HOWTO: WLan via Ndiswrapper

[Hieronymus]

On this forum I see there are a lot of questions about installing WIFI using ndiswrapper, I have figured it out and I want to share it with you all. I made a howto in which I have combined all the solutions I have found. This is the system I use:

HP Pavilion zv5133ea
AMD64 3000+ met 512 Mb intern
Nvidia GeForce4 440 Go 64M
Broadcom 802.11b Wlan
Realtek RTL8139 NIC
Ubuntu Hoary Hedgedog 5.04 64Bit / WinXp dual boot

HOWTO:
The first problem I have encountered was that the ndiswrapper-1.1 version didn't work. My drivers were installed however the command iwlist did't show any APs, the solution I found was to install the newest version of ndiswrapper: Ndiswrapper-1.2-RC1 .

The next step is to get drivers, I'm working with 64 Bit Ubuntu so I need 64 Bit drivers, here is a link to get windows wlan drivers for most Wlan cards: Wlan drivers . This link provides also 64 bit drivers for all broadcom cards.

Ok, on to the installation:

Step 1: Remove the old ndiswrapper and all links to it's driver.

 			  
sudo modprobe -r bcmwl5 
sudo rmmod ndiswrapper 
sudo apt-get remove ndiswrapper-utils 
sudo rm -r /etc/ndiswrapper/ 
sudo rm -r /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper

Step 2: Install Linux-headers.

 		     
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.10 (enter your version of linux headers or usr the synaptic package manager)

Step 3: Install Ndiswrapper.

     
cd /home/username/ 
sudo tar xvzf ndiswrapper-1.2-rc1 
cd /home/username/ndiswrapper-1.2-rc1/ 
sudo make 
sudo make install

Step 4: Load drivers with ndiswrapper.

cd /the_dir_you_put_the_wlan_drivers_into/ 
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf (fill out your own drivers for bcmwl5.inf) 
sudo ndiswrapper -l (shows if the driver is installed)

Step 5: Load ndiswrapper and check if it worked.

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper 
sudo dmesg (shows that the card is installed (hopefully)) 
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan (shows all APs surrounding you)

Step 6: Make sure Ndiswrapper is loaded during bootup.

sudo ndiswrapper -m

Step 7: Configure your Wlan card.

     
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid name_of_AP (the name you found by using iwlist wlan0 scan) 
iwconfig wlan0 enc <key> (fill out your WEP key (if you have one)) 
sudo dhclient wlan0 (gets a dynamic IP adress) 
sudo ping -c 3 www.ubuntu-linux.nl (tests the connection)

Step 8: If you are using WPA encryprion check this thread WPA encryption voor Ndiswrapper .

I hope this will help some people. If there are comments or extra info you have please add it to this thread, it could help somebody.

Greets Hieronymus

[poofyhairguy]

HEY MODS!!!

This needs to be moved!!!!

[kassetra]

HEY MODS!!!

This needs to be moved!!!!

moved.

[maspro]

That's about the same procedure I used, it's funny how people sometimes unknowingly reinvent the wheel.
I have a laptop with a 64-bit AMD processor, but I used the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 5.04, with Ndiswrapper v1.1.

Here's what I came up after some research and posted in another thread here on the Ubuntu forums:

Well to get my Wif-fi working on my Acer Ferrari 3200 I did the following and it worked perfectly :
Although I have a laptop with a 64-bit AMD processor, I used the Ubuntu 32-bit version for x86 systems, with the Ndiswrapper v1.1.

- First I plugged in the UTP cable to get internet access (since Wi-fi doesn't work yet ) . If you have all of the below mentioned software, an off-line installation will also work.
- Download the ndiswrapper-source (NOT the .deb file) from http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/
- You will also need an appropriate .inf driver for your Wi-fi, I used bcmwl5.inf.
- If you can't find a suitable driver then take a look here: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/p...index.php/List
- Then I downloaded build-essential, linux-headers and ndiswrapper utils through Synaptic. Although the ndiswrapper utils that are provided through Synaptic aren't really necessary I think because later on there are replaced by a newer version.

Then I typed the following commands in a terminal-window:

sudo su <your own password>
Copy the ndiswrappersource tar file to /usr/src
cd /usr/src
tar xvzf ndiswrapper*
cd ndiswrapper*
debian/rules binary
cd ..
dpkg -i ndiswrapper*.deb
Switch to your driver's directory with the cd command.
ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
ndiswrapper -l
modprobe ndiswrapper
iwconfig
iwconfig wlan0 essid <fill in your own essid>
iwlist wlan0 scan
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted <your own wep-key 10 hex digits for 40-bit encryption or 26 hex digits for 128-bit encryption>
iwconfig wlan0 essid <fill in your own essid>
ifconfig wlan0 up (or dhclient wlan0)

- I then disabled my eth0 (the port with the UTP cable) in the Gnome GUI network utility.
- Then use the Gnome GUI network utility to configure your wireless interface.
- Optionally you can download the KWifimanager through Synaptic and also make some configurations there, it also allows you to see if you have any signal strength and if you get an IP-address on your Wi-fi nic.

When all works well I typed the following last command:

ndiswrapper -m

And I added the following line to my /etc/modules: ndiswrapper

Maybe there is some redundant stuff that I did in the above list, but it's works perfectly for me.
So I guess that there are several ways to get your Wi-fi working in Ubuntu!

Looks very similar, doesn't it...

[jonny]

Hieronymus, maspro

You've probably seen the How To that I wrote for Broadcom cards (I managed to get the repository ndiswrapper to work), and I imagine it didn't work for you. I'd like to point my How To to yours so that users who have similar problems aren't left high and dry. You mention AMD64. Are you using AMD64 ubuntu? If so, I imagine that these are the users that need redirection.

The other thread has had around 7,000 hits so far, so Broadcom cards are obviously presenting huge problems. It would be good to be able to present a cast iron solution set between us.

One minor point that might trip up some unwary noobs: I think that, from a fresh ubuntu install, you'd also need to do apt-get install build-essential before compiling ndiswrapper.

[maspro]

Hieronymus, maspro

You've probably seen the How To that I wrote for Broadcom cards (I managed to get the repository ndiswrapper to work), and I imagine it didn't work for you. I'd like to point my How To to yours so that users who have similar problems aren't left high and dry. You mention AMD64. Are you using AMD64 ubuntu? If so, I imagine that these are the users that need redirection.

The other thread has had around 7,000 hits so far, so Broadcom cards are obviously presenting huge problems. It would be good to be able to present a cast iron solution set between us.

One minor point that might trip up some unwary noobs: I think that, from a fresh ubuntu install, you'd also need to do apt-get install build-essential before compiling ndiswrapper.

Will I cross-linked this thread with your thread at HOW TO: Configure wireless cards with Broadcom chipsets The more info the better!

It's my understanding that Hieronymus uses Ubuntu 64-bit on a AMD64-bit, I'm using Ubuntu 32-bit on a AMD64-bit. And in both situations we were able to get Wi-fi working. Hieronymus used the Ndiswrapper v1.2RC1 and I used the Ndiswrapper v1.1 final.

And indeed the build-essential that's available through APT is indeed necessary for a successfull end result. I think with your how-to and the how-to of Hieronymus that it should not be a huge problem anymore to get Wi-fi working for most people.

[Fuzzhead]

I'm a newbie, and this is probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways.

In step #2, the command to get the linux headers.
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.10

Does this pull out of local files, or does it have to pull from an online repository?
How can I go online, if what I need to get online is retreived by going online?

TIA,
Michael

[maspro]

I'm a newbie, and this is probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways.

In step #2, the command to get the linux headers.
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.10

Does this pull out of local files, or does it have to pull from an online repository?
How can I go online, if what I need to get online is retreived by going online?

TIA,
Michael

Well most people who want to install wireless internet already have a internet connection in one form or the other. I simply plugged-out the network cable of my other computer and plugged it in to my laptop to get a internet connnection. From there on I fixed the wireless connection and them plugged-out the network cable from my laptop and put it back in my primary computer again.

But I think it's possible to get apt/synaptic to work with local repositories on your harddrive. I don't know if the linux-headers are on the install-cd of Ubuntu, maybe you can get them from the cd. But I'm a n00b also, so I don't know for sure.

[Fuzzhead]

Well most people who want to install wireless internet already have a internet connection in one form or the other. I simply plugged-out the network cable of my other computer and plugged it in to my laptop to get a internet connnection. From there on I fixed the wireless connection and them plugged-out the network cable from my laptop and put it back in my primary computer again.

But I think it's possible to get apt/synaptic to work with local repositories on your harddrive. I don't know if the linux-headers are on the install-cd of Ubuntu, maybe you can get them fron the cd. But I'm a n00b also, so I don't know for sure.

I booted into windows, and downloaded the linux-headers-2.6.10 file, a .deb file. I have that on the main HDD, and I can get to it after booting the LiveCD and mounting the drive. But, what is the command to install the linux-headers-xxx.x.x..deb file? (NOTE: This particular machine must run on the wireless, as it sits on the second floor, and my cable router/ap is in the basement.) Thanks!

[Heliode]

To manually install .deb files:

dpkg -i [file]