[Solved] Mint 20 with Realtek RTL8111

[Swerve]

Hi, having trouble getting my USB wireless device/connection working after installing Mint 20.

(Note that I can't set up a wired connection so I have to download anything I need to my Windows machine and transfer it over to the Linux machine via thumb drive.)

When I was on Mint 18.03 I used https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux, but this gave errors on the Mint 20 install. So then I downloaded this one and followed the instructions here https://github.com/gnab/rtl8812au and it seemed to go okay. There is now a "Wireless" entry and two identical "Realtek RTL8811AU 8021.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN Adapter" entries in my network manager, all of which were not there before using the gnab git instructions and which disappear if my USB Wireless device is unplugged. So it seems like it's being sensed. In my network manager there is a switch for "Wireless" and for one of the "Realtek...Adapter" entries, but the other is listed as unavailable. Even with both of these switches "on" I can't find any way to see or connect to any wireless networks. (Also when I unplug and plug back in my wireless device it doesn't blink with blue light as it used to when I did this.)

I'm not at all familiar with Mint 20 so here is a screenshot in case I'm missing something stupid. But from what I gather I should be seeing connections here:

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Here is some output from common commands for this problem:

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$ inxi -Fxz

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.5 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: MSI product: MS-7A71 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: MSI model: Z270-A PRO (MS-7A71) v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.42 date: 09/13/2017 
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M510 
  charge: 55% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech K350 
  charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-7700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 67200 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 801 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 801 5: 800 6: 800 7: 801 8: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP102 [GeForce GTX 1080 Ti] vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NV132 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP102 HDMI Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
  Device-3: Blue Microphones Yeti Stereo Microphone type: USB 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus ID: 1-9:5 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-58-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8811AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN Adapter type: USB 
  driver: rtl8812au bus ID: 1-7:6 
  IF: wlx00e04c870000 state: down mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: wlx02e04c870000 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 8.41 TiB used: 877.10 GiB (10.2%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WDS240G1G0A-00SS50 
  size: 223.57 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-75WN4A0 
  size: 931.51 GiB 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Seagate model: Expansion Desk 
  size: 7.28 TiB 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd type: USB model: USB DISK Pro size: 7.46 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 218.57 GiB used: 8.16 GiB (3.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 42 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 493 
Info:
  Processes: 233 Uptime: 20m Memory: 15.60 GiB used: 828.5 MiB (5.2%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
  inxi: 3.0.38 

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$ rfkill list
2: phy2: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: phy3: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

------------------------

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$ mokutil --sb-state
SecureBoot disabled
Platform is in Setup Mode

[sleeper12]

Get a temporary connection with your cell phone:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... ernet.html

Then do one line at a time:

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sudo apt install git dkms
git clone https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git
cd rtl8812au
sudo make dkms_install 

Reboot

[Swerve]

Get a temporary connection with your cell phone:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... ernet.html

Then do one line at a time:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install git dkms
git clone https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au.git
cd rtl8812au
sudo make dkms_install 

Reboot

Thanks for the post.

I saw those instructions, but I don't have a cell phone. The only way I have to get things onto the new Mint install is to download them to the computer I'm using now and then transfer them via drive.

Can I just download the zip from that git and transfer it over, and follow the other instructions? I tried it with this one https://github.com/morrownr/8821au but it didn't work.

[sleeper12]

No ethernet either?

[Swerve]

No ethernet either?

Nope.

[sleeper12]

=Swerve post_id=1959035 time=1611344766 user_id=226217

Can I just download the zip from that git and transfer it over, and follow the other instructions? I tried it with this one https://github.com/morrownr/8821au but it didn't work.

I dunno, I guess you could try it.

[Swerve]

=Swerve post_id=1959035 time=1611344766 user_id=226217

Can I just download the zip from that git and transfer it over, and follow the other instructions? I tried it with this one https://github.com/morrownr/8821au but it didn't work.

I dunno, I guess you could try it.

Well, this one appeared to work fine given command line output, and it once again added a "Wireless" switch to my Network Manager, similar to the picture in OP (fwiw I removed any previous drivers that I indicated I had installed in previous posts). But again there are no connections or anything else listed under the "Wireless" switch in the Network Manager.

I really don't understand why it doesn't work since if I understood your instructions correctly, the only thing a temporary connection would've been used for was to install "git" and "dkms". But git is only to be able to clone/download the folder (right?), and dkms seems to be working fine on my installation already.

Are there are any other updates that a temporary connection might take for granted that I can go manually grab? (For instance I've seen something like build-essentials mentioned in other driver Readme's.) It seems absolutely absurd to me that a connection is required to set up a connection. If my Linux machine was my only computer I would be livid right now.

[sleeper12]

I'm not the one who can answer those questions. Someone else may jump in here. You did reboot, right?

[Swerve]

If it helps the command

nmcli dev status

now lists (in red)

wlx00e04c423aa6 wifi disconnected

in addition to

enp3s0 ethernet unavailable
lo loopback unmanaged

Pretty sure only the latter two were present when i ran this command previously. Also "lsusb" and "dkms status" and "iwconfig" and similar commands all seems to recognize the device and the driver. Just no connections listed.

[Swerve]

I'm not the one who can answer those questions. Someone else may jump in here. You did reboot, right?

Yes, I did reboot. That's when the Network Manager added the Wireless switch.

Thanks for trying to help, I do appreciate it.

[sleeper12]

Try restarting everything, router/modem & machine. If that's no good, wait for better help.

[sleeper12]

You might also try reloading the driver:

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 sudo modprobe -r rtl8812au && sudo modprobe rtl8812au 

[Swerve]

Try restarting everything, router/modem & machine. If that's no good, wait for better help.

Holy crap I actually can't believe this worked. I was not hopeful because I was thinking "Well what does restarting my modem have to do with all of the other nearby connections that I'm also not sensing?"

But it did work. Or something did. I also shutdown instead of restarting this time, and let it sit for a few minutes, so maybe that was what did it. I have encountered weird occurrences in the past with installing something where rebooting did nothing, rebooting again did nothing, but then the next day after a third reboot suddenly a thing would be there and working.

Either way. Thanks a lot for your help.

[sleeper12]

Yep, it's amazing sometimes what shutting down & restarting can do. Glad I could help.

[hglee]

Can I just download the zip from that git and transfer it over, and follow the other instructions? I tried it with this one https://github.com/morrownr/8821au but it didn't work.

If you'd ever like (or need) to try the wifi driver code that sleeper12 recommends above, do the following:

On your Windows machine, browse to https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au, click the green [Code] button, then click Download ZIP on the menu that pops open, and click to save the rtl8812au-5.6.4.2.zip file when prompted by your browser.

Copy that 37.5MB file to your thumb drive, and transfer the file into a convenient folder of your Mint system.

Within that folder, copy-and-paste each of the following four Terminal command-lines, pressing Enter after each...

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sudo apt install build-essential libelf-dev git dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
unzip rtl8812au-5.6.4.2.zip 
cd rtl8812au-5.6.4.2/
sudo make dkms_install

Reboot.

If your wifi still doesn't work and you wish to uninstall the driver, return to the Mint folder where you copied the rtl8812au-5.6.4.2.zip file, then copy-and-paste the following three Terminal command-lines, one by one...

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cd rtl8812au-5.6.4.2/
sudo make dkms_remove && cd ..
rm -rf rtl8812au-5.6.4.2/

One reason to remove unnecessary device drivers that you've manually installed is that your system will spend time rebuilding the kernel module(s) every time your kernel is updated, which slows down the update process.

[Swerve]

Can I just download the zip from that git and transfer it over, and follow the other instructions? I tried it with this one https://github.com/morrownr/8821au but it didn't work.

If you'd ever like (or need) to try the wifi driver code that sleeper12 recommends above, do the following:

On your Windows machine, browse to https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au, click the green [Code] button, then click Download ZIP on the menu that pops open, and click to save the rtl8812au-5.6.4.2.zip file when prompted by your browser.

Copy that 37.5MB file to your thumb drive, and transfer the file into a convenient folder of your Mint system.

Within that folder, copy-and-paste each of the following four Terminal command-lines, pressing Enter after each...

Code: Select all

sudo apt install build-essential libelf-dev git dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
unzip rtl8812au-5.6.4.2.zip 
cd rtl8812au-5.6.4.2/
sudo make dkms_install

Reboot.

Thanks, it was actually sleeper's link that finally worked after three other similar git links that did not. You instructions are exactly what I did to get it working, (except for your first line, because I thought "apt install" was telling my software/update manager to download and install stuff and I thought it wouldn't work without a connection. Guess that one wasn't a necessary step.

[hglee]

Guess that one wasn't a necessary step.

You mentioned that you had tried some other git solutions, so I could assume you likely did have what's necessary.