The Mission of this Repo:

To code, test and upstream great quality Linux Standards compliant (mac80211) USB WiFi drivers for the Realtek RTW89 driver series.

Compatibility

Compatible with Linux kernel versions 6.6 and newer as long as your distro hasn't modified any kernel APIs. RHEL and all distros based on RHEL will have modified kernel APIs and are unlikely to be compatible with this driver.

Supported chips

• USB : RTL8831BU, RTL8851BU, RTL8832AU, RTL8852AU, RTL8832BU, RTL8852BU
• USB : RTL8832CU, RTL8852CU, RTL8912AU, RTL8922AU
• PCIe: RTL8851BE, RTL8852AE, RTL8852BE(-VS, -VT), RTL8852CE, RTL8922AE(-VS)

Note: If you own a USB WiFi adapter with any of the above supported chips and your adapter is single-state (no Windows driver on board) and single-function (no bluetooth support), please start an issue and post the brand, name and chip of your adapter as well as a link to the product. This will allow us to make a list of preferred adapters.

Prerequisites

git, make, gcc, kernel-headers, dkms and mokutil (dkms and mokutil are optional.)

Installation Guide

1. Create a clone of this repo in your local machine

   git clone https://github.com/morrownr/rtw89
   

2. Change the working directory to rtw89

   cd rtw89
   

3. Search and remove previously installed out-of-kernel rtw89 drivers. If your system has Larry's rtw89 driver installed, you must run this command to remove it, or this driver won't work as expected.

   sudo make cleanup_target_system
   

4. Build and install the driver

   • via dkms (Recommended especially if Secure Boot is enabled in your system)

     sudo dkms install $PWD
     

   • via make (In this way you will have to manually reinstall the driver after each kernel update)

     make clean modules && sudo make install
     

5. Install the firmware necessary for the driver

   sudo make install_fw
   

6. Copy the configuration file rtw89.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/

   sudo cp -v rtw89.conf /etc/modprobe.d/
   

   Note: The above step will blacklist in-kernel drivers that can conflict with drivers in this repo.

7. Enroll the MOK (Machine Owner Key). This is needed ONLY IF Secure Boot is enabled in your system. Please see this guide for details.

   sudo mokutil --import /var/lib/dkms/mok.pub
   

   For Ubuntu-based distro users, run this command instead.

   sudo mokutil --import /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der
   

Uninstallation Guide

For users who installed the driver via DKMS,

1. Check the version of the rtw89 driver installed in your system.

sudo dkms status rtw89

2. Remove the rtw89 driver and its source code (Change the driver version accordingly)

sudo dkms remove rtw89/6.15 --all

sudo rm -rf /usr/src/rtw89-6.15

3. Remove the configuration file

sudo rm -f /etc/modprobe.d/rtw89.conf

For users who installed the driver via make, run these commands in the rtw89 source directory

sudo make uninstall

sudo rm -f /etc/modprobe.d/rtw89.conf

Q&A

Q1. Bluetooth is still not working after installing this driver, why?

The rtw89 driver is the Wi-Fi driver for Realtek Wi-Fi 6/7 adapters and has nothing to do with Bluetooth. Open a new issue and share the output of the command sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices with us if you run into a Bluetooth problem.

Q2. How to update the driver installed via DKMS?

1. Check the version of the rtw89 driver installed in your system.

   sudo dkms status rtw89
   

2. Remove the rtw89 driver. (Change the driver version accordingly)

   sudo dkms remove rtw89/6.15 --all
   

   sudo rm -rf /usr/src/rtw89-6.15/
   

3. Run this command in the rtw89 source directory to pull the latest code

   git pull
   

4. Build, sign and install the rtw89 driver from the latest code.

   sudo dkms install $PWD
   

Q3. How to update the driver installed via make?

1. Run this command in the rtw89 source directory to pull the latest code

    git pull
   

2. Rebuild and reinstall the driver from the latest code

   make clean modules && sudo make install
   

Q4. How to update the firmware in my system?

1. Run this command in the rtw89 source directory to pull the latest code and firmware

   git pull
   

2. Update the firmware files in your system

   sudo make install_fw
   

Q5. I see my USB Wi-Fi adapter is in Driver CDROM Mode when running lsusb, what should I do?

Install usb-modeswitch (or usb_modeswitch), a tool that can switch your adapter to Wi-Fi mode.

Q6. My computer takes a very long time to boot when the Wi-Fi dongle is pre-inserted, how to fix it?

1. Copy usb_storage.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/. This file will tell the culprit usb_storage not to touch the Wi-Fi dongles.

   sudo cp usb_storage.conf /etc/modprobe.d/
   

2. Regenerate initramfs images. The following command is only applicable to Debian/Ubuntu and their variants. Please consult the manual if you are running other distros.

   sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
   

Q7. My computer only provides USB 3.x ports. How can I make my USB wireless adapter work in USB 2.0 mode?

1. Open /etc/modprobe.d/rtw89.conf with a text editor.

2. Change the value of the module parameter switch_usb_mode from 'y' to 'n'. Changing this value to 'n' tells the rtw89 driver not to perform USB mode switching, so the USB wireless adapter will work in USB 2.0 mode.

3. Remove the USB wireless adapter from your computer.

4. Reboot your computer (or unload the rtw89 driver completely, if you know how).

5. Plug your USB wireless adapter back into the computer.

6. Run "lsusb -t" to check what mode the USB wireless adapter is in.

Q8. My Realtek PCIe wireless card on a Lenovo or HP laptop is not working well, any solution?

Please try the workaround here

Q9. My Realtek PCIe wireless card on an Intel X99 machine doesn't work, how to fix it?

Please apply this patch and build/install the patched rtw89 driver.

The Main Menu for this site contains a lot of information regarding USB WiFi Adapters

https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi