RealtekRTL8822C

RealtekRTL8822C is an x86_64 macOS PCIe driver for the Realtek RTL8822CE (10ec:c822). Version 0.0.5 is the current release.

The driver is implemented as an IOEthernetController with a native menu bar application, RealtekRTL8822CMenu, and the companion command-line utility rtl8822cctl. It does not replace Apple's native Wi-Fi framework or provide Apple wireless services.

Supported configuration

The reference configuration is an RTL8822CE cut D system running through OpenCore on the legacy PCI interrupt path. Both Debug and Release profiles are runtime-confirmed on this same reference hardware under macOS 14 Sonoma and macOS 15. AppleVTD/IOMMU is not a driver requirement: the reference machine has been validated without IOMMU and with DMA protection enabled. IOMMU and DMA-protection policy is platform- and bootloader-specific; use the configuration that is stable for the rest of the machine.

Hardware-confirmed functionality includes:

• structured active/passive scanning across 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, with unsupported transmit channels shown explicitly as receive-only;
• open and WPA2-Personal/CCMP association;
• DHCP, DNS, and sustained bidirectional IP traffic;
• HT and VHT operation, WMM, TX/RX Block Ack, aggregation, and RX reorder;
• 20 MHz and VHT80 links, including lower and upper 5 GHz operation;
• disconnect, reconnect, AP switching, interface down/up, and sleep/wake recovery;
• connected off-channel scanning with restoration of the active link;
• hidden-network directed discovery, queued/cancellable connection attempts, credential recovery, and native link notifications;
• separate diagnostic Debug and log-free Release profiles.

The final v0.0.5 Debug and Release profiles have been tested on the reference system under macOS 14 and macOS 15 through scanning, WPA2 traffic, sustained load, reconnect, and lifecycle operation without finding a driver failure. This remains a reference-system confirmation, not a universal compatibility claim for every RTL8822CE configuration or macOS version.

Channel policy and limitations

5 GHz transmission is limited to FCC/US non-DFS channels 36/40/44/48 and 149/153/157/161/165 and requires valid board-specific EFUSE power data. The driver does not derive a regulatory domain from macOS; users are responsible for operating only on channels legal in their location.

The following are not supported:

• DFS/CAC and 5 GHz transmission outside the guarded channel set;
• WPA1/TKIP, WPA3/SAE, Enterprise authentication, and required PMF;
• Apple's own Wi-Fi menu integration, IO80211 integration, AirDrop, and AWDL;
• Apple Silicon or Realtek devices other than RTL8822CE 10ec:c822;
• automatic installation or modification of an OpenCore configuration.

HT40/VHT40 selection is implemented, but the published reference matrix is centered on hardware-confirmed 20 MHz and VHT80 links. Unvalidated AP, macOS, and bandwidth combinations remain experimental.

Build

Requirements:

• macOS Command Line Tools with a macOS 15.5 or newer SDK;
• an x86_64 target;
• Acidanthera MacKernelSDK at ../MacKernelSDK, or a custom location supplied as MAC_KERNEL_SDK=/path/to/MacKernelSDK;
• the pinned firmware/rtw8822c_fw.bin input included in this repository.

make debug
make release
make test

Artifacts are written only under build/:

• build/Debug/RealtekRTL8822C.kext and build/Debug/rtl8822cctl;
• build/Release/RealtekRTL8822C.kext, build/Release/rtl8822cctl, and build/Release/RealtekRTL8822C.dSYM;
• build/app/RealtekRTL8822CMenu.app (the single runtime-profile-aware app).

Debug publishes Debug_* operational state plus deep RTL8822CDebug* startup diagnostics. The single distributed menu app discovers the kext profile at runtime: it shows Debug Info for a loaded Debug kext and Fail Info… for a failed Debug start, reading the latter from the PCI provider without a controller service. Release retains only a bounded start-time compatibility result, so both diagnostic buttons stay hidden for a Release kext. Neither profile relies on IOLog, and no v0.0.5 compatibility property is updated from the packet path. Automated binary checks enforce this boundary.

The application and CLI use a macOS 12 deployment target. The Debug kext also uses an experimental macOS 12 deployment target for compatibility testing and links the pinned MacKernelSDK startup objects instead of newer SDK 15.5 kmod objects. Both profiles are runtime-confirmed on macOS 14 and macOS 15 on the reference hardware. macOS 12 and macOS 13 remain experimental. The Release kext retains its macOS 15.5 build target despite the confirmed macOS 14 runtime result.

Deployment is deliberately outside the build system. Copy the selected kext and utility manually to the locations used by your boot configuration. Keep a known-bootable EFI backup before replacing a kernel extension.

Verification and packaging

make release-check

The release gate builds both profiles, treats warnings as errors, runs protocol, WPA, lifecycle, channel, queue, and RX models, executes ASan/UBSan tests, verifies firmware and Linux table provenance, checks the public documentation surface, confirms reproducible Release builds, and creates a checksummed archive under build/package/.

make package creates the complete maintainer archive, two kext-only GitHub Release assets, and the menu application asset:

• build/package/RealtekRTL8822C-0.0.5-Release.zip;
• build/package/RealtekRTL8822C-0.0.5-Debug.zip;
• build/package/RealtekRTL8822CMenu-0.0.5.zip.

The Release driver archive contains only RealtekRTL8822C.kext. The Debug archive contains the Debug kext and matching Debug rtl8822cctl, so a failed startup report can be collected without compiling the project. The application archive contains only RealtekRTL8822CMenu.app and is a normal v0.0.5 release download alongside the two driver archives. make package-local creates the complete locally named test archive. None of these commands installs anything.

Runtime control

Launch RealtekRTL8822CMenu.app for menu bar scanning, connection, disconnect, and Wi-Fi on/off control. WPA2 credentials are stored in the user Keychain. Driver commands use a narrow local-user IOUserClient and do not require sudo with the v0.0.5 kext.

If initialization fails, the app and rtl8822cctl availability report that state separately from an unloaded kext. rtl8822cctl report then reads the postmortem directly from the surviving IOPCIDevice; the Debug build includes the deeper startup trace and selected EFUSE/RFE evidence.

Run rtl8822cctl help for the command list. Interactive connect prompts for a password without echoing it or placing it in shell history. See the menu app reference, command reference and the repeatable hardware acceptance procedure.

Project documents

• Roadmap
• Changelog
• v0.0.5 release notes
• Contributing
• Security policy
• Third-party notices
• Firmware provenance

Licence

Project code is BSD-3-Clause. Linux rtw88-derived material retains Realtek's copyright and uses the BSD-3-Clause option of its upstream dual licence. The unmodified RTL8822C firmware is redistributed under the included Realtek firmware licence. See Third-party notices for exact provenance and the firmware patent-grant limitation relevant to macOS use.