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I've got a M.2 (NGFF) WiFi card and I would like to use it on my PC, which, however, does not have such a port.

I know there are M.2 to USB adapters, but AFAIK they are designed to connect SSD cards, not WiFi cards.

Would it be possible to use one such adapter with said WiFi card?

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    Why involve UWSB at all. Mw cards do both SATA and PCI-e. A PC does PCI-e. So use PCI-e (normal formfactor) to PCI-e (M2 formfactor).
    – Hennes
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 21:43
  • ^ now that sounds more likely to work, be recognised by the system proper and all.
    – Psycogeek
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 21:56
  • I'm looking for combo wifi+bt card that I can plug into my PC. I have a USB port available, but no more M.2 (as only one I have hosts SSD). Most Wifi dongles for USB offer disastrous range, which drops unless you're less than few meters and in direct LOS to Wifi router and majority of them are LE, which is, honestly, overrated. Now, M.2 wifi+BT are now standard and I do have few antennas for wifi. shame not to use them.
    – AcePL
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 18:08
  • I guess M.2 A+E to M Key adapter + any pcie usb box will work in this case. Wifi cards usually has A+E keys and USB adapters in mod cases - M key. Don't forget about antennas (extension/adapters) Link to adapter on Ali aliexpress.com/item/1005002582476564.html
    – 350D
    Commented Jun 22, 2021 at 18:22

5 Answers 5

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I believe the M.2 USB adapter will work. However, I agree with some of the comments that getting a M.2 to PCI-e adapter or native USB WiFi adapter would probably be the better solution.

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    I doubt that it will work. Those adapters are USB mass storage / USB Attached SCSI devices that translates SCSI commands to ATA commands (or maybe NVMe commands).
    – Tom Yan
    Commented Mar 19, 2016 at 7:24
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There are different signals available in the M.2 slot and various keys in the slot to show which ones are (or, might be) available. So M.2 key B has two PCIe lanes and one SATA, key M has four PCIe lanes, key E has has one PCIe lane (all of them can have USB). Wifi cards use the latter and typically connect over PCIe (it's interesting to note WWAN cards used to use USB but some of the latest ones are PCIe).

Unlike PCIe cards, USB devices can't become DMA masters and as such building an enclosure capable of housing a PCIe device would be a challenge too big. It obviously is possible, it's just unusually complex and simply not worth it. (Note: surprisingly, NVMe adapters to USB now exist. That's still not generic PCIe though.)

You can use Thunderbolt enclosures, though.

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I have the same question as OP, but for slightly different reasons: I'm looking for combo WiFi+BT, and ones available are usually USB nano, which are terrible range-and-obstacle wise. By BT dongle has half the range if plugged to the back of my PC tower, and then there's desk and other appliances in the way.

So having something that can do much better range but still be compact enough to plug into an USB port is very good idea.

However, the main obstacle is that M.2 wifi cards are usually in A- or E-key, while SSDs are now coming in M-key. Those aren't compatible, so highly doubt there will be an M.2-to-USB (preferably 3 or higher) adapters with A or E key slot...

So, the answer is: no, not really, unless you happen to have a really obscure M.2 adapter type.

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  • Bummer. I've got a spare Intel WiFi (9260?) card that I'd love to put into a USB dongle thingy to have one that's definitely compatible with Linux. So many of those dongles are based on RealTek chipsets that are problematic to get to work. There are wifi dongles on A'zon that look big enough to be housing an m2 card inside though.
    – RJVB
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 10:14
  • @RJVB - Well, since that time I upgraded my equipment, and now my new Desktop has new MoBo with on-board WIFI-AX with BT and an external antenna... Support request Ticket can be closed; reason: issue resolved by throwing more money at it... I am aware that me being able to afford it is not a solution for anyone, but I think this is the best way to go now. All laptops I use now are on the newer side, thus also equipped with WiFi+BT combo cards, and the internal antennas aren't half-bad, so...
    – AcePL
    Commented Oct 26, 2023 at 12:53
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This adapter "USBM2 Series Wireless USB M.2(NGFF) Card Adapter":

http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/USBM2%20Series.html

claims to be doing what the OP asks (and more, since it is conceived for WWAN, and hence has its own SIM slot, and related logic, and power adapter...).

Not sure it's what the OP would like to use, though... it's definitely more complex and cumbersome than the typical SSD adapter. But as observed by 350D, the OP will need something to hold antennas at the very least.

EDIT: this answer is not good: the adapter being sold is still B keyed, which is OK for at least some LTE cards out there but not for a typical WiFi M.2 card. See the following picture, where you see an A+E keyed Intel 7265 WiFi card on top of a random B+M keyed SSD memory: the M keyed adapter on which they lie will happily host the memory (and at least mechanically, a LTE adapter like the one previously linked), but the WiFi card instead can't fit in.

enter image description here

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It looks like this adapter could get you part of the way (exists in A-key and E-key varieties), you'd need an enclosure and find a way to connect a USB cable.

Or does it in fact do the opposite??

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