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I just removed ubuntu-desktop from my Ubuntu Desktop install with tasksel to clear up some storage space since I don't use the desktop anymore, but during the process my wifi stopped working and the device no longer shows in ifconfig or iwconfig.

My device is a Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:8179] (rev 01)

When running lshw -C network, it shows up as UNCLAIMED.

When running a live Ubuntu Desktop disk it identified the network device and allows me to connect with no issues and I was able to chroot into my main install and update things from there.

This device no longer has internet access, but I can transfer debs/files from another pc if necessary.

How would I restore the device and allow it to connect to wifi again?

jaquiviu marcel
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  • Please edit your question to add the result of the terminal command: lspci -nnk | grep 0280 -A3 Also: sudo modprobe rtl8188ee && dmesg | grep rtl Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. – chili555 Mar 18 '20 at 20:56
  • The second command says `ERROR: could not insert 'rtl8188ee': Operation not permitted – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 21:56
  • If you reboot, is the response the same? Please show: uname -r – chili555 Mar 18 '20 at 22:12
  • Yeah, rebooting has done nothing. 5.3.0-40-generic – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 22:20
  • Let's see: ls -al /lib/modules/5.3.0-40-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8188ee/rtl8188ee.ko As well as: sudo modprobe /lib/modules/5.3.0-40-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8188ee/rtl8188ee.ko Also: dmesg | grep rtl Very interesting problem! – chili555 Mar 18 '20 at 22:31
  • The folder structure was a little different, it ended up being /lib/modules/5.3.0-40-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8188ee/rtl8188ee.ko, -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 135056 Mar 18 10:40

    The modprobe command failed, module not found in directory /lib/modules/5.3.0-40-generic

    The dmesg command found nothing

     – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 22:35
  • Did you install rtl8188ee from github or some such? sudo updatedb && locate rtlwifi | grep 8188ee And: locate rtl8188ee.ko – chili555 Mar 18 '20 at 23:52
  • Yeah I tried to download it from github and put it in my home folder, but it wouldn't do anything when I tried to make install it – jaquiviu marcel Mar 19 '20 at 01:39
  • I suggest that you navigate to the folder, something like: cd ~/rtlwifi_new or similar and then do: sudo make uninstall and reboot. Any improvement? – chili555 Mar 19 '20 at 01:54
  • No improvements and all of the same files are there. – jaquiviu marcel Mar 19 '20 at 02:39

1 Answers1

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Is there anything preventing you from using an ethernet cable?

Also, you could possibly use Live USB and mount the ubuntu install.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCdRecovery

livaliva
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  • This machine moves around a lot so I would like the wifi to work, as I said in the post I have done a live usb install and have chrooted into the root partition with internet access, but I do not know how to permanently restore it for when I boot back into the main disk – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 19:43
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    I. meant using the ethernet cabel to download the correct drivers Well through chroot you can run a normal apt install for the relevant drivers and as long as you dismount correctly the new drivers should remain on the install. – livaliva Mar 18 '20 at 20:07
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    Ok, that sounds great, I don't know how to find the drivers though, since I never installed them in the first place, they came with Ubuntu. Is there a way to find out which ones to download? – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 20:19
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    https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/416180/ubuntu-no-wifi-adapter-found

    See if the commands in that thread don't work.

     – livaliva Mar 18 '20 at 20:35
  • That didn't work, it didn't do anything, probably because I have a realtek adapter and not a broadcomm one – jaquiviu marcel Mar 18 '20 at 22:04
  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/1075086/ubuntu-18-04-no-wi-fi-adapter-found-realtek-driver-rtl8821ae - how about this? – livaliva Mar 19 '20 at 21:30
  • Works until modprobe, I get Operation not permitted even with root – jaquiviu marcel Mar 20 '20 at 19:48