xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/iwx.4 (revision 8ccc0d235c226d84112561d453c49904398d085c)
1.\"
2.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: ISC
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4.\" $OpenBSD: iwx.4,v 1.21 2025/03/27 15:12:14 jmc Exp $
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6.\" Copyright (c) 2020 Stefan Sperling <stsp@openbsd.org>
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20.Dd November 14, 2025
21.Dt IWX 4 amd64
22.Os
23.Sh NAME
24.Nm iwx
25.Nd Intel WiFi 6 IEEE 802.11ax wireless network driver
26.Sh SYNOPSIS
27To compile this driver into the kernel,
28include the following lines in your kernel configuration file:
29.Bd -ragged -offset indent
30.Cd "device iwx"
31.Cd "device pci"
32.Cd "device wlan"
33.Ed
34.Pp
35Alternatively, to load the driver as a
36module at boot time, place the following lines in
37.Xr loader.conf 5 :
38.Bd -literal -offset indent
39if_iwx_load="YES"
40.Ed
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44driver supports the Intel Wi-Fi 6 series of M.2
45wireless network adapters.
46If the appropriate hardware is detected, and
47.Xr iwlwifi 4
48is blacklisted in
49.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
50the driver will be automatically loaded with
51.Xr devmatch 8 .
52The
53.Nm
54driver can be configured at runtime with
55.Xr ifconfig 8
56or at boot with
57.Xr rc.conf 5 .
58.Pp
59These are the modes the
60.Nm
61driver can operate in:
62.Bl -tag -width "monitor mode"
63.It station mode
64This is used when associating with an access point,
65through which all traffic passes.
66Background scanning is supported in this mode, see
67.Xr ifconfig 8 .
68Station mode is the default.
69.It monitor mode
70In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
71associating with an access point.
72This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
73capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
74or to scan for access points.
75.El
76.Sh HARDWARE
77The
78.Nm
79driver supports the following M.2 wireless network adapters:
80.Pp
81.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact
82.It
83Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200
84.It
85Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 CNVi
86.It
87Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX210
88.It
89Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX211 CNVi
90.El
91.Sh SYSCTL VARIABLES
92The
93.Nm
94driver supports the following
95.Xr sysctl 8
96variables:
97.Bl -tag -width "hw.usb.mtw.debug"
98.It Va dev.iwx.?.debug
99Specify debug level as a bitmask.
100Default
101.Ql 0 .
102.El
103.Sh FILES
104The
105.Nm
106driver requires firmware from
107.Pa ports/net/wifi-firmware-iwlwifi-kmod .
108This firmware package will be installed automatically with
109.Xr fwget 8
110if the appropriate hardware is detected at installation or runtime.
111.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
112.Bl -diag
113.It "iwx0: device timeout"
114A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete
115in time.
116The driver will reset the hardware.
117This should not happen.
118.It "iwx0: fatal firmware error"
119For some reason, the firmware crashed.
120The driver will reset the hardware.
121This should not happen.
122.It "iwx0: radio is disabled by hardware switch"
123The radio transmitter is off and thus no packet can go out.
124The driver will reset the hardware.
125Make sure the laptop radio switch is on.
126.It "iwx0: could not read firmware ... (error N)"
127For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from
128the filesystem.
129The file might be missing or corrupted.
130.It "iwx0: firmware too short: N bytes"
131The firmware image is corrupted and can't be loaded into the adapter.
132.It "iwx0: could not load firmware"
133An attempt to load the firmware into the adapter failed.
134The driver will reset the hardware.
135.El
136.Sh SEE ALSO
137.Xr intro 4 ,
138.Xr iwlwifi 4 ,
139.Xr iwlwififw 4 ,
140.Xr wlan 4 ,
141.Xr networking 7 ,
142.Xr fwget 8 ,
143.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
144.Xr wpa_supplicant 8
145.Sh HISTORY
146The
147.Nm
148driver appeared in
149.Fx 15.0 .
150.Sh CAVEATS
151The
152.Nm
153driver does not support hardware encryption offload.
154.Pp
155The
156.Nm
157driver does not support 802.11ax.
158Additional work is required in
159.Xr ieee80211 9
160before those features can be supported.
161