Hi, I am new to qubes. I wanted to do a slow migration from windows to qubes but now my old laptop motherboard died so now i am a bit f*cked up.
I got a laptop without a build in wifi chip and I have now qubes 4.1.2. Unluckily at my University they recently stopped supporting lan, so I bought the AWUS036ACS Wifi dongle from Alfa networks.
From there website I found out, they only support Debian 10 and not fedora. I switched the sys-net to debian and tried to install the driver like in this thread :
The solution in this thread is for fedora, so It does not work.
I activated in sys-net the networtk manager.
When I turn off sys net and Try to add my wifi dongle as a device it does not show up, is it because the driver is just for debian 10? On my usb devices icon (on the top of my desktop I can the the wifi dongle and can add it to sys net, but this is the wrong way right? I am also confused what the network manager is, is it the icon on the top right with to laptops?
My aim is to get a working usb wifi dongle for qubes 4.1.2, if you now one, where there is already a solution and easy setup I may just buy it.
If it’s a fresh installation then why did you install Qubes OS 4.1.2? It’s EOL and has only extended security support until 2024-07-31:
It’s better if you make a fresh installation of Qubes OS 4.2.2.
It should work in Fedora as well if you install the out-of kernel driver the same was as for Debian.
You can find the driver installation instructions for Fedora here:
Maybe you didn’t install the driver correctly.
Post the exact steps that you did to install it.
That’s the correct way. You need to attach your Wireless adapter from sys-usb to sys-net using Qubes Devices widget to be able to use it in sys-net.
I am really sorry, I switched the numbers, I checked again and I got Qubes Qubes 4.2.1 (R4.2). Okay thank you, so i switch my sys-net back to fedora and try again to install the driver in my fedora template. Thank you!
Restart fedora-39-xfce template to apply the changes in the template.
Open any app qube based on fedora-39-xfce (e.g. disposable) with network access.
Clone the repository in this qube:
Copy the 8812au-20210820 directory to the fedora-39-xfce template using file context menu in File manager or using qvm-copy command in the qube’s terminal.
The copied 8812au-20210820 directory will be in ~/QubesIncoming/QubeName/8812au-20210820 in your fedora-39-xfce template.
Move to this directory and continue installation:
Okay, I succesfully downloaded the driver, moved it to my fedora template and succesfully installed it. I switched sys-net back to fedora 39. Restartet all qubes and restarted my computer. Now there is still no Wifi dongle in the devices list in the sys-net qube, how do I have proceed, I am really sry
Did you set your fedora-39-xfce kernel to (provided by qube) when you compiled and installed the driver?
Did you set sys-net qube kernel to (provided by qube) after this?
If no, then set fedora-39-xfce kernel to (provided by qube) in its Settings → Advanced tab and reinstall the driver. Then set sys-net qube kernel to (provided by qube) as well.
Hi I have switched the kernel option in my fedora template + in my sys-net, then reinstalled succesfully the driver in my fedora-39 template, rebooted the system. now I still don’t know how to proceed, in sys-net I still cannot see my wifi dongle in the devices tab.
how should i continue?
You need to attach your WLAN Adapter from sys-usb to sys-net using Qubes Devices widget here:
Then click on the Network Manager icon in tray (2 red PC icons) and if your WiFi interface is working then you should be able to connect to your WiFi AP there.
hi thanks, I wanted to try it, I changed the kernel option like recommended, but now I can not start any fedora based qube and not my template, when I go back to Kernel default in my template fedora i can open my qubed on provided bx qube (current) this error occurs:
Change the fedora-39-xfce kernel back to default from (provided by qube).
Leave sys-net kernel to be (provided by qube), attach your WLAN adapter from sys-usb to sys-net and use sys-net Network Manger to check if you’ll see available WiFi networks there.
Or if you want to use sys-usb as your net qube then change sys-usb kernel to be (provided by qube) and use the Network Manager in sys-usb.
Okay I swapped back the fedora-39-xfe kernel back to default and followed your instruction. Now I add my WLAN Adapter via the usb widget on the top of my screen to sys-net. Now I don’t know if I have just a big problem in understanding what the network manager is. Is it the widget in my toolbar or do I have to open it in my sys-net and then where can I find it? The Widget with 2 laptops and an x says still no network devices avaible.
You understood it correctly, you should be able to select the WiFi network using this widget with 2 laptops if your WLAN Adapter works properly.
It seems that the WLAN Adapter doesn’t work properly and you need to check what’s the problem with it.
What’s the output of these commands in sys-net with WLAN Adapter attached to it?
uname -r
ip link
lsmod | awk '$1 ~ /88/ {print}'
ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
cat /etc/modprobe.d/8812au.conf
It seems that the driver is not installed for this kernel since 8812au.ko file is missing in /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/.
Did you have any errors when you run install script in your fedora-39-xfe template with kernel set to (provided by qube)?
sudo ./install-driver.sh
Try to reinstall the driver in fedora-39-xfe template with kernel set to (provided by qube).
Set the fedora-39-xfe template virtualization mode to HVM.
After installing the driver in fedora-39-xfe template change the virtualization mode back to default (PVH) and kernel to default.
