How to Install Netgear wg111v2 wireless dongle card on Ubuntu Edgy
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sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
Blacklist existing drivers.*
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
Copy and paste the following to the bottom of the file. Save it. Close it.
#wg111v2 conflicting drivers
blacklist islsm_pci
blacklist islsm
blacklist islsm_usb
blacklist prism2_usb
blacklist rtl8187
blacklist r8187b
Download your driver at: http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_notes/D102843.asp
Select version 1.3. Download wg111v2_1_3_0.zip to your desktop. Right-click on the file, and extract the compressed folder to your desktop. For ease of use, rename the extracted file "NetgearV2".
Configure ndiswrapper. Replace with yours. Edit path as necessary. One command at a time.
sudo ndiswrapper -i /home//Desktop/NetgearV2/Driver/WIN98/net111v2.inf
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo ndiswrapper -m
Add the module to /etc/modules.
sudo gedit /etc/modulesCopy and paste the following to the bottom of the file. Save it. Close it.
ndiswrapper
Reboot your machine.
Insert your wg111v2.
Confirm proper ndiswrapper installation.
sudo ndiswrapper -l
The output should show
Installed drivers:
net111v2 driver installed, hardware present
Check iwconfig.
sudo iwconfigOutput should show wlan0 (or wlan0, or eth0, etc) as a wireless extension.
Fire up your network by issuing the following commands.
(Note: to diagnose problems effectively, you should know something about the following:
ifconfig, iwconfig, ifup, ifdown, dhclient, and dmesg. )
Configure wlan0 (or appropriate interface) via iwconfig
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid channel 10b. Obtain a valid ip
sudo dhclient wlan0
Output should looks like below
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
Listening on LPF/wlan0/
Sending on LPF/wlan0/
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port
...messages...
accepting packet with data after udp payload.
DHCPACK from
bound to --- renewal in 32120 seconds
You can find this information in ubuntu forums
new ubuntu users like me are soon going to be put off if they can’t get their computer on the web as easily as using windoze.
Your instructions assume the pc is connected to the web. How do you all that if it isn’t? Its a bit of a chicken & egg situation… I only have a wifi card thats not working, how do I get stuff from the web onto the computer?
you can get all the stuff using the same pc where you posted from or either have a dual boot system 🙂
(messing with the last option myself at the moment)
Im a new user to ubuntu as well.I followed the instructions above with no luck, blacklisting islsm_usb disables my wireless adapter. My netgear will not start with that process blacklisted. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have followed the method that you have explained, but my wg111v2 doesn’t still work, if i try to launch
iwlist wlan0 scanning
i can’t find any network.
Some suggestion?
For Rehype, i have had the same trouble, i followed this guide and now the blue led on the usb dongle is active for 1 second after
ifconfig wlan0 up
After this the light is always off…
Please help me, i’m going crazy
i have tried all the above suggestions and more. i still cant get ndiswrapper to get past it being an “invalid driver” arg.. this sucks ass. followed all steps.. even the device manager finds my card.. no blue light.. shit hey
how the hell are you going to use apt get AND snag your dependancies without internet? especially in 7.04, it’s impossible to install build essentials
Hi there, I just upgraded to feisty 7.04, and these directions no longer work.
They work, but they suck. I mean, seriously, look at the typos.
Uhh, you need to learn about ifconfig iwconfig dhclient and some other stuff. Basically, learn how to setup a wireless network in terminal. You’ve got to understand what it means for something to be managed. You also need to know the channel.
Also, if you’re using ubuntu, you need build-essential from the install cd or live-cd.
I’ve got it working, but I learned how to setup a wireless network by reading puppy linux tutorials. Those, however, have a couple of typos.
and one more thing: wg111v2 works very well inside of puppy linux. search the forums for wg111v2. so, get youself one of those if you’re having problems. I haven’t encountered a single problem with wireless. I suppose it’s the way Ubuntu was made by the developers that actually clashes. You’ll need to download a dotpet file, but you can get that from windows. Save it to a floppy (maybe…) cd, dvd, or other; but you can download the file from windows to get wireless working in puppy linux.
These instructions worked fine for me, thanks for the post. Some differences I had to make were:
1. could only get ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 (1.8 was no longer available)
2. sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid channel 10b – this line was not right, needed to do two seperate commands “sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid MyWirelessZoneName” and “sudo iwconfig wlan0 channel 11”. It depends on your wireless zone and channel that your router is configured to use.
To the people who couldn’t get it to work –
I found it easier to connect the computer via ethernet cable to the router get get all of the required files. Set up the wireless card then pull the plug on the ethernet cable. If internet still works then you’re in luck, if not then plug back in and keep searching! No reboot was required when I installed it.
THANK YOU!!! Instructions worked (nearly) perfectly. I had to use a slightly different route to install ndiswrapper, but after 8 hours of screwing around with this, I’ll take it!
I just got an older laptop with no os and I installeed freespire but I can not get my netgear wg111v2 usb adaptor to work with it if you can help with some info on it I would be very thankfull e-mail me at [email protected]
Thanks Jim.
Guys,,, this brought a smile to my face..
I play a lot with various OS’s.. I spend all my time on a Mac Book Pro / Leopard or XP. I have spent a lot of time with various linux distros and consider myself capable HOWEVER… after connecting a WG111v2 to play a little with backtrack…… I have to say… too hard bin… not enough time and WTF.
I have installed various PCMCIA/USB keys for linux in the past but this seems Way over the top.
This sort of hack means most will not touch it. Fail.
Will leave you to it – I’m off to the pub as life relly is too short.
This worked awesome. Thanks so much for helping me get the wireless driver to work correctly!
This is not “way over the top” for one very good reason; the Netgear wg111 series USB NIC was plagued with driver problems from day one, including major issues with different manufacturing runs needing different, unofficial, or “beta” drivers in Windows XP. The WG111v2 I bought as a refurb, for example, never worked with Netgear’s officially-released v2 drivers in Windows, and needed a special alternate V2 driver that was extremely hard to find. In Ubuntu, lsusb sees the bloody thing as a WG111v1 — WTF with extra sauce, Netgear? This is not Ubuntu’s fault, this is a squirrelly product, plain and simple. I’ve never had to use NDIS drivers in modern versions of Ubuntu before, and I don’t expect to do so again. I guess this is why my “WG111v2-unless-it’s-a-V1-on-alternate-Tuesdays wifi NIC was only five bucks on Newegg!
For the historical record, here’s my experience with these instructions in 11.04 Natty:
1. To address earlier complaints above, NO, using apt is NOT possible if you’ve got no wired networking and no wireless. Use an alternate OS (knoppix live CD, puppy linux, or a friend’s computer) to download the ndiswrapper-utils and ndiswrapper-common packages. There is No Crying in Linux.
2. ndiswrapper-common is a dependency of ndisutil. To find it, do a search for ndiswrapper-common at packages.ubuntu.com, and pick your release:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=ndiswrapper-common
3. blacklisting of conflicting drivers was NOT necessary in 11.04; the blacklist additionally caused USB wifi cards and USB flash drives to not be recognized. I’m assuming the driver conflicts that prompted the blacklisting have been fixed in post-Edgy Ubuntu versions. If you’re running Natty or later, DO NOT BLACKLIST DRIVERS in etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
4. After driver install and reboot:
If you get to the point of adding ndiswrapper to /etc/modules and rebooting, and ndiswrapper -l doesn’t show any hardware connected, you might have the same problem I had. Try
# lsusb
and see if your usb wifi card comes up as NetGear, Inc. WG111(v1)
If this happens, you got a “funny” v2 card like I did, which appears to be moonlighting as a v1 sometimes. (This is a Netgear thing, not an Ubuntu thing. Refurb card is weird.)
I had to go back and use
# ndiswrapper -e net111v2
to uninstall the v2 driver, go to Netgear’s site, download the v1 zipfile:
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/711/kw/wg111v1
Unpack, and find the ndis5 folder. Use the netwg111.inf file INSIDE THE NDIS5 FOLDER as the file to feed to your ndiswrapper -i command
5. After repeating the instructions with the CORRECT v1 driver, and rebooting, my card STILL won’t connect. I see the network, but can’t quite get DHCP. dhclient commands exit with no output.
What’s going on?
Well, hoping for a hint as to why DHCP is failing, I do a
# sudo iwconfig wlan0
It tells me, among other things, that I’m NOT ASSOCIATED with an access point. If you’ve troubleshooted about three thousand wifi networks over the last years that wifi has been around, you might immediately suspect that the NIC you’re using doesn’t speak the same encryption algorithms as the wireless router. You’d be right. If you don’t have the experience to immediately come to this conclusion, you might do a dmesg command to see a general “WTF” report. Luckily, once the drivers are talking to the card correctly, they’re fairly precise in logging their chatter:
# sudo dmesg
tells us that:
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA; AES/CCMP with WPA
And that settles it. No WPA2.
6. Solution to encryption algorithm mismatch: enable guest network with wussy WEP key, so my ancient, cheap, and slightly shifty Netgear WG111v2/v1 whatever-it-is can talk to the wifi. Also, I will contemplate just biting the bullet and buying a wireless N device that will work out-of-box ( https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported ) and isn’t a suspicious-looking refurb from the wrong side of the tracks, the dark underbelly of Newegg, or possibly the eBay equivalent of Crime Alley. That is one shady wifi dongle. This dongle can’t get a cab after dark, and gets followed by the Loss Prevention Officer in retail shops. TSA would stop this dongle and put it in the Gray Room for questioning.
Also, a big thanks to the original poster for the instructions. They were invaluable in pointing me in the right direction, and I *learned how to use ndiswrapper* which is a powerful tool that’s rarely needed in modern Ubuntu. It is NOT NORMAL to be able to conjure Linux drivers out of Windows INF files, and most ordinary users will never even have to know that this possibility exists. It’s only because the card is old and squirrelly that it even comes up.
If you’re not in the mood to play with the system drivers at this level, and if it doesn’t look like fun to you right now, please save yourself the frustration and use an actually-compatible card. Linux should be fun, and Ubuntu should be easy. This card was almost this much of a headache in *windows,* you guys. Drop it down a well.