I installed Zorin OS 18 on an external hard drive. One of the machines I want to try it on did not have a WiFi adapter, so I use an USB WiFi adapter. It is listed below.
Realtek 8811CU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC
Found a link on how to install the driver, but I don't understand what is there.
Perhaps someone can guy me to a better page on how to install the driver.
First, check the ID of your USB device as explained here:
HMM, not sure i missed something i saw 22.04 ubuntu but didnt see 24.04 version of the driver. is my sight going bad.. Zorin OS 18 is based on Ubuntu 24.04
will the 22.04 work? not sure just asking hate to see an install go and yet not work as its missing the proper kernel required
found this on the ubuntu 24.04 site
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville)
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 19
bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
logical name: eno1
version: 04
serial: b8:ca:3a:85:ea:b4
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=6.17.0-35-generic firmware=0.13-4 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
resources: irq:37 memory:f7d00000-f7d1ffff memory:f7d39000-f7d39fff ioport:f080(size=32)
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 4
bus info: usb@2:1.1
logical name: wlx1cbfcee6ea02
serial: 1c:bf:ce:e6:ea:02
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtw88_8821cu driverversion=6.17.0-35-generic firmware=N/A link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
Looks like your wifi device is installed and has the appropriate driver already in place through the kernel. Am I misreading, anyone?
I cannot seem to connect to my Internet service without connect another USB WiFi adapter. What else would keep me from connecting? I will try removing both adapters and start over with Internet connection.
What is the result of:
lsusb
If it is 0bda:c811 it may require attention as I researched for someone on another forum using the result from Brave A.I.:
"The 0bda:c811 USB Wi-Fi adapter, manufactured by Realtek Semiconductor Corp., is an 802.11ac NIC that typically requires the rtl8821cu driver on Linux systems.
For Linux kernel versions 6.2 and newer, the device is supported by the rtw88 kernel module with the configuration option CONFIG_RTW88_8821CU. For older kernels, you must manually install an out-of-tree driver.
Installation Options:
Modern Kernel (6.2+): The driver is included in the mainline kernel. Ensure CONFIG_RTW88 and CONFIG_RTW88_8821CU are enabled.
Legacy Kernels: Use a community-maintained driver such as brektrou/rtl8821CU or morrownr/8821cu-20210916.
Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/brektrou/rtl8821CU.git
Install build dependencies (make, gcc, linux-headers, dkms, bc).
Run the DKMS installer: sudo ./dkms-install.sh
Load the module: sudo modprobe 8821cu
Important Note on USB Modeswitch: Many 0bda:c811 adapters ship in CD-ROM mode by default. You must switch the device to NIC mode using usb_modeswitch before the driver can recognize it.
Install usb_modeswitch: sudo apt install usb-modeswitch (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo pacman -S usb-modeswitch (Arch).
Switch the mode: sudo usb_modeswitch -KW -v 0bda -p c811
To make this permanent, add a udev rule to /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules:
ATTR{idVendor}=="0bda", ATTR{idProduct}=="c811", RUN+="/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch -K -v 0bda -p c811"
Verification: Use lsusb to confirm the device ID is detected and lsmod | grep 8821cu to verify the driver is loaded.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."
But the Firmware isn't loaded:
Did You read the Note on this Github Page?
Notice: An updated standards compliant (mac80211), in-kernel driver for rtl8821/11cu chipset based adapters and modules is available and as of kernel 6.12 is of good quality. If your distro uses kernel 6.12 or later, there is no need to install this driver. The in-kernel driver is part of the rtw88 series of drivers. The in-kernel driver is Linux Standards compliant (mac80211) and is a much better driver than this one.
I removed the 2 WiFi adapters from the WiFi list and had it search again. When it found the adapter, I hit the WPS button on the router and it connected, so it works fine. Thanks for the help. I will see what kernel I have installed. 6.17.0-35-generic
The only issue using WPS is it is not secure:
Thanks, I will try and access by entering the password as I normally would do.