AirPort_RTW89 v0.6.0

Joined networks are no longer marked hidden, hotspot scans on Sequoia are read correctly, and wider channels arrive for the cards that have them. Still a preview: the RTL8852BE, RTL8852AE and RTL8922DE have run this driver on real hardware. Keep a USB stick you can boot OpenCore from without this driver.

Fixed

Hidden network. After every join macOS asks the driver for the access point's last beacon and looks for the network's name in it. The driver did not answer, so every network was remembered as hidden. It now answers, and Wi-Fi settings no longer say "Hidden Network". Confirmed on the RTL8852BE.

Sequoia hotspot scans. Sequoia sends some scans in a layout the driver read wrongly: a 20-channel request could be taken for 146 channels and refused, and the hotspot's name could be lost (issue #7). These requests are now decoded first. Contributed by @hrx114514x in #11.

New

802.11ax is reported to macOS: System Information lists it among the card's modes, and an 802.11ax connection shows as one instead of 802.11ac.

160 MHz channels, for the cards that support them (RTL8852CE, RTL8922AE/DE), with access points that use them. 320 MHz on 6 GHz for the RTL8922 cards with Wi-Fi 7 access points. Neither is tested on hardware yet: reports from owners of these cards are welcome.

Not changed: the order of the Wi-Fi list. macOS sorts "Other Networks" by name itself, on real Macs too.

Testers
Follow TESTING.md (in the tools zip) and open an issue with your card and the report zip from sudo tools/collect_logs.sh. Reports from RTL8852CE and RTL8922 owners with 160 or 320 MHz routers are especially useful right now.

Upgrading
Run the Kext Installer from the zip. By hand: replace EFI/OC/Kexts/AirPort_RTW89.kext (no config change needed coming from 0.4.x or 0.5.x).

SHA-256:

AirPort_RTW89-0.6.0.zip: 219774203f9594901433caca8a7d198f2704c6f7b5f40dad1e80e3ff02f8c81e
AirPort_RTW89-0.6.0-tools.zip: 326b8580740e938e8805163bac320cc95434d477dd0e84cb2e924c8f5edf1b9b

AirPort_RTW89 v0.5.0

Fixes the join on macOS Sonoma. Still a preview: the RTL8852BE, RTL8852AE and RTL8922DE have run this driver on real hardware. Keep a USB stick you can boot OpenCore from without this driver.

Fixed

Sonoma joins. Sonoma sends joins as 856-byte requests, which the driver did not decode, so every join failed with error 102 before reaching the radio (issue #4). The driver now decodes them too. Not yet confirmed on Sonoma hardware: a Sonoma tester’s join log is what confirms it.

Testers
Follow TESTING.md (in the tools zip) and open an issue with your card and the report zip from sudo tools/collect_logs.sh. Sonoma reports are especially useful right now.

Upgrading
Run the Kext Installer from the zip. By hand: replace EFI/OC/Kexts/AirPort_RTW89.kext (no config change needed coming from 0.4.x).

SHA-256:

AirPort_RTW89-0.5.0.zip: 52c136578d46763f1e84def209c9d7a109da1a09a5b00332f8fbd1e9a7bb5527
AirPort_RTW89-0.5.0-tools.zip: 6c733bc8b5811f66102adb53b8a5dc9a92b45c9f7433bbcc35b8e0089a723582

AirPort_RTW89 v0.4.0

WPA3, 6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7, and better band choice. Still a preview: the RTL8852BE, RTL8852AE and RTL8922DE have run this driver on real hardware; 6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7 have not yet (see below). Keep a USB stick you can boot OpenCore from without this driver.

New

• WPA3-Personal (SAE). WPA3-only networks now connect, including phone hotspots set to WPA3. Tested on the RTL8852BE. Both SAE methods are supported, hunting-and-pecking and hash-to-element (H2E), which newer routers and every 6 GHz network require.
• WPA2/WPA3 mixed networks are joined with WPA3. If the router turns WPA3 down or doesn't answer, the driver falls back to WPA2 on its own, so networks that worked before keep working.
• Protected management frames (802.11w), used with WPA3 and on WPA2 networks that require them. Forged "disconnect" frames are ignored, and the driver checks with the router before believing an unprotected one.
• 6 GHz (RTL8852CE, RTL8922AE/DE): 6 GHz networks appear in the Wi-Fi menu and can be joined. The driver scans the 15 channels macOS lists 6 GHz networks on. 6 GHz needs to know your country: the driver takes it from macOS, or from the router while connected.
• Wi-Fi 7 (RTL8922AE/DE): joins Wi-Fi 7 routers as Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) on one link, up to 80 MHz, including routers that block out part of their channel. rtw89ctl status shows 802.11be.

Fixed

• Half speed on dual-band routers. When a router has the same network on 2.4 and 5 GHz, macOS often picked 2.4 GHz because its signal looked stronger, so links were capped at 20 MHz. An RTL8852AE got 287 Mb/s where Windows got 1201 on the router's 5 GHz side. The driver now joins the 5 or 6 GHz side when its signal is good: at least -70 dBm, and no more than 15 dB weaker.

Not tested on hardware yet

6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7 pass the driver's built-in tests, which simulate an RTL8852CE joining a 6 GHz WPA3 router, with and without Wi-Fi 7. Nobody has run them on a real card yet. If you have an RTL8852CE, RTL8922AE or RTL8922DE and a Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 router, please test and report.

If WPA3 causes trouble

Add the boot-arg -rtw89nowpa3. macOS then joins everything as in 0.2.2, and WPA3-only networks are refused.

Upgrading

Run the Kext Installer from the zip. It replaces the kext in your EFI and keeps your config's layout right. By hand: replace EFI/OC/Kexts/AirPort_RTW89.kext (no config change needed coming from 0.2.x).

Still not supported

• Wi-Fi 7 multi-link (MLO), 160 and 320 MHz channels.
• WPA3-Enterprise, Enhanced Open (OWE).
• AirDrop/AWDL/Continuity.
• Sleep and wake are untested.

Testers

Follow TESTING.md (in the tools zip) and open an issue with your card and the report zip from sudo tools/collect_logs.sh. For WPA3, 6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7 reports, include the output of sudo tools/rtw89ctl log | grep -iE "SAE|WPA3|country|joining".

SHA-256:

• AirPort_RTW89-0.4.0.zip: 07772993fdb3d6c198175e980ab3c7923abb528fdf507ef6da805d76b99c3f1b
• AirPort_RTW89-0.4.0-tools.zip: 6be619bbcb6d8d621b673309e56a6a5e5ac1ebaa637762a52495b6d94c84bbf3

AirPort_RTW89 0.2.0 (hotfix)

Fixes from testing at range, and a simpler package. Still a preview: only the RTL8852BE has been tested on real hardware so far (an RTL8852AE test is under way). Keep a USB stick you can boot OpenCore from without this driver.

Fixed

• 5 GHz stalls away from the router. While connected, macOS asks for a scan every 30 s, and each one took the radio off your network for about 5.5 s, which on a weaker 5 GHz link meant pings of 2000 ms, drop-outs and 1 Mb/s bursts. Connected scans now cover 8 channels at a time (about 1 s), and the full list still comes round every few minutes. Two rooms from the router on 5 GHz: from regular stalls to a steady 18 ms ping.

Changed

• One kext. The front is now inside the driver, as a plugin: AirPort_RTW89.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortRTW89Front.kext. ProperTree's OC Snapshot adds it by itself.
• Two downloads. AirPort_RTW89-0.2.0.zip holds only the kext. AirPort_RTW89-0.2.0-tools.zip holds the installer, rtw89ctl and the log collector, for testers and anyone who prefers a script.
• Install by hand is documented in the README, with direct links to the old Wi-Fi stack (IOSkywalkFamily, IO80211FamilyLegacy, AMFIPass).

Upgrading from 0.1.0

Run the Kext Installer, it fixes the layout.

Still not supported

WPA3-only networks, 6 GHz, AirDrop/Continuity. Sleep and wake are untested.

Testers

Follow TESTING.md (in the tools zip) and open an issue with your card and the report zip.

SHA-256:

• AirPort_RTW89-0.2.0.zip: edfff44e850292bbeb659d3b8a108232bd923627e9f6bc42a92e56a9f209cbe4
• AirPort_RTW89-0.2.0-tools.zip: fa8c62dcc7bf96bd10ddd63cb55e7b2c0dfda0fd52af9df1cecdf80ce3f126a3

Full Changelog: v0.1.0-PREVIEW...v0.2.0-PREVIEW

AirPort_RTW89 0.1.0 preview

First public preview: native Wi-Fi for Realtek rtw89 PCIe cards on macOS (OpenCore), ported from Linux rtw89.

Only the RTL8852BE has been tested on real hardware (ASUS TUF A15, macOS Sequoia 15.8.1). The RTL8851BE, RTL8852AE, RTL8852BTE, RTL8852CE, RTL8922AE and RTL8922DE are built in but have never run: expect problems, and keep a USB stick you can boot OpenCore from without this driver.

Needs: OpenCore with Lilu, SecureBootModel Disabled, and the old Wi-Fi stack (IOSkywalkFamily from Ventura, IO80211FamilyLegacy, AMFIPass), see README. Not supported yet: WPA3-only networks, 6 GHz, AirDrop/Continuity; sleep/wake is untested.

Testers: follow TESTING.md and open an issue with your card and the report zip.
SHA-256 for kext: c408cd01d8d38d7196eea7eed89e6e3b2cdec0017da848a0f5dc72b027ce4831
SHA-256 for tools: cf3dbb4cbe933acfa3ba492b6e1b544a856dd2ec706ab54c4984f10ce6874fa7