rtl8188eu wifi driver requires seperate firmware file.

[MrEngman]

Just updated my pi from 3.12.36+ to 3.18.3+ with rpi-update. Rebooted and the kernel appeared to hang. Looks like a problem with the rtl8188eu wifi driver.

[    6.834444] r8188eu: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[    7.522870] Chip Version Info: CHIP_8188E_Normal_Chip_TSMC_A_CUT_1T1R_RomVer(0)
[    7.844997] random: nonblocking pool is initialized
[    8.002964] usbcore: registered new interface driver r8188eu
[   12.342025] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[   12.881522] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[   22.879338] r8188eu 1-1.2:1.0: Direct firmware load for rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin failed with error -2
[   22.879388] r8188eu 1-1.2:1.0: Firmware rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin not available

The rtl8188eu wifi driver in the drivers/staging/rtl8188eu is compiled in and the module is included in the 3.18.3+ image. However, it does not work as it requires a separate firmware file rtl8188eufw.bin in directory /lib/firmware/rtlwifi and the firmware binary is not included in the image.

A good example why the firmware should not have been stripped out of the source code and moved to a separate file.

Please add in the firmware file rtl8188eufw.bin

[popcornmix]

Can you point me at where rtl8188eufw.bin should come from?

[MrEngman]

You can find it here. https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu

[popcornmix]

@asb what's your view? Should kernel driver firmware be distributed with rpi-update?

[notro]

A good example why the firmware should not have been stripped out of the source code and moved to a separate file.

It seems that firmware isn't allowed in the kernel source anymore:
lwfinger/rtl8188eu#50 (comment)
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/rtlwifi

[PeterPablo]

After some digging I found this commit to linux-firmware at kernel.org. That should be it?! (I am wet behind the ears concerning the kernel, so please bear with me.)

[zaazbb]

does anybody build a rtl8188eu.ko for rapi-3.18.5, can you share it to me?
thanks.

[PeterPablo]

When I upgraded to 3.18.x two days ago the firmware was included and everything worked without manual interaction. What kind of problems do you face?

[dinau]

Hi @zaazbb,

Try this,

sudo wget https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu/raw/c83976d1dfb4793893158461430261562b3a5bf0/rtl8188eufw.bin  -O /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin

then do reboot.
As @MrEngman says above,
Kernel 3.18.5+ #748 dose not have 'rtl8188eufw.bin' file too.

[organom]

Thanks @dinau, it worked perfectly ;)

[matthuisman]

Also experienced this problem and dinau's fix worked.
Will this be fixed in upcoming versions?

[symmetryninja]

Spent an hour looking for this very solution, thanks @dinau you rock.

[Diaoul]

Any updates on this? Having to manually download the driver is a real pain.

[XECDesign]

Really, this is a problem that will resolve itself when we move to Jessie. In the meantime, it would be nice if the relevant package was backported, but I don't think it will happen in time.

[jvinterberg]

@dinau thank you very much for that oneliner! saved me from going out to buy yet another 3 dongles.

[appy10]

but when we transfer the bin file into lib/firmware/rtlwifi,the access is denied,so how to transfer it...

[organom]

@appy10 you have to use the sudo has described. If you don't have sudo installed/configured, you can login as root or change user to root as: 'su root' and then run the command 'wget https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu/raw/c83976d1dfb4793893158461430261562b3a5bf0/rtl8188eufw.bin -O /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin' (without the sudo)

[appy10]

thnks...the command worked with sudo..

[Nagadhiraj]

after transfering rtl8188eufw.bin to /lib/firmware/rtlwifi ....but still not working. When i check by using dmesg : it says :
r8188 1-1.4:1.0: firmware, attempted to load /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin, but failed with error -22
r8188 1-1.4:1.0: Direct firmware load for /rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin failed with error -22

[blachanc]

@ dinau
your solution Did the job for me too.
Thanks a lot !!
Dinau's solution:
sudo wget https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu/raw/c83976d1dfb4793893158461430261562b3a5bf0/rtl8188eufw.bin -O /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin

Ben

[kumar98]

hai Dinau...Thasnks a lot....u r superb man.. It gave me a relax now...

[mator]

Can you please add this firmware file to firmware package? Thanks!

[XECDesign]

Done, please test.

[neko1984]

@dinau Many thanks. It works like a charm on 4.1.6+ kernel :)

[mator]

# pkgfile -s rtl8188eufw.bin
core/linux-firmware
aur/dkms-8188eu

thanks

[tradback]

@dinau Many many thanks! I've been looking for this solution for about 2 weeks now. It also saved me another wifi usb purchase. I had been sure it would work as the wifi-usb I had was working with Openelec and Raspbian (after update/upgrade). But it wouldn't work with volumio. But I tried this, and damn it works! Thanks again!

[ghost]

Worked for me. Many thanks to @dinau ! I had almost given hopes on that wifi dongle. :)

[amateusz]

@dinau's solution worked for me.
FYI: I got here because armbian upgrade (4.7.3 -> 4.8.4) broke it I suppose. (I'm on orange pi a20)
strange enough "rtlwifi" dir wasn't even present..
edit: oh, it's RPi repo. excuse me for my armbian interpolation