Wi-Fi issue, safest way to download drivers?

User Support
1

Hi,

I got Qubes OS started up, but I run into a WiFi issue. I tried multiple guides and posts on here, but to no avail. Really appreciate any help.

When I click on the network icon in the tray, it lists only “VPN connection”. If I shut down sys-firewall, it also shows “No network devices available”.

I ran “sudo lspci -v” inside sys-net. It lists my Wifi card:

00:06.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b852

After reading through the guides and documentation, I conclude that I have a driver issue, and need to download the right drivers, and get them into my debian-11-template-qube.

But as I have no internet, I have to do that through another device. Then I would need to copy the drivers onto a USB drive (have no Ethernet), copy the files into the template, and install them. Is that right?

I’m worried about the security of this, as my system gave this warning on install:

(1.714136) dracut-cmdline(272): Warning: USB in dom0 is not restricted. Consider rd.qubes.hide_all_usb or usbcore.authorized_default=0

Doesn’t this mean that any USB device has access to dom0? How can I fix this before handling the drivers? Or how should I proceed in the safest way possible?

My threat model is very severe, so I’m very concerned about security.

Thanks for any help!

(please note that I did not change anything on default installer screen, so I did not meddle with USB cube or something like that)

2

That’s because on the first boot after installation( when it prompts you to decide which template to install), you have no sys-usb or sys-net, and it’s dom0 that handles usb devices. You don’t need to worry about this warning, because you would have sys-usb handling all usb devices once you passed the auto configuring process.

You can use a phone to tether network to your sys-net. To do this, you might need to shutdown sys-usb and sys-net, configure sys-net to take over your usb controllers, and boot up sys-net (but not sys-usb), and connect your phone to sys-net, in usb network tethering mode. Then you will have access to internet.