Not able to see wifi interface in ifconfig in Kali linux

Question

I have added a wifi adapter to my Kali linux box but I am not able to see it in ifconfig output.

Linux version

root@kali:~# uname -a
Linux kali 4.17.0-kali3-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.17.17-1kali1 (2018-08-21) x86_64 GNU/Linux

dmesg output

root@kali:~# dmesg | grep -i netgear
[    2.418983] usb 1-1: Product: NETGEAR A6200 WiFi Adapter
[    2.418984] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: NETGEAR

lsusb output

root@kali:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0846:9050 NetGear, Inc. A6200 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wireless Adapter [Broadcom BCM43526]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
root@kali:~#

iwconfig output

root@kali:~# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

root@kali:~#

dkms status

root@kali:~/Desktop/rtl8812au-master# dkms status
realtek-rtl88xxau, 5.2.20.2~20180812, 4.17.0-kali3-amd64, x86_64: installed

Let me now if you need any other details to check the issue

Answer 1

You have installed a DKMS driver module package for realtek-rtl88xxau, but according to your lsusb output, your WiFi adapter does not use a Realtek chip at all, but a Broadcom BCM43526 chip.

According to Linux-Wireless Wiki, this particular chip is currently unsupported by the open-source drivers at the moment.

Googling for keywords "BCM43526 linux" or "NetGear A6200 linux" indicates this particular WiFi adapter has been problematic for other Linux users too. The only way it has been made to work is with ndiswrapper (i.e. a driver wrapper that allows Windows network drivers to be used with Linux).

Unfortunately ndiswrapper won't support WiFi monitor mode, which means a lot of penetration testing tools (= the reason of Kali Linux's existence) will be unusable with it.