rtw89

Supported chips

RTL8851BE, RTL8852AE, RTL8852BE and RTL8852CE

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/a5a5aa555oo/rtw89
   

2. Change the working directory to rtw89

   cd rtw89
   

3. Search and remove other out-of-tree 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 Secure Boot is enabled on your system)

     sudo dkms install $PWD
     

   • via make

     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/
   

7. Enroll the MOK (Machine Owner Key). This is needed ONLY IF Secure Boot is enabled on 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 on your system.

   sudo dkms status rtw89
   

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

   sudo dkms remove rtw89/6.6.88 --all
   

   sudo rm -rf /usr/src/rtw89-6.6.88
   

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

Note

ONLY kernel 5.15 ~ 6.5 are supported. For kernel 6.6+ users, use the rtw89 driver maintained by morrownr instead.

Tested with RTL8852BE on Arch Linux (kernel version: 5.15.185-1-lts515 / 6.1.140-1-lts61) and it works.

Q&A

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

This rtw89 driver is the Wi-Fi driver for Realtek Wi-Fi 6/6E adapters and has nothing to do with Bluetooth.

Q2. How to update the driver installed via DKMS?

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

   sudo dkms status rtw89
   

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

   sudo dkms remove rtw89/6.6.88 --all
   

   sudo rm -rf /usr/src/rtw89-6.6.88
   

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