EC
ERFKILL
Linux / POSIXERRORNotableDeviceHIGH confidence

Operation Not Possible Due to RF-Kill

Production Risk

Common in embedded/laptop environments; check both hardware and software RF-kill state.

What this means

ERFKILL (errno 132) is returned when a wireless (RF) operation is blocked by the RF-kill switch — either a hardware switch on the device or a software block applied via rfkill.

Why it happens
  1. 1Laptop hardware Wi-Fi kill switch is in the OFF position
  2. 2Software RF-kill block applied via `rfkill block all`
  3. 3Airplane mode enabled in NetworkManager
How to reproduce

Wi-Fi interface enable attempt when RF-kill is blocking.

trigger — this will error
trigger — this will error
// Attempt to bring up wireless interface while RF-killed
// errno = ERFKILL from wireless driver

expected output

Operation not possible due to RF-kill (ERFKILL)

Fix

Unblock the RF device

WHEN When ERFKILL is returned from a wireless operation

Unblock the RF device
# List all RF devices and their block status
rfkill list all

# Unblock all wireless devices
rfkill unblock all

# Unblock only WiFi
rfkill unblock wifi

# Or via NetworkManager
nmcli radio wifi on

Why this works

rfkill unblock removes the software kill; for hardware switches, toggle the physical switch.

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