How to Install and Use ndiswrapper [Video]
May 23rd, 2008 by Elliot Isaacson in
Hardware manufacturers often don't release specifications of their products to the open source community, so programs like ndiswrapper become necessary. This video demonstrates how to use Windows wireless drivers in Linux using ndiswrapper.
__________________________
Special Magazine Offer -- Free Gift with Subscription
Receive a free digital copy of Linux Journal's System Administration Special Edition as well as instant online access to current and past issues. CLICK HERE for offer
Linux Journal: delivering readers the advice and inspiration they need to get the most out of their Linux systems since 1994.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Post to TwitterSubscribe now!
The Latest
Newsletter
Tech Tip Videos
Recently Popular
From the Magazine
December 2009, #188
If last month's Infrastrucuture issue was too "big" for you then try on this month's Embedded issue. Find out how to use Player for programming mobile robots, build a humidity controller for your root cellar, find out how to reduce the boot time of your embedded system, and if you're new to embedded systems find out the basics that go into one. You can also read about the Beagle Board, the Mesh Potato and a spate of other interestingly named items. And along with our regular columns don't miss our new monthly column: Economy Size Geek.
need to install belkin N wireless driver
On September 2nd, 2009 Charles (not verified) says:
I just installed ubuntu and downloaded ndiswrapper. I followed your video to the T, but keep getting the same errors. I am out of options and need some help. Here is the shell output I keep getting.
charles@charles-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52$ sudo make
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver'
make -C /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic SUBDIRS=/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic'
CC [M] /usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.o
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c: In function ‘ndis_translate_scan’:
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1039: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1039: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1039: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1039: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_event’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1049: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1049: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1049: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1049: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_point’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1055: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1055: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1055: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1055: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_event’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1066: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1066: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1066: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1066: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_event’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1081: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1081: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1081: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1081: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_event’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1095: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1095: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1095: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_event’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1095: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_event’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1106: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1106: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1106: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1106: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_point’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1122: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_value’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1122: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_value’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1122: warning: passing argument 5 of ‘iwe_stream_add_value’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1122: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_value’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1133: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1133: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1133: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1133: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_point’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1139: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1139: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1139: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1139: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_point’
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1162: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1162: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1162: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘iwe_stream_add_point’ from incompatible pointer type
/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.c:1162: error: too few arguments to function ‘iwe_stream_add_point’
make[3]: *** [/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver/iw_ndis.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [_module_/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic'
make[1]: *** [default] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver'
make: *** [all] Error 2
charles@charles-desktop:/usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.52$
This Worked! - Ubuntu user w/ Belkin Wireless N USB Adapter
On August 10th, 2009 PammiePi (not verified) says:
Thanks so much! I just installed Ubuntu & have a wireless N USB Belkin adapter. I found references to the ndiswrapper thingy, and another tidbit about using the .ini & .sys files from the XP2K folder, then followed your tutorial step by step, and am now operational! Never would have been able to do it without your tutorial. I also discovered that with Ubuntu, I had to use "sudo su" to get to the root to do some of the stuff. Sure was glad when I saw that blue light blinking on my adapter.
"ifconfig wlan0 up" command not working as expected
On May 23rd, 2009 ArmyKid93 (not verified) says:
This is a great tutorial, and, for the most part, everything worked exactly as it should. NDISWrapper installed, and the driver for my card installed, but when I put in the command "ifconfig wlan0 up", I get "No such file or directory" in response. Up until that point, everything went exactly the same as it had on the video, so I don't know what went wrong.
Please help!
Thanks... but didn't work
On May 16th, 2009 Slightly Frusturated (not verified) says:
Hey! I first wanted to thank you very much for this thread, it was very helpful! I'm a 1 day Linux user now and right after the installation I came to notice my wireless internet wasn't seen by my computer. I kept looking for answers to make my netgear usb adapter work but nothing would do the trick. Finally I found this video and followed all the instructions (learning a lot) except that i manually got the drivers from the installation cd i had. Despite all my efforts, in the end, I was unable to make the internet work. Everything went perfectly until the end when I scanned for the internet and got no results. I'm guessing my usb adapter is incompatible with Ubuntu but I was just wondering if you knew of any other way to make this work.
Even if you don't, that's ok, this was very appreciated!
If you answer on this thread I'll see it.
Thanks
NDA and friends
On May 30th, 2008 Luis Coronado (not verified) says:
It must be clarified that most of the time the problems with wireless and other drivers not being written is the lack of proper documentation freely available without the need to sign NDA and other legal documents that only takes away the freedom to the community. OpenBSD devs for example knows that and still manage to write drivers for most of the wifi cards/chips out there. Using nndiswrapper is just another way to make gnu/linux worse. If we want source code freedom we need free documentation as well.
From source :-)
On May 23rd, 2008 Galactic-ac (not verified) says:
Thank you, thank you, for doing this from source. This is exactly the kind of advice needed out there for new Linux users. When the video started, I was fully expecting to start hearing about Ubuntu repositories, but you didn't make the false and irritating assumption that new users are using *buntu. Please Linux Journal, keep producing _generic_ advice!
Would like see a transcript
On May 23rd, 2008 oldcity (not verified) says:
Would like see a transcript of the
how to video of ndiswrapper. The video
is hard to follow for doing an install.
tia
oldcity
Would like see a transcript
On May 25th, 2008 Elliot_Isaacson (not verified) says:
Please see http://dark-code.bulix.org/9docul-66517
Hope it helps.
Post new comment