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I've installed Linux Mint 18.2 on my ThinkPad E470. I can't connect to wifi as no wireless option shows up. I searched around and found an old post with the exact problems as mine - https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2187780. But the solution to it is old and doesn't work for the new linux. And, lspci doesn't list my wifi adapter model. I also tried the solution given by Pilot6(Can't post the link as i have an upper limit on no. of links). But it doesn't work. This is the output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A2. https://pastebin.com/mMa6465h

04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 10)
    Subsystem: Lenovo RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [17aa:505b]
    Kernel driver in use: r8169
    Kernel modules: r8169
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:c821]
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:c024]

Please guide further.

GAD3R
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Bhargav C S
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1 Answers1

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Worked solution (Requirements: kernel >=4.11) :

(UPD: In the latest release of endlessm you need kernel version 4.15)

  1. Download driver directory from this repo: https://github.com/endlessm/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8821ce

You can do it by this link: https://minhaskamal.github.io/DownGit/#/home?url=https://github.com/endlessm/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8821ce

  1. Unpack zip archive.
  2. Change the Makefile. Line "export TopDIR ?= ..." to export "TopDIR ?= PATH TO EXTRACTED DIRECTORY".
  3. make
  4. sudo make install
  5. sudo modprobe -a 8821ce
Eugen
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  • Thanks for the tip - that worked for me. It failed with kernel 4.11.12 though and I had to upgrade to 4.13 in order to make it happen. Also, fwiw, kernel-devel should be installed as well (for new installs) – Mario Peshev Nov 27 '17 at 21:32
  • I have written something like this, export TopDIR ?= /Downloads/rtl8821ce And get an error message like this, $ make Makefile:821: /Downloads/rtl8821ce/rtl8821c.mk: No such file or directory make: *** No rule to make target '/Downloads/rtl8821ce/rtl8821c.mk'. Stop. Any idea what am I missing here? – hmhsl Feb 17 '18 at 10:23
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    @HaseebMahmud, 1. Check if the file rtl8821c.mk really exists in the folder that you downloaded. 2. Probably, you wrote the wrong path in 'export TopDIR'. Try to wrote full absolute path there. – Eugen Feb 23 '18 at 02:53
  • @Eugen Thanks. My mistake was not writing the "absolute path". It should be /home/username/Downloads/rtl8821ce instead of /Downloads/rtl8821ce. It works now. – hmhsl Apr 27 '18 at 11:49
  • The code will not compile. I get "error: implicit declaration of timer_setup". What can I do about this error? – TheBigH Jun 10 '18 at 16:08
  • To get the driver to compile for a 5.0 kernel (symptom: you get an ```access_ok``` macro error when compiling) apply the following patch https://pastebin.com/v6Udh1NZ. – Dzamo Norton Mar 07 '19 at 06:18
  • Apologies: I am a rookie with Linux. I am following the above instructions and cannot seem to properly specify the TopDIR. Here is my code verbatim: export TopDIR ?= /home/josh/Drivers/rtl8821ce When I type "cd /home/josh/Drivers/rtl8821ce" in Terminal, I am taken to the correct directory. Yet when I run make in that directory, I get the following error(s): make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.15.0-54-generic' /home/josh/Drivers/rtl8821ce/Makefile:2157: home/josh/Drivers/rtl8821ce/hal/phydm/phydm.mk: No such file or directory – jpm_phd Oct 03 '19 at 14:24