Check your device drivers
Check for automatically loaded drivers
Your device may already be supported with a preinstalled driver. To check if a driver was automatically loaded, run sudo lshw -C network. Look in the line that begins with configuration: for the word driver. If this exists, a driver has already been installed and loaded.
If you are not running the most recent kernel, update your system first. Drivers, especially wireless, are constantly being added and modified. You can do this by clicking on the session menu and selecting System Settings. In the System section, click Update Manager.
Find additional Linux drivers
You can check for additional Linux drivers in the following locations:
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Check for a driver by clicking the session menu and selecting System Settings. In the Hardware section, click Additional Drivers. Wait a moment for Ubuntu to update its database.
Many of the drivers found in Additional Drivers are proprietary and the source code isn't freely available. Therefore, Linux community developers are unable to fix any security or functionality problems in the driver. These drivers also cannot be installed automatically as part of Ubuntu. If you are willing to accept this limitation, activate the driver.
Search your card manufacturer's website for a Linux driver.
Use Ndiswrapper for cards without a Linux driver
If you find your card does not have a Linux driver you could try ndiswrapper.
Check the device database to see if your card is supported by ndiswrapper.
Full information on ndiswrapper kept on this page including troubleshooting help specific to ndiswrapper.
Check Driver
If you ran lshw -C network and saw a driver bound to the device then let's test to make sure it's communicating with the kernel. You can also go back to the Initial Check page to check for any signs of connectivity.
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Run sudo lsmod to see if the driver is loaded. Look for the driver name that was listed in the "configuration" line output of lshw.
If you did not see the driver module in the list then use sudo modprobe to load it.
Run sudo iwconfig. If you see output like in the example in the command section then the driver is at least identifying the device as a wireless device to the kernel.
Run the command sudo iwlist scan to scan for a wireless access point. If an access point is identified, the card is probably working properly as it can complete a wireless interface task.
To find more information about all the commands used in this guide, click here.
Further Reading
- Wireless network troubleshooter
- Perform an initial check
- Gather information about your hardware
- Check your hardware
- Check your device drivers
More About
- Wireless network troubleshooter — Identify and fix problems with wireless connections