IWM(4)

💖 IWM(4) — the kernel interfaces manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so you found an Intel wireless card and you want it to work? say less. this is iwm, the Intel IEEE 802.11ac wireless network driver. she's in the kernel interfaces manual and she's ready to slay. 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

iwm — Intel IEEE 802.11ac wireless network driver 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so like, if you wanna bake this driver into the kernel (very commitment, very main character), you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device iwm
device pci
device wlan
device firmware

then you gotta pick a firmware for your specific device, bestie. choose ONE from this lineup:

device iwm3160fw
device iwm3168fw
device iwm7260fw
device iwm7265fw
device iwm8000Cfw
device iwm8265fw
device iwm9000fw
device iwm9260fw

ORRR you can just do

device iwmfw

and that includes them ALL. no cap, it's giving "I couldn't decide so I got everything." 🛍️✨

alternatively!! if you'd rather load the driver as a module at boot time, you put these lines in loader.conf(5):

if_iwm_load="YES"
iwm3160fw_load="YES"
iwm3168fw_load="YES"
iwm7260fw_load="YES"
iwm7265fw_load="YES"
iwm8000Cfw_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"
iwm9000fw_load="YES"
iwm9260fw_load="YES"

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

the iwm driver provides support for all of these gorgeous machines 💜:

Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3165
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3168
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7260
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7265
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8265
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 9260
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 9270
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 946X
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 9560

iwm supports station mode operation. and here's the tea: only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. one. singular. she does not share the spotlight. 👑

for more info on configuring this device, go check out ifconfig(8).

this driver requires the firmware built with the iwmfw module to work. no firmware, no vibes, no connection. it's that simple.

and now for the part that's lowkey a jumpscare 😭: currently, iwm only supports 802.11b and 802.11g modes. she will not associate to access points that are configured to operate only in 802.11n or 802.11ac modes. so if your AP is n-only or ac-only, she's gonna stand there like 🧍 and not connect. sorry bestie.

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🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

join an existing BSS network (i.e., connect to an access point):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwm0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

join a specific BSS network with network name my_net:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwm0 ssid my_net up

join a specific BSS network with 64-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwm0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

join a specific BSS network with 128-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwm0 wlanmode adhoc ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1

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🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

these are the little messages she sends when something's off. ngl if you see most of these, something is not okay. 🫶

• iwm%d: device timeout — the driver will reset the hardware. this should not happen.
• iwm%d: firmware error — the onboard microcontroller crashed for some reason. the driver will reset the hardware. this should not happen.
• iwm%d: timeout waiting for firmware initialization to complete — the onboard microcontroller failed to initialize in time. this should not happen.
• iwm%d: could not load firmware image '%s' — the driver failed to load the firmware image using the firmware(9) subsystem. verify the iwmfw(4) firmware module is present.
• iwm%d: could not load boot firmware — an attempt to upload the boot firmware image to the onboard microcontroller failed. this should not happen.
• iwm%d: could not load microcode — an attempt to upload the microcode image to the onboard microcontroller failed. this should not happen.
• iwm%d: could not load main firmware — an attempt to upload the main firmware image to the onboard microcontroller failed. this should not happen.

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

iwmfw(4), pci(4), wlan(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8)

the whole friend group fr fr 🫶

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okay that's the page!! this one came from the Debian crew and it's dated June 28, 2020 — so yeah, that's the source and the date, and we're gonna shout them out on the way out because they deserve it. 💖✨ go connect to something, bestie. you got this. 💅🌈