nl80211 not found

[tiborkiss]

Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22000.282]

WSL Version

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.10.60.1

Distro Version

Kali Linux Rolling

Other Software

USB/IP for Windows

Repro Steps

I have an USB/IP setup as it is described in this git repo.

After I bind the usbip connection between the host and wsl2 instance, I see the usb device.

sudo lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8812AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2T2R DB WLAN Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

When I run sudo iw dev or sudo iw dev wlan0 set type monitor, I get the following line:
nl80211 not found.

That indicates that nl80211, which is a netlink interface for wireless devices is not working in the current kernel.

The kernel was recompiled and it was enabled CONFIG_NL80211_TESTMODE=y (but I also attached the entire kernel config).

Expected Behavior

nl80211 is in the kernel. Since this interface is a generic wifi interface and not a specific one, it should work as being part of the kernel.

Actual Behavior

sudo iw dev
nl80211 not found.

Diagnostic Logs

I don't upload all the kernel config file, but

grep 80211 config

CONFIG_CFG80211=m
CONFIG_NL80211_TESTMODE=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS=y
# CONFIG_CFG80211_CERTIFICATION_ONUS is not set
CONFIG_CFG80211_REQUIRE_SIGNED_REGDB=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_USE_KERNEL_REGDB_KEYS=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_DEBUGFS=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_CRDA_SUPPORT=y
# CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT is not set
CONFIG_MAC80211=m
CONFIG_MAC80211_HAS_RC=y
CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL=y
CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_MINSTREL=y
CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT="minstrel_ht"
CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH=y
# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUGFS is not set
CONFIG_MAC80211_MESSAGE_TRACING=y
CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUG_MENU=y
# CONFIG_MAC80211_NOINLINE is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_VERBOSE_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MLME_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_STA_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_HT_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_OCB_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_IBSS_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_PS_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MPL_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MPATH_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MHWMP_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH_SYNC_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH_CSA_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH_PS_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_MAC80211_TDLS_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_MAC80211_STA_HASH_MAX_SIZE=0

sudo dmesg

[   62.321815] hv_pci 124ab74a-b27e-4143-9ea1-3433774e5139: PCI VMBus probing: Using version 0x10003
[   62.434445] hv_pci 124ab74a-b27e-4143-9ea1-3433774e5139: PCI host bridge to bus b27e:00
[   62.434449] pci_bus b27e:00: root bus resource [mem 0xbffe20000-0xbffe22fff window]
[   62.435511] pci b27e:00:00.0: [1af4:1049] type 00 class 0x010000
[   62.436517] pci b27e:00:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0xbffe20000-0xbffe20fff 64bit]
[   62.437207] pci b27e:00:00.0: reg 0x18: [mem 0xbffe21000-0xbffe21fff 64bit]
[   62.437920] pci b27e:00:00.0: reg 0x20: [mem 0xbffe22000-0xbffe22fff 64bit]
[   62.443412] pci b27e:00:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0xbffe20000-0xbffe20fff 64bit]
[   62.444124] pci b27e:00:00.0: BAR 2: assigned [mem 0xbffe21000-0xbffe21fff 64bit]
[   62.444788] pci b27e:00:00.0: BAR 4: assigned [mem 0xbffe22000-0xbffe22fff 64bit]
[  111.208947] vhci_hcd vhci_hcd.0: pdev(0) rhport(0) sockfd(3)
[  111.208948] vhci_hcd vhci_hcd.0: devid(65675) speed(3) speed_str(high-speed)
[  111.208976] vhci_hcd vhci_hcd.0: Device attached
[  111.568613] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using vhci_hcd
[  111.718728] usb 1-1: SetAddress Request (2) to port 0
[  111.753102] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8812, bcdDevice= 0.00
[  111.753104] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  111.753105] usb 1-1: Product: 802.11n NIC
[  111.753105] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Realtek
[  111.753106] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 123456
[ 1272.688402] potentially unexpected fatal signal 6.
[ 1272.688414] CPU: 4 PID: 237 Comm: weston Not tainted 5.10.60.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2+ #3
[ 1272.688753] RIP: 0033:0x7fa5b88bc115
[ 1272.688767] Code: c2 b8 ea 00 00 00 0f 05 48 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 3d 41 89 c0 41 ba 08 00 00 00 31 d2 4c 89 ce bf 02 00 00 00 b8 0e 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 8b 84 24 08 01 00 00 64 48 33 04 25 28 00 00 00 75 24 44 89 c0
[ 1272.688784] RSP: 002b:00007ffedf46ba40 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000000e
[ 1272.688798] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00007fa5b8a4a000 RCX: 00007fa5b88bc115
[ 1272.688804] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00007ffedf46ba40 RDI: 0000000000000002
[ 1272.688810] RBP: 00007fa5b8a0c630 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007ffedf46ba40
[ 1272.688816] R10: 0000000000000008 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fa5b7b03430
[ 1272.688822] R13: 000000000000047c R14: 00007fa5b7b03242 R15: 00007ffedf46c6a8
[ 1272.688828] FS:  00007fa5b8011900 GS:  0000000000000000

[benhillis]

Thanks, are there other families that will be needed or just this one?

[tiborkiss]

Apparently only this one is missing.

[Luk164]

Has there been any progress on this? I see a lot of similar bug reports starting from 2020 but not any real progress. Did I miss something?

[dtpeters]

Curious about this myself, still seeing this behavior

[wowa-2017]

Is there any workaround for this while it's out of the kernel? I can see usb wifi adapter, but iw complains the same way, it's a pity...

[fOmey]

Encountered this issue myself, I managed to find a work around.

Here is a gist of my notes: https://gist.github.com/fOmey/33b0e8b2b492bacd1a0839e929ecffea

[Entropy512]

Is there any workaround for this while it's out of the kernel?

Compile a custom kernel - it will likely be needed for any USB WLAN driver modules anyway.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any activity for the past year. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file this as a new issue or feature request.

Thank you!