Networking basics on qubes

[tanglabs]

Unable to Access Internet (New User)

Welcome to Qubes. One of the important lessons to learn is that many problems arent Qubes problems - they are issues in the distribution used in the qube - in it’s template. The Qubes docs don’t repeat things that can be found elsewhere. You don’t say which version of Qubes you have installed. At the top of the screen you’ll see a task bar, and in the right hand corner you should see an icon of 2 computers, one behind the other - this is the icon from sys-net that you use to control netw…

The above guidance was the closest I have found that describe the stage I am at. Needless to say I am a new user.

Having tried both fedora and debian templates, I do not see my AP SSID when I click the networking icon on the topright taskbar. I am able to “create” a WiFi connection on the networking manager, add the details but this does not do anything.

I have two networking devices on sys-net:
Ethernet Controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V
Network Controller: Broadcom Limited BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adaptor

To clarify, these line items refer to the actual devices in my PC and NOT to the device drivers correct?

In the main documentation i also found PCI troubleshooting | Qubes OS
and I am wondering if I am able to download from my main windows installation, put the drivers into a USB and then install them in sys-net? I expect this will also require some finnaggleing as doing so may require using sys-usb or something?

Sadly I have a large desktop and I will eventually move it to the bottom floor of my house to attempt a regular ethernet connection. I will do this if I do not find additional instructions.

[tanglabs]

I checked the Device Manager on my windows boot and the wireless network card seems to be ASUS_PCE-AC68 (ASUS PCE-AC68 - DeviWiki (ex WikiDevi)). In that article it states
“This device is using a Broadcom [BCM4360](PCIe, 3x3 802.11b/g/n/ac)”

So I guess this means that BCM4360 is the chip that is on that the ASUS PCI device? If anyone can provide additional info, that would really help. I notice that this is probably a better question for another linux central forum.

If I end up resolving this issue I will still report here.

[unman]

Hi @tanglabs
You’d already identified the device in your first post.
As I said in the post you quoted, many problems you encounter in Qubes
are not Qubes problems - they are difficulties with the template that
you are using. That means that a simple search - e.g. “debian bcm4360”
may lead you to the right answer.

In this case, I have some experience which might help.
That wireless device is probably one of the worst that a beginner could
start out with. You can get it working in Linux, but it is a long
haul, because you need to compile support for the device.
There are some Qubes specific issues also, to do with the way that
individual qubes access the kernel, usually provided by dom0. I’d
categorise the solution as Advanced Qubes.

There are many approaches you could take.
I think this may be the simplest solution for you:

1. Open Qube Manager

2. From the Qube menu, Qube->Create new qube

3. Name - sys-net-broadcom, Type “Standalone qube…”, Template - debian-10

4. Make sure to select “provides network”, and “launch settings…”

5. Select OK

6. In the qube settings, on the Advanced tab, set Kernel to none, and Mode to HVM.

7. Deselect “Include in Memory balancing”

8. Select OK to save changes.

9. Open a terminal in sys-net-broadcom

10. Install the needed packages: sudo apt install broadcom-sta-dkms

11. Edit /etc/modules-load.d/modules.conf and add a line wl

12. Shutdown sys-net-broadcom, and sys-net.

13. Open the Settings for sys-net-broadcom.

14. On the devices tab add your WiFi adapter

15. Select OK to save changes.

16. Start sys-net-broadcom

If all has gone well, the new qube will start, and the WiFi adapter will
be working.
Take it slow, and see how you get on.

[penesas430]

Hello, I have the same issue but I have an error when I try to install broadcom-sta-dkms

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  broadcom-sta-dkms
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,208 kB of archives.
After this operation, 14.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/non-free amd64 broadcom-sta-dkms all 6.30.223.271-10 [2,208 kB]
Fetched 2,208 kB in 1s (2,773 kB/s)            
Selecting previously unselected package broadcom-sta-dkms.
(Reading database ... 133153 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../broadcom-sta-dkms_6.30.223.271-10_all.deb ...
Unpacking broadcom-sta-dkms (6.30.223.271-10) ...
Setting up broadcom-sta-dkms (6.30.223.271-10) ...
Loading new broadcom-sta-6.30.223.271 DKMS files...
dpkg: warning: version '5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64' has bad syntax: invalid character in revision number
dpkg: warning: version '5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64' has bad syntax: invalid character in revision number
It is likely that 5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64 belongs to a chroot's host
Building for 4.19.0-13-amd64, 4.19.0-17-amd64, 5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64, firmware, initramfs, lost+found and vmlinuz
Building initial module for 4.19.0-13-amd64
Done.

wl.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.19.0-13-amd64/updates/dkms/

depmod...

Backing up initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64 to /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64.old-dkms
Making new initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64
(If next boot fails, revert to initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64.old-dkms image)
update-initramfs.....

DKMS: install completed.
Building initial module for 4.19.0-17-amd64
Done.

wl.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.19.0-17-amd64/updates/dkms/

depmod...

Backing up initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64 to /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64.old-dkms
Making new initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
(If next boot fails, revert to initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64.old-dkms image)
update-initramfs.....

DKMS: install completed.
Building initial module for 5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.4.143-1.fc25.qubes.x86_64 (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/6.30.223.271/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package broadcom-sta-dkms (--configure):
 installed broadcom-sta-dkms package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 broadcom-sta-dkms
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[digeat]

Hi,

I´m in the same situation and have implemented these steps. When starting sys-net-broadcom I get the error message “Start failed: Requested operation is not valid: PCI device 0000:02:00.0 is in use by driver xenlight, domain sys-net. See /var/log/libvirt/libxl/libxl-driver.log”.

The content of /var/log/libvirt/libxl/libxl-driver.log is:

2023-01-21 19:08:59.781+0000: libxl: libxl_pci.c:1489:libxl__device_pci_reset: The kernel doesn’t support reset from sysfs for PCI device 0000:00:14.0
2023-01-21 19:14:01.318+0000: libxl: libxl_device.c:1146:device_backend_callback: Domain 8:unable to remove device with path /local/domain/5/backend/vif/8/0
2023-01-21 19:14:01.676+0000: libxl: libxl_domain.c:1529:devices_destroy_cb: Domain 8:libxl__devices_destroy failed
2023-01-21 19:18:46.553+0000: libxl: libxl_device.c:1146:device_backend_callback: Domain 12:unable to remove device with path /local/domain/5/backend/vif/12/0
2023-01-21 19:18:46.957+0000: libxl: libxl_domain.c:1529:devices_destroy_cb: Domain 12:libxl__devices_destroy failed
2023-01-21 19:19:18.563+0000: libxl: libxl_pci.c:1489:libxl__device_pci_reset: The kernel doesn’t support reset from sysfs for PCI device 0000:00:14.0
2023-01-21 19:20:05.174+0000: libxl: libxl_pci.c:1489:libxl__device_pci_reset: The kernel doesn’t support reset from sysfs for PCI device 0000:00:14.0
2023-01-21 19:32:48.330+0000: libxl: libxl_device.c:1146:device_backend_callback: Domain 8:unable to remove device with path /local/domain/5/backend/vif/8/0
2023-01-21 19:32:48.747+0000: libxl: libxl_domain.c:1529:devices_destroy_cb: Domain 8:libxl__devices_destroy failed
2023-01-21 19:37:05.129+0000: libxl: libxl_pci.c:1489:libxl__device_pci_reset: The kernel doesn’t support reset from sysfs for PCI device 0000:00:14.0
2023-01-21 19:39:22.152+0000: libxl: libxl_pci.c:1489:libxl__device_pci_reset: The kernel doesn’t support reset from sysfs for PCI device 0000:00:14.0

Did you face some similar situation, and if so, any hints for a solution?

Additional information: After removing the WiFi Adapter from sys-net-broadcom (step 14) appears an network icon on the task bar indicating a “VM uplink eth0” connection, but no real connection can be established.