mt76 Out-of-Tree WiFi Driver Build Infrastructure

Build, install, and manage MediaTek mt76 WiFi drivers as out-of-tree kernel modules. Supports DKMS, non-DKMS, Secure Boot, and kernels 6.17 through 7.x.

Based on openwrt/mt76, adapted for standalone out-of-tree building by the morrownr community.

Quick Start

# Install
git clone https://github.com/morrownr/mt76.git
cd mt76
sudo sh install-driver.sh

# Check status (no root needed)
./check-driver.sh

# Update
git pull
sudo sh install-driver.sh

# Uninstall
sudo sh uninstall-driver.sh

Supported Chipset Families

Family	Chips	Bus	Modules	WiFi Generation
MT76x0	MT7610, MT7630, MT7650	USB, PCIe	mt76x0u, mt76x0e	WiFi 5 (AC)
MT76x2	MT7612, MT7662	USB, PCIe	mt76x2u, mt76x2e	WiFi 5 (AC)
MT7615	MT7615, MT7663	PCIe, USB, SDIO	mt7615e, mt7663u, mt7663s	WiFi 5 (AC)
MT7915	MT7915, MT7906, MT7916	PCIe	mt7915e	WiFi 6 (AX)
MT7921	MT7920, MT7921, MT7922, MT7902	PCIe, USB, SDIO	mt7921e, mt7921u, mt7921s	WiFi 6E (AXE)
MT7925	MT7925	PCIe, USB	mt7925e, mt7925u	WiFi 7 (BE)
MT7996	MT7990, MT7992, MT7996	PCIe	mt7996e	WiFi 7 (BE)

Inactive Families

Family	Status
MT7603	Source retained but not built by default. Old WiFi 4 chip, no user reports on this repo. Users with MT7603 hardware should rely on the in-kernel mt7603e driver. Reactivation is a one-line Makefile change if someone needs it.

Supported USB Adapters

MT76x0 (WiFi 5 AC)

VID:PID	Device
148f:7610	MT7610U reference design
13b1:003e	Linksys AE6000
0e8d:7610	Sabrent NTWLAC
7392:a711	Edimax 7711mac
7392:b711	Edimax / Elecom
148f:761a	TP-Link TL-WDN5200
0b05:17d1	Asus USB-AC51
0b05:17db	Asus USB-AC50
0df6:0075	Sitecom WLA-3100
2019:ab31	Planex GW-450D
2001:3d02	D-Link DWA-171 rev B1
0586:3425	Zyxel NWD6505
07b8:7610	AboCom AU7212
04bb:0951	I-O DATA WN-AC433UK
057c:8502	AVM FRITZ!WLAN AC 430
293c:5702	Comcast Xfinity KXW02AAA
20f4:806b	TRENDnet TEW-806UBH
7392:c711	Devolo WiFi AC Stick
2357:0123	TP-Link T2UHP v1
2357:0105	TP-Link Archer T1U

MT76x2 (WiFi 5 AC)

VID:PID	Device
0b05:1833	Asus USB-AC54
0b05:17eb	Asus USB-AC55
0b05:180b	Asus USB-N53 B1
0e8d:7612	Aukey USBAC1200 / Alfa AWUS036ACM
057c:8503	AVM FRITZ!WLAN AC860
7392:b711	Edimax EW-7722UAC
0e8d:7632	HC-M7662BU1
2c4e:0103	Mercury UD13
0846:9014	Netgear WNDA3100v3
0846:9053	Netgear A6210
045e:02e6	Xbox One Wireless Adapter
045e:02fe	Xbox One Wireless Adapter
0471:2126	LiteOn WN4516R
0471:7600	LiteOn WN4519R
2357:0137	TP-Link TL-WDN6200

MT7663 (WiFi 5 AC)

VID:PID	Device
0e8d:7663	MT7663 reference (USB)
043e:310c	LG MT7663 (USB)

MT7921 (WiFi 6E AXE)

VID:PID	Device
0e8d:7961	MT7921AU reference
3574:6211	D-Link DWA-X1850
0846:9060	Netgear AXE3000 (A8000)
0846:9065	Netgear AXE3000 (A8000S)
35bc:0107	8Devices USB-WiFi6E

MT7925 (WiFi 7 BE)

VID:PID	Device
0e8d:7925	MT7925 reference
0846:9072	Netgear (WiFi 7)

Supported PCIe Devices

Family	PCI IDs (vendor 14c3 unless noted)
MT76x0	7610, 7630, 7650
MT76x2	7662, 7612, 7602
MT7615	7615, 7663, 7611
MT7915	7915, 7906, 7916, 790a
MT7921	7961, 7922, 0608, 0616, 7920, 7902 (also 0b48:7922)
MT7925	7925, 0717
MT7996	7990, 7991, 7992, 799a, 7993, 799b

Files

File	Purpose
Makefile	Kbuild out-of-tree Makefile for all 28 active modules across 7 chipset families
install-driver.sh	Full install with progress display, prerequisite checks, build, verify
uninstall-driver.sh	Clean removal of installed modules, DKMS entries, and config
check-driver.sh	No-root diagnostic: loaded modules, hardware, link status, firmware, dmesg
dkms.conf	DKMS auto-rebuild on kernel updates, conditional PCI/SDIO support
mt76_git.conf	modprobe options and blacklist for the in-kernel mt76 modules this repo replaces
compat-patches/	Source compatibility patches for kernels 6.17 through 6.19+
mt7615/Makefile	MT7615 family: common + PCIe + USB + SDIO (WiFi 5)
mt7915/Makefile	MT7915 PCIe with coredump support (WiFi 6)
mt7921/Makefile	MT7921 family: common + PCIe + USB + SDIO (WiFi 6E)
mt7925/Makefile	MT7925 family: common + PCIe + USB (WiFi 7)
mt7996/Makefile	MT7996 PCIe with NPU and coredump support (WiFi 7)
mt76x0/Makefile	MT76x0 family: common + USB + PCIe (WiFi 5)
mt76x2/Makefile	MT76x2 family: common + USB + PCIe (WiFi 5)

Module Map (28 active modules)

Core and transport:
  mt76_git              Core driver
  mt76_usb_git          USB transport
  mt76_sdio_git         SDIO transport (requires CONFIG_MMC)

Shared libraries:
  mt76x02_lib_git       Legacy shared (MT76x0/x2)
  mt76x02_usb_git       Legacy USB shared
  mt76_connac_lib_git   CONNAC shared
  mt792x_lib_git        MT792x shared
  mt792x_usb_git        MT792x USB shared

Chipset families:
  mt7615_common_git     MT7615 shared
  mt7615e_git           MT7615 PCIe
  mt7663_usb_sdio_common_git  MT7663 USB/SDIO shared
  mt7663u_git           MT7663 USB
  mt7663s_git           MT7663 SDIO (requires CONFIG_MMC)
  mt7915e_git           MT7915 PCIe
  mt7921_common_git     MT7921 shared
  mt7921e_git           MT7921 PCIe
  mt7921s_git           MT7921 SDIO
  mt7921u_git           MT7921 USB
  mt7925_common_git     MT7925 shared
  mt7925e_git           MT7925 PCIe
  mt7925u_git           MT7925 USB
  mt7996e_git           MT7996 PCIe
  mt76x0_common_git     MT76x0 shared
  mt76x0u_git           MT76x0 USB
  mt76x0e_git           MT76x0 PCIe
  mt76x2_common_git     MT76x2 shared
  mt76x2u_git           MT76x2 USB
  mt76x2e_git           MT76x2 PCIe

How It Works

All out-of-tree modules are built with a _git suffix (e.g., mt76_git.ko instead of mt76.ko). This allows them to coexist with the in-kernel mt76 modules. The blacklist in mt76_git.conf prevents the in-kernel versions from loading, so the out-of-tree versions handle all hardware.

This means:

• Safe to install -- your in-kernel modules are untouched
• Safe to uninstall -- blacklist removal restores in-kernel behavior
• Safe to update -- just git pull && sudo sh install-driver.sh

Prerequisites

The installer checks for all of these automatically:

• gcc -- C compiler
• make -- build tool
• bc -- used by kernel build system
• iw -- wireless configuration tool
• Kernel header files for your running kernel
• Optional: dkms for automatic rebuilds on kernel updates

Reporting Issues

Run check-driver.sh and include the full output in your bug report:

./check-driver.sh 2>&1 | tee mt76-diag.txt

This captures loaded modules (in-kernel vs out-of-tree), hardware detection, link status with signal strength, firmware presence, blacklist health, Secure Boot status, and recent kernel messages. Everything a maintainer needs in one command.

Kernel Compatibility

Supported range: 6.17 through 7.x (enforced by BUILD_EXCLUSIVE_KERNEL in dkms.conf).

Compatibility patches in compat-patches/:

• linux/unaligned.h vs asm/unaligned.h header rename (kernel 6.12)
• hrtimer_setup() replacing hrtimer_init() (kernel 6.12/6.19)
• OpenWrt-specific EMLSR API isolation

Design Decisions

• _git suffix: Follows the morrownr/rtw89 convention. Modules install to extra/ or updates/ directories which take priority over kernel/ in depmod search order.
• PCI conditional: PCIe-only modules gated on CONFIG_PCI
• SDIO conditional: SDIO modules gated on CONFIG_MMC
• USB unconditional: USB modules always built
• Git commit in modules: -DGIT_COMMIT baked in at build time for traceability
• Module compression: Install target auto-matches distro compression (zstd/xz/gzip)
• No SoC code: MT7622_WMAC, MT798X_WMAC, NPU configs left as no-ops (never defined on desktop/laptop kernels, code compiles out)

License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.