rfkill(1)
Show and control wireless device power states (WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular).
Synopsis
rfkill [OPTION] [COMMAND] [DEVICE]Description
rfkill is a utility for enabling and disabling wireless devices on Linux systems. It controls the radio frequency state of wireless interfaces like WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular modems through software and hardware kill switches.
The command can list all wireless devices with their current state, or toggle devices on and off. Some devices have both software and hardware kill switches; rfkill typically controls the software switch while respecting hardware switch state.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
list | Show all wireless devices and their current state (default command) |
block DEVICE|TYPE | Disable (turn off) a device by name or type (wifi, bluetooth, cellular, etc.) |
unblock DEVICE|TYPE | Enable (turn on) a device by name or type |
toggle DEVICE|TYPE | Switch device state (on to off or off to on) |
-a, --all | Operate on all devices of specified type |
-h, --help | Display help message and exit |
-v, --version | Show version information |
-n, --noheadings | Output list without column headers |
Examples
Display all wireless devices and whether they are blocked or unblocked
rfkill listDisable all WiFi devices (turn off the software kill switch)
rfkill block wifiEnable all Bluetooth devices
rfkill unblock bluetoothToggle the state of the wireless device with ID 0
rfkill toggle 0Disable all wireless devices on the system
rfkill block allShow only WiFi devices and their current state
rfkill list wifiRe-enable all wireless devices (may require root or sudo)
sudo rfkill unblock all