nl80211 not found message when using iw commands

Question

I have Ubuntu 10.04 installed on my Mac using Oracle VirtualBox. My machine is connected to Wi-Fi and am able to browse the internet from within Ubuntu as well.

I keep getting the "nl80211 not found" message when i try some iw commands like "iw dev wlan0 scan" , etc...

iwconfig config shows the following output.

lo no wireless extensions. eth0 no wireless extensions.

Could the message be because wlan0 is not being detected? Why is that i am not able to see my wireless chipset details.

The card type is " AirPort Extreme " and firmware version is Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 ( as per SystemInformation in Mac)

lspci shows the following output.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev 02)  
00:01.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II]
00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Graphics       
                                                                             Adapter
00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 
                                                                                   02)
00:04.0 System peripheral: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Guest Service
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA AC'97 Audio Controller           
                                                  (rev  01)
00:06.0 USB Controller: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo/Intrepid USB
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 08)
00:0d.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI   
                                                                Controller (rev 02)

Could anyone help me out?

Solution

It is a virtual machine with a virtual ethernet device. The virtual device is not WiFi. It is presented as a Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller.

That means that WiFi tools running inside the virtual machine will not work.