Ubuntu 16.04 - only connecting to ethernet, no wifi option

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modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Required key not available

This is the subject of a recent and still open bug in Ubuntu: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bcmwl/+bug/1572659

It appears that the only solution so far is to enter the computer's BIOS and turn off Secure Boot.

To do so roam around the options after booting your windows machine in F12 mode, until you find a Secure Boot switch and turn it off. Then exit and boot Ubuntu normally

Secure Boot is a security standard developed by the PC industry to help make sure that your PC boots using only software that is trusted by the PC manufacturer

Reboot. Your wireless should now be working.

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towc
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towc

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • towc
    towc over 1 year

    The issue

    I recently installed Ubuntu 16.04 on a windows machine. Everything seems to be working fine, except for the fact that wifi doesn't seem to be an option for connections

    I still have access to other machines that I can use to transfer packages offline

    What I've tried, that didn't work

    googling away, I've found a post from someone saying that I need to use these commands:

    rfkill list
    rfkill unblock wlan0
    

    and other commands, but then an error appeared saying Bogus unblock argument 'wlan0', which made sense because it wasn't listed in rfkill list

    I then tried this, but the final progress bar didn't seem to proceed, as some users complained in the comments

    So I then tried installing bcmwl-kernel-source manually, along with the other packages it needed. I did that and rebooted the machine several times, but I still don't see the wifi as an option

    The last thing I tried was setting up a new connection using the "edit connections" button from the image above, and set it to what I could see from my other ubuntu machine over wifi, but I still don't see the option to connect through that anywhere.

    outputs of requested commands

    Output of lspci -nnk | grep 0280:

    01:00 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4365] (rev 01)

    Output of sudo modprobe ul:

    modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Required key not available

    --

    Any help is greatly appreciated

    • chili555
      chili555 almost 8 years
      Please edit your question to add the result of this command from the terminal: lspci -nnk | grep 0280 -A2
    • towc
      towc almost 8 years
      @chili555 01:00 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation numbersnumbers Kernel modules: bcma, wl
    • Mohamed Slama
      Mohamed Slama almost 8 years
      check my previous answer may helping you askubuntu.com/a/773914/464430
    • towc
      towc almost 8 years
      @chili555 ok, properly updated. Currently reading this: askubuntu.com/questions/55868/…
    • chili555
      chili555 almost 8 years
      What is the result of the terminal command: sudo modprobe wl
    • towc
      towc almost 8 years
      @chili555 updated question. modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Required key not available I saw the same happen when I was trying to install manually bmcwl-kernel-source, although it didn't seem to be a fatal one