Last Updated on 2022-06-26 by Clay
Recently, I reinstalled an Ubuntu 18.04 OS desktop. But after installation, I found that I could not connect to the Internet after entering the desktop environment.
It should be because there is no any driver for the network interface.
In fact, I suspect that there may be something wrong with the installed image, but I have not thought of a clear way to verify it.
According to the following process, I finally successfully connected to the Internet, so I left a record here.
- Connect to a temporary network (WiFi or mobile USB sharing)
- Confirm the name and number of the network card
- Download the official network card driver
- Follow the installation steps in Linux environment
Step 1: Connect to a temporary network
First of all, it is best to connect to the Internet. If there is no network environment, then downloading the official driver as described below will probably have to be done on another computer before moving it.
In here, I recommended to use USB to connect the mobile phone with the computer. In the settings, find the option to allow the mobile device share the network to the computer through USB.
Then, the computer have a temporary network and may install the driver for the network interface driver.
Step 2: Confirm the name and number of the network card
You can use ifconfig -a to check if the driver for the network card is installed.
Or you can use the lspci command to confirm the network card. If you use lspci | grep Ethernet command and you can display all names of the devices containing the Ethernet card directly.
My network card device name is displayed as Intel Corporation Device 15fa (rev 11), os I also search for the following network card driver based on this.
Of course you need to search your own Network device name.
Step 3: Download the official network card driver
In the process of searching, I first found https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/E1000E.html and confirmed that my network card is supported by the Linux kernel, so it should be worked.
Then I went to the official website to download the network card for Linux: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/15817
Then I downloaded the latest version of driver (2022/04/22 3.8.4).
Step 4: Follow The Installation Steps In Linux Environment
After downloading, go to the downloaded folder and use the following command to make the driver.
tar -xvf e1000e-3.8.4.tar.gz
cd e1000e-3.8.4/src/
sudo make install
sudo reboot
After rebooting, you should be able to connect to the network normally.
References
- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/14611/15817/intel-network-adapter-driver-for-pcie-intel-gigabit-ethernet-network-connections-under-linux.html?
- https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/651901/network-driver-issue-on-5-4-kernel-for-i219-808615fa
This is needlessly complex. What if don’t have any phone or wifi network at all? I would like to have the driver in the bootable USB and install it from there. In fact, Zorin OS let you run the operating system directly on it and it had the network the driver and everything. My installed OS have none of it.
When I installed it I had trouble with the GRUB, it fail and messed my system up. I had to run from the temporary os and perform a boot repair to get both working but then this happen.
If I can get network working, then I might be able to fix everything else?
This helped me a lot!
As someone who’s new to Ubuntu, this saved me tons of time. Million thanks.
It’s my honor.
Glad to hear that.