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linux-firmware 20260415

Driver v20260415 noarch TAR.XZ April 15, 2026

The binary firmware blobs the kernel loads at runtime for wifi, Bluetooth, GPUs, and network cards. The single most common reason hardware does not work on a fresh install.

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Many devices contain no permanent firmware. The driver loads a binary blob into the device at initialisation, and without that blob the hardware does not work at all.

This is the most common reason wifi, Bluetooth, or graphics do not function on a fresh install.

Diagnosing it

sudo dmesg | grep -i firmware
i915 0000:00:02.0: Direct firmware load for i915/dmc_ver1_27.bin failed with error -2
iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-so-a0-gf-a0-83.ucode failed

That message names the exact file the driver wanted. Searching for it tells you which package provides it, and our dmesg guide covers reading the rest.

ls /lib/firmware/ | head

Installing

sudo apt install linux-firmware firmware-linux-nonfree   # Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dnf install linux-firmware                           # Fedora
sudo pacman -S linux-firmware                             # Arch

Debian splits it. The main linux-firmware package holds redistributable firmware; a great deal of wifi and GPU firmware is in firmware-linux-nonfree from the non-free-firmware repository. Debian 12 and later enable that by default on the official installer, and older media may not.

If wifi does not work on a fresh Debian install, this is almost always why.

After installing

Firmware is loaded at device initialisation, so a reboot is usually needed. For a module you can unload:

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi && sudo modprobe iwlwifi

Some firmware is also loaded from the initramfs during early boot, particularly for storage and graphics, which is why a rebuild is sometimes required:

sudo update-initramfs -u      # Debian and Ubuntu
sudo dracut -f                # Fedora

Versioning

linux-firmware uses date-based snapshots rather than semantic versions, since it is a collection rather than a single project. Newer snapshots add support for newer hardware, which is why very recent devices sometimes need a firmware package newer than your distribution ships.

The licensing note

Most of this firmware is redistributable binary-only, which is why some distributions separate it and why fully free distributions omit it entirely. That is a deliberate philosophical position and it does mean some hardware will not work.

Verify Your Download

Snapshots on kernel.org are published with checksums. Most people should install the distribution package.