Disable WiFi (wlan0) on Pi 3
Got a Pi 3 which will always use ethernet, so trying to figure out how to disable the WiFi such that it does not even turn on after a reboot.
If I do an
ifconfigI see thewlan0device. I can doifconfig wlan0 downbut it will come back up again after a reboot.I tried commenting out anything about
wlan0(andwlan1) in/etc/network/interfacesbut that has not made a difference.eth0is not commented out so it can be used.Yes. Only left lo and eth0.
What is the setting for `wlan0` in `/etc/network/interfaces`? If it is `auto` change it to `manual` followed by `ifdown wlan0`.
Thanks, @ott. You just reminded me how to have the internal one stop grabbing a DHCP address while the USB WLAN unit connects with static. I just commented out the wpa_supplicant line and added ifdown wlan0 - Thanks again.
See Ludovic Ronsin's answer below about using dtoverlay, a method added in January 2017.
This post seems to be talking about this. The answer talks about disabling the drivers by editing the file
/etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.confand adding:blacklist brcmfmac blacklist brcmutilAlternatively, you could use
crontab -eand add:@reboot sudo ifdown wlan0So that command runs at each boot.
Hope this helps, I'm still waiting for my Pi 3 to arrive.
The blacklist method worked for me. Just created a `/etc/modprobe.d/local-blacklist.conf` file, instead of appending to an existing file.
As far as I know, the blacklist method is closer to administratively down'ing the interface. It does not completely power down the interface.
@Patrick Cook Second method worked for me but I needed to run that command as root: `sudo crontab -e`
I like using the crontab to do it. As a matter of style I would edit the root crontab instead of any other user, and leave out `sudo`. For stretch, you need to use `ip link set wlan0 down` instead of `ifdown`
If you are using debian stretch and ifdown returns **unknown interface wlan0** then use: `sudo ifconfig wlan0 down` instead. If it still doesn't work, use `ifconfig` to list all available network interfaces.
To completely disable the onboard WiFi from the firmware on the Pi3 / Pi4, add
dtoverlay=disable-wifiin /boot/config.txt.
This is documented here. Please be sure to use an up to date firmware, this feature was added in January 2017.
There is also an overlay for disabling onboard bluetooth :
disable-bt. If you want to disable both wifi and bluetooth, you need to add these 2 lines :dtoverlay=disable-wifi dtoverlay=disable-btNOTE : If you are using an old 'Pi3 only' firmware, you need to prefix the overlay name with
pi3-. See this issueCorrect. `/boot/config.txt` is the cleanest possible way to disable WiFi, and other peripherals.
Yes! The accepted answer will get you there, but this is a much better way.
How would you use this method to disable ethernet?
For me this also seems the safest method because to re-enable the WiFi would require a restart. Right?
At the time that I wrote my answer (the current accepted one) I did not know of this way, nor do I know if it was even an option at that time. This is a far superior method than the one described in my answer.
The overlay did not exist at the time you wrote your answer. As stated in my response, this was added on January 2017. So don't worry, you were right !
How do you disable both the wifi and bluetooth? `dtoverlay` variable will get overwritten?
@deanresin Please see updated response. TL;DR; The way the dtoverlay configuration works can be seen as a sequence of command. They are executed in the order they are encountered. So you can declare it more than once. Overlay parameters, if any, are set with `dtparam=...` 'command' and refer to previous declared `dtoverlay`. For more info see official documentation at https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/device-tree.md#part3
Make sure to not put spaces around `=` between the option `dtoverlay` and its value `disable-wifi` as `dtoverlay = disable-wifi` will NOT work.
You can use
sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower offThis should disable the wifi adapter.
Use
sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower onto enable it again.Reference: https://manpages.debian.org/buster/wireless-tools/iwconfig.8.en.html
no , actually it does permanenty close the adapter until you made it back on again
I'll take your word for that then. In future you might want to include more explanation in your answer, since this got automatically flagged yesterday as "low quality" (due I think to length and lack of formatting) by the system, which is when I noticed it. In itself that sort of doesn't matter; I dismissed the flag. However, a moderator can dismiss a flag (not act on it) as "helpful", and if it was a "low quality" flag, that automatically gets you a downvote...
...I didn't do that, but one of the other mods probably did out of habit (or because they agreed the answer as originally posted did not indicate much effort being made), which is how you got one down vote (automatic) and one up (from me), since flags are sometimes left for review by multiple mods. Note I don't like this "automatic downvote" policy and have actually complained on S.E. Meta about it to no avail (the justification is that actual people flag things as low quality but "forget" to also downvote).
This worked on my PI3 and it is permanent until you re-enable the wifi. :)
@yavuzaksan I can't seem to turn it back on, now.
@Erutan409 to re-enable the wifi adapter you should write two times "sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower auto". but as a say you should write it two times otherwise it wont work (i believe there is some glitch in the firmware)
I don't know how well this answers the OP, but it was just the answer I was looking for. To turn it back on use `sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower on`. `auto` and `fixed` are for power control, not the radio. http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man8/iwconfig.8.html
This is the only one that worked for me
We have measured the RF from the Pi 3 (when used as a WiFi hotspot) and confirmed that this statement disables the Pi's WiDi transmitter when used as a hot spot:
sudo ifconfig wlan0 downYou can also easily create a clickable button on the taskbar to do this. Instructions are found here: http://orbisvitae.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=81166#Post81166
Apart from blacklisting which has the risk of a lockout in case you need to reboot and no ethernet is available, you can also unload the kernel module as follows:
sudo modprobe -r -v brcmfmacBut I'm not sure unloading the device drivers is a good idea as I fear the wlan0 device may still draw power and even more so if the device drivers' power management features are not loaded, currently I keep drivers loaded and simply make sure the default route via wlan0 is disabled:
sudo ip route del default via <Gateway IP> dev wlan0This will make sure all traffic will go via eth0 and (hopefully) be more stable and so forth for example for the ntp daemon.
I modified the
rc.localusing commandsudo nano /etc/rc.local, and addedifconfig wlan0 downin it. However, if Ethernet is not connected or IP is not assigned to wired interface then the WiFi is on. This gives a backup way to connect the RasPi when running headless.Install ethtool with
sudo apt-get install ethtool.Then copy the script below to
sudo nano /etc/rc.localright beforeexit 0, so the last lines look like this:# Disable WiFi if wired. logger "Checking Network interfaces..." if ethtool eth0 | egrep "Link.*yes" && ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet"; then logger 'Disabling WiFi...' ifconfig wlan0 down else logger 'WiFi is still enabled: Ethernet is down or ethtool is not installed.' fi exit 0Then save using CTRL + X and reboot. It seems to work for me, as after reboot ifconfig does not give wlan0.
I use the following command
wpa_cli terminate, I have that command in my/etc/rc.localThis disables the WPA client, so you basically shut down wireless connectivity entirely. Don't do it.
I'm using my pi as an access point (wifi hotspot). This works for me:
# Turn off sudo service hostapd stop && sudo service isc-dhcp-server stop && sudo ifconfig wlan0 down && sudo service isc-dhcp-server startAnd to turn it back on without restarting the pi, run this:
# Turn on sudo service isc-dhcp-server stop && sudo ifconfig wlan0 up && sudo service hostapd start && sudo service isc-dhcp-server startOther solution is to edit
/etc/network/interfacesfile, comment/remove lines about Wi-Fi connection (wlan0) and add line:iface wlan0 inet manualThe easiest way to disconnect from a Wifi network on Pi 3 is to enter some useless password! Click on your Wifi network, it will again ask for password but this time enter random text and you will be disconnected.
There is a difference between having an interface enabled, a device enabled (which this question is about), and having an interface connected to a network, which is what you are talking about. I do not think the OP is concerned about that.
@goldilocks Well if Wifi is disconnected this way then it will always use Ethernet and that is what OP is asking for.
Or edit using `sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf` for those wanting to use this method.
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Content dated before 6/26/2020 9:53 AM
Patrick Cook 4 years ago
Did you comment out the `wlan1` in that file as well?