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I just recently installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as a dual boot with my Windows 7 computer. I got Ubuntu installed, but I can't connect to my wireless network. I tried checking out the network manager window, but the only option available is a wired connection.

I tried going through questions posted on here, but all the commands lead to dead ends such as "no such package exists" or whatever. The router is also in my landlord's control on the other side of the house, so connecting it via an ethernet cable is a no-go.

Can someone help me out? I'm stuck and have no idea how to get this thing working. :S

E. Fortier
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  • You say you can't connect. But is the router shown as available Wifi network when you click on the network icon ? If not, during installation, did the system report an available wifi adapter ? –  May 25 '17 at 16:10
  • No, there is nothing available or showing in the list when I click on the network icon. The only available option is to open up the network manager, and the only option there is to edit a "Wired Connection" profile.

    And during installation, I don't recall it asking me to connect to a wifi adapter or anything.

     – E. Fortier May 25 '17 at 17:08
  • Here are some pictures too – E. Fortier May 25 '17 at 17:17
  • Then the Ubuntu installer did not detect your wifi adapter and/or could not find the correct driver for it. Did you try this thread?: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=906865 It shows commands to detect your wifi adapter and then to determine which driver package you need. –  May 25 '17 at 17:22
  • Well, I found the wifi adapter: 05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43b1] (rev 03) Not sure where to go from here though – E. Fortier May 25 '17 at 18:01
  • Well, I tried going through all the links and forum topics I could find about this, but in all cases, they reference using the sudo apt-get command to install either 'bcmwl-kernel-source' or 'firmware-b43-installer'. Either way, apparently neither package exists on my system, because I keep getting an "Unable to locate package" error. I'm stumped... – E. Fortier May 25 '17 at 18:21

1 Answers1

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Found the answer to it!

So I'm using a broadcom BCM4352 wireless adapter, so in my case I would be using the bcmwl package (see this link to find out which driver you need for which broadcom adapter). My fix was more or less brute-force, but I found the original driver package in the external HDD I used to boot the initial installation process since my installation didn't come with any packages for some reason.

The file can be found under InstallerDiskVol/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl, where InstallerDiskVol would be the drive letter corresponding to the disk you used to install Ubuntu from (G:/ in my case). To install it, run the following command: 

sudo dpkg -i bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu1~1.1_amd64.deb

Or whatever the filename would be in your case.

IF that failed because of a missing dkms package, go to InstallerDiskVol/pool/main/d/dkms and run the same command on that package first, THEN go back to the bcmwl file.

Hope that helps anyone else that faces the same struggle!

E. Fortier
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