I'm having a really difficult time getting my Edimax EW-7811UN wifi USB card to work correctly with Kali Linux. It sees the wireless networks but when I attempt to connect it hangs, and ultimately disconnects. Also - the availability of wireless networks is inconsistent. One minute it shows 3, the next none, and then just one.
Message while it's connecting/hanging: requesting a wireless network address for **insert wireless network name**
I'm running Kali as VM using VMWare Fusion on a Mac and set everything up so that it doesn't use the Mac's wifi connection in bridged mode.
I verified that Kali recognizes the USB card by comparing my wireless options in network manager when it was plugged in/out. Everything checks out.
The Edimax manual is nothing short of useless. Opinions on the web seem mixed - some people recommend downloading the drivers from Realtek's website, others recommend various utilities and/or restarting network manager. The card seems fairly popular with Backtrack, as well as other distros.
I tried restarting network manager. Restart went fine but it didn't change anything. The card is recognized, so I don't think it's a driver issue.
my iwconfig readout:
IEEE 802.11bgn ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment theff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Airmon-ng start wlan0 readout: interface: wlan0 chipset: unknown driver: rtl8192cu - [phy4] (monitor mode enabled on mon0)