Sstrhsrtj

Summary: I have a usb wifi adapter plugged in and recognized by the kernel, but there is no where in the UI to configure it.

• The computer is a 4+ year old HP desktop (i7-4790S CPU, 16GB RAM). More info at the end.


• 
  

  I plugged in a USB wifi adapter.

  
  
  

  Trendnet TEW-649UB v1.0R
  
  (I also have the DLink version of the same device.)
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  The kernel recognized it.

  
  
  

  [    9.064137] r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
  
  [    9.064502] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
  
  [    9.064505] usb 3-3.4.1: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
  
  [    9.064771] usb 3-3.4.1: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
  
  [    9.402204] usb 3-3.4.1: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000
  
  [    9.402206] usb 3-3.4.1: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:14:d1:be:ad:e6
  
  [    9.402207] usb 3-3.4.1: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
  
  [    9.402293] usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u
  
  [    9.405497] r8712u 3-3.4.1:1.0 wlx0014d1beade6: renamed from wlan0
  
  

  
  



• the network menu in the system tray doesn't offer a wireless menu



• 
  

  nmcli d does not list the wifi device

  
  
  

  $ nmcli d
  
  DEVICE           TYPE      STATE        CONNECTION         
  
  enx0050b60b7c3c  ethernet  connected    Wired connection 2 
  
  enp2s0           ethernet  unavailable  --                 
  
  lo               loopback  unmanaged    --                 
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  iwconfig does

  
  
  

  enx0050b60b7c3c  no wireless extensions.
  
  
  
  wlx0014d1beade6  unassociated  Nickname:"rtl_wifi"
  
            Mode:Auto  Access Point: Not-Associated   Sensitivity:0/0  
  
            Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
  
            Power Management:off
  
            Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
  
            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
  
            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
  
  
  
  enp2s0    no wireless extensions.
  
  
  
  lo        no wireless extensions.
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  rfkill list does not

  
  
  

  $ rfkill list
  
  0: hci0: Bluetooth
  
    Soft blocked: no
  
    Hard blocked: no
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  I tried nmcli r wifi on

  
  
  

  $ nmcli r
  
  WIFI-HW  WIFI     WWAN-HW  WWAN    
  
  enabled  enabled  enabled  enabled 
  
  

  
  

No clue what to do next, or why this is so largely undocumented on the internet.

More detailed information about the machine:

$ inxi -Fzx 

System:    Host: harvey Kernel: 4.10.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)

           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.6 (Gtk 3.18.9) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya

Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: 700-414 v: 1.00

           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 2AF7 v: 1.04

           Bios: AMI v: 80.20 date: 10/31/2014

CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4790S (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB

           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 25542

           clock speeds: max: 4000 MHz 1: 3391 MHz 2: 3200 MHz 3: 3239 MHz

           4: 3302 MHz 5: 3200 MHz 6: 3200 MHz 7: 3200 MHz 8: 3209 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller

           bus-ID: 00:02.0

           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz

           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Desktop

           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller

           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0

           Card-2 C-Media driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 003-006

           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-37-generic

Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller

           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0

           IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 4256.9GB (7.1% used)

           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 1000.2GB

           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD3003FZEX size: 3000.6GB

           ID-3: /dev/sdc model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 256.1GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 219G used: 141G (68%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc2

           ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.08GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-0

RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present

Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C

           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 297 Uptime: 1:36 Memory: 2620.1/15950.6MB

           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0

           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

Apparently, I needed to restart NetworkManager. It looks like I have to do this for every single boot.

sudo service network-manager restart

I had same problem with Tails, but the problem is hardware, so may solution may not work for your laptop. I have HP and I need to add module to blacklist like this

sudo su

echo "blacklist acer_wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

You need to restart.

What it does it prevents loading the module acer_wmi responsible for WI-FI driver I whatnot, I don't remember the details. You may need to add different module to blacklist, again research your laptop model.