Thursday, March 7, 2013

Ubuntu 12.10 RTL8192C Install Driver

Hello everyone..

I have a new computer now.. But I was not able to connect(!) to the Internet for a while.. And I can say that it was very painful to install a wifi driver on Ubuntu.. As I was successful, now I'm writing this for people like me looking for a solution to this same problem! :)

I have a USB wifi device that needs a RTL8192C driver to work properly.. Unfortunately, Ubuntu was not able to recognize my device.. Actually, it recognized it, but I was being disconnected every minute.. So I decided to install the driver manually.

First, I tried to install "ndiswrapper", and wanted to use Windows driver available on the Web/Device CD. I had many problems with installing ndiswrapper, activating drivers, blacklisting drivers.. so much work!!! And I ended up by reinstalling ubuntu, because my computer freezed and never worked again!! :/

Just try the easiest way to install! You are lucky that you have device that has Linux support. Simply, visit http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/searchView.aspx?keyword=RTL8192cu Download the driver needed as a tar file. Go to the directory where you downloaded device driver. In my case, file name is "RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105".

tar -xzvf RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.tar.gz


This command will create a folder with all extracted files.

cd RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105
chmod +x install.sh
sudo ./install.sh


If everything goes well, the driver will be installed. If you have an error like:

make: *** /lib/modules/3.5.0-25-generic/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [modules] Error 2


Then, you have to install corresponding linux headers. In your case, another kernel version may be a problem. Just replace version number with whatever version you need.

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-3.5.0-25-generic


After that, you will be able to install device driver. Now, try to install again:

sudo ./install.sh


You will see that the driver is successfully installed. Reboot your system. And enjoy! :) Hope it helps guys..