Trouble building RTL8821CE WiFi drivers

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

I am trying to build these drivers on a debian-9 template based vm(my own sys-net, I rather debian than fedora, and I have already tried and got the same result on fedora). The drivers are found here https://github.com/tomaspinho/rtl8821ce . I installed these easily on other Debian systems and had no such issue. If i try build with the DKMS-install.sh provided, I get this error: pastebin.com/aX9kmZg3 and in the make.log, pastebin.com/XiFfzGWG . If i try build with make, I get this error: pastebin.com/w1QDw5w6 . I looked around and found some related issues on github but lacked solutions at least that I saw, but I need these drivers urgently so apologies if this is common knowledge.

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

https://www.mail-archive.com/qubes...@googlegroups.com/msg27754.html

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

Hello and thank you, but how does one go about installing the stock kernel, is it something I do in qubes or in the VM? I assume this would work with fedora 30 as well.

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

> Hello and thank you, but how does one go about installing the stock kernel,
> is it something I do in qubes or in the VM? I assume this would work with
> fedora 30 as well.
>
> On Monday, September 9, 2019 at 9:58:36 PM UTC+1, awokd wrote:
>>

>> muhammad...@gmail.com <javascript:>:

>>> I am trying to build these drivers on a debian-9 template based vm(my
>> own
>>> sys-net, I rather debian than fedora, and I have already tried and got
>> the
>>> same result on fedora). The drivers are found here
>>> https://github.com/tomaspinho/rtl8821ce . I installed these easily on
>> other
>>> Debian systems and had no such issue. If i try build with the
>>> DKMS-install.sh provided, I get this error: pastebin.com/aX9kmZg3 and
>> in
>>> the make.log, pastebin.com/XiFfzGWG . If i try build with make, I get
>> this
>>> error: pastebin.com/w1QDw5w6 . I looked around and found some related
>>> issues on github but lacked solutions at least that I saw, but I need
>> these
>>> drivers urgently so apologies if this is common knowledge.
>>>
>> https://www.mail-archive.com/qubes...@googlegroups.com/msg27754.html
>>
>>
>

Qubes menu/sys-net/qube settings/advanced/kernel=none. Try Debian first
the same way if you prefer it; the problem might have been fixed since
the linked post.

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

After selecting no kernel, my VM no longer boots. I think I should have mentioned that I am using debian-9-minimal. What should I install to overcome this?

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

> After selecting no kernel, my VM no longer boots. I think I should have
> mentioned that I am using debian-9-minimal. What should I install to
> overcome this?
>
> On Tuesday, September 10, 2019 at 3:49:45 PM UTC+1, awokd wrote:
>>

>> muhammad...@gmail.com <javascript:>:

Try the standard/non-minimal template, or Fedora's (again standard).

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

Ok, it worked to an extent. The build succeeded and the driver now displays the interface in ip -a, however it works no more than that. I have passed through the adapter and turned off sys-net. systemctl shows that the wpa_supplicant service is running, but wpa_sup...@wls7.service is reported as "inactive (dead)", when I try to start the service, I get a reported "Timed out waiting for device sys-subsystem-net-devices-wls7.service.device"(That is more or less the entire error) in journalctl -xe.

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

> Ok, it worked to an extent. The build succeeded and the driver now displays
> the interface in ip -a, however it works no more than that. I have passed
> through the adapter and turned off sys-net. systemctl shows that the
> wpa_supplicant service is running, but wpa_sup...@wls7.service is
> reported as "inactive (dead)", when I try to start the service, I get a
> reported "Timed out waiting for device
> sys-subsystem-net-devices-wls7.service.device"(That is more or less the
> entire error) in journalctl -xe.
>
> On Tuesday, September 10, 2019 at 6:00:10 PM UTC+1, awokd wrote:
>>

>> muhammad...@gmail.com <javascript:>:

Same with Fedora?

PS Please don't top-post in mailing lists.

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

I dont know what top posting is but I will assume you mean write underneath the quote, please correct me otherwise.  On fedora, I see my wifi adapter in "lshw -C network" as unclaimed(and is not present in ip -a and have already rebooted)

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

Ok scratch that, after rebooting qubes I now see the adapter in ip -a. However, I cannot use it, nmcli device wifi list reports nothing(nmcli radio wifi reports "enabled") 

 

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

Thank you.

> Ok scratch that, after rebooting qubes I now see the adapter in ip -a.
> However, I cannot use it, nmcli device wifi list reports nothing(nmcli
> radio wifi reports "enabled")
>
>

If you've tried building the driver on both templates and neither are
working, maybe it's the driver? That thread I linked earlier was using a
driver from
https://github.com/endlessm/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8821ce,
which is different than yours.

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

I'm not entirely sure what to do with this driver. I have successfully ran make(after correcting some header references in a few files). When I run "insmod 8821ce.ko" I get "ERROR: could not insert module 8821ce.ko: Unknown symbol in module". Here is an ls of my build directory, https://paste.ie/view/f43bc2e3

[awokd]

Sorry, don't have that adapter myself so can only give general pointers.
Check out the 0 scored answer at the bottom here, maybe it will work
better? They are using the driver in Debian 10 you were first attempting.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/990378/wi-fi-not-working-on-lenovo-thinkpad-e570-realtek-rtl8821ce

[muhammad...@gmail.com]

Thank you, this worked fine(For future duckduckgoers, I did this on fedora in the end, I now feel it makes more sense because the disk usage of the template is not avoidable, by having extra templates its just weighing your disk down). However I have one last parting question, once I reboot sys-net, I lose my driver and have to install it again. I have a feeling that I should install the driver in the template to keep persistence, is this correct? What is the qubes way to do this?

[awokd]

muhammad...@gmail.com:

I should have thought of that! Probably the easiest thing to do in your
case is to create a new qube, choosing the Standalone copied from
template and check the "provides network" box. This behaves as a regular
VM, so you can make any changes you need and they will stay. Once you
have it set up, uncheck auto-start on sys-net, add auto-start to your
new qube, and set sys-firewall Qube Settings to use it. Also change
anything pointing to sys-net in Qubes Global Settings. Qubes Update will
see it in the list for updates.

[awokd]

awokd:

> muhammad...@gmail.com:
>> Thank you, this worked fine(For future duckduckgoers, I did this on fedora
>> in the end, I now feel it makes more sense because the disk usage of the
>> template is not avoidable, by having extra templates its just weighing your
>> disk down). However I have one last parting question, once I reboot
>> sys-net, I lose my driver and have to install it again. I have a feeling
>> that I should install the driver in the template to keep persistence, is
>> this correct? What is the qubes way to do this?
>>

> [Standalone qube]
>
After thinking (slowly) on this one a bit more, it might be better if
you compiled the drivers inside the template, not as a standalone. That
way you can have sys-net as a regular AppVM and it will be more
resistant to compromise.

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