I210 and I211 Ethernet.

• IntelMausi (10.9+, 10.6-10.8 with IntelSnowMausi)

  Driver for the majority of Intel Ethernet cards.

• AtherosE2200Ethernet (10.12+)

  Driver for the majority of Atheros Ethernet cards.

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.

• IntelBluetoothFirmware

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

  Note

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

• AirportBrcmFixup

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

• 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.

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.

• GenericUSBXHCI (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.

• USBToolBox

  USB mapping tool. Works best on Windows.

  Note

  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.

• USBMap

  USB mapping tool. Works only in macOS.

Input

• VoodooPS2 (10.11+)

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

• VoodooI2C (10.13+)

  Driver for I2C input devices. The one linked is a pre-release version with added support for AMD I2C controllers.

  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.

• VoodooSMBus (10.14+)

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

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.

• EmeraldSDHC (10.13+)

  Driver for eMMC storage devices.

Extras/Miscellaneous

• AppleMCEReporterDisabler (12.3+)

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

• ForgedInvariant (10.11+)

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

• 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.

• 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.

• BrightnessKeys (10.11+)

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