NetworkManager Wi-Fi powersaving configuration

networkmanager-wifi-powersave.md

NetworkManager WiFi Power Saving

NetworkManager supports WiFi powersaving but the function is rather undocumented.

From the source code: wifi.powersave can have the following value:

• NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_DEFAULT (0): use the default value
• NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_IGNORE (1): don't touch existing setting
• NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_DISABLE (2): disable powersave
• NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_ENABLE (3): enable powersave

Then I propose 2 files, only one of them needs to be put under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/.
One is forcing to disable powersaving, while the other one enable it.

Once you have put the file in the right folder, simply restart NetworkManager:

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

wifi-powersave-off.conf

# File to be place under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d
[connection]
# Values are 0 (use default), 1 (ignore/don't touch), 2 (disable) or 3 (enable).
wifi.powersave = 2

wifi-powersave-on.conf

# File to be place under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d
[connection]
# Values are 0 (use default), 1 (ignore/don't touch), 2 (disable) or 3 (enable).
wifi.powersave = 3

If you aren't using NetworkManager (default in the minimal RaspberyOS 11 install at least) you can temporarily (until reboot) turn off power management with:

iwconfig wlan0 power off

There are many conceivable ways of making this persist, e.g. putting it in rc.local.

If you aren't using NetworkManager (default in the minimal RaspberyOS 11 install at least) you can temporarily (until reboot) turn off power management with:

iwconfig wlan0 power off

There are many conceivable ways of making this persist, e.g. putting it in rc.local.

It may just be Ubuntu and its derivatives that set the wifi.powersave=3