# Wireless Card compatibility (RTL8192EE) and ndisgen



## JoaoDuarte (Jun 10, 2020)

Hello,

I installed FreeBSD 12.1 on my desktop, which has a TP-Link TL-WN881ND, which in itself has the Realtek RTL8192EE. 

I went through the handbook and found that (unless I am missing something), I should use the XP drivers via `ndisgen` as I did not find a driver anywhere in the docs or hardware notes. In section 11.5.1.1 of the handbook, it states:


> For FreeBSD/amd64, a Windows® 64-bit driver is needed.


So when I download the Windows XP 64-bit version and went through the guide step by step, having to correct 1 syntax error in the INF file, `ndisgen` produced an error, asking if I am sure that I am using the correct INF file (I had to remove FreeBSD and install Linux so I cannot remember the exact error verbatim).

However, when I used the 32-bit version, `ndisgen` worked, and so did all of the other steps in the guide. However, as expected, the wireless card was not showing up with `ifconfig` as I used the 32-bit driver.

I have looked at adding and removing various lines of config to the loader.conf and rc.conf, but nothing seems to work. I saw a post here which someone apparently managed to get it to work, but there are no details on how they did it (and I think they had Atheros instead of Realtek).

I know you can buy USB dongles, but since this card is (I think) #1 seller on Amazon UK, I thought it would work out-of-the-box. I have heard that Realtek can be real difficult when it comes to drivers. I did not check the hardware notes before buying the card as I have been using Linux for the past few years, and built the desktop with Linux in mind.

Overall, is there any other way of trying to get this wireless card to work, or should I just wait for the next release/get a USB dongle?

Thanks


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## George (Jun 10, 2020)

Did you try rtwn()?


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## JoaoDuarte (Jun 10, 2020)

Elazar said:


> Did you try rtwn()?



I have, but it did not work. I think this is because the supported chips seem to be:

```
rtl8188eefw
rtl8188eufw
rtl8192cfwE_B
rtl8192cfwE
rtl8192cfwT
rtl8192cfwU
rtl8192eufw
rtl8812aufw
rtl8821aufw
```
which, to the best of my knowledge, maybe some are compatible and I am setting everything up wrong, do not work with RTL8192EE.


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## George (Jun 11, 2020)

If you did all the steps in the handbook, and still dmesg() doesn't show something like "ndis0", then you are out of luck. Windows XP is end of life since 2014.


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## sunny09 (Aug 7, 2020)

I had the similar issue with same PCI adapter, but on HP Compaq DC7700 Small Factor









						HP Compaq with TL-WN881ND
					

Hi, I'm new to both FreeBSD & community. Please be patient with me.  I've a HP Compaq DC7700 small factor PC, installed FreeBSD OS. I've bought TL-WN881ND PCI express card, as my PC doesn't have one to connect to wifi. I did install on to my PC, but, can't install the drivers, as they are...




					forums.freebsd.org
				




I'm eagerly waiting for a solution.


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