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https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89

Driver for Realtek 8852AE, an 802.11ax device
https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89

Last synced: 3 months ago
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Driver for Realtek 8852AE, an 802.11ax device

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README 

        
rtw89

===========

### A repo for the newest Realtek rtw89 codes.



This repo now contains the code for the Realtek RTW8922AE,  which

is a Wifi 7 device. It has been tested using a Wifi 6 AP as I do not have access

to a Wifi 7 model. The driver works very well.



This repo is current with rtw-next up to April 3, 2024.



This branch was created from the version merged into the wireless-next

repo, which is in the 5.16 kernel. IF YOU USE DRIVERS FROM THIS REPO FOR KERNELS

5.16+, YOU MUST BLACKLIST THE KERNEL VERSIONS!!!! FAILING TO DO THIS WILL RESULT

IN ALL MANNER OF STRANGE ERRORS.



This code will build on any kernel 6.10 and newer as long as the distro has not modified

any of the kernel APIs. IF YOU RUN UBUNTU, YOU CAN BE ASSURED THAT THE APIs HAVE CHANGED.

NO, I WILL NOT MODIFY THE SOURCE FOR YOU. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!!!!!



Note that if you use this driver on kernels older than 5.15, the enhanced features

of  wifi 5 and wifi 6 are greatly crippled as the kernel does hot have the capability

to support the new packet widths and speeds. If you use such a kernel, you might

as well have an 802.11n (wifi 4) device.



This repository includes drivers for the following cards:



Realtek 8851BE, 8852AE, 8852BE, 8852CE, and 8922AE.



If you are looking for a driver for chips such as

RTL8188EE, RTL8192CE, RTL8192CU, RTL8192DE, RTL8192EE, RTL8192SE, RTL8723AE, or RTL8723BE,

these should be provided by your kernel. If not, then you should go to the Backports Project

(https://backports.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page) to obtain the necessary code.



If you have an RTW8822B{E,U,S}, RTW8822C{E,U,S}, RTW8723D{E,U,S}, or RTW8821C{E,U,S}, then

you should use the drivers at https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git.



### Installation instruction

##### Requirements

You will need to install "make", "gcc", "kernel headers", "kernel build essentials", and "git".



For **Ubuntu**: You can install them with the following command

```bash

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

```

Users of Debian, Ubuntu, and similar (Mint etc) may want to scroll down and follow the DKMS instructions at the end of this document instead.



For **Fedora**: You can install them with the following command

```bash

sudo dnf install kernel-headers kernel-devel

sudo dnf group install "C Development Tools and Libraries"

```

For **openSUSE**: Install necessary headers with

```bash

sudo zypper install make gcc kernel-devel kernel-default-devel git libopenssl-devel

```

For **Arch**: After installing the necessary kernel headers and base-devel,

```bash

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/rtw89-dkms-git.git

cd rtw89-dkms-git

makepkg -sri

```

If any of the packages above are not found check if your distro installs them like that.



##### Installation

For all distros:

```bash

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

cd rtw89

make

sudo make install

```



##### Installation with module signing for SecureBoot

For all distros:

```bash

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

cd rtw89

make

sudo make sign-install

```

You will be prompted with a password, please keep it in mind and use it in the next steps.

Reboot to activate the new installed module.

In the MOK management screen:

1. Select "Enroll key" and enroll the key created by above sign-install step

2. When prompted, enter the password you entered when create sign key. 

3. If you enter wrong password, your computer won't be bootable. In this case,

   use the BOOT menu from your BIOS, to boot into your OS then do below steps:

```bash

sudo mokutil --reset

```

Restart your computer

Use BOOT menu from BIOS to boot into your OS

In the MOK management screen, select reset MOK list

Reboot then retry from the step to make sign-install



##### How to unload/reload a Kernel module

 ```bash

sudo modprobe -rv rtw_8852ae

sudo modprobe -rv rtw89core	     #These two statements unload the module



Due to the behavior of the modprobe utility, it takes both to unload.



sudo modprobe -v rtw_8852ae          #This loads the module



A single modprobe call will reload the module.

```



##### Uninstall drivers

For all distros:

 ```bash

sudo make uninstall

```



##### Problem with recovery after sleep or hibernation

Some BIOSs have trouble changing the power state from D3hot to D0. If you have this problem, then



sudo cp suspend_rtw89 /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/.



That script will unload the driver before sleep or hibernation, and reload it following resumption.



##### Option configuration

IMPORTANT: If you have an HP or Lenovo laptop, Their BIOS does not handle the PCIe interface correctly.

To compensate, run the following command:

sudo cp 70-rtw89.conf /etc/modprobe.d/.

Then unload the drivers and reload. You should see the options appended to the end of the rtw89_pci

or rtw89pci load line.



If it turns out that your system needs one of the other configuration options, then do the following:

```bash

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/.conf

```

There, enter the line below:

```bash

options  <>=

```

The available options for rtw89pci are disable_clkreq, disable_aspm_l1, and disable_aspm_l1ss.

The available options for rtw89core are debug_mask, and disable_ps_mode.



If after rebooting the wifi still doesn't work, it might mean that it was not loaded.

To fix that, you will have to manually rebuild `initramfs`. To do that, execute one of the two commands, 

depending on how old/new your system is.



```bash

mkinitrd # If you're running an older system



dracut -f --regenerate-all # If you're running a newer system

```



After rebuilding `initramfs`, reboot your computer and check if the wifi works properly now.



Normally, none of these will be needed; however, if you are getting firmware errors, one or both

of the disable_aspm_* options may help. They are needed when a buggy BIOS fails to implement the

PCI specs correctly.



***********************************************************************************************



When your kernel changes, then you need to do the following:

```bash

cd ~/rtw89

git pull

make clean

make

sudo make install

;or

sudo make sign-install

```



Remember, this MUST be done whenever you get a new kernel - no exceptions.



These drivers will not build for kernels older than 5.8. If you must use an older kernel,

submit a GitHub issue with a listing of the build errors, but be aware that doing so will

cripple your device. Without the errors, the issue will be ignored. I am not a mind reader.



When you have problems where the driver builds and loads correctly, but fails to work, a GitHub

issue is NOT the best place to report it. I have no idea of the internal workings of any of the

chips, and the Realtek engineers who do will not read these issues. To reach them, send E-mail to

[email protected]. Include a detailed description of any messages in the kernel

logs and any steps that you have taken to analyze or fix the problem. If your description is

not complete, you are unlikely to get any satisfaction. One other thing - your mail MUST be plain test.

HTML mail is rejected.



# DKMS packaging for debian and derivatives



DKMS is commonly used on debian and derivatives, like ubuntu, to streamline building extra kernel modules.  

By following the instructions below and installing the resulting package, the rtw89 driver will automatically rebuild on kernel updates. Secure boot signing will happen automatically as well, 

as long as the dkms signing key (usually located at /var/lib/dkms/mok.key) is enrolled. See your distro's secure boot documentation for more details. 



Prerequisites:



``` bash

sudo apt install dh-sequence-dkms debhelper build-essential devscripts git-build-recipe

```



This workflow uses devscripts, which has quite a few perl dependencies.  

You may wish to build inside a chroot to avoid unnecessary clutter on your system. The debian wiki page for [chroot](https://wiki.debian.org/chroot) has simple instructions for debian, which you can adapt to other distros as needed by changing the release codename and mirror url.  

If you do, make sure to install the package on your host system, as it will fail if you try to install inside the chroot. 



Build and installation



```bash

# If you've already built as above clean up your workspace or check one out specially (otherwise some temp files can end up in your package)

git clean -xfd



git deborig HEAD

dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

sudo apt install ../rtw89-dkms_1.0.2-3_all.deb 

```



This will install the package, and build the module for your

currently active kernel.  You should then be able to `modprobe` as

above. It will also load automatically on boot.



##### A note regarding firmware



Firmware from userspace is required to use this driver. This package will attempt to pull the firmware in automatically as a Recommends.

However, if your distro does not provide one of firmware-realtek >= 20230117-1 or linux-firmware >= 20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.10, 

the driver will fail to load, and dmesg will show an error about a specific missing firmware file. In this case, you can download the firmware files 

directly from https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/rtw89.