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How To Install Wireless Drivers On Ubuntu 2023

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.

Linux Ubuntu

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:

*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wlan0

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.

Realtek Wireless Adapter
For Realtek Wireless Adapters, the process is simple but a little bit lengthy, so please follow it carefully.

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

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 

Install Wireless Drivers On Ubuntu

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 

Broadcom Wireless Adapter
For Broadcom the process is straightforward, just type in the following command to install different drivers for Broadcom:
 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

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.

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14 thoughts on “How To Install Wireless Drivers On Ubuntu 2023”

  1. USer_d
    Reply

    Hi ,
    I have issue for cloning github repo
    However , It asks for USERNAME and PASSWORD for GIThub

  4. Mike
    Reply

    I’ve tried yours and just about every other solution I could find. Everything but the “firmware” installs. I extracted the lib and usr files.
    Moved them manually to their respective directories. “Sync”‘ed and “modprobe”‘d B43. Restarted, logged out, logged back in. No luck.

    Short of buying an external wifi connection, I’m at a loss.

    I’m running a Macbook Pro, 16, Catalina 10.15.6. Ubuntu works fine. As does ReFind which moves me back and forth between the MacOS and Ubuntu.

    Ubuntu’s useful, but, limited without an internet connection. And, where I’m living, wired isn’t an option, for the moment.

    Any other suggestions?

    Thanx.

    Really appreciate the article, but, still dead in the water.

  6. lucas
    Reply

    any solutions, if I don’t have a wired connection on my laptop ?

  7. dan
    Reply

    No luck guys
    its shows :no drivers found for installation.
    May you can resolve this mistery.
    sorry for troubles

  10. dan
    Reply

    Hi Amrit
    Sorry for provincial english .After typing sudo lshw c -network i get a full screen of useless indications but nothing about my wifi driver.
    When I type lspci I get another screen full of goodies but no ethernet controller or network controller .So this drivers are missing .
    Don t know what to do.I have a wired connection and its working but I want a wifi network too.I
    I ve installed a linux lite using “something else ” option and its working good .Its shown ubuntu lts 20.04 etc in system info.I m very pleased its looking nice .I need a information about how to get a wifi connection .
    Windows shows Broadcom 802.11n wireless SDIO adapter
    What to do to get wifi in my linux?

      1. Dan
        Reply

        Hi Amrit
        You mean model of computer?Its a heroic acer one 10 pre installed win 10 home 32 and that its the whole sad story.I ve tried to install on it a win 10 /64bits and I realized that not possible.
        So I ve installed linux lite and this thing working and i can run some apps .
        After updating there in system info its shown ubuntu 20.4 etc.Maybe this is my distro
        I ve realized i cannot install win 10 /64 bits even using virtual box.I have a digital activation key which is useless.I cannot run win 10 .Its frustrating…
        So Im trying to use 64bits capabilities of linux .But just wired.
        What is quite bad its the fact i cannot find network controller or ethernet controller indication when im typing lspci.And my ethernet is working.
        On my win in device manager -network adapter its shown broadcom 802.11n wireless SDIO adapter.
        Thank you for patience

        1. Kiran Vaidya
          Reply

          Since you installed Linux Lite 4.4 and if you are able to get to the desktop and open the terminal window, type the following and see if it helps.
          sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
          sudo reboot

        2. Amrit Singh
          Reply

          Very well. As Kiran said, do that first and let us know about which network card is installed.

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