macOS on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 thanks to Acidanthera's OpenCore bootloader.
Warning
When upgrading your existing installation to macOS Tahoe, you MUST log out of your Apple Account (iCloud) before proceeding with the upgrade. Furthermore make sure you DESELECT the option to enable FileVault disk encryption in the installer and do not sign into your Apple Account (iCloud) until the installer is done and you reach the desktop. Failing to do so will eventually encrypt your disk and prevent you from unlocking your disk with your password on restart.
If FileVault disk encryption is enabled in your existing installation of macOS and you wish to keep it enabled in macOS Tahoe, then carefully read the section below before proceeding with the upgrade.
When doing a clean install of macOS Tahoe, make sure you DESELECT the option to enable FileVault disk encryption in the installer and do not sign into your Apple Account (iCloud) until the installer is done and you reach the desktop. Failing to do so will eventually encrypt your disk and prevent you from unlocking your disk with your password on restart.
If you wish to enable FileVault disk encryption in macOS Tahoe, carefully read the section below.
- (20260127) Added instructions to enable Wifi in the macOS Sequoia and Tahoe installer (see section below).
- (20260111) Added the
apfs_aligned.efidriver to fixFileVaultwhen upgrading to macOS Tahoe (see section below). - (20260110) Added resources and instructions to enable
AirportItlwm.kextand fix audio on macOS Tahoe (see section below). - (20260110) Fixing audio in macOS Tahoe (see section below).
- (20251018) With the stuff merged today, macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 now installs (albeit with some flickering in the installer) and runs quite nicely.
- (20251016) Added resources and instructions to enable the
AirportItlwm.kexton macOS Sonoma - (20251016) Added the
DisableBDPROCHOT.efidriver to fix the throttling issues - (20251011) Fixed issues with the firmware downgrade by adding the
--forceargument to thefwupdmgrcommand line - (20250901) Disabled the touchscreen to put an end to the dreaded overheating issues
- (20250620) Fixed external displays over USB-C
| Software | Version |
|---|---|
| Target OS | Apple macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia and 26 Tahoe (work in progress) |
| OpenCore | MOD-OC v1.0.7 |
| SMBIOS | MacBookPro16,2 |
| SSD format | APFS file system, GPT partition table |
With its nice display, large and smooth trackpad, comfortable keyboard and its quite decent speakers, the Surface Laptop 3 series is an excellent Hackintosh laptop. Moreover, the M.2 2230 SSD can be swapped easily for a larger one.
Apart from ACPI S3 Sleep which is broken, everything on the Intel 13.5-Inch and 15-Inch Surface Laptop 3 is working perfectly like on a real Mac. ACPI S4 Hibernate works great, though, and resuming from Hibernation takes around ten to fifteen seconds. The advantage Hibernate has over Sleep is that the device doesn't draw any power while in a hibernated state.
The battery runtime is around five hours.
Important
For macOS to be able to boot on the Surface Laptop 3, the Secure Boot option must be disabled in the UEFI. The boot screen will then display a large red bar with a padlock symbol at the top of the display when Secure Boot is disabled.
Important
Samsung PM981 and PM991 SSDs are known to cause various kernel panics, as well as boot and hibernation issues. If you run into such problems, consider replacing the Samsung drive with an SSD from Kioxia or Western Digital. I've had no issues with the Kioxia BG3 and the Western Digital Black SN770M drives.
Important
If your Surface Laptop 3 randomly shuts down due to overheating during the macOS installation process, disable the DisableBDPROCHOT.efi driver in the UEFI -> Drivers section of your config.plist file.
Once macOS is up and running, you can enable the driver again.
Important
The keyboard and trackpad are now working in the installer as well as in the installed OS, but the trackpad will be lagging/skipping every few seconds. Furthermore, the keyboard and trackpad will be unresponsive after resuming from hibernation. To fix those issues, you MUST downgrade the firmware of your Surface Laptop 3. To do so, follow these instructions.
Then, you MUST also replace BigSurface.kext and its dependencies with BigSurfaceSLB3.kext and its dependencies in your config.plist file by following these instructions.
Caution
At the moment, it is not possible to have Windows installed at the same time as macOS, as the SL3 will immediately update to the latest firmware again when you reboot into Windows, even if you turn off your WiFi or disable automatic Windows Updates. I haven't found a way to prevent this behaviour yet. Any kind of Linux distribution is fine, though.
As of 6 April 2025, @pnxl added instructions on how to run Windows on Surface Laptop 3, without Windows Update updating the firmware to the latest firmware version upon reboot. The instructions can be found here.
This repository is neither a howto nor an installation manual. Using these files requires at least basic knowledge of Acidanthera's OpenCore bootloader, ACPI, UEFI and the art of hackintoshing in general. I recommend reading the excellent Dortania's OpenCore Install Guide, as well as all its linked resources. For those who wish to improve their hackintoshing knowledge, 5T33Z0's OC-Little-Translated repository is the most comprehensive resource I've found on the subject.
I recommend completely erasing the device's SSD by creating a new GPT partition table before attempting to install macOS, as it makes the installation process much easier. You may use any Linux live ISO with a partitioning tool such as GParted or KPartition to erase the SSD.
Please be aware that all PlatformInfo and SMBIOS information was removed from the OpenCore config.plist file. Users will therefore need to generate their own PlatformInfo with CorpNewt's GenSMBIOS tool before attempting to boot a Surface Laptop 3 with this repository's EFI folder.
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext is required to enable the trackpad, the keyboard, the touchscreen, the battery status, the power and volume buttons and the ambient light sensor. Updating this kext with the official one from Xiashangning's BigSurface repo will most certainly break something! BigSurfaceSLB3.kext is a modified version of BigSurface v6.5 which fixes the skipping/lagging trackpad and hibernate mode 25.
An UEFI firmware released by Micro$oft in August 2023 broke the Surface Laptop 3's trackpad in macOS in several ways. Downgrading the UEFI firmware to the last known working version 13.101.140.0 is required to fix the trackpad and hibernate mode 25 on macOS. See the detailed instructions below to easily downgrade the UEFI firmware. This needs to be done before installing any version of macOS or you won't have a working trackpad and/or keyboard during installation.
AirportItlwm-Ventura.kext, AirportItlwm-Sonoma140.kext, AirportItlwm-Sonoma144.kext and AirportItlwm-Sequoia-Tahoe.kext from the OpenIntelWireless repo are drivers required to enable the Wifi chip. This EFI will dynamically load the appropriate kext for macOS Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia or Tahoe depending on the running kernel. No need to manually replace the kext file when updating your version of macOS.
In macOS Sequoia and Tahoe, you'll need to apply root patches with Laobamac's OCLP-Mod Patcher once the OS is up and running in order to enable the AirportItlwm.kext driver for the Intel Wifi chip. Head over to the instructions..
the Itlwm.kext driver for the Intel Wifi chip and its companion app HeliPort are included but disabled in this EFI for those who prefer to connect to their Wifi network this way. You'll find the latest stable HeliPort.dmg in the Tools folder of this repo.
The macOS installer USB sticks created on Linux or Windows are online installers which require a working Internet connection. To install macOS Sequoia or Tahoe with an online installer, you'll need to disable the AirportItlwm.kext Intel Wifi driver and use the itlwm.kext Intel Wifi driver instead. To do so, follow the instructions here. You could also use an USB to Ethernet adapter to connect to your router with a good old Ethernet cable.
This repository uses the unofficial OpenCore_NO_ACPI_Build fork of OpenCore by btwise, wich is not endorsed by Acidanthera (the dev team behind OpenCore). The main (and only) difference between this fork and the official OpenCore version is that it allows to prevent ACPI injection (e.g. patches, tables, boot parameters) into other OSes besides macOS.
Windows and Linux should be detected automagically by the OpenCore boot loader even when installed after macOS.
Computer Specifications
| Device | Hardware |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-1065G7 or Intel Core i5-1035G7 |
| iGPU | Intel Iris Plus Graphics |
| Audio | Realtek ALC274 |
| RAM | 8 or 16 GB RAM |
| Wifi + Bluetooth | Wifi6 AX200, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Storage | Kioxia/Toshiba/SK Hynix PCIe NVMe 2230 SSD |
| USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 | Supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort |
| Camera | 720p |
| IR camera | Intel(R) AVStream Camera 2500, ISP Interface |
| Keyboard / Trackpad | |
| Display | 13.50 inch 3:2, 2256 x 1504 pixel or 15 inch 3:2, 2496 x 1664 pixel 201 PPI |
| Touchscreen | 10-point capacitive |
| Battery | |
| Ambient light sensor |
What works
- CPU power management
- CPU SpeedStep
- iGPU with full acceleration
- SSD drive
- USB-C port
- USB-A port
- WLAN
- Bluetooth
- 720p camera
- Internal speakers, microphone and Combojack
- Power, volume up and volume down buttons
- Keyboard with working brightness, volume and mute keys, working caps lock light
- Trackpad with native multi-touch gestures
- Ambient light sensor
- Battery percentage and cycle count
- Hibernation (hibernatemode 25) - the device successfully wakes up from hibernation mode
- USB Type-C to HDMI
- USB Type-C to USB3 & USB2
- USB Type-C Power Delivery
What needs some more work
- The Touchscreen is disabled for now as it causes severe throttling and overheating issues
What will probably never work
- Sleep (hibernatemode 3) - the device only turns off the display without sleeping
- IR camera (Windows Hello)
UEFI Settings
To enter the UEFI Settings, power on your Surface Laptop 3 and hold the Volume Up Button as soon as the Surface Logo is displayed on the screen.
The Secure Boot setting must be disabled to boot macOS. I also recommend moving USB Storage to the top of the boot configuration list, which makes booting from an USB stick much easier.
| Security | |
|---|---|
| Secure Boot | Disabled |
| Boot configuration | |
|---|---|
| USB Storage | Move the item to the top of the list |
Downgrading the UEFI firmware
In order to fix the skipping/lagging trackpad in macOS and make the trackpad and keyboard work after hibernation, you must downgrade your UEFI firmware to the last known working version 13.101.140.0.
- Boot with a Linux Live USB stick, preferably a Debian, Arch or Fedora based distribution (I use the Arch-based Manjaro).
- Download and unzip the compressed firmware archive SurfaceLaptop3_FW_13.101.140.0.zip from this repository.
- Add the line
OnlyTrusted=falseto the/etc/fwupd/daemon.confconfig file. On some Linux distros such as Arch, endeavourOS and Manjaro, the config file to change is/etc/fwupd/fwupd.conf:
sudo nano /etc/fwupd/daemon.conf
or
sudo nano /etc/fwupd/fwupd.conf
- Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where you extracted the firmware files.
- Connect your Surface device to a power supply.
- Copy the following lines and paste them into the terminal:
for f in *; do
sudo fwupdmgr install --force --allow-older --allow-reinstall --no-reboot-check "$f"
done
- Close the terminal and reboot into Linux once more.
For some firmware files, the fwupdmgr tool may complain that it is unable to find a matching device. This is normal, as not all Surface Laptop 3 models use the exact same hardware, thus the compressed firmware archive contains all the required files for all models.
The Surface Laptop 3 will reboot and downgrade all UEFI firmwares at once, which takes around 5 to 10 minutes. You'll see progress bars with different colours depending on which type of firmware is being flashed. Once the process is done, your laptop will restart a few times and seem to hang on the Surface logo for 20 or 30 seconds each time, this is normal. Then it will restart for good to your OpenCore picker.
Now restart while holding the F4/Volume Up key to check the firmware version in the UEFI. In the Firmware section, System UEFI should now show 13.101.140.
Reboot and you're done.
If you are using Windows on the laptop, you'll have to find a way to prevent Windows Update from automatically updating the firmware to the latest firmware version again on the next reboot into Windows! I haven't found a way to prevent this yet. Any kind of Linux distribution is fine, though.
As of 6 April 2025, @pnxl added instructions on how to run Windows on Surface Laptop 3, without Windows Update updating the firmware to the latest firmware version upon reboot. The instructions can be found here.
Running Windows without updating the firmware
Since Windows 7 (and Server 2008), Microsoft has added a way for system administrators to prevent the installation of device drivers for specific devices via a hardware ID block list. We can take advantage of this to prevent any firmware updates to the Surface UEFI firmware.
First, you'll have to install Windows with the Surface recovery (as the Windows installer DOES NOT include the drivers to communicate with the Surface Aggregator Module which handles HID devices, oddly enough)
Once you have Windows up and running, you'll want to install the last known working version of the drivers. Download SurfaceLaptop3_Win10_19041_22.011.9779.0.msi from this Google Drive mirror. If you haven't downgraded your firmware, this will do that for you too.
After complete, follow the instructions to block device driver installation for the Surface UEFI firmware.
- Open the Registry Editor, and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows - Make a new key, named
DeviceInstall - Under that key, make another new key named
Restrictions - Under the
Restrictionskey, make a DWORD Value namedDenyDeviceIDsandDenyDeviceIDsRetroactive. Set both values to 1. - Create a new key under
Restrictions, namedDenyDeviceIDs. - You should end up with something like this.
We're not done just yet - let's continue.
- Open Device Manager, and locate, then expand the Firmware section.
- You'll see a bunch of different firmware modules for the components on your Surface.
- Right-click on one, and click on Properties.
- Click on the details tab, and select Hardware IDs from the dropdown.
- Right-click the top-most Hardware ID, and paste it in a text editor, temporarily.
Repeat for all the remaining firmware modules. You should end up with something like this.
We're still not done! Hang in there.
- Go back to the Registry Editor, and go to the
DenyDeviceIDskey we made. - Create a new String Value, and name it
1. - Set the value to the first Hardware ID you copied.
Rinse and repeat for the rest of the Hardware IDs you copied. Increment the names of the string values as you go. (Name 1 for the first, 2 for the second, and so on)
Pro tip! If you need to make lots of String Values, you'll find that it gets cumbersome to do (especially on a trackpad). You can use the following keyboard sequence to create String Values much faster: [Alt], [E], [N], [S], [number].
In the end, you'll have something similar to this.
Restart your computer to apply the changes.
Replacing BigSurface.kext with BigSurfaceSLB3.kext
Additionally, to fix the skipping/lagging trackpad in macOS and make the trackpad and keyboard work after hibernation, you also have to replace the official BigSurface.kext with the BigSurfaceSLB3.kext.
In the Kernel -> Add section of your config.plist file, disable or delete the following kexts:
BigSurface.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooGPIO.kext
BigSurface.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooSerial.kext
BigSurface.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooInput.kext
BigSurface.kext
BigSurface.kext/Contents/PlugIns/BigSurfaceHIDDriver.kext
Then enable the following kexts:
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooGPIO.kext
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooSerial.kext
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext/Contents/PlugIns/VoodooInput.kext
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext
BigSurfaceSLB3.kext/Contents/PlugIns/BigSurfaceHIDDriver.kext
Save your config.plist file and reboot. Your trackpad should now be buttery smooth before and after resuming from hibernation. The keyboard will now also work after resuming from hibernation.
Disabling Sleep and enabling Hibernate
As we still haven't found a solution for the Sleep/Wake issues on the Surface Laptop 3, disable Sleep altogether and use Hibernate for now. Open the Terminal and enter the following commands, then reboot for the changes to take effect:
sudo pmset restoredefaults
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25
If for whatever reason Hibernate is not working on your system, you should reset the Power Management settings and rebuild the sleepimage file. To do so, open the Terminal and enter the following commands, then reboot for the changes to take effect:
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.PowerManagement*
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
sudo pmset hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
Once you are back in macOS, disable Sleep and enable Hibernate again, then reboot:
sudo pmset restoredefaults
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25
It's also a good idea to reset the NVRAM before rebooting into macOS. To do so, press the space bar in the OpenCore picker and use the arrow keys to select Reset NVRAM.
Keep in mind that once the Surface Laptop 3 hibernates, you need to let it hibernate for a couple of minutes before waking it up. Failing to do so will disrupt hibernation and the device will hang. You'll have to turn it off forcefully by pressing on the power button for 10 seconds. Sometimes you even need to press the power button for up to 20 seconds to restart the laptop.
Enabling the Intel Wireless Card in macOS Sequoia and Tahoe
It is now possible to have Intel WiFi with native Airport features on macOS Sequoia and Tahoe by enabling the AirportItlwm.kext driver for macOS Ventura provided by the OpenIntelWireless project.
AirportItlwm.kext uses Apple's IO80211Family. It provides certain Airport features but lacks stability compared with itlwm.kext due to the ambiguity of reverse engineering.
To enable the AirportItlwm.kext driver, download and install the latest release of Laobamac's OCLP-Mod Patcher.
Launch the OCLP-Mod Patcher, this may take a few seconds. As of January 2026, the tool is only available in Chinese.
Now click on the upper right button to select the Root Patching option:
Then click on the highlighted button or press Enter to start the patching process:
Once the patching is done, click on the highlighted button or press Enter to close the tool and restart your computer. Your Intel wireless card should be working now.
[!IMPORTANT] You'll need to repeat the above steps after every macOS update!
itlwm.kext uses Apple's IOEthernet rather than IO80211. It is purely based on open-source resources, provides a stabler and faster performance, and the ability to unload on Kernels that use prelined kernel.
To enable Intel WiFi with the itlwm.kext driver, open the Kernel -> Add tab in your config.plist file.
Enable the following kext:
itlwm.kext
Then disable the following kexts:
IOSkywalkFamily.kext
IO80211FamilyLegacy.kext
IO80211FamilyLegacy.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcmNIC.kext
AMFIPass.kext
AirportItlwm-Sequoia-Tahoe.kext
Now head over to the Kernel -> Block tab and disable the com.apple.iokit.IOSkywalkFamily item.
Then head over to the NVRAM tab, select the 7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82 UUID and remove the -amfipassbeta argument from the boot-args key.
Save and close the config.plist file and reboot your computer.
Download and install the latest HeliPort Intel WiFi client for itlwm from the OpenIntelWireless project.
Add the HeliPort client to your login items and hide the macOS WiFi icon from the Menu Bar.
Enabling the Intel Wireless Card in the macOS Sequoia and Tahoe installer
To have working Wifi in the installer for macOS Sequoia or Tahoe, you'll need to disable the AirportItlwm.kext driver and use the itlwm.kext driver instead.
Open the Kernel -> Add tab in your config.plist file.
Disable the following kexts:
IOSkywalkFamily.kext
IO80211FamilyLegacy.kext
IO80211FamilyLegacy.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcmNIC.kext
AMFIPass.kext
AirportItlwm-Sequoia-Tahoe.kext
Then enable the following kext:
itlwm.kext
Then head over to the Kernel -> Block tab and disable the following line:
com.apple.iokit.IOSkywalkFamily
Save and close the config.plist file.
Then open the info.plist file inside the itlwm.kext and add the name and password for your Wifi network in the ssid and password fields. Save and close the file and reboot into the macOS installer. Your installer should automagically connect to your Wifi network now.
Once macOS Sequoia or Tahoe is up and running, you may switch back to the AirportItlwm.kext driver by reverting the changes you made above, then follow my instructions to apply the root patches which enable the Intel Wifi chip.
Fixing audio on macOS Tahoe
As Apple removed the AppleHDA.kext from macOS Tahoe, Acidanthera's AppleALC.kext won't work on macOS Tahoe out of the box and audio is broken. To fix this, simply run Laobamac's OCLP-Mod Patcher a second time once you have fixed the Intel wireless card and Internet is working again. The reason for this is that the OCLP-Mod Patcher needs to download the Kernel Development Kit from Apple's servers in order to reinstall the AppleHDA.kext on your macOS Tahoe partition and to do so, it needs a working Internet connection.
Another way to get back the internal speakers and microphone on macOS Tahoe is to install SergeySlice's VoodooHDA audio driver with chris1111's convenient VoodooHDA-Tahoe installer. This has the added benefit of fixing the loud click you hear from your speakers when playing sound for the first time after waking your SL3 from hibernation.
Before installing the VoodooHDA driver, you need to disable the AppleALC.kext driver in your config.plist file under Kernel -> Add and reboot your computer.
Then grab the latest installer from the Tools folder in my repository, launch the installer and follow the instructions.
Once you're back in macOS Tahoe after a reboot, head over to System Settings -> Sound -> Output & Input and select the Output tab, then select Speaker (Analog) as your sound output device.
Enabling native HiDPI display settings in macOS
On the installed macOS system, the default display resolution is less than ideal. To enable native HiDPI settings in the Display Preferences of macOS, download and run xzhih's one-key-hidpi script and select the option (7) Manual input resolution, then copy and paste the resolutions below into the terminal, press Enter and reboot for the changes to take effect. This will give you five sane preset resolutions for your Surface Laptop 3.
For the 13.5-Inch Surface Laptop 3:
2254x1504 1920x1280 1600x1066 1344x896 1280x854 1128x752
For the 15-Inch Surface Laptop 3:
2496x1664 2250x1500 2048x1366 1920x1280 1600x1066 1344x896 1280x854 1248x832
You may also download and install BetterDisplay to change and manage the display resolutions on the Surface Laptop 3.
Fixing broken Bluetooth on Wake from Hibernation
After the device wakes up from Hibernation, Bluetooth may be broken / unable to connect.
A very simple fix for this issue is to download and install Bluesnooze. Launch the app, enable Launch at login and you're done!
Fixing FileVault when upgrading to macOS Tahoe
If FileVault disk encryption is enabled during the upgrade or install of macOS Tahoe, the FileVault login window will reject your password and the encrypted disk will remain locked after the first reboot. This is due to Tahoe's APFS filesystem driver not supporting the software FileVault disk encryption created with previous versions of macOS.
There are two solutions to this rather annoying issue:
Open the UEFI -> Drivers tab in your config.plist file and enable the apfs_aligned.efi driver.
Then head over to the UEFI -> APFS tab and disable the EnableJumpstart option.
Save and close the config.plist file and restart your computer. The FileVault login window should now accept your password and unlock the disk.
Follow the nice instructions on Jac Timms' website.
Fixing broken Apple Messages and FaceTime on macOS Sonoma
To fix issues with Apple Messages and FaceTime related to the Intel Wireless driver on macOS Sonoma, disable all AirportItlwm-***.kext entries under Kernel -> Add in your config.plist file and use the itlwm_v2.3.0_stable.kext.zip and its companion app HeliPort instead.
The latest version 2.3.0 of itlwm.kext is already included in the Kext folder and config.plist file.