Raspbian is managing hardware with overlays. In `/boot/overlays/README` you will find: Name: pi3-disable-wifi Info: Disable Pi3 onboard WiFi Load: dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi Params: <None> I suggest you just add dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi to `/boot/config.txt` to disable wifi. Because I have taken this from Rasbian Buster I assume it is also valid for Pi4.