This guide is to install a Windows driver for a supported wireless adapter in SuSE Linux. In this guide i shall walk you through, checking the compatability list, downloading the wireless drivers you need, downloading NDISWrapper, configuring and installing the drivers, using NDISWrapper, and finally, troubleshooting and further resources. I hope this guide provides much of what you will need, but remember Google, and FedoraForum.org, are great resources that should always be looked into.
If a problem arises, search the forum, or search Google. If you still need help, post to the forum and someone will help, maybe even me if im awake and online!! The community always helps, including newbies and you are very welcome to join and post and become an active member. If you have an OS different to SuSE 9.x / 10 / 10.1, this guide is still relevant, but not specific to any other OS. You should find the forums for your OS and post there if you have trouble with ndiswrapper. The other forums list can be found in the Links page. If you are not a SuSE user (SuSE 9.x / 10 / 10.1) then you can also see a specific wireless guide for Fedora Core 5 here.
Chances are you already have a wireless network interface card (Wireless NIC), and it is either a PCI card, USB Adapter, or built-in, like those in laptops. HotPlug devices (Pcmcia, CardBus, USB...) are most supported, and PCI cards have multiple driver support for most PC's. The methods are the same for all types of NIC. You need to see if your NIC is supported by NDISWrapper, before you begin. This is done by looking here: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List. Just look through the list, which is in alphabetic order and search for your Wireless NIC.
If there are multiple drivers listed for your card, as is the case for Linksys Wireless, WUSB11v4, you need to find a match to your card or NIC. The "pciid" is the specific number given to your NIC. To find yous, and then match you NIC's pciid to the list open up a bash prompt (CLI; command line interface). Type:
/sbin/lspci for PCI NIC's or /sbin/lsusb, for USB NIC's
In the output, the stuff that appears on the screen after entering those commands, you will see numbers and colons, and also you should see your Network Interface Card (NIC). You are looking for the pciid which is the first part of the line that your NIC sits on.
If you recieved an error with lsusb, and it says it is not installed, you need the wireless-tools package and usbutils package. These are worth installing at this point, anyway. These give you greater control over much of your settings for Wireless Extensions. The "lsusb" command lists all USB devices attached, with manufacturer,a nd pciid number. Thus you can see which version you will need, as in the example above.
Now, download the driver that is mentioned for you NIC. You will need to extract it using "cabextract" for EXE, Self Installing Executables, or "unshield" for .cab files (cabinet files). More information can be read here.
You now need to install NDISWrapper. Information on what ndiswrapper is and how it works can obtained from http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/. SuSE users can add ndiswrapper using YaST, or download the RPM package. They should find it on their install CD's or DVD's. Start up YaST, and select Software Management. Then you should type in 'ndiswrapper' into the search. Install ndiswrapper using YaST by clicking Next and Finish. You will not need to compile ndiswrapper and you will not need to download anything. Just follow this exactly:
* Go to KMenu | System | YaST * When prompted, enter your root password. * Click on the "Install and Remove Software" icon on the right pane of YaST * On the left side of next window, near the top, is a label called "Filter:" and a dropdown box box. * Select "Search" in the dropdown box. * In the search field below that, type in "ndis" (without the quotes) and click on the Search button. * Voila! There are two items listed in the right pane. Make sure the package called ndiswrapper is checked. * Now, back in the search field, enter "wireless" and click on the Search button. * Make sure the package in the right pane called "wireless tools" is checked * Click on the Accept button in the lower right hand corner. * Take a sip of that Merlot you have while she spools.... * At the prompt "Would you like to install more packages?", click Finish. * OK, you are done. (just kidding). Now, move on to step 2...getting the driver loaded.
For Newbies here is how you become root, and access a terminal. For expert users, just keep reading on
* Once booted into Suse, click on the Home icon to start the Konqueror file manager. * Navigate to the /tmp directory and once inside it, create a new folder called windrivers. * You can create a new folder just like you do in Windows, right-click in the folder... * Copy the windows driver (both the *.inf and the *.sys) into the new folder. * Right click a blank area in the folder (/tmp/windrivers) and select Actions | Open Terminal Here. * At the prompt, we need to become what Linux calls a Superuser * To become a superuser, at the prompt, type "su" without the quotes of course. * At the prompt, enter your root password. * Take note that you don't see any characters as you type. Weird. * Now you are a superuser, as indicated by the # symbol at the end of the command prompt.
Next you need to install the driver to NDISWrapper. This is done by:
ndiswrapper -i [location of .inf file].inf
You can check your installation at anytime, to see if the driver was sucessful, by typing:
ndiswrapper -l
Now you need to get the internet up and running!! If you have made it this far, then this is great. Troubleshooting is at the bottom for those who are having difficulties. Simply type these commands in to the Bash prompt:
As root type these followed by RETURN key:
/sbin/depmod -a /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper /sbin/iwconfig /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid ESSID (By the way the essid in upper case should be replaced by the network id like "linksys_54g" or whatever. this can be seen when you type in scan, and the essid is listed next to the access point of choice) iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
then finally:
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up or /sbin/dhclient wlan0 (i do this one, but depends on which you have on system) or /sbin/dhcpcd wlan0
Now test your connection to the internet. You may find you wish to review the Installation instructions if you have a problem at this stage, http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation
From the K Menu select "System" then "Yast" Type in the root password Go to "Network Devices" then "Network Card" If your wireless card shows in "Network card to configure" select it and press "Configure", if it doesn't, don't select anything and press "Configure" Set "Device Type" to "Wireless" Set "Configuration Name" to "0" (zero) Set "Hardware configuration Name" to whatever you like but I chose "wusb11v4", "Module Name" to "ndiswrapper" Leave "Options" blank and make sure "PCMCIA" and "USB" are unchecked (this will almost certainly differ for PCMCIA and USB cards, but I've only ever tried a PCI card) Click "Wireless Setting" Set "Operating Mode" to "Managed" (it might be Ad-hoc in your case, just select whatever suits! ;) ) Set "Network Name (ESSID)" to the name of your router or access point Set "Key Input Type" to the type of wep password you are using, I used "Hexidecimal" as I have the hex version of my passphrase, if you just have a plain text password, try "Passphrase", if this doesn't work try changing this to "ASCII" later on. Set "Encryption key" as the wep passphrase/hexidecimal paswword Click "Multiple Keys" Set the "Key Length" and "Authentication mode" as needed, I set them to "128" and "Shared Key" respectively. You can then set up any other keys (passwords) you may have, make sure you have a default key selected by selecting it and clicking "Set as Default", once you're finished click "Ok" Click "Expert Settings" Set "Channel" to the channel you may have selected on the router or access point, otherwise just leave it at "Automatic" Set "Bit rate" (Connection speed) to the bit rate you may have selected on the router or access point, otherwise just leave it at "auto" I left "Access Point" Blank and unchecked "Power Management", click "Ok" Click "Ok" Click "Next" On the page you get next entitled "Network address setup" I just left everything as default, but you may need to set up some hings here, in general just having "Automatic address setup (via DHCP)" selected is enough Click "Next" and yast should set everything up for you (ie it writes the config files).
Open up Yast if you haven't still go it open
Kmenu > System > Yast
Type in you root password when prompted
Open up sysconfig editor
System > /etc/sysconfig Editor
Add ndiswrapper to start on boot
Drop down System > Kernel
Select MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT
Type in under "Setting of: MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT": ndiswrapper
Click "Finish"
Agree to prompts asking you to confirm the change
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