Understand the role of drivers in bridging the gap between software and hardware, ensuring smooth hardware functionality.

Drivers Documentation

Posts under Drivers subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Crash in IOService::Create
I am getting an unexpected crash from IOService::Create() when attempting to create a new user-client. The crash is a nullptr exception in OSCopyInObjects(). The last call from my code was IOService::Create(). As far as I can tell, all the input parameters to Create() are correct, and the Info.plist is has the correct key and class information - indeed, if I corrupt these I get an error status return rather than a crash. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this? I suspect that the problem may be related from a change in the underlying application that is creating the user client. This was modified from a standard app to a daemon, following the advice here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/signing-a-daemon-with-a-restricted-entitlement. However, it is the driver that crashes - not the host opening the user client.
1
0
502
Jan ’25
howto measure time_interval since physical plugin of a USB-gadget ?
=1) The situation: 1A) I make both a "DExt" and a "SDK" for still-imaging-USB-gadgets and MACOS>=14 ,iPADOS>=17 1B) One of the USB-gadgets needs warm_up after PlugIn (i.e End-User-App must know "now-TheMomentOfPlugIn" with precision ~1sec). =2) The question is how to do "1B" rationally? =3) My speculative guess: in BSD-descendant I expect existence (somewhere) of a "normal file" through "macports etc", which has normal "file creation time". Such a "file creation time" (accessible better via IORegistryEntry... at SDK-level; possibly via IOUSBHostInterface at DExt-level) is cognitive target of mine. =4) Additional constraints: Technically absent. I freely modify code either DExt (descendant of IOUSBHostInterface) or SDK-level (IORegistryEntryGetRegistryEntryID, IORegistryEntry...)
11
0
598
Feb ’25
Trouble using IOLog from a dext
Trying to use IOLog to print out a message from a dext. When I try to use IOLog, I get , though I did not or thought I did not tag it as private. I have tried to update the info.plist file for the dext according to https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/705810, but that has not helped, or perhaps I am not defining it correctly since it's a dext. Anyone else had this issue, and how did you fix it?
5
0
602
Feb ’25
No logs from log stream | grep CompanyName
I have USB DriverKit driver. When I use the log command below to get log, there is logs from my driver on my own M-series MacBook where the driver is built using developer account. log stream | grep CompanyName But on other mac like (M-series) Mac Mini, there is no log captured from driver though the driver is communicating with the machine correctly. The only log captured are from MacOS regarding CompanyName driver status/unload/load. The MacOS is Sonoma 14.7.2 and 14.7.3. Please advise on how to get log from driver since writing to files is not allowed in DriverKit. I need logs to troubleshoot on Mac Mini. Thanks.
1
0
480
Feb ’25
How to implement mouse (pointing) acceleration function in DriverKit?
Hello every one good day :) My project uses a mouse driver handling all events from the mouse produced by our company. In the past the driver is a kext, which implement acceleration by HIDPointerAccelerationTable, we prepare data in the driver's info.plist, while our app specifies a value to IOHIDSystem with key kIOHIDPointerAccelerationKey, the driver will call copyAccelerationTable() to lookup the HIDPointerAccelerationTable and return a value. In current DriverKit area, the process above is deprecated. Now I don't know to do. I've read some document: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/iohidpointereventoptions/kiohidpointereventoptionsnoacceleration?changes=__7_8 https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/kiohidmouseaccelerationtypekey?changes=__7_8 https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hiddriverkit/kiohidpointeraccelerationkey?changes=__7_8 but no any description in those articles. Please help!
6
0
454
Jun ’25
Why UserInitializeTargetForID() not be invoked after UserCreateTargetForID() successfully?
Hello Everyone, I am trying to create a Fake SCSI target based on SCSIControllerDriverKit.framework and inherent from IOUserSCSIParallelInterfaceController, here is the code kern_return_t IMPL(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME, Start) { ... // Programmatically create a null SCSI Target SCSIDeviceIdentifier nullTargetID = 0; // Example target ID, adjust as needed ret = UserCreateTargetForID(nullTargetID, nullptr); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { Log("Failed to create Null SCSI Target for ID %llu", nullTargetID); return ret; } ... } According the document UserCreateTargetForID, after creating a TargetID successfully, the framework will call the UserInitializeTargetForID() The document said: As part of the UserCreateTargetForID call, the kernel calls several APIs like UserInitializeTargetForID which run on the default dispatch queue of the dext. But after UserCreateTargetForID created, why the UserInitializeTargetForID() not be invoked automatically? Here is the part of log show init() - Start init() - End Start() - Start Start() - try 1 times UserCreateTargetForID() - Start Allocating resources for Target ID 0 UserCreateTargetForID() - End Start() - Finished. UserInitializeController() - Start - PCI vendorID: 0x14d6, deviceID: 0x626f. - BAR0: 0x1, BAR1: 0x200004. - GetBARInfo() - BAR1 - MemoryIndex: 0, Size: 262144, Type: 0. UserInitializeController() - End UserStartController() - Start - msiInterruptIndex : 0x00000000 - interruptType info is 0x00010000 - PCI Dext interrupt final value, return status info is 0x00000000 UserStartController() - End Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance for your support. Best regards, Charles
1
0
362
Mar ’25
Inconsistent KEXT Status Between System Information and kextstat
Hello Everyone, I have noticed an inconsistency in the KEXT status between the System Information Extensions section and the output of the kextstat command. In System Information, the extension appears as loaded: ACS6x: Version: 3.8.3 Last Modified: 2025/3/10, 8:03 PM Bundle ID: com.Accusys.driver.Acxxx Loaded: Yes Get Info String: ACS6x 3.8.4 Copyright (c) 2004-2020 Accusys, Ltd. Architectures: arm64e 64-Bit (Intel): No Location: /Library/Extensions/ACS6x.kext/ Kext Version: 3.8.3 Load Address: 0 Loadable: Yes Dependencies: Satisfied Signed by: Developer ID Application: Accusys, Inc (K3TDMD9Y6B) Issuer: Developer ID Certification Authority Signing time: 2025-03-10 12:03:20 +0000 Identifier: com.Accusys.driver.Acxxx TeamID: K3TDMD9Y6B However, when I check using kextstat, it does not appear as loaded: $ kextstat | grep ACS6x Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded No variant specified, falling back to release I use a script to do these jobs echo " Change to build/Release" echo " CodeSign ACS6x.kext" echo " Compress to zip file" echo " Notary & Staple" echo " Unload the old Acxxx Driver" echo " Copy ACS6x.kext driver to /Library/Extensions/" echo " Change ACS6x.kext driver owner" echo " Loaded ACS6x.kext driver" sudo kextload ACS6x.kext echo " Rebiuld system cache" sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel sudo kextcache -system-caches sudo kextcache -i / echo " Reboot" sudo reboot But it seems that the KEXT is not always loaded successfully. What did I forget to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Charles
2
0
273
Mar ’25
Assistance Needed for Migrating KEXT Delay Code to DriverKit
Hello Everyone, I am working on migrating a KEXT to DriverKit but am struggling to resolve a specific issue. The code in question is simple, but I haven't been able to find a solution. void AME_IO_milliseconds_Delay(AME_U32 Delay) { Log("AME_IO_milliseconds_Delay()"); IOSleep(Delay); return; } //delay for a number of microseconds void AME_IO_microseconds_Delay(AME_U32 Delay) { Log("AME_IO_microseconds_Delay()"); IODelay(Delay); return; } I've sought help from Copilot and ChatGPT, but their suggestions haven't worked. Any guidance on how to implement this functionality in DriverKit would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and assistance. Best regards, Charles
1
0
233
Mar ’25
CoreAudio server plugin: propagate kAudioObjectPropertyName change
When my virtual CoreAudio server plugins propagates a change to it´s device name the CoreAudio system does not seem to reflect the change. My user mode application subscribes to the property change and receives the change though. I also alternatively submitted a kAudioObjectPropertyName change with the same effect. Is this possible at all and what needs to be done then? Are there restrictions about which properties can be successfully changed and are reflected by the system? Any hint is highly appreciated! Thanks
1
0
64
Mar ’25
How to setup DriverKit Timer Event with OSAction Callback Binding
Hello Everyone, I'm encountering an issue while setting up a timer event in DriverKit and would appreciate any guidance. Here's my current implementation: void DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::SetupEventTimer() { // 1. Create dispatch queue kern_return_t ret = IODispatchQueue::Create("TimerQueue", 0, 0, &ivars->dispatchQueue); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create dispatch queue: 0x%x", ret); return; } // 2. Create timer source ret = IOTimerDispatchSource::Create(ivars->dispatchQueue, &ivars->dispatchSource); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create timer: 0x%x", ret); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchQueue); return; } /*! * @brief Create an instance of OSAction. * @discussion Methods to allocate an OSAction instance are generated for each method defined in a class with * a TYPE attribute, so there should not be any need to directly call OSAction::Create(). * @param target OSObject to receive the callback. This object will be retained until the OSAction is * canceled or freed. * @param targetmsgid Generated message ID for the target method. * @param msgid Generated message ID for the method invoked by the receiver of the OSAction * to generate the callback. * @param referenceSize Size of additional state structure available to the creator of the OSAction * with GetReference. * @param action Created OSAction with +1 retain count to be released by the caller. * @return kIOReturnSuccess on success. See IOReturn.h for error codes. */ // 3: Create an OSAction for the TimerOccurred method // THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP OSAction* timerAction = nullptr; ret = OSAction::Create(this, 0, 0, 0, &timerAction); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to create OSAction: 0x%x", ret); goto cleanup; } // 4. Set handler ret = ivars->dispatchSource->SetHandler(timerAction); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { LogErr("Failed to set handler: 0x%x", ret); goto cleanup; } // 5. Schedule timer (1 second) uint64_t deadline = mach_absolute_time() + NSEC_PER_SEC; ivars->dispatchSource->WakeAtTime(0, deadline, 0); cleanup: if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { OSSafeReleaseNULL(timerAction); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchSource); OSSafeReleaseNULL(ivars->dispatchQueue); } } Problem: The code runs but the OSAction callback binding seems incorrect (Step 3). According to the OSAction documentation, I need to use the TYPE macro to properly bind the callback method. But I try to use TYPE(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::TimerOccurred) kern_return_t TimerOccurred() LOCALONLY; TYPE(TimerOccurred) kern_return_t TimerOccurred() LOCALONLY; kern_return_t TimerOccurred() TYPE(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::TimerOccurred) LOCALONLY; All results in Out-of-line definition of 'TimerOccurred' does not match any declaration in 'DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME' Questions: What is the correct way to declare a timer callback method using TYPE? How to get the values targetmsgid & msgid generated by Xcode? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Best Regards, Charles
6
0
327
Apr ’25
Does USB Audio in macOS support 12 channels with 16bit PCM samples?
I have a custom USB Audio Class 2 (UAC2) compatible device. When I connect this custom device to a MacBook with a configuration of up to 10 channels (16-bit), everything seems to work fine. However, when I increase the channel count to 12, the MacBook does not recognize the 12 channels. It only shows the channel count as 0. TN2274 is the only source where I found some information about Apple's Audio Class Drivers, but it doesn't mention any limitations regarding channel counts. Could you let me know the current limitations of the Audio Class Drivers on the latest macOS versions? What configuration should I use to get 12 channels working? P.S. I also found that a 12-channel, 8-bit configuration is detected by the MacBook, bit I want it to work with 16bits. For more detail please check FB17098863
6
0
206
Apr ’25
Endpoint security system extension
When I develop the system extension tool, I need to subscribe to the remote thread creation event. When the remote thread injection is triggered, I want to get the id, module name and starting function name of the remote thread. How can I get this information from es_event_remote_thread_create_t? If I can't get this information from es_event_remote_thread_create_t, is there any other way to get it?
1
0
67
Apr ’25
Cannot enable Calldirectory Extension
Hello, I recently created an app with the Calldirectory Extension. It worked all good as long as I was on my development iphone. I tried to install the app on my privat iphone (same phone/same os version), but then I faced an issue. I couldn't enable the Calldirectory Extension with an error (Error Enabling Extension Failed to request data for APPNAME. You may try enabling the extension again, and if the problem persists, conatact the application developer.)
1
0
73
Apr ’25
Cleaning up CoreAudio preferences
Hi, our virtual CoreAudio server plugin creates and removes dynamically CoreAudio devices. Each time it does so it leaves traces in /Library/Preferences/Audio com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist The files on the test machine now have become >1Mb and the system keeps recreating them. How can I manually remove/cleanup these files? (This is for development only. It already became pretty tedious to evaluate current device settings for debugging purposes.) How can the CoreAudio server plugin make sure once a device has been removed also its entries are removed from the .plist (It already removes it's storage, but the system still keeps other settings.) Is there some documentation about what gets stored and how the settings are organized in these preferences? (This is also for development and debugging only. We are not intending to access these settings directly ) Thanks!
5
0
180
Apr ’25
Multiple thunderbolt device connected by daisy chain.
Hello everyone. I have been developing PCIe device driver through Thunderbolt. However, it was confirmed that up to three devices connected to the daisy chain worked normally, but the fourth device failed to operate the _CopyDeviceMemoryWithIndex() function for connection with the BAR0 App and did not work properly. The standard specification of Thunderbolt 3/4 is said to be supported by daisy chain connection up to 6-device, but in reality, it is only 3 units, so I ask the forum for technical confirmation. Of course total 4 device by 2-port x 2-device daisy chain connecting has working well. The PCI entry in System information indicates that all devices have normal load of the PCIe device driver. Thank you.
2
0
83
Apr ’25
How to Reliably Detect DriverKit Support on iPad Devices
We’re looking for a reliable way to determine whether an iPad device supports DriverKit. Since there doesn't appear to be a direct public API for this, our current approach is as follows: Retrieve the device’s model identifier (e.g., "iPad14,8") and the iOS/iPadOS version. Map the model identifier to a known iPad model and its associated chip. If the device has an M-series chip, we assume it supports DriverKit. For future-proofing, we plan to assume that any future iPad with a model identifier of iPad15,* or higher will contain an M-series chip and therefore support DriverKit. We have a couple of questions: Is there a more reliable or official API to determine the chip version or DriverKit support? Is it reasonable to rely on the assumptions outlined in steps 2 and 3 for determining DriverKit compatibility?
2
0
122
May ’25
macOS Hang After Implementing UserMapHBAData()
Hi everyone, I was following the Video Modernize PCI and SCSI drivers with DriverKit and the Document to implement UserMapHBAData(), and here’s my current implementation: // kern_return_t DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME::UserMapHBAData_Impl(uint32_t *uniqueTaskID) kern_return_t IMPL(DRV_MAIN_CLASS_NAME, UserMapHBAData) { Log("UserMapHBAData() - Start"); // Define the vm_page_size explicitly const uint32_t vm_page_size = 4096; kern_return_t ret; IOBufferMemoryDescriptor *buffer = nullptr; IOMemoryMap *memMap = nullptr; void *taskData = nullptr; // Create a buffer for HBA-specific task data ret = IOBufferMemoryDescriptor::Create(kIOMemoryDirectionOutIn, ivars->fTaskDataSize, vm_page_size, &buffer); __Require((kIOReturnSuccess == ret), Exit); // Map memory to the driver extension's memory space ret = buffer->CreateMapping(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, &memMap); __Require((kIOReturnSuccess == ret), Exit); // Retrieve mapped memory address taskData = reinterpret_cast<void *>(memMap->GetAddress()); __Require(taskData, Exit); // WARNING: Potential leak of an object stored into 'buffer' // WARNING: Potential leak of an object stored into 'memMap' // Assign a unique task ID ivars->fTaskID++; // ERROR: No member named 'fTaskID' in 'DriverKitAcxxx_IVars' ivars->fTaskArray[ivars->fTaskID] = taskData; *uniqueTaskID = ivars->fTaskID; Log("UserMapHBAData() - End"); return kIOReturnSuccess; Exit: // Cleanup in case of failure if (memMap) { memMap->free(); // Correct method for releasing memory maps } if (buffer) { buffer->free(); // Correct method for releasing buffer memory } LogErr("ret = 0x%0x", ret); Log("UserMapHBAData() - End"); return ret; } For reference, in KEXT, memory allocation is typically done using: IOBufferMemoryDescriptor *buffer = IOBufferMemoryDescriptor::inTaskWithOptions( kernel_task, // Task in which memory is allocated kIODirectionOutIn, // Direction (read/write) 1024, // Size of the buffer in bytes 4); // Alignment requirements However, after installing the dext, macOS hangs, and I have to do a hardware reset. After rebooting, the sysctl list output shows: % sectl list 1 extension(s) --- com.apple.system_extension.driver_extension enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] * - com.accusys.DriverKitAcxxx (5.0/11) com.accusys.DriverKitAcxxx [activated waiting for user] Questions: What could be causing macOS to halt? How should I approach debugging and resolving this issue? Looking forward to your insights, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Best regards, Charles
7
0
497
May ’25
Symbol missing when running Dext builded with Xcode 16.2 and running on macOS 14.7.4
I have reference some related post for this issue: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode-release-notes/xcode-16-release-notes#Foundation https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/762711 Unfortunately, I'm facing the similar issues even though using Xcode Version 16.2 (16C5032a). we have the following build environment: Xcode version: Xcode 16.2 (16C5032a) macOS Version: macOS 14.7.4 (23H420) Everything builds and install fine. But when attempting to plug on Device on macOS 14.7.4 it crashes immediately with what appears to be a missing Foundation symbol. Crashed Thread: 0 Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000 Termination Reason: Namespace DYLD, Code 4 Symbol missing Symbol not found: __ZThn48_N21IOUserNetworkEthernet25registerEthernetInterfaceE10ether_addrPP24IOUserNetworkPacketQueuejP29IOUserNetworkPacketBufferPoolS5_ Referenced from: &lt;ECE57ABF-0633-3C3B-8427-FB25CC706343&gt; /Library/SystemExtensions/*/com.asix.dext.pciedevice Expected in: &lt;CDEB3490-B1E0-3D60-80CE-59C0682A4B03&gt; /System/DriverKit/System/Library/Frameworks/NetworkingDriverKit.framework/NetworkingDriverKit (terminated at launch; ignore backtrace) Thread 0 Crashed: 0 dyld 0x1041da4c8 __abort_with_payload + 8 1 dyld 0x1041e50cc abort_with_payload_wrapper_internal + 104 2 dyld 0x1041e5100 abort_with_payload + 16 3 dyld 0x1041767f0 dyld4::halt(char const*, dyld4::StructuredError const*) + 304 4 dyld 0x1041732ec dyld4::prepare(dyld4::APIs&amp;, dyld3::MachOAnalyzer const*) + 3888 5 dyld 0x104171ef4 start + 1868 Thread 0 crashed with ARM Thread State (64-bit): x0: 0x0000000000000006 x1: 0x0000000000000004 x2: 0x000000016bdd2810 x3: 0x0000000000000172 x4: 0x000000016bdd2410 x5: 0x0000000000000000 x6: 0x000000016bdd1400 x7: 0x000000016bdd1460 x8: 0x0000000000000020 x9: 0x000000016bdd237c x10: 0x000000000000000a x11: 0x0000000000000000 x12: 0x0000000000000038 x13: 0x0000000000000000 x14: 0x0000000188e77f9d x15: 0x0000000000008000 x16: 0x0000000000000209 x17: 0x000000010416f37c x18: 0x0000000000000000 x19: 0x0000000000000000 x20: 0x000000016bdd2410 x21: 0x0000000000000172 x22: 0x000000016bdd2810 x23: 0x0000000000000004 x24: 0x0000000000000006 x25: 0x00000000000000a8 x26: 0x000000016bdd32d8 x27: 0x000000010405e090 x28: 0x0000000000000001 fp: 0x000000016bdd23e0 lr: 0x00000001041e50cc sp: 0x000000016bdd23a0 pc: 0x00000001041da4c8 cpsr: 0x80001000 far: 0x0000000000000000 esr: 0x56000080 Address size fault Binary Images: 0x10416c000 - 0x1041f7fff dyld (*) &lt;4fe051cf-29dc-3f02-890b-33144fa09253&gt; /usr/lib/dyld 0x10402c000 - 0x10403ffff com.asix.dext.pciedevice (0.1.6) &lt;ece57abf-0633-3c3b-8427-fb25cc706343&gt; /Library/SystemExtensions/*/com.asix.dext.pciedevice 0x0 - 0xffffffffffffffff ??? (*) &lt;00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&gt; ??? External Modification Summary: Calls made by other processes targeting this process: task_for_pid: 0 thread_create: 0 thread_set_state: 0 Calls made by this process: task_for_pid: 0 thread_create: 0 thread_set_state: 0 Calls made by all processes on this machine: task_for_pid: 0 thread_create: 0 thread_set_state: 0 VM Region Summary: ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=8612K resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=8612K(100%) Writable regions: Total=12.2M written=0K(0%) resident=0K(0%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=12.2M(100%) Is it expected that this should work? Is this a known issue? Is there any workaround for it? Should I file feedback or a DTS?
2
0
140
May ’25