Day: November 26, 2012

Error: SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

Ubuntu 12.04 has a BUG when your disable Wireless on NetworkManager applet.
It disables the “Enable Wireless” option and if you try to re-enable it manually you will receive this error:

$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

You can verify if rfkill is blocked:

$ sudo rfkill list all
1: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no
2: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: yes
4: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

$ rfkill unblock wifi
$ rfkill unblock all
$ sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart