Wifi internal error no wifi interface available

StartOS Support
1

Hello,

I have installed Start9 on a NUC13.

But I have no wifi and this error message :

Error
RPC ERROR: WiFi Internal Error No WiFi interface available

When I try to select a country it does nothing.

Can someone help please?

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2

Wifi is not recommended and will be deprecated in the future, but if you are in a situation where you must use it be sure and flash the nonfree ISO with proprietary drivers. If you flashed the regular x86, this could be your problem.

3

And just to add a bit to what Rick said, even the x86_64 non-free ISO does not have all drivers for all possible hardware, but only the closed-source drivers included in Debian 12’s non-free repository.

If you are already using the nonfree iso because you followed our flashing instructions, then the wireless card on your DIY hardware probably just isn’t supported.

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4

Thank you Rick for your answer.

I indeed flashed the wrong one.

I will try to do it with the non-free.

Also Thank you @George for the precision.

I will try and put my hardware in the repertory if the wifi is working or not.

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5

I have installad the non-free.iso and I get the same error:
RPC ERROR: WiFi Internal Error No WiFi interface available

I also bought a Wifi Dongle and still no luck. Apparently I could install drivers using “apt install” but I get the following message:

sudo apt install pciutils
THIS IS NOT A STANDARD DEBIAN SYSTEM
USING apt COULD CAUSE IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO YOUR START9 SERVER
PLEASE TURN BACK NOW!!!

If you are SURE you know what you are doing, and are willing to accept the DIRE CONSEQUENCES of doing so, you can run the following command to disable this protection:
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/apt

Otherwise, what you probably want to do is run:
sudo /usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
You can run apt in this context to add packages to your system.
When you are done with your changes, type “exit” and the device will reboot into a system with the changes applied.
This is still NOT RECOMMENDED if you don’t know what you are doing, but at least isn’t guaranteed to break things.

How to add basic apps without breaking the system?

6

Here is what I did to get wifi working with with brostrend wifi dongle
I’ve tested this on the Pure and the One with two different brostrend wifi dongles

setup ssh keys on desktop
add ssh keys to start9
ssh into start9

sudo -i
/usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
apt update
apt upgrade -y
exit

—wait for start9 to reboot—
ssh into start9

sudo -i
/usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
apt install wget usbutils network-manager wpasupplicant -y
apt autoremove -y
exit

—wait for start9 to reboot—
ssh into start9
—More info: https://linux.brostrend.com—

sh -c 'wget linux.brostrend.com/install -O /tmp/install && sh /tmp/install'
exit

—wait for start9 to reboot—
ssh into start9

sudo -i
/usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
wpa_passphrase "Your_SSID" "Your_Password" | tee -a /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

—update file with the following at the top above network={—
—text to include start—

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ap_scan=1

—text to include end—
—get your wifi device name—
nmcli device status
–update the following file and replace wlan0 with the name of your device—
nano /etc/network/interfaces
—text to include start—

# Allow hot-plugging of the network interface (useful for USB Wi-Fi adapters)
allow-hotplug wlan0

# Configure the Wi-Fi interface
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

—text to include end—
—update the following file and replace wlan0 with the name of your device including in the filename—
nano /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/disable-wlan0.conf
—text to include start—

[keyfile]
unmanaged-devices=interface-name:wlan0

—text to include end—
exit
—wait for start9 to reboot—
ssh into start9
—check if connected to wifi, replace wlan0 with your device name—
ip a show wlan0
—you should see an ip address for your device name that looks similar to the following—
—example start—

ip a show wlan0
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.156/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic wlan0
       valid_lft 43134sec preferred_lft 43134sec
    inet6 fe80::xx:xx:xx:xx/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

—example end—
—One more time for good measure—

sudo -i
/usr/lib/startos/scripts/chroot-and-upgrade
exit

—wait for start9 to reboot—
—You are done and now have wifi that survives reboot!!—

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