Linux Realtek Wireless Drivers

• Realtek Wireless Adapter Linux Drivers
• Linux Realtek Wireless Drivers Windows 7
• Linux Realtek Wireless Driver

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Realtek wireless chipset: install the right driver Back to the home page In some cases you can try another driver for Realtek chipsets in Linux Mint 20.x and Ubuntu 20.04.

In some cases you can try another driver for Realtek chipsets in Linux Mint 20.x and Ubuntu 20.04. Namely for the following common Realtek chipsets: RTL8192EU, RTL8723BE, RTL8723BU, RTL8723DE, RTL8821CE, RTL8822BE, RTL8822CE, RTL8814AU.
This page will show you how.

If unsure: determine the WiFi chipset

1. Are you unsure what Realtek WiFi chipset you have? That can happen easily, because the brand and type printed on a USB WiFi dongle or internal PCI card are meaningless; 'under the hood' it can be anything.
Ordinarily, you can determine your WiFi chipset like this:
a. If it's a USB WiFi dongle, connect it to your computer.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Use copy/paste to transfer the following command into the terminal:
inxi -Fxz
(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter, and don't omit the space after inxi!)
Press Enter. In the complete hardware overview you get to see then, you should also find your WiFi chipset.
d. But in a few cases, inxi doesn't give sufficient information. You can then proceed as follows:
For a USB WiFi dongle, use copy/paste to transfer the following word into the terminal :
lsusb
Press Enter.
For an internal PCI WiFi card, use the terminal command lspci
e. Now you should see at least one line that approximately resembles the following output (example from my own computer):
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 0bda:b720 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
f. The combination of characters and numbers that I've printed in red, is the unique ID of your Realtek chipset. Use Google to find out what the type name of that chipset is.

Driver for the Realtek RTL8192EU chipset (2357:0109)

2. Below you'll find a how-to for installing another driver for your RTL8192EU WiFi chipset. Proceed like this:
a. First establish temporary internet connection for your computer by means of your cell phone.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:
sudo apt-get install mokutil && mokutil --sb-state
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
If it reports that Secure Boot is enabled: reboot and disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In order to do this, you might need to set an administrator password in the BIOS first.
Disabling Secure Boot is no loss: it adds no meaningful security anyway. It's primarily a means for Microsoft to enforce its vendor lock-in on your computer...
d. Copy/paste the following command lines into the terminal, one by one. Press Enter after each individual line:
sudo apt-get install git linux-headers-generic build-essential dkms
git clone https://github.com/clnhub/rtl8192eu-linux.git
cd rtl8192eu-linux
sudo dkms add .
(note the dot at the end of the command line!)
sudo dkms install rtl8192eu/1.0
echo 'blacklist rtl8xxxu' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8xxxu.conf
e. Reboot your computer.
f. Now check whether the driver module has been loaded, with this terminal command:
lsmod | grep 8192eu
g. Now you're going to remove the folder with the driver building blocks, which has become useless (and can't be used for other kernels, as it has been tailored to your current kernel by 'make'). With this command:
rm -v -R --interactive=never ~/rtl8192eu-linux
Are the driver packages no longer available on github.com? Then get the driver packages from here (driver as it was on July 5, 2020). Then unpack the zipped file in your home folder, because it's a compressed folder. Don't unpack it in the subfolder Downloads, because then the terminal commands in my how-to won't work.

HP laptop with RTL8723BE chipset: try antenna selection

3. Some HP laptops with the Realtek WiFi chipset card RTL8723BE have just one antenna on that card designed for two (stingy HP, anyone?). This has caused many problems for Linux users, as the default antenna is usually the missing one....
But thanks to Larry Finger and the good people at Realtek you can do some testing with a module parameter that allows for antenna selection. As follows:
a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
b. First unload the currently active module with this command (use copy/paste to transfer it into the terminal):
sudo modprobe -r rtw_8723be
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
c. Then reload it with the instruction to use antenna number 2, with this command:
sudo modprobe rtw_8723be ant_sel=2
Press Enter.
d. Then check the signal strength with this command:
iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
Press Enter.
e. Then test the the other antenna (number 1), to find out which one has a stronger signal. For this, execute the following three commands:
sudo modprobe -r rtw_8723be
sudo modprobe rtw_8723be ant_sel=1
iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
f. If ant_sel=2 gives the best signal (which is usually the case), do this (this is one line, use copy/paste to transfer it to the terminal):
echo 'options rtw_8723be ant_sel=2' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/rtw_8723be.conf
Reboot your computer.
If ant_sel=1 gives the best signal (unusual, but not impossible), do this (this is one line, use copy/paste to transfer it to the terminal):

echo 'options rtw_8723be ant_sel=1' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/rtw_8723be.conf

Driver for the Realtek RTL8723BU chipset (0bda:b720)

4. For the Realtek RTL8723BU chipset, you might need to install another driver. In which case you can proceed like this:
a. First establish temporary internet connection for your computer by means of your cell phone.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:
sudo apt-get install mokutil && mokutil --sb-state
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
If it reports that Secure Boot is enabled: reboot and disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In order to do this, you might need to set an administrator password in the BIOS first.
Disabling Secure Boot is no loss: it adds no meaningful security anyway. It's primarily a means for Microsoft to enforce its vendor lock-in on your computer...
d. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal, in order to install the required build packages (the building tools with which you're going to build the driver):
sudo apt-get install git build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
e. Download the driver packages by means of git, with this command (use copy/paste):
git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bu
f. Now you're going to disable a line in the makefile of the new driver, because without this hack, two instances of the wireless chipset will show in Network Manager (which would of course be bizarre and useless). The command below is one huge line; make sure you copy/paste it, in order to avoid typing errors:
sed -i 's/EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_CONCURRENT_MODE/#EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_CONCURRENT_MODE/g' ~/rtl8723bu/Makefile
Press Enter.
g. Now compile the required kernel module from the driver packages. Copy/paste this line into the terminal, in order to enter the folder with the driver packages:
cd rtl8723bu
And then run this command:
make
h. Finally, install the compiled module with this command:
sudo make install
i. Now put the current flawed driver on the blacklist; for that, use copy/paste to transfer the following command line to the terminal:
xed admin:///etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Now a text file is being opened. In that text file, add the following blue text block, at the end of the existing text (use copy/paste):
# The rtl8xxxu driver is flawed,
# so it needs to be prevented from loading.
# This should give the 8723au or the 8723bu driver
# the chance to load instead.
blacklist rtl8xxxu
Save the modified text file and close it.
j. Now you're going to remove the folder with the driver building blocks, which has become useless (and can't be used for other kernels, as it has been tailored to your current kernel by 'make'). With this command:
rm -v -R --interactive=never ~/rtl8723bu
k. Reboot your computer.
l. Your wifi should work well now: click on the icon of Network Manager in the system tray, in order to see the available wireless networks.
Note: do NOT install kernel updates or new kernels, because then you'll probably lose the driver again! So I advise to lock the current kernel (item 7).
Or if you want to install newer kernels anyway, from time to time: download the folder with the driver build packages again with git, create a compressed (.tar.gz) file from it, rename the compressed file to wifi-driver and keep it in reserve.
You can then use it in the now familiar way (first unzip it, of course) to build and install the driver again when you've lost your WiFi after booting with a newly installed kernel.
Are the driver packages no longer available on github.com? Then get the driver packages from here (driver as it was on July 5, 2020). Then unpack the zipped file in your home folder, because it's a compressed folder. Don't unpack it in the subfolder Downloads, because then the terminal commands won't work.

HP laptop with RTL8723DE chipset: try antenna selection or a new driver

5. Some HP laptops with the Realtek WiFi chipset card RTL8723DE have just one antenna on that card designed for two (stingy HP, anyone?). This has caused many problems for Linux users, as the default antenna is usually the missing one....
But thanks to Larry Finger and the good people at Realtek you can do some testing with a module parameter that allows for antenna selection. As follows:
a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
b. First unload the currently active module with this command (use copy/paste to transfer it into the terminal):
sudo modprobe -r rtw_8723de
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
c. Then reload it with the instruction to use antenna number 2, with this command:
sudo modprobe rtw_8723de ant_sel=2
Press Enter.
d. Then check the signal strength with this command:
iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
Press Enter.

Realtek Wireless Adapter Linux Drivers

e. Then test the the other antenna (number 1), to find out which one has a stronger signal. For this, execute the following three commands:
sudo modprobe -r rtw_8723de
sudo modprobe rtw_8723de ant_sel=1
iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
f. If ant_sel=2 gives the best signal (which is usually the case), do this (this is one line, use copy/paste to transfer it to the terminal):
echo 'options rtw_8723de ant_sel=2' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/rtw_8723de.conf
Reboot your computer.
If ant_sel=1 gives the best signal (unusual, but not impossible), do this (this is one line, use copy/paste to transfer it to the terminal):
echo 'options rtw_8723de ant_sel=1' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/rtw_8723de.conf
g. Hasn't this hack improved matters? Then try the rtw88 driver from Larry Finger, as described in item 7 below.

Driver for the Realtek RTL8821CE chipset

6. Below you'll find a how-to for installing a driver, which should get your RTL8821CE chipset to work.
Proceed like this:
a. First establish temporary internet connection for your computer by means of your cell phone.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal, in order to install the application mokutil and to let it examine the Secure Boot status of your machine:
sudo apt-get install mokutil && mokutil --sb-state
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
If it reports that Secure Boot is enabled: reboot and disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In order to do this, you might need to set an administrator password in the BIOS first.
Disabling Secure Boot is no loss: it adds no meaningful security anyway. It's primarily a means for Microsoft to enforce its vendor lock-in on your computer...
d. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal, in order to install the driver:
sudo apt-get install rtl8821ce-dkms
Press Enter.
e. Reboot your computer. Your WiFi card should work now. If not: try the rtw88 driver, as described in item 7 below.

The rtw88 driver from lwfinger for the RTL8723DE, RTL8821CE, RTL8822BE and RTL8822CE chipsets

7. For the following Realtek WiFi chipsets you can install the rtw88 driver from Larry Finger (lwfinger):
RTL8723DE, RTL8821CE, RTL8822BE and RTL8822CE.
Note: for the RTL8723DE chipset it's sometimes not necessary to replace the driver, because the default driver can sometimes be fixed by switching the antenna selection, as described in item 5 on this page.
a. First establish temporary internet connection for your computer by means of your cell phone.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:
sudo apt-get install mokutil && mokutil --sb-state
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
If it reports that Secure Boot is enabled: reboot and disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In order to do this, you might need to set an administrator password in the BIOS first.
Disabling Secure Boot is no loss: it adds no meaningful security anyway. It's primarily a means for Microsoft to enforce its vendor lock-in on your computer...
d. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal, in order to download and install the required build packages (the building tools with which you're going to build the driver):
sudo apt-get install git build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
e. Download the actual driver (the construction kit) by means of git, with this command (use copy/paste):
git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
f. Copy/paste this line into the terminal, in order to enter the folder with the driver packages:
cd rtw88
Press Enter.
g. Now you're going to compile the required kernel module from the driver package. For that, run this command:
make
h. Finally, install the compiled module with this command:
sudo make install
i. Now you're going to remove the folder with the driver building blocks, which has become useless (and can't be used for other kernels, as it has been tailored to your current kernel by 'make'). With this command:
rm -v -R --interactive=never ~/rtw88
j. Reboot your computer.
k. Your wifi should work well now: click on the icon of Network Manager in the system tray, in order to see the available wireless networks.
Note: do NOT install kernel updates or new kernels, because then you'll probably lose the driver again! So I advise to lock the current kernel (item 7).
Or if you want to install newer kernels anyway, from time to time: download the folder with the driver build packages again with git, create a compressed (.tar.gz) file from it, rename the compressed file to wifi-driver and keep it in reserve.
You can then use it in the now familiar way (first unzip it, of course) to build and install the driver again when you've lost your WiFi after booting with a newly installed kernel.
Is the driver no longer available on github.com? Then get the driver from here (the driver as it was on July 10, 2020). Then unpack the zipped file in your home folder, because it's a compressed folder. Don't unpack it in the subfolder Downloads, because then the terminal commands won't work!

Driver for the Realtek RTL8814AU WiFi chipset

8. For the Realtek RTL8814AU chipset, proceed as follows:
a. Establish temporary internet connection by means of your cell phone.
b. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:
sudo apt-get install mokutil && mokutil --sb-state
Press Enter.
If it reports that Secure Boot is enabled: reboot and disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In order to do this, you might need to set an administrator password in the BIOS first.
Disabling Secure Boot is no loss: it adds no meaningful security anyway. It's primarily a means for Microsoft to enforce its vendor lock-in on your computer...
c. Install some tools (use copy/paste to transfer the following command line into the terminal):
sudo apt-get install git build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
d. Download the driver components from a GitHub account with the slightly menacing name of 'aircrack-ng' (don't worry, it's harmless):
git clone https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8814au.git
e. Go to the driver components folder:
cd rtl8814au
f. Tailor the driver components to your Linux kernel:
make
g. Install the driver for your kernel:
sudo make dkms_install
h. Reboot and test. Your WiFi should work now.

Check the Draft tips for more Realtek WiFi solutions (RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188FU, RTL8192DU, RTL8821CU)

9. Didn't find what you were looking for? On the Draft tips page you'll find more Realtek solutions. Namely for the following chipsets: RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188FU, RTL8192DU and RTL8821CU.
Want more tips?
Do you want more tips and tweaks? There's a lot more of them on this website!

For example:
Speed up your Linux Mint!
Clean your Linux Mint safely
Avoid 10 fatal mistakes
To the content of this website applies a Creative Commons license.
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Disclaimer

Linux is a powerful operating system for a computer that works on minimal hardware specifications. Recently, I installed Ubuntu 18.04 on my old laptop and found most of the things working except the WiFi. After many searches, I finally found a solution to install wireless drivers on Ubuntu and connect to the internet.

The problem was solved with few commands, and the WiFi drivers got installed without much hassle on my computer. The Wireless Network Adapter installed on my laptop is from Broadcom Corporation, and by default, there was no driver installed by Ubuntu at the time of installation.

Last year I had a similar problem with my newly purchased Acer Nitro 5 Laptop based on Ryzen and having Atheros WiFi hardware installed. Although the problem was fixed after trying several methods and it also helped many other users as well. Let us not waste time and get our WiFi drivers fixed on our Ubuntu machine.

How To Install Wireless Drivers On Ubuntu 2020

Many manufacturers ship their products with the Windows operating system by default and are optimized for the particular model with all the device's hardware drivers installed. Linux is an independent and open-source operating system that doesn't have a dedicated team to work on specific hardware of a machine.

How To Fix WiFi in Ubuntu

In this article, we will learn to install Wireless drivers on Ubuntu 12.04 and above.

Method to fix no WiFi network option in Ubuntu:

First of all, type the following command to check the Wireless adapter installed on your computer:

sudo lshw -C network

The following message must be displayed in the command toolbox:

If the product description shows you the exact manufacturer name of the Wireless adapter, then you may proceed with the following, or else you must stop and look for other solutions.

There are many options for the manufacturers, but, in this article, we will cover the two most basic and relevant ones, and that is Broadcom and Realtek.

Step 1: Connect your laptop or computer to a wired network.

Linux Realtek Wireless Drivers Windows 7

Step 2: Next, open the terminal from the application menu.

Step 3: Now, you can connect by Bluetooth tethering or LAN according to your choice.

Step 4: Run the following command to install the required tools:

sudo apt install git build-essential dkms

Here type the password of your computer and hit Enter. Remember, the password will not be shown to you. So type carefully.

Step 5: Now download the rtlwifi_new codes via command:

git clone -b extended https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new.git

Step 6: Next, add the build sources with DKMS support:

sudo dkms add ./rtlwifi_new

Step 7: The final step is to install the Wireless Drivers:

sudo dkms install rtlwifi-new/0.6

If everything was correctly typed, then the WiFi should start working instantly, and you can connect to a network. But, for some reason, if it did not work, then try the following commands to load the newly install-module. Here we are talking about RTL87523DE.

sudo modprobe -r rtl8723de && sudo modprobe rtl8723de

Restart your computer, and your WiFi should be working without any other configuration. If it still doesn't work, then type in the following to change the variation and check which one works (replace 3 to 1, 2, or 4 if the signal is weak).

echo 'options rtl8723de ant_sel=3' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723de.conf sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

When the installation is completed, reboot your computer once. Once you reach the desktop, you will notice that the WiFi connection window is active, and you can connect to an available Wireless network.

Conclusion

Linux Realtek Wireless Driver

The above methods are an effortless way to install wireless drivers on Ubuntu-based computers in 2021 and you may also try to connect to a Wireless network without a password. In a certain, there might be other problems depending on the change of hardware or the driver's installation. If the above methods don't work, then you may contact your vendor and ask for support, because there might be chances of hardware issues as well.