How-To: WiFi config using NDISwrapper

[magicfab]

I' ve used this method to successfully install drivers for several WiFi mini-PCI cards, which usually come integrated into recent laptops. My latest successful install was for an RT2500-based card in an Averatec Athlon XP-M 3250-HX01 computer.

UPDATE : it seems there are kernel drivers (which I was able to install succesfully) available for this specific wifi radio, however the following how-to still applies and can be used for other wifi radios and adapters. The drivers include a WPA implementation, which explains why wpa_supplicant does not support them. See this bug report for updates. Thanks to Jayded for posting about it.

These are the steps I followed:

1. Using the Synaptics package manager, I installed the ndiswrapper-utils and wireless-tools packages. If you can' t find the first one, make sure the Universe repositories are activated under Settings | Repositories.
2. Open a Root Terminal ( Applications | System Tools | Root Terminal )
3. Follow the instructions starting at step 2 of NDISwrapper Installation instructions
4. Go to Computer | System Configuration | Networking and add the newly configured Wifi interface to your networking setup

I would also suggest using a tool such as Wifi Radar to discover WiFi networks and manage your WiFi connections. Unfortunately I haven' t found anything supporting more than WEP in the GUI (like WPA, etc.).

In my particular case, I used the drivers suggested at the NDISwrapper site in the list section. I downloaded the archive with the Windows drivers to my home directory, then moved them to a new directory called WiFi and unzipped them there. Then I moved back to my parent directory (/home/magicfab) and followed the instructions step by step. PLEASE NOTE this is only for an Averatec 3250-HX01 with RT2500-base Wifi! However the results should be very similar for other laptops/WiFi setups.

Some laptops have a button to actually turn on / turn off the integrated WiFi radio - don' t forget to turn it on before your installation or else you'll end up wondering why nothing seems to work - like has happened to me :D

First I make sure I am using the latest kernel for my processor and test to see if NDISwrapper has installed correctly:

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # uname -a
Linux RoadRunner 2.6.8.1-4-k7 #1 Thu Dec 16 13:19:52 UTC 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # ndiswrapper
WARNING:
This tool allows you to use a driver written for the Windows operating
system on Ubuntu. Please note that the use of such drivers is entirely
unsupportable by the Ubuntu team, and not recommended, even if it is
theoretically possible with this tool.

Usage: ndiswrapper OPTION

Manage ndis drivers for ndiswrapper.
-i inffile   Install driver described by inffile
-e driver    Remove driver
-l           List installed drivers
-m           Write configuration for modprobe

Then I verify the Windows drivers archive is there, and make sure the Win2k directory has the INF file:

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # ls
Desktop  WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # mkdir WiFi
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # mv WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip WiFi/
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # cd WiFi/
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # ls
WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # unzip WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip
Archive:  WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip
  inflating: RaLink2_RT2560.exe
   creating: Win2K/
  inflating: Win2K/rt2500.cat
  inflating: Win2K/Rt2500.INF
  inflating: Win2K/rt2500.sys
   creating: Win9xMe/
  inflating: Win9xMe/Rt2500.INF
  inflating: Win9xMe/rt25009x.sys
   creating: WinXP/
  inflating: WinXP/rt2500.cat
  inflating: WinXP/Rt2500.INF
  inflating: WinXP/rt2500.sys
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # ls
RaLink2_RT2560.exe  Win2K  Win9xMe  WinXP  WL54driver2.2.6.0.zip
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # rm *.zip
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # ls
RaLink2_RT2560.exe  Win2K  Win9xMe  WinXP
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab/WiFi # cd ..
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # ls WiFi/Win2K/
rt2500.cat  Rt2500.INF  rt2500.sys

Now I use ndiswrapper to install the driver files - notice the "No such file or directory message":

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # ndiswrapper -i  WiFi/Win2K/Rt2500.INF
WARNING:
This tool allows you to use a driver written for the Windows operating
system on Ubuntu. Please note that the use of such drivers is entirely
unsupportable by the Ubuntu team, and not recommended, even if it is
theoretically possible with this tool.

ls: /etc/ndiswrapper: No such file or directory
Installing rt2500

NDISwrapper now reports the hardware as being present, so I use modprobe to load the drivers. Notice how I use grep to check only the ndiswrapper messages issued by dmesg at the end:

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # ndiswrapper -l
WARNING:
This tool allows you to use a driver written for the Windows operating
system on Ubuntu. Please note that the use of such drivers is entirely
unsupportable by the Ubuntu team, and not recommended, even if it is
theoretically possible with this tool.

Installed ndis drivers:
rt2500  hardware present
root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # modprobe ndiswrapper

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # dmesg | grep ndis
ndiswrapper version 0.10 loaded (preempt=yes,smp=no)
ndiswrapper: using irq 11
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:11:09:0b:de:83 using driver rt2500.sys
ndiswrapper device wlan0 supports WPA with AES/CCMP and TKIP ciphers
ndiswrapper: driver rt2500.sys (Ralink Technology, Inc.,06/10/2004, 2.02.06.0000) added

SUCCESS! Now let's try iwconfig, it should list the WiFi interface:

root@RoadRunner:/home/magicfab # iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Auto  Frequency:2.412GHz  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate:11Mb/s   Tx-Power:20 dBm   Sensitivity=-120 dBm
          RTS thr:2347 B   Fragment thr:2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:136/154  Noise level:0/154
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Notice the interface name is wlan0, so you should issue the following command to associate to your nearest (unprotected, unencrypted) access point:

dhclient wlan0

Remember to carefully review the install instructions at the NDISwrapper site, they are very detailed and contain more information than this specific example. Of course come back and report your success/problems - enjoy!

[Averatec5400]

Sweet,

That is exactly what I did and was going to write up, but I ran into christmas and no internet access or wireless access.

you can also do the extracting of zip file from GUI, but your way was easier to show without screenshots/flash

[RockDoctor]

Worked like a charm.

Thanks!

[Mantle]

I get stuck at the modprobe ndiswrapper stage. It keeps saying "module ndiswrapper doesn't exist" or something to that effect. I am using the 4.10 LiveCD and I read a review of it saying he couldn't get networking to work at all using the LiveCD which is a huge shame. However, I am fairly sure I am doing everything else correctly as I CAN use ndiswrapper successfully in Knoppix 3.7 using the same drivers. I've got an Asus WL103b in a laptop. Any suggestions?

[jayded]

What a LOT of work when its all so unecessary and far more unstable than just installing the rt2x00 kernel driver ?!?

[deviant03]

How about enabling WEP? I tried to enter my WEP key (hex, 64 bit) as "sudo iwconfig wlan0 key XXXXXXXXXX" or formatted as XXXX-XXXX-XX, both through network preferences and the terminal but it dosent seem to work. When WEP is disabled the wireless network works so Im positive its a problem with WEP.

[kevy1963]

I agree, my acx111 TI based card works if I disable WEP on my USR router. I too have tried entering my WEP with iwconfig without luck. Help!!!

[deviant03]

Ive been trying all night to get my Netgear MA521 PC Card to work with no success. So this morning I gave it another shot:

With my card already added in Network Preferences (with my ssid and WEP key) I do "sudo modprobe ndiswrapper" in terminal. Then I go to Network Preferences and click on wlan0 and hit activate. FINALLY Im connected! Using wifi right now, I just hope it stays up.

~Now I remember how I got it working. I switched the 128bit hex key from Open System to Share Key. Everything works fine now but does anyone the difference between the two?

[otterit]

I really wish I had this luck with the Linksys WUSB11 version 2.8 (atmel).

*sigh*

[magicfab]

Originally Posted by jayded What a LOT of work when its all so unecessary and far more unstable than just installing the rt2x00 kernel driver ?!?

Ok, genius, did you notice I wrote the how-to when the drivers you mention did not exist yet ?

On the other hand, many thanks for pointing out the drivers , however they are *only* for the Averatec laptops with those specific internal wifi radios. The how-to is still valid for other unsupported wifi cards and radios.