Ubuntu 20.04 No Wifi Adapter Found. Lenovo Ideapad Realtek

Question

I bought a new Lenovo Ideapad 5 without any OS. I installed Ubuntu 20.04 on it. However, in Settings -> Wi-Fi I see "No Wi-Fi Adapter Found". I already spent hours trying to solve this problem. I don't know, what I'm missing.

Here, I paste the output from some common commands I found.

sudo lshw -C network
  *-network UNCLAIMED       
       description: Network controller
       product: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d0500000-d05fffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       bus info: usb@3:2
       logical name: usb0
       serial: 16:00:4c:38:bb:e6
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device ip=192.168.42.59 link=yes multicast=yes

lspci -v | grep -i network
03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8852

lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0bda:4852 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Bluetooth Radio
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04f3:0c4d Elan Microelectronics Corp. ELAN:Fingerprint
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 22b8:2e24 Motorola PCS motorola one vision
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b725 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Integrated Camera
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Also, in Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers there is "No additional drivers available"

I have no idea, what to do next. Please, help.

Solution

To get the realtek 8852 PCI adapter working with Ubuntu, follow these steps:

1. Download dependencies:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git
   

2. Install 'fix':

   git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89.git -b v5
   cd rtw89 && make && sudo make install
   

3. load module:

   sudo modprobe rtw89pci
   

   If you are lucky, this is all you will need to do. The driver should be loaded. If not, you will likely know. The driver load attempt will have caused an error. If this is the case, click the source link below for details.

---

Source & src

Another Ubuntu user who used method with success (rtw89)

Comments

[krisograbek]

Thank you. I installed Ubuntu today, so I'm not losing anything. I'll try to install this again with disabled Secure Boot and I hope this will solve my problems

[Nate T]

I know it will. It is a common issue. Secure boot looks for windows signature to decide if an app is secure. Other distros such as RHEL have gone as far as to dupe the software signatures. Ubuntu just provides you with the info to do it yourself if needed. The easier option is just to say good riddance.

[krisograbek]

So I disabled Secure Boot and installed Ubuntu again. I still have the same problems. Basically, nothing changed from the previous output

[chili555]

@NateT I believe OP will require firmware.

[krisograbek]

Thank you again, @NateT. How did you know I needed rtw89pci? I couldn't find this information

[Nate T]

I was searching around when I came across the second link in the answer. The op was having the same issue as you, and I noticed he gotten it fixed by installing. I followed the link and read the info. Imo a user's success with Ubuntu (and Linux in general) depends mostly on how effective his or her googling skills are. XD