Using the Realtek 8172 and 8192se Wireless Controller with Ubuntu 10.04

Bill Giannikos (Home Page)

Ubuntu 10.04 includes an older version of the Realtek 8192se driver and while this works for some people others may need to update their version to the latest release to get proper hardware support. This guide will show you how to install the latest Realtek drivers on Ubuntu 10.04.

These are not the best drivers ever written and may exhibit problems (such as dropouts) from time to time. If you are having issues you may like to periodically check if newer drivers have been released and install those.

For Realtek 8172 owners, while this guide talk about using the 8192se driver the same driver is used for the 8172 as well.

You should run a full update for your installation of Ubuntu to ensure you have all the latest packages installed.

Here are the steps in installing the Realtek drivers.

1. Open a web browser and head to the Realtek 8192se driver page. From here you need to download the latest Linux driver. At the time of writing this was 0017 so we will use that version in this guide, your file name and folder created will be slightly different than the one below if you downloaded a different version.

2. Load up a terminal window if you are in the graphic interface.

3. Type in the following to install gcc and the kernel headers:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

You may be asked for your password with the above commands, type it in and press Enter.

4. Move to the /usr/src/ folder with:

cd /usr/src

5. Now extract the contents of the file you downloaded with the following command (make sure to replace /path/to/ to the actual path you downloaded the file to):

sudo tar -xzvf /path/to/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0017.0705.2010.tar.gz

6. Move into the newly created folder with

cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0017.0705.2010

7. Lets remove the old firmware and copy across the new firmware with these commands:

sudo rm -rf /lib/firmware/RTL8192SE
sudo cp -rf firmware/RTL8192SE /lib/firmware

8. Now lets build the driver:

sudo make

You may get an error at this stage depending on your kernel. Don't worry about it, the stuff we need is compiled.

9. These set of drivers contain a whole lot of rubbish we don't need, so we only want to copy the driver module itself. Use the following commands to install the driver which overwrites the older driver:

sudo cp HAL/rtl8192/r8192se_pci.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/ubuntu/rtl8192se/
sudo depmod -a

10. Optionally, you may like to delete the driver folder now. Use the following command:

sudo rm -rf /usr/src/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0017.0705.2010

11. Reboot your computer and your realtek wireless controller should begin to work.

Please note that if Ubuntu release an updated kernel you will have to go through the above steps again but make sure you skip the copying of the firmware.