[Solved] How to install Realtek rtl8812au WiFi Driver in Linux

[UPDATE 07/16/2019] After upgrading to Linux kernel 5.0, the two Github repos in the original post and the last update do not work any more. Fortunately, here is the working repo: https://github.com/AstroDrabb/rtl8812au and you will need to

1. Clone the repo to your PC: git clone https://github.com/AstroDrabb/rtl8812au
2. Copy all contents in the folder to “/usr/src/8812au-4.2.2
3. Follow the steps under the DKMS section 

It worked for me. Hopefully, it will work for you too.

Looks like AstroDrabb repository is not available any more.

[UPDATE 04/23/2019] The original GitHub repo “gnab” is not working with kernel 4.19 and higher (https://github.com/gnab/rtl8812au/issues/154), if you have trouble compiling the driver, then try this repo: https://github.com/gordboy/rtl8812au. I see there are two pull requests that address this issue, but they have not been merged into the master branch. I will keep an eye on it and will update this post if the master branch is updated to fix this issue.

[UPDATE August 15, 2018] The Github repo in the original post has been fixed, now you can follow the steps in the original post to install the Linux driver.

[UPDATE June 7, 2018]: If you are using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or any distro with kernel 4.15 (or above), then the following steps will not work. The build will fail with kernel 4.15. Hopefully, someone will update the source code to be compatible with the latest kernel. If you know any Github project that works with the latest kernel, please let me know and I will update this post to include it.

UPDATE: It seems that the dkms package rtl8812au-dkms in Ubuntu repo is out of date, and if you update your kernel to the latest, then you will notice that the driver will stop working. If it is the case, please follow the steps below to install a driver from Github.

1. If you already installed Ubuntu rtl8812au-dkms driver and it stopped working after the latest kernel update, then you will need to remove the driver first:

sudo apt remove rtl8812au-dkms

2. If you installed other dkms packages related to rtl8812au, then remove them as well

sudo dkms status

sudo dkms remove rtl8812au/x.x.x –all

Replace x.x.x with the version number of the package

3. Clone and install the driver from Gibhub

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/gnab/rtl8812au.git
sudo dkms add ./rtl8812au
sudo dkms build rtl8812au/4.2.2 (if you get an error saying ‘rtl8812au’ folder does not exist, then change rtl8812au to ‘8812au’)
sudo dkms install rtl8812au/4.2.2 (if you get an error saying ‘rtl8812au’ folder does not exist, then change rtl8812au to ‘8812au’)

4. Load the driver

sudo modprobe rtl8812au (or 8812au if you get an error message saying rtl8812au does not exist)

Now your Wifi dongle should work and you can use it to connect to your 5G network in Network Manager.

Reference: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2386168

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Recently I did some upgrades on my home network:

1. Upgraded my Internet connection from 100Mbps to 400Mbps

2. Upgraded my router to Netgear R6700 Nighthawk AC1750 Smart Dual Band WiFi Router so I can take advantage of the upgraded Internet connection

However, I noticed the network card in my laptop is too old and does not support 5G wireless connection, so it means I need a new network card. We all know it is not that hard to replace a network card in laptop nowadays thanks to the better design of current laptops, but I was too lazy to do it. So I decided to buy a USB network adapter with 5G connection capability for my laptop and I found a really nice one on Amazon: Zoweetek 600Mbps Dual Band WiFi Dongle

It’s very compact and the connection speed according to the product description is just right for me, and the price is reasonable. The installation in Windows is no brainer, just double-click the installation file on the installation CD (included in the package) and follow the instructions to install the driver and the management tool.

Once installed, this little device runs well in Windows 10 and my laptop’s connection speed increased greatly. While I am satisfied with the device in Windows, I would like to als use it in Linux Ubuntu before my laptop is a dual-boot: Windows 10 + Ubuntu 17.10, and the production description says it supports Linux, and it is a major reason that I chose this product in the first place.

Well, it turned out it is much harder than I expected when installing Linux driver for this dongle.

First of all, the driver on the installation CD (or downloaded from the company’s website) does not work in my Ubuntu because it only supports the Linux kernel up to 3.16, while Ubuntu 17.10 runs on kernel 4.13

Secondly, there is a Linux driver installation video on the company’s website, but it does not work for me either. And the reason is the same as above.

So I started to Google around to see how other people got it work in Ubuntu. Here is what I found out and how I got it work in Ubuntu 17.10.

1). Confirm your USB wireless adapter is using Realtek chipset

Open a terminal in Ubuntu, then type in this command

lsusb

If you see “Realtek Semiconductor Corp.” in the list, then move to the next step

2). The Linux driver for this particular dongle is “rtl8812au”, and that’s why the installation video on the company’s website is called “Install the Realtek rtl8812au Wifi Driver in Linux”. If you Google it, you will find a couple of tutorials showing you how to install the Linux driver via git. And I have tried all of them, but they didn’t work for me. Finally I found out that Ubuntu already included rtl8812au driver in its repository, so if you are using Ubuntu 17.10 and having trouble installing rtl8812au driver from git, just type in the following commands in a terminal:


sudo apt update
sudo apt install dkms
sudo apt install rtl8812au-dkms


After the installation, reboot your computer, then you will see Ubuntu Network Manager can recognize the USB WiFi adapter and you can use it to connect to your network.