Realtek b851 driver

Kali Linux Forums Kali Linux Troubleshooting
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What have you tried:
I am trying to resolve a driver issue with my wireless adapter. Kali simply doesn’t recognize it. This is the output from the lspci | grep "Network controller" command: 06:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b851.
I know that the github repo at https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89 has the driver, but

What is the error:
I cannot get past the make command after I clone the repo. This is the output I get from the make command:

make -C /lib/modules/6.12.20-amd64/build M=/home/crane/rtw89 modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.20-amd64'
  CC [M]  /home/crane/rtw89/mac80211.o
/home/crane/rtw89/mac80211.c:1177:35: error: initialization of ‘void (*)(struct ieee80211_hw *, bool)’ {aka ‘void (*)(struct ieee80211_hw *, _Bool)’} from incompatible pointer type ‘void (*)(struct ieee80211_hw *)’ [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
 1177 |         .stop                   = rtw89_ops_stop,
      |                                   ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/home/crane/rtw89/mac80211.c:1177:35: note: (near initialization for ‘rtw89_ops.stop’)
make[3]: *** [/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.20-common/scripts/Makefile.build:234: /home/crane/rtw89/mac80211.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.20-common/Makefile:1969: /home/crane/rtw89] Error 2
make[1]: *** [/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.20-common/Makefile:236: __sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-6.12.20-amd64'
make: *** [Makefile:104: all] Error 2

What device is this on: This is on a desktop. Let me know if you need me to post any information here.

1 Like
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The kernel you are using has the driver for the realtek B851, so you should not need that external driver.

You said this is a desktop, is this a full install or are you running it via a virtual machine?

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It is a full install. Not a VM. The kernel version s 6.12.20. Thanks.

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Reading the README of the driver it states:

This branch was created from the version merged into the wireless-next repo, which is in the 5.16 kernel. IF YOU USE DRIVERS FROM THIS REPO FOR KERNELS 5.16+, YOU MUST BLACKLIST THE KERNEL VERSIONS!!! FAILING TO DO THIS WILL RESULT IN ALL MANNER OF STRANGE ERRORS.

Did you do that?

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realtek does not play well with linux

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Hi denartha,

No, I have not done this. I am not sure how to blacklist. I will look it up this evening, and give it a go. However, I would like to explore why my Kali install, which was performed yesterday, does not pick up the b851 device since you indicated in your previous reply that the kernel version I am using has driver support for the Realtek b851 Network controller. Is there an apt package that I need to install? I’d prefer to do that instead of using the driver from the aforementioned GitHub repo.

The repo readme also states that kernels over 6.10 with distributions that adjust the kernel APIs (which Kali does BTW) can have adverse effects on the makefile process.

Right now I can only connect over Ethernet, but that requires me to physically locate my box near my router.

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Yep, I’m learning the hard way. There seems to be several driver support issues with Kali and network interfaces. I can’t even get the DWA-181 driver working for a D-Link USB WiFi interface. The makefile for that official driver that I downloaded from the D-Link web site is spewing a long list of errors. This has been super frustrating.