Wireless using NDISwrapper and the Windows driver


    Quoting ndiswrapper description :- Some vendors do not release specifications of the hardware or provide a Linux driver for their wireless network cards. This project implements Windows kernel API and NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) API within Linux kernel. A Windows driver for wireless network card is then linked to this implementation so that the driver runs natively, as though it is in Windows, without binary emulation.

The main workng parts of ndiswrapper are included in the default Ubuntu kernel but some extra bits are needed to use it.  These are supplied in the ndiswrapper-utils package.  Also for using the graphical interface, another package, ndisgtk (a frontend for ndiswrapper) is required.  If you have a wired internet connection these can be downloaded and installed using the Synaptic Package Manager (available from the System > Administration menu and Search for ndiswrapper this finds both packages).  

This is by far the easiest method but if you are using a desktop PC some distance from the router and reliant on WiFi, this is not appropriate - see next section.

Note :- This page relates to Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) but should work with 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) if none of the methods using a native Linux driver work - there are slight differences that apply to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake).  Please see Use Windows driver to access wireless adapter in Ubuntu 6.06 and also Using ndiswrapper etc. when you have no internet connection in Ubuntu 6.06  (which follows).  I have tested this method with Ubuntu versions 7.04 and 6.06 only and the wireless adapters I had at the time - version numbers and other details may be different for other Ubuntu versions.

If the Ubuntu system doesn't have wired internet access

    The package files will want downloading with Windows or on another computer.  A USB memory stick is very useful for transferring files between computers or between operating systems (though with Feisty you should have access to your Windows files).

Download sites :-
These packages may be installed in Ubuntu simply by double-clicking on the files and following the prompts.

The Windows Driver File

In most cases just one file is required, this will have an .inf extension.  This may be obtained from :-
If you find more than one .inf file and not sure which to use then copy both/all onto your transfer medium.  One of them will probably work.

Setting up ndiswrapper to use the Windows driver in the Graphical Interface

If everything has been entered correctly the Wireless Networking should work.  If not try restarting again.  If you used WEP with an ascii password, try the hex version of the password - this may be obtained from your router (Use Windows or another machine if required).  If it still doesn't work there are still possibilities.

Installing Windows driver files using Command Line

    Note :-  Command Line (Terminal) entries are shown in RED
    If you have a WEP password set go into the Network dialog (as above) and set the WEP password etc.  Wireless may work now or you may need to restart Ubuntu (maybe twice).  



Addendum

Use Windows driver to access wireless adapter in Ubuntu 6.06

If Ubuntu doesn't automatically detect your wireless adapter, this HowTo describes how to enable wireless networking with Linux using the driver file from Windows and the ndiswrapper feature of Linux.

Firstly find and copy the .inf file for the wireless driver into a removeable media - eg. USB memory stick, CD or floppy. This may be from your Windows installation (preferred), the install CD or a downloaded driver. Try looking in Program Files and the folder for the make of wireless adapter. If there's more than one .inf file make copies of all of them to try later.

Boot into Linux
Go to System>Administration>Synaptic Packet Manager
In there choose Settings>Repositories
and choose "Ubuntu 6.06 (LTS) binary - Community maintained Universe" by ticking the box
Close window
Click on Reload - this will download a new list of packages available

Click Search and enter "ndisgtk"
Select for download by ticking the box on the left
Do the same for "ndiswrapper-utils"
Click on Apply and the packages will be installed

Go to System>Administration>Windows Wireless Drivers (a new option we've just added)
Click Install New Driver
Browse to the .inf file you saved earlier and click Install
The new driver should appear in the list on the left
Choose Configure Network and enter your network settings ESSID (also called SSID) and WEP Passphrase. Choose "Use DHCP" and click OK
The wireless connection should now activate.

Using ndiswrapper etc. when you have no internet connection in Ubuntu 6.06

Although easier to install the necessary packages using a wired connection to the 'net, this isn't always practical. This is how to use another computer or the sams computer running Windows to download the required files.

Two packages are wanted to use the graphical interface in Ubuntu to get wireless working using the Windows driver info. These are ndiswrapper-utils and ndisgtk The versions I used successfully with Ubuntu v6.06 (Dapper Drake) were ndiswrapper-utils_1.8-0ubuntu2_i386.deb and ndisgtk_0.6-0ubuntu1_all.deb. These are Debian packages and can be installed into Ubuntu by simply double-clicking on the file icon - making installation easy.

Method
In some cases you may be able to read Windows hard drives from Ubuntu but if not (and safer anyway) you will need some form of removeable storage to transfer files between Windows and Ubuntu. I recommend a USB memory stick - fast and easy - thought anything else, such as CD-RW or even floppy will do.

Find the installation CD that came with your wireless adapter or find the location of the driver files in Windows - usually in the Program Files folder under either make or device name. Look for .INF files and copy to your storage device. It may or may not be obvious which you want or there may only be one. If not obvious and more than one, copying both/all gives you the opportunity to try more than one if the first doesn't work.

Now go online and download ndiswrapper-utils_1.8-0ubuntu2_i386.deb and ndisgtk_0.6-0ubuntu1_all.deb. These may be obtained form many sources of Ubuntu main or mirror websites eg.
http://mirror.linux.org.mt/mirror/ub...n/ndiswrapper/ and http://mirror.linux.org.mt/mirror/ub...rse/n/ndisgtk/ and choose the files from the list.

Copy these two files to your storage device.

You are now ready to run the Ubuntu live CD (or HD version, if you've already installed Ubuntu). Connect or insert your storage device if required (eg. different PC) and boot up into Ubuntu.

Your storage device should appear on the Ubuntu desktop - or find it from the Places Menu. Go into this and find the files you just copied. Double-click on each file icon (looks kike an open cardboard box) to install ndiswrapper-utils and ndisgtk, and follow the instructions for each in turn.

Go to System > Administration > Windows Wireless Drivers (a new option we've just added)
Click Install Driver
Browse to the .inf file you saved earlier and click Install
The new driver should appear in the list on the left - if not try another (if available).
Choose Configure Network and enter your network settings ESSID (also called SSID) and WEP Passphrase. Choose "Use DHCP" and click OK
The wireless connection should now activate.


Still not working?  If from doing the above it seems that there is a driver loaded but not working properly, the next section may help.

Wireless adapter chipset supported by native Linux driver but driver does not work properly

   In some cases there may be a Linux driver for the wireless adapter but it does not work.  The adapter may be an older version and not properly supported.  To get round this the native Linux driver must be disabled or "blacklisted" as it is called.

With pre 7.10 versions of Ubuntu, this was the case with my Linksys WPC54G laptop adapter (works with 7.10 - see above).  This is an early card and although based on the bcm43xx chipset which Ubuntu supports directly, the built in driver did not work.  Nor did the above ndiswrapper methods.  The native driver was being chosen in preference to the Windows driver.  Many wireless adapters use this chipset and don't work "out of the box".  This problem may occur with other chipsets too and the following method may work by replacing bcm43xx with your chipset type number.  Also, replace lsbcmnds with with the name of your Windows driver .inf file.  The following assumes the previous method has been tried and Windows driver file(s) are in wifi off your home dir.

Disable native driver and current implementation of ndiswrapper (resulting from trying the previous method).
echo 'blacklist bcm43xx |sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo rmmod bcm43xx
sudo rmmod ndiswrapper

Make sure everything is up-to-date and install the latest ndiswrapper-utils
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils

Change to directory containing Windows driver file and link it to ndiswrapper
cd ~/wifi/
sudo ndiswrapper -i lsbcmnds.inf
cd /etc/ndiswrapper/lsbcmnds

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

sudo gedit /etc/modules
This opens the gedit text editor in "root" mode.  Check to see if ndiswrapper is included and if not add a new line at the bottom containing  ndiswrapper on a line of it's own.  Then Save it back and exit gedit.

Restart Ubuntu.



Updated 28 May 2008