[PATCH RFC 0/3] Allow DT boards to disable WCN7850 hardware rfkill

From: Franz

Date: Sat Oct 03 2026 - 05:17:13 EST


On the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 (X1E80100, board "denali"), the WCN7850
hardware rfkill input reads as "radio off". ath12k turns on hardware
rfkill handling, so Wi-Fi stays hard-blocked:

iwd: Error bringing interface 4 up: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

ACPI platforms can already turn this off (ath12k_acpi_get_disable_rfkill()),
but DT-based boards have no way to. This series adds a boolean
"disable-rfkill" property to the ath12k binding, makes ath12k honour
it, and sets it on the Surface Pro 11. Out-of-tree Surface Pro 11
kernels already ship an equivalent change.

This is an RFC mainly because of the property itself. Is a generic
"disable-rfkill" acceptable, or would you prefer a vendor-prefixed
name, or a different way to describe a board whose rfkill line is not
usable?

Testing: next-20260929 on a Surface Pro 11, with the ath12k change and
the property added to the installed DTB with fdtput. The interface
comes up and connects (5 GHz, 160 MHz). The DTS change builds, and the
built DTB carries the property. dt_binding_check / dtbs_check were not
run, because dtschema is not installed here.

On this machine the endpoint is only enumerated with "power: sequencing:
qcom-wcn: power off WLAN at probe", sent separately as a fix for
b921aa3f8dec.

This series was prepared with the help of an AI coding assistant
(Claude): finding the cause, writing the code and the changelogs. I
reviewed it and tested it on the hardware.

Franz (3):
dt-bindings: net: wireless: qcom,ath12k: add disable-rfkill
wifi: ath12k: honour disable-rfkill from the device tree
arm64: dts: qcom: x1-microsoft-denali: disable WCN7850 hardware rfkill

.../devicetree/bindings/net/wireless/qcom,ath12k.yaml | 7 +++++++
arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/x1-microsoft-denali.dtsi | 2 ++
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/core.c | 3 +++
3 files changed, 12 insertions(+)


base-commit: 6474fa070f2b8013b4b87350b775b8c3be6e8aac
prerequisite-patch-id: aafe3fac38f4020441979665509928f8cc832095
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2.56.0