0

I'm trying to install the EDIMAX EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter on lubuntu 24.04.

First attempt by the apt package rtl8812au-dkms

I have used the command:

> sudo apt install rtl8812au-dkms

After a reboot and at the end of the boot process, I have inserted into the USB port the WiFi adapter but there isn't available any wifi interface. The output of the command sudo lshw -C network is:

> sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for user: 
  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: I210 Gigabit Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: enp2s0
       version: 03
       serial: 00:13:95:5b:bd:16
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=igb driverversion=6.8.0-54-generic duplex=full firmware=0. 6-5 ip=192.168.127.11 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:22 memory:91200000-9121ffff memory:91220000-91223fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: I210 Gigabit Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: enp3s0
       version: 03
       serial: 00:13:95:5b:bd:17
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=igb driverversion=6.8.0-54-generic firmware=0. 6-5 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:23 memory:91100000-9111ffff memory:91120000-91123fff

Second attempt by the GitHub driver source

After removing the previous package by the command:

> sudo apt purge rtl8812au-dkms

I have tried to install the driver from GitHub source but I have reached the same negative result.
To install the driver from source I have followed the steps below:

  1. cd /usr/src
  2. sudo git clone https://github.com/morrownr/8812au-20210820.git
  3. cd /usr/src/8812au-20210820/
  4. sudo ./install-driver.sh

I can see that the module is installed by following command:

> dkms status
rtl8812au/4.3.8.12175.20140902+dfsg, 6.8.0-54-generic, x86_64: installed

The result of this installation is the same that from apt repository.

On other distribution the driver was ok

In the past I have installed the driver for the same WiFi on lubuntu 22.04 with kernel 5.19.0-41 and in other Linux distribution (Mint, Custom distribution build by Yocto).

The most important difference that I have noted is that lubuntu 24.04 has a kernel version:

> uname -r
6.8.0-54-generic

and if I try to install the wifi adapter on lubuntu 22.04 with kernel 6.8.0.52-generic the installation fails.

Question

How can I install an EDIMAX EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter on a lubuntu 24.04 distribution with kernel 6.8?

User051209
  • 539
  • 1
  • 7
  • 24

3 Answers3

1

I took a look at the EDIMAX EW-7811UTC at: -

https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/global/wireless_adapters_ac600_dual-band/ew-7811utc/

It suggest that the driver is in fact rtl8821AU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.2.3_36567. You could try and install that one.

https://www.edimax.com/edimax/download/download/data/edimax/global/download/wireless_adapters_ac600_dual-band/ew-7811utc

The morrownr used to feature that but for some reason it no longer appears there. However the link still works so you can clone with the following link: -

git clone https://github.com/morrownr/8821au-20210708.git

to help in installing this you can look at the answer at: -

TP-Link AC600 archer driver for Linux Ubuntu Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

Note: I use the morrownr driver for a EDIMAX EW-7811UAC device on Ubuntu 24.04.

Some extra points to note: -

  • Make sure that you are not installing legacy drivers from the dkms. (There are instructions for this in the link above.)

  • Make sure the Ubuntu driver is not being installed and if it is
    de-install it. (There are instructions for this in the link above.)

  • If you have secure boot enabled then make sure you have a MOK key
    installed. (I suspect the dkms might fail if this is not the case but I am not sure on this.)

Good luck with the install.

david
  • 937
1

The rtw88 driver supports your adapter (RTL8811AU) now!

Before giving it a try, you must remove any conflicting drivers installed earlier.

https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88

Zachary
  • 36
0

The answer of @Zachary it has been absolutely necessary to solve the problem. Here add my own answer to add some details that are not present in the @Zachary answer.

An advanced version of the kernel

During my attempts to install a correct driver for the EDIMAX EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter I have noted that:

  1. the old driver provides by Edimax at this link is suited for lubuntu 22.04 with the kernel 5.19.0-41 but after an upgrade of the kernel to the version 6.8.0.52-generic the driver is not more suited
  2. on lubuntu 24.04 (with Kernel version 6.8.0.54-generic) the old driver is not suited

The correct driver for advanced kernel

If we go to this link which is maintained by LWFinger, the author writes in the README:

This is a downstream repo with a primary purpose of supporting development, testing and maintenance for the Realtek rtw88 series of WiFi 5 drivers in the Linux kernel.

He adds:

Compatibility
Compatible with Linux kernel versions 5.4 and newer as long as your distro hasn't modified any kernel APIs. RHEL and all distros based on RHEL will have modified kernel APIs and are unlikely to be compatible with this driver.
Supported Chipsets
PCIe: RTL8723DE, RTL8821CE, RTL8822BE, RTL8822CE, RTL8814AE SDIO: RTL8723CS, RTL8723DS, RTL8821CS, RTL8822BS, RTL8822CS USB : RTL8723DU, RTL8811AU, RTL8811CU, RTL8812AU, RTL8812BU, RTL8812CU USB : RTL8814AU, RTL8821AU, RTL8821CU, RTL8822BU, RTL8822CU

So this drive should be compatible with the chipset RTL8811AU used in the Edimax EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter.

Installation guide

Here I report the steps provided by LWFinger for Ubuntu:

  1. Update the system:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
  1. Install the needed header, build-essentials (gcc, etc) and the git client (for the download from GitHub):
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git
  1. Download the repository to local folder by the git client:
git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88

The download creates the folder rtw88 on the local folder (some tutorials suggest to download the source of this driver in the folder /usr/src; in my case I have downloaded the source files into /home/my-user/Downloads).

  1. Change directory:
cd rtw88
  1. Compilation of the source files by the make tool:
make
  1. Install the driver:
sudo make install
  1. Complete the installation:
sudo make install_fw

I have executed all the previous steps on my lubuntu 24.04 distribution and after that I have executed a reboot.

At the end of the reboot process I have inserted the EDIMAX EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter and after that in the output of the command ip addr it is appeared the wifi interface wlx08beac188233 as showed below:

> ip addr
...
...
4: wlx08beac188233: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:be:ac:18:82:33 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Furthermore in the output of the command lshw is present a wireless interface:

> sudo lshw -C network
...
...
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       physical id: 5
       bus info: usb@1:6
       logical name: wlx08beac188233
       serial: 08:be:ac:18:82:33
       capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtw_8821au driverversion=6.8.0-54-generic firmware=N/A link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

The EDIMAX EW-7811UTC WiFi adapter finally works on my lubuntu 24.04 (kernel version 6.8.0.54-generic) distribution.

User051209
  • 539
  • 1
  • 7
  • 24