Issue with installing Alfa AWUS036ACH on Kali Linux 2018.3a

Hi all,

I'm new to Kali Linux as well as to the forum so would like to say hello to everyone.


I'm having some difficulties with installing Alfa AWUS036ACH on Kali Linux.

I have tried Kali Linux 2018.1 as well as the most recent version 2018.3a unfortunately I can't get the WiFi card working for some reason.

Possibly missing some steps.



What I have done is:

- fresh installation of Kali Linux 2018.3a (Dual Boot with Win10)
- edited the file "sources.list" within /etc/apt/, replaced the file content with following lines:

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free
deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

- from the terminal I have issued these commands:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade -y
apt install realtek-rtl88xxau-dkms

- the driver seems to be extracted and installed correctly so rebooted the PC and connected the WiFi card to the USB port

- from the terminal I have issued this command:

root@kali:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:8812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8812AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN Adapter
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1058:1021 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Elements Desktop (WDBAAU)
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 413c:2501 Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

This shows me the USB works correctly and it sees the WiFi adapter.

- from the terminal I have issued this command:

root@kali:~# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.0.113 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255
inet6 fe80::16b3:1fff:fe10:ccec prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 14:b3:1f:10:cc:ec txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 23178 bytes 18867660 (17.9 MiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 10610 bytes 1201939 (1.1 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
device interrupt 20 memory 0xef100000-ef120000

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 24 bytes 1356 (1.3 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 24 bytes 1356 (1.3 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 96:7d:22:30:c8:bf txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

where interface "wlan0" is the built-in wifi card.


What am I missing?
What else shall I try?

modprobe rfkill
rfkill unblock wifi
rfkill list

https://www.vincentverloop.nl/blog/s...th-kali-linux/

You're not missing anything, I can see wlan0, which is the wireless card.

In any case, you also want to replace "upgrade" by "dist-upgrade".

@vverloop, although commands do something, it has nothing to do with the issue (which is still to be determined). rfkill will never prevent a network interface from showing up in the listing.

Hi Mister_X,

The wlan0 is the built-in WiFi card which is visible even when Alfa is disconnected so I'm definitely missing something there.

Any other ideas anyone?

do a dist-upgrade (then reboot) before you install the dkms package.