URTW(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ URTW — the Realtek RTL8187B/L USB wifi situation ✨

ok so bestie, welcome to URTW(4), from the Kernel Interfaces Manual 💖 this is the page for urtw, the driver that makes your lil USB wifi stick go brrr. Realtek RTL8187B/L USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device. yes that's a whole mouthful, we'll get through it together 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

urtw — Realtek RTL8187B/L USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

ok so if you wanna bake this driver straight into the kernel (no cap, some of y'all love a monolith), drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device urtw
device wlan

orrrrr, if you're more of a "load it at boot time as a module" girlie (which, valid), put this line in loader.conf(5):

if_urtw_load="YES"

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the urtw driver is the one that supports USB 802.11b/g wireless adapters built on the Realtek RTL8187B/L. it's giving "small dongle, big dreams" fr fr.

urtw supports station and monitor mode operation. and here's the thing bestie — only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. just one. don't be greedy 🙈

wanna know how to actually configure this device? go see ifconfig(8), it's got the whole lore.

🌈 HARDWARE 🌈

the urtw driver supports Realtek RTL8187B/L based wireless network devices, including these iconic legends:

  • Belkin F5D7050E — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Linksys WUSB54GCv2 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Netgear WG111v2 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Netgear WG111v3 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Safehome WLG-1500SMA5 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Shuttle XPC Accessory PN20 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Sitecom WL168v1 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • Sitecom WL168v4 — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • SureCom EP-9001-g(2A) — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB
  • TRENDnet TEW-424UB V3.xR — Radio: RTL8225, Bus: USB

every single one of them: RTL8225 radio, USB bus. consistency slay 💅✨

💖 EXAMPLES 💖

join an existing BSS network (aka connect to an access point)

ifconfig wlan create wlandev urtw0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

join a specific BSS network with network name “my_net”

ifconfig wlan create wlandev urtw0 ssid my_net up

join a specific BSS network with 64-bit WEP encryption

ifconfig wlan create wlandev urtw0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up
ok quick side note bestie, that last one is WEP and WEP is very much not it security-wise. it's in the manual so I'm telling you about it, but don't let WEP be your main character moment okay 😭

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

intro(4), netintro(4), usb(4), wlan(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8)

Realtek, http://www.realtek.com.tw.

iykyk, that's the whole reading list 📚

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

the urtw device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 8.0. a whole era 👑

👑 AUTHORS 👑

the urtw driver was written by Weongyo Jeong <weongyo@FreeBSD.org>. thank you for your service king 🫡💜

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one came from the Debian build, dated October 17, 2009 — yeah it's a vintage, and vintage is a vibe 💅✨ hope your dongle connects on the first try, mwah 🎀

📦 where this page comes from