Using the NDIS wrapper in linux to get a network card working

Joe

New member
Using the NDIS Wrapper​

NDIS?

NDIS = Network Device Interface Specification.

Ms IBM Intel and 3com came up with this in the MS-DOS days it basically is an API layer for MS OSes to Communicate with network Hardware using NDIS compatible <windows/dos> drivers

What and y?

Some NICs <network interface cards e.g. Ethernet card/802.11 card> are not supported by Linux (most wifi cards aren’t) u can use the NDIS wrapper to get support for a lot of the cards by using ur windows driver.

Purpose of the wrapper:

Allows a Microsoft NDIS 5 driver to operate in Linux. It is basically a hack that Linux programmers cam up with to translate the NDIS data into a Linux compatible form.

Many Chipsets are supported <like Frags Ti chipset for his wireless card>.

The following link is to a list of cards/chipsets KNOWN to work if yours isn’t listed don’t worry it may still work.

http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz

Installation

The source code can be downloaded here. You will need your Windows driver so that the wrapper can install it. NOTE: the kernel source must be present on your system

Instructions

> tar zxvf ndiswrapper-0.7.tar.gz

> cd ndiswrapper-0.7

> su (log in as root)

> make install

verify the driver was installed:

ll /lib/modules/YourKernel/misc/

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65764 May 6 13:38 ndiswrapper.ko

verify the utils were installed:

whereis loadndisdriver ndiswrapper Driver_Name

loadndisdriver: /sbin/loadndisdriver

ndiswrapper: /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper /etc/ndiswrapper

Driver_Name: /usr/sbin/Driver_Name

/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i

This will create a subdirectory in your /etc subdirectory named "ndiswrapper" with a copy of your Windows driver. I copied my Windows driver files over to my home subdirectory for future use. So i used: "/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i /home/urusername/Driverfolder/drivername.inf"

verify your Windows driver was installed:

> /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l

> output:

Installed ndis drivers:

drivername present

utility

Activating your card

load the Wrapper driver by issuing the command:

> /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper.

Check your message log by issuing a dmesg command . An entry should look like this:

divert: allocating divert_blk for wlan0

wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:96:68:6e:67 using driver bcmwl5.sys

Issue the command /sbin/iwconfig and the following should<similar> be displayed

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"11g AP" Nickname:"*********"

Mode:Managed Frequency:2.452GHz Access Point: 00:90:96:64:75:B5

Bit Rate=48Mb/s Tx-Power:13 dBm

RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B

Power Management: off

Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-41 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm

Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0

Tx excessive retries:66133 Invalid misc:4260128 Missed beacon:0

Give the command /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper –m to detect ur network device. This will add the line: alias wlan0 ndiswrapper to your /etc/modprobe.conf file. The rest of the setup procedure is distribution specific. The INSTALL document in the ndiswrapper archive has examples of configuring your NIC manually. Go to http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/ for further help
 
i havent got a clue what u just said. can we have a rule about joe not not allowed to submit guides and if he does they have to be in english.
 
name='Dave' said:
i havent got a clue what u just said. can we have a rule about joe not not allowed to submit guides and if he does they have to be in english.

dave it is in english its mostly linux related comands if ya no linux ya will understand
 
name='Dave' said:
i havent got a clue what u just said. can we have a rule about joe not not allowed to submit guides and if he does they have to be in english.

He's right Dave. This is the main reason I don't use Linux - I'm a laz fecker :)
 
ROFLMAO, that is sooooofunny nice one Dave, and kemp for being honest :) Great informative guide though Joe...where are you anyway? Get your butt back to SX ;)
 
Joe has "had enough of computers" he hates them now. he comes on our cs server every now and again though :)

nice thread revivial PV grrrrrrrrr
 
Back
Top