How do I get WiFi Working in the Initramfs Pre-Boot Environment?

Ask Fedora
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1

I got internet access to work in the pre-boot initramfs by adding rd.neednet=1 ip=dhcp to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line in /etc/default/grub but this only works with ethernet. Is it possible to get WiFi working too? Right now, running nmcli radio in the pre-boot emergency shell shows that WIFI is enabled but WIFI-HW is missing (as opposed to the normal booted OS where both are enabled).

So far, I’ve tried creating /etc/dracut.conf.d/00-wifi.conf with a line that causes some extra WiFi-related kernel modules to be added to the initrmfs: add_drivers+=" iwlwifi cfg80211 rfkill iwlmvm mac80211 libarc4 "

But this not only doesn’t work, it causes WiFi to stop working in my normal booted OS as well (it fails to find the WiFi adapter).

This is on Fedora 38 Workstation (11th gen Intel CPU with an AX210 No vPro network card) - any help would be appreciated!

2

I believe wpasupplicant is responsible for starting wifi, along with NetworkManager.

What I do is enable wifi with the live media – before I do the install
Then the install (and initramfs) has wifi fully functional and no other configs are required.

3

Hmm, not really practical for me to re-install the OS just for this. But it’s good to know that it’s possible.

Could you share more details on getting wpasupplicant to run in the preboot env? I see networkmanager is already a default dracut module, but nothing about wpasupplicant.