How to achieve monitor mode with external Wi-Fi adapter?

I am trying to enable monitor mode on an external USB Wi-Fi adapter attached to an AppVM.

Hardware Specifications:

  • Device: D-Link Corp. DWA-123 Wireless N 150 Adapter (rev.D1)
  • Chipset: Realtek RTL8188EUS

Environment:

  • OS: Qubes OS 4.3
  • TemplateVM: Parrot OS (build from debian-minimal)
  • Network Routing: sys-firewall is the default internet option for the AppVM.
  • Attachment Method: Passed through via Qubes Devices (qvm-usb) directly to the AppVM.

What is the proper Qubes OS workflow to get an external adapter with this specific Realtek chipset to successfully enter monitor mode within an AppVM? I am looking for the standard procedure to utilize external Wi-Fi hardware for this purpose without breaking the VM’s standard networking or boot sequence.

Qube you running should be standalone, virtmode: HVM
Depend on device type usb/pci - attach device to that Qube.

After that you can follow guide from ethical hacking forums to setup your driver and software.

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Configuration confirmed and operational. The transition to a StandaloneVM in HVM mode resolved the hardware passthrough limitation.

For future reference, compiling the rtl8188eus driver on recent Qubes kernels (6.x series) fails due to obsolete drv_types.h path resolutions in the Kbuild system of the original repository. The compilation and installation were successfully completed using this patched fork for modern kernels:
gglluukk/rtl8188eus

Current state: Parrot OS successfully executes monitor mode via the external USB adapter while maintaining standard network routing through sys-firewall. Thank you for the guidance.

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