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I have a USB wifi dongle that has the RTL8188eu chipset. It used to work without having to do anything (i.e. I could just plug it in, and away it would go).

While trying to install various other USB wifi dongles, I have somehow managed to delete the driver for this dongle (on my system, in /lib/modules/4.13.0-31-generic/kernel/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu).

I have tried to rebuild this (r8188eu.ko) by mimicking the steps I used to rebuild my btusb.ko (which also went missing):

  • Downloading my kernel source from https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/
  • Un-tarring it: tar -zxvf linux-4.13.tar.gz
  • Changing in to the directory: cd ./linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu
  • Building it: make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$PWD modules

But I get this error:

[van@van-t470p:rtl8188eu]$ make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$PWD modules
make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.13.0-31-generic'
CC [M]  /home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o
/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.c:19:10: fatal error: osdep_service.h: No such file or directory
#include <osdep_service.h>
        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
scripts/Makefile.build:308: recipe for target '/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o' failed
make[1]: *** [/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o] Error 1
Makefile:1550: recipe for target '_module_/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu' failed
make: *** [_module_/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu] Error 2
make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.13.0-31-generic'

I also tried running make one directory level up:

  • cd ..
  • make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$PWD modules

But this failed too:

[van@van-t470p:staging]$ make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$PWD modules
make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.13.0-31-generic'
CC [M]  /home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099/cxd2099.o
In file included from /home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099/cxd2099.c:34:0:
/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099/cxd2099.h:28:10: fatal error: dvb_ca_en50221.h: No such file or directory
#include <dvb_ca_en50221.h>
        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
scripts/Makefile.build:315: recipe for target '/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099/cxd2099.o' failed
make[3]: *** [/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099/cxd2099.o] Error 1
scripts/Makefile.build:581: recipe for target '/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099' failed
make[2]: *** [/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media/cxd2099] Error 2
scripts/Makefile.build:581: recipe for target '/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media' failed
make[1]: *** [/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging/media] Error 2
Makefile:1550: recipe for target '_module_/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging' failed
make: *** [_module_/home/van/Temp/kernels/linux-4.13/drivers/staging] Error 2
make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.13.0-31-generic'

Perhaps the Makefile parameters are different for wifi modules? Is there a way I can rebuild my missing r8188eu.ko, or do need to re-install the operating system?

EDIT:

My lsusb output:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0612 Genesys Logic, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 058f:9540 Alcor Micro Corp. AU9540 Smartcard Reader
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 04f2:b5c0 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 138a:0097 Validity Sensors, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Rui F Ribeiro
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    realtek sucks. see the answer at https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/252210/wi-fi-problems-using-asus-usb-n13-adapter/252215 – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 23 '18 at 13:25
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    Please add your linux distro. kali? – Rui F Ribeiro Jan 23 '18 at 13:26
  • @RuiFRibeiro - I'm using Kubuntu 17.10. – Vanessa Deagan Jan 23 '18 at 13:27
  • @RuiFRibeiro - I've edited the question to include lsusb output. – Vanessa Deagan Jan 23 '18 at 13:33
  • get the source code of the driver from hrer https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu then compile it. – GAD3R Jan 23 '18 at 13:33
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    @GAD3R - thanks for all your help. Unfortunately, the lwfinger rtl8188eu driver did not work with my device. It looked like it was going to work, and was detecting wifi access points, but it couldn't connect, signal was weak etc... I was really hoping I could somehow build the version that ships with the kernel. Anyway, I've re-installed Kubuntu 17.10, so everything's working now. – Vanessa Deagan Jan 23 '18 at 14:41

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