How to use mt7925 wireless？

[Annalesa]

I installed wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod-mt7929, but then I
sysctl net.wlan.devices
there is no output

 

[T-Daemon]

You need to run 16.0-CURRENT ("main") or 15.1-STABLE (stable/15) to test the mt76 driver, see "How to test MediaTek mt7921!" from 28 Jul 2026 on freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org mailing list.

But the mt7925 seems not to be supported, yet:

* mt7925 and the other chipsets.
  mt7925 needs an update to the LinuxKPI IDR implementation, which is also used
  by a lot of semi-native drivers in src.git.
  As soon as that review is out I'll also enable that driver.  Until then please
  be patient.

To be sure on current support status, you should contact the developer Bjoern A. Zeeb on freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org. Begin the mail subject with "[mt76]".

 

[rafaelbfs]

How do I install the mt76 offline? I am in a kind of Catch 22 situation, since pkg cannot download the firmware without an Internet connection and I don't have a lengthy ethernet cable to reach the router.

 

[SirDice]

How do I install the mt76 offline?

Fetch the packages on another machine and sneakernet it.

 

[T-Daemon]

It may be faster to USB tether a smartphone to the FreeBSD machine.

Plug in the phones USB cable into the machine, enable USB tething on the phone. A ue0 device node should have been created (execute dmesg(8) to verify), next, run dhclient ue0 to obtain a DHCP IP lease from the phone, connect to internet over the phones mobile data plan or connect over the phones wifi to a access point with a internet connection.

 

[rafaelbfs]

I tried yesterday to tether with an iPhone 17 through USB-C and loaded ipheteh kernel module and it didn't show any ue0. The phone charges but it doesn't ask me to trust the computer, and I used the original Apple cable, so it should be capable of data transfer too.

 

[rafaelbfs]

Fetch the packages on another machine and sneakernet it.

Does the other machine need to have FreeBSD or is there a way of downloading the package through a web browser or cURL?

 

[T-Daemon]

I tried yesterday to tether with an iPhone 17

Can't you borrow an Android phone? Android tethering works in most cases.

Does the other machine need to have FreeBSD or is there a way of downloading the package through a web browser or cURL?

That's a bit difficult. Package names are hashed for some time now, and the hashes change each time the packages are rebuilt. The online repository directory containing the packages is "403 Forbidden" to browse (to prevent high server load).

One method I can imagine is to download the data.pkg package repository catalog, extract and grep for the package hash.

To safe you the trouble, this is the current hashed package for all the mt76* chipsets from the "latest" 15:amd64 package repository, 2026-Nov-04: https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:...fi-firmware-mt76-kmod-20260410~2$n55ezeby.pkg

 

[covacat]

curl -s https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/data.pkg|tar -O -xf - data|jq --arg n "wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod" -r '.packages[] | select(.name == $n) | [.name, "=>", "https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/latest/" + .path]|@tsv'

 

[Phishfry]

The online repository directory containing the packages is "403 Forbidden" to browse (to prevent high server load).

I always wondered why the powers could not break down the package directory into CATEGORIES instead of making users do these ridiculous method to obtain packages.

I understand serving 40,000 packages/small files from one directory creates a load on the webserver.
Break it down into categories directories. Instead they cut off users from downloading packages from a http interface.

Linux uses web interfaces as does OpenBSD and NetBSD.
This was the worst move for FreeBSD users.
Restrict them from downloading packages via web interface. Hello its the 21st century calling.

 

[rafaelbfs]

Thank you all so much! So I did pkg addon pkg first then wifi-firmware-mt76-kmod.pkg in the terminal it says it was installed, but when I do kldload if_mt76 or if_mt7921 it says it can't find such file or directory. I ls'd /boot/kernel and the only mt there was if_wmt which seems to be a way old Mediatek chipset.
Have I missed a step?
Anyway, this Mediatek MT7922 chipsets is problematic even in Linux, I had deactivated power saving on the peripherals (not much of a problem on desktops), and the card still crashes (albeit much less often) usually during big files downloads, like LLMs or Steam games. Does anybody have advice for a WiFi 6/7 PCI-E card that works flawlessly on FreeBSD?

 

[Phishfry]

I dunno about flawless but faster than the reliable ath9k. Intel AX200 seems to be getting there.

 

[rafaelbfs]

This was the worst move for FreeBSD users.

The Catch-22 with the WiFi card driver is worse but the worst of all Catch-22 would be work experience.

 

[covacat]

these modules (mt76*) seem disconnected from the build, you have to build yourself

 

[rafaelbfs]

I have looked up on the MT7922, and it really sucks, it crashes also on Windows—Linux too, as mentioned before. Funny that the 1st revision of Gigabyte Aorus Master X670 had an Intel AX210 wireless chipset; what a downgrade!

Anybody has a good (as in works great on FreeBSD) wifi USB dongle to recommend?

 

[covacat]

afaik no dongle works great on freebsd. but you may get a cheap wireless extender/repeater and connect via lan to it.

 

[Annalesa]

yes, mt7925 seems not useable yet

You need to run 16.0-CURRENT ("main") or 15.1-STABLE (stable/15) to test the mt76 driver, see "How to test MediaTek mt7921!" from 28 Jul 2026 on freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org mailing list.

But the mt7925 seems not to be supported, yet:

* mt7925 and the other chipsets.
  mt7925 needs an update to the LinuxKPI IDR implementation, which is also used
  by a lot of semi-native drivers in src.git.
  As soon as that review is out I'll also enable that driver.  Until then please
  be patient.

To be sure on current support status, you should contact the developer Bjoern A. Zeeb on freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org. Begin the mail subject with "[mt76]".