Note: Chipset is RTL8812au

  • sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential git
  • git clone https://github.com/abperiasamy/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux /tmp/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux cd /tmp/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux
  • sudo cp -R /tmp/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux /usr/src/rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux-1.0
  • sudo dkms add -m rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux -v 1.0
  • sudo dkms build -m rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux -v 1.0
  • sudo dkms install -m rtl8812AU_8821AU_linux -v 1.0

You might have to reboot or to remove/re-insert the dongle. The first connect can take a minute or two.

This is the largest USB dongle I have ever seen.

Update: When I did the above, it worked well on my home network, using WPA2. I was using it from an Ubuntu 16.04 VM, running with VMware Workstation Player 12 on a Windows 7 host laptop. Then I took the laptop to an attwifi network, and it wouldn’t connect. Here’s the steps that I took before it started working. I don’t know which of them fixed it, or if it just fixed itself, given time.

  • I told Network Manager (the network icon on the menu bar) to connect to the scanned attwifi SSID. It reported ‘Disconnected’ after a few seconds. I tried again and again. Maybe 6-8 times.
  • I ran some command lines:
    • “iw dev” showed that my device is named wlxec086b12e51c
    • “ip link show wlxec086b12e51c” showed state DOWN.
    • “ip link set wlxec086b12e51c up” gave a not-permitted error.
    • sudo ip link set wlxec086b12e51c up
    • “ip link show wlxec086b12e51c” still showed state DOWN
    • sudo ip link set wlxec086b12e51c up
  • I went back to Network Manager and told it to associate to attwifi (again). After a few seconds, it showed it was associated.
  • “ip link show wlxec086b12e51c” now shows state UP.
  • “ping google.com” failed DNS.
  • “iwconfig” shows we are associated with attwifi at 2.412 GHz.
  • “iw wlxec086b12e51c link” shows we are associated.
  • “iw wlxec086b12e51c scan” shows lots of output…
    • associated to SSID attwifi
    • no security (WPA/WPA2/WEP) for attwifi
  • “sudo dhclient wlxec086b12e51c”
  • “ifconfig wlxec086b12e51c” now shows an IP address.
  • ping works!
  • Shut down VM and VMware. Do NOT Unplug Wifi. Wait a few minutes.
  • Disable that WiFi device in Windows device manager.
  • Remove and replace the Wifi.
  • Start VM and login.
  • Network Manager reports failure, then a few seconds later it reports success. Total time to connect is about a minute. ping works.
  • I moved the Wifi dongle to another USB port.
  • I had to tell VMware to connect it. (It sees that as a new device.)
  • Network Manager tried to connect and failed.
  • “ip link show wlxec086b12e51c” says state is DOWN.
  • Waited abou 10 minutes, occasionally telling Network Manager to connect and getting “Disconnected”.
  • It associated.
  • A few minutes later, “ip link show wlxec086b12e51c” showed state up, but ping google.com failed.
  • A few minutes later, ping worked.

In the future, for debugging Network Manager, this may be helpful : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingNetworkManager

Once you are connected, you can use this to monitor signal quality (numerically):

  • watch -n1 iwconfig