Installing Ndiswrapper Kernel Modules

Requirements

Doing the work

1. Open a Terminal.

2. Type:

   su -c 'yum install kmod-ndiswrapper'                  
   

   This installs the ndiwrapper module for the latest kernel installed, if available. There are times where the Livna repository will lag behind the packages released by the Fedora Project.  If this is the case and it says no package is currently available try again in a couple of hours.

3. Once the kernel module is installed you need to create a directory to store your driver files by entering the following:

   su -c 'mkdir /ndiswrapper_drivers'
   

4. Now you need to actually login as root to continue, to do so enter the following:

   su --login

5. At the prompt enter the root password, then press enter.

6. Now change to the directory you just created by entering the following:

   cd /ndiswrapper_drivers

7. Then press enter.

8. Now you will either need to get the drivers from your windows driver disk or download the drivers needed for your network card from http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List.

9. Once you have downloaded the drivers you will need to copy them to the directory "/ndiwswrapper_drivers", to do so enter the following (This example assumes you have downloaded the file/files to the desktop, your configuration may vary based on where you download your files and the file names of your drivers. The files you need are are the .inf and .sys files for your card.):

   cp netbc564.inf /ndiswrapper_drivers/
   

   Then press enter, then enter the following to move your .sys file:

   cp bcmwl564.sys /ndiswrapper_drivers/
   

   Then press enter.

10. Once the files are located in the proper directory, you need to install the drivers into ndiswrapper, do so by entering the following:

    ndiswrapper -i netbc564.inf
    

11. Then press enter, a message similar to the following should be displayed:

    Installing netbc564
    Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
    

12. Now you need to verify that the drivers are installed properly and that the card is recognized by ndiswrapper. This is done by entering the following:

    ndiswrapper -l
    

    Then press enter, and a message similar to the following should be displayed:

    Installed drivers:
        netbc564                driver present,          hardware present
    

13. As long as this was successful, you need to load the kernel module.  This is completed by entering the following:

    modprobe ndiswrapper
    

14. Now you need to verify that the module loaded properly, this is done by entering the following:
    

    dmesg | grep wlan0

15. Press enter, messages similar to the following should be displayed:
    

    wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:4b:b8:d9:c8 using driver netbc564, configuration file 14E4:4320.5.conf 
    wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA with AES/CCMP
    wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
    

16. If a message similar to the one above is displayed all went well, so next we need to add the alias directive to the modprobe config file. This is done by running the following:

    ndiswrapper -ma
    echo "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" >> /etc/modprobe.conf

17. Then press enter.

18. Now that the driver and module are installed, we need to exit out of root, do so by entering the following:
    

    exit

    Then press enter.

19. Next proceed here to configure your device utilizing the Network Configuration tool, also known as System-Config-Network. We also recommend using NetworkManager.
    

Troubleshooting 

How to test 

• Once you have created your device, and activated the new device, see if you can ping your gateway.  Once you can ping your gateway, try to ping an address on the internet such as www.google.com.  If that is successful you are done.

Common problems and fixes

• One of the most common mistakes is the user forgetting to put the 0x before the WEP key if it is a hexi-decimal key. Double check this if you have problems connecting if you have enabled WEP.
• If you plan on using WPA, you need to look at WPA_supplicant or Xsupplicant.
• An anaconda bug in FC6 may have caused you to end up with an i586 kernel on your system. You can check this with one of the following two commands:

  su -c "yum -d 0 list kernel"
  rpm -qa  --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}\n' 'kernel*'

  if you see "kernel.i586 Installed" please follow the suggested resolution listed here https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=211941#c24. Once you have removed the .i586 kernel complete the steps above and you should have no issues.

More Information

Disclaimer

Added Reading

• http://www.governmentsecurity.org/articles/ABeginnersGuideToWirelessSecurity.php
  
• Ndiswrapper SF.net page: http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki-1.4.6/index.php/Main_Page
  
• Ndiswrapper Homepage: http://ndiswrapper.sf.net
  
• Paranoid Penguin - Securing You WLAN with WPA