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I have purchased a TP-LINK TL-WN823N (EU) V2.0 device, which is a USB device that should work as a Network Interface Card, allowing me to connect my computer to wireless networks. Unfortunately, I am unable to find any wireless networks using this device using either wicd or network-manager (no networks appear in the list of networks supplied by either application).

A CD came with the device claiming "Linux support". The CD contained a URL to a corrupted archive file for downloading installation resources. I try to mask my immense frustration.

Here is the additional dmesg output I receive when I connect the device to my computer (similar content is present when I boot the computer with the device connected):

[17096.009912] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[17096.103501] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=2357, idProduct=0109
[17096.103513] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[17096.103527] usb 2-1.2: Product: 802.11n NIC
[17096.103529] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: Realtek
[17096.103530] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001

This is my lsusb, where the offending device corresponds to Bus 002 Device 004:

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0a5c:5800 Broadcom Corp. BCM5880 Secure Applications Processor
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 2357:0109  
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0c45:6433 Microdia 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

As lsusb -v: http://pastebin.com/RjVD1QJJ

It seems the device is working to me, but no new interface is found in 'ifconfig':

docker0   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:42:6e:bf:92:16  
          inet addr:172.17.0.1  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

enp0s31f6 Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 30:5a:3a:e1:96:b1  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:16 Memory:df200000-df220000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:412 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:412 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
          RX bytes:31876 (31.8 KB)  TX bytes:31876 (31.8 KB)

Running 'lshw -class network' as root contains only information about the 'enp0s31f6' interface.

Additionally for sanity, my 'uname -a':

Linux home-z170a-ubuntu 4.4.0-22-generic #39=Ubuntu SMP Thu May 5 16:53:32 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I am using Ubuntu 16.04.

My questions are:

  • Why are no networks present in the list for wicd or network-manager?
  • Why is there no additional network interface created when I plug in the USB device?
  • Is it possible to create this network interface?

Thanks for reading.

Pilot6
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mvousden
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2 Answers2

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Moderator Note: This post and all of its links and instructions are dead, as all the PPAs and links are all broken. Due to the age of the post, the fact the answer is accepted, and it's got a substantial number of upvotes, this answer is being left as-is, however we strongly advise you to refer to other answers, as this answer is no longer functional.

You need to install a driver. You can do it this way.

Disable Secure Boot in UEFI, if UEFI is used in your computer.

Run in terminal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hanipouspilot/rtlwifi
sudo apt update
sudo apt install rtl8192eu-dkms

Reboot and insert the dongle.

I packed and patched for kernel 4.4 the latest Realtek driver from Tp-Link site. It supports also many other 8192eu dongles.

You can also directly download this package without adding the PPA. The package can be downloaded from this link. It will be available until I upload a newer version.

You can find all packages HERE

You will also need to install dkms if it is not already installed.

Thomas Ward
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Pilot6
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  • Now I see that this new device is not supported yet by this driver. I need to add it to the source. – Pilot6 Aug 17 '16 at 16:26
  • I am uploading a new version that does support this device. – Pilot6 Aug 17 '16 at 20:17
  • Thank you very much. Please inform me once you have done so successfully and I will attempt to download it from your package archive. – mvousden Aug 17 '16 at 20:46
  • It is built and published. You can try now. This a new driver. It will be very good if you test it. – Pilot6 Aug 17 '16 at 20:49
  • You can install it as described in the answer. This is my PPA. – Pilot6 Aug 17 '16 at 20:58
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    The computer I'm installing to doesn't have an Internet connection, so I couldn't run the commands in your answer. I downloaded the package from your PPA manually 'https://launchpad.net/~hanipouspilot/+archive/ubuntu/rtlwifi/+files/rtl8192eu-dkms_4.4_all.deb', and copied it to the machine. I installed it with 'dpkg -i rtl8192eu-dkms_4.4_all.deb' as root. I now have a network interface with name 'enx18a6f70a59f4' found from 'lshw -class network', which I enabled using 'ifconfig enx18a6f70a59f4 up', both as root. Restarting my networking daemon ('service wicd restart') shows networks. – mvousden Aug 17 '16 at 21:56
  • Just wanted to confirm that this also worked perfectly for me (after having tried a lot of other approaches without any luck). So, many thanks! – nullgeppetto Sep 02 '16 at 16:30
  • Can you please provide a version for yakety yak also.. – Sumit Oct 24 '16 at 05:02
  • @Sumit I do not plan to install 16.10. – Pilot6 Oct 24 '16 at 08:07
  • @mvousden Thanks for the tip about manually bringing the interface up and restarting the networking daemon. Do you need to do it every time you boot up your machine? I do :( (http://askubuntu.com/questions/843335/wifi-interface-down-on-boot-need-to-restart-network-manager) – user2891462 Oct 29 '16 at 23:24
  • @Pilot6 Thanks for your PPA. Rebooting was not needed, but I had to disable and reenable the wifi network through Network Manager. – Skippy le Grand Gourou Sep 09 '17 at 12:44
  • In Xubuntu 18.04.3 this results in errors:

    Err:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/hanipouspilot/rtlwifi/ubuntu bionic Release 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]

    E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/hanipouspilot/rtlwifi/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file. N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.

    E: Unable to locate package rtl8192eu-dkms

     – Simes Dec 26 '19 at 12:43
  • I changed the entry in Software Sources to say 'xenial' instead of 'bionic' which removed the errors above. However, trying to install the package rtl8192eu-dkms then produced:

    Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.0.0-37-generic (x86_64) Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtl8192eu/4.4/build/make.log for more information.

     – Simes Dec 26 '19 at 13:00
  • That says: /var/lib/dkms/rtl8192eu/4.4/build/include/osdep_service_linux.h:267:8: error: ‘_timer {aka struct timer_list}’ has no member named ‘data’ ptimer->data = (unsigned long)cntx; ^~ /var/lib/dkms/rtl8192eu/4.4/build/include/osdep_service_linux.h:268:2: error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_timer’; did you mean ‘_init_timer’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration] init_timer(ptimer); ^~~~~~~~~~ _init_timer cc1: some warnings being treated as errors scripts/Makefile.build:284: recipe for target '/var/lib/dkms/rtl8192eu/4.4/build/core/rtw_cmd.o' failed – Simes Dec 26 '19 at 13:02
  • I used "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:....." and it doesn't work:

    Traceback (most recent call last): ........ Error: could not find a distribution template for Raspbian/buster

    What's wrong with it?

     – Stan Huang at Taiwan Jun 17 '20 at 09:06
  • The wrong is that you are not using Ubuntu. And the PPA was for ubuntu 16.04. – Pilot6 Jun 17 '20 at 10:08
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If github is your thing then these guys also have a driver that is up-to-date with patches: https://github.com/Mange/rtl8192eu-linux-driver

Certainly it works for my TL-WN823N V2 on a raspberry pi 2.

lane
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