On Thu 25 Dec 2025 at 06:52:47 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote: > On 12/24/25 8:37 AM, The Wanderer wrote: > > On 2025-12-24 at 09:19, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > > > I have an essentially default install of Debian 12.8 with MATE and > > > SeaMonkey. > > > > > > How do I disable WiFi? > > > How do I disable Bluetooth? > > > > There are probably more manual ways to go about doing it, but the place > > I'd start is with the 'rfkill' tool, available in the package by the > > same name.
AFAIK the kernel is what controls the hardware, so an obvious method to try is putting rfkill.default_state=0 and rfkill.master_switch_mode=0 on the kernel command line. That should kill all RF. > My pre-posting search had turned up references to rfkill that made me > uncomfortable. I've no idea what references you turned up, nor what would make you uncomfortable. Sorry. On Thu 25 Dec 2025 at 07:00:36 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote: > More searching yesterday turned up a three year old post of mine about > my machine [ Dell Latitude E6410 ] having a mechanical WiFi switch > that I hadn't found for which I couldn't find adequate documentation. Assuming that Dell keep the same design as in the past (like D430/630) the switch has three positioned, Off/On/Biased, where the Biased returns to On. If you find that switch, it should set a hard RF block when Off. IIRC, the biased position attempts to make a connection. > But that's not in a default install. My perspective on "how the world > SHOULD work" <GRIN> includes an OS being able to control all hardware > present when installed. AIUI, rfkill is just a CLI interface to soft-blocking, and I don't think most people ever have a need to run it. I've only ever had to install it for one particular laptop, an ancient Acer, that has a toggle button for hard blocking. The button is located on the front edge, against your lap, and is easily pressed unintentionally. It's meant to light up when wifi is connected, but it's not even reliable at that. Obviously it doesn't indicate whether RF is blocked when it's unlit. As the laptop is over twenty years old, with a dead battery, the RF is hard blocked whenever the AC power is disconnected. To make things a little more convenient, I have the following line in root's crontab: @reboot sleep 15 && printf '\n' > /dev/tty1 && /usr/sbin/rfkill > /dev/tty1 && /usr/bin/ip a > /dev/tty1 so that I know whether I need to press the button once, or not. Cheers, David.
