LMDE - ndiswrapper module not found

[darkness_s]

I'm using LMDE realease 1, and this is working fine in mint9

1. I tried installing a wireless driver with ndisgtk, it gave a 'FATAL: module ndiswrapper not found'
2. Tried installing it manually in the terminal, when i tried to modprobe ndiswrapper, I got 'FATAL: module ndiswrapper not found' again.
3. So I checked /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless, and sure enough there is no ndiswrapper.

It seems that somehow the module isn't installed correctly, but trying to reinstall all the ndiswrapper packages doesn't help. I did manage to fix this problem with the following:

1. I noticed a ndiswrapper-dkms package, so i rebuilt the module with: sudo dkms build -m ndiswrapper -v 1.56
2. Then i copied the built ndiswrapper.ko to: /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ndiswrapper
3. depmod -a

I think people may be confused about this, because it works in mint9, and because all the appropriate packages are installed by default, even ndisgtk, but the module isn't, somehow.

[Justin Krehel (jkrehel)]

Thanks for reporting this darkness - we'll check it out.

[kenweill (kenweill-deactivatedaccount)]

Same problem here. I got Hardware Present: Yes, even though I got the ndiswrapper error that's stated above but after that, i don't know how to scan for wireless networks.
Or maybe it should pop up but nothing happens.

About his solution, i'm not an expert and I don't know how to do just that.
Perhaps one of the upcoming updates may fix this issue.

[Ken Weill P. Lumacad (cyberlazi)]

@darkness

i'm done with step one but where can I find this ndiswrapper.ko ?

[darkness_s (dark13ness)]

@Ken
After step 1, my ndiswrapper.ko was at:
 /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.56/2.6.32-5-686/i686/module/ndiswrapper.ko
the 2.6.32-5-686 part may vary depending on your kernel.

By the way, after that you have to repeat the installing process (using ndisgtk if you want)

[Vikki Roemer (compgrokker)]

Hi, thank you for reporting this issue!

Unfortunately it looks like this bug report
has not been attended to in quite some time.
In order to establish whether this is a valid
bug or not we will need a response from yourself
indicating that the error is still present today
and reproducable (i.e. not fixed)

Thank you

[darkness_s (dark13ness)]

Hi, I'm sorry but I can't confirm this because I'm not using LMDE anymore.

[Whynot (leon123123w)]

Thank you very much !!
I had tired it with my mint version of Debian (32 Bit) and it worked very fine !!
A short DETAILED Turorial (H0w it works very fine with my Mint)
1. Run that "sudo dkms build -m ndiswrapper -v 1.56" in a Terminal ( without " " )
2. Run that "sudo nautilus" and move to /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.56/2.6.32-5-686/i686/module and copy the ndiswrapper.ko
OR : If this doesnt work because the folder doesnt exist than copy the Path from your dkms build .
3. Move to /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ and create a new Folder with that name "ndiswrapper" ( Yeah you know WITHOUT " ) and paste your ndiswrapper.ko in that folder

Sry for my English im first 13 Years old an german :-)
But I hope that this small tutorial helps you

And for Developers :
You would develope an easy to use Linux Distribution ??
Than fix this bug in the IMAGE .

[roosh (ro0sh)]

I was testing out the LMDE 64-bit (201012) on a live DVD and got the exact same problem as darkness_s.

I can't confirm that his workaround works for me, because I have not tried it yet.

[rootchick (r00tchick)]

I also had this problem on my Acer Aspire 1800, which has an IPN2220 wireless card. I'm using LMDE, update pack 3. The only difference from Whynot's instructions is that I had to build ndiswrapper -v 1.56+r2729, and I had to install the kernel headers package for my kernel as well (3.0.0-1-686-pae), run depmod -a, and then I had to reboot after installing the driver via Windows Wireless Drivers under the Control Center. Now it works perfectly.

[Jason P. Cochrane (nockgeneer)]

I can confirm that this bug is still present in LMDE. I installed first the MATE edition and then the Xfce one on an old Acer Aspire One (AO751h). The three-step method in the bug description with Whynot's more detailed steps worked for me (adjusting for newer packages and kernel).

[Siina Mashek (smashek-deactivatedaccount)]

I am currently working on a desktop with LMDE and this issue still seems to be present. I tried what Whynot wrote, but it does not seem to be working.

[Siina Mashek (smashek-deactivatedaccount)]

I must amend that after running "depmod -a" it now works fine.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Linux Mint because there has been no activity for 60 days.]