@sudoranger 

I have tried this, all appeared to run ok, but there is no sign of a wireless connection. Is there another step I could use to activate it?

  @sudoranger I have done all this, both options, but still no sign of driver registration.

I'm using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS under VMWare. Here is my info:

You can see that the device is connected to the USB:

Here you can see that there is no network interface for the T4U:

And finally, the driver is loaded:

As I said, I tried both methods with the same result. Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

  @sudoranger, A warning to others… I bricked my system trying to install this. Granted, it wasn’t the instructions listed here per se, but those did not work for me. I followed the second set of instructions listed above for dkms, copying the instructions into a script and running that.

When it rebooted, my T4U still did not work (I had just upgraded to 22.04, Linux 5.15.0-71-generic x86_64). I put pauses after each step in the script and ran it again, and saw there was a problem with the makefile. It said the version of gcc I was using was not the same one that was used to create the module, but it continued to run anyway. I looked at the log file, and there were quite a few errors. I had run “sudo update” as the first instruction in the script, so I didn’t understand why gcc was not the most current. You’ll forgive me if I don’t have the exact text, as my system was bricked and it’s all gone. I had gcc version 4.x.y (Ubuntu 22.04), and the version used to build the module was gcc 4.x.y (Ubuntu1 22.04). They both had the same version/revision number, the only difference being the Ubuntu vs. Ubuntu1. So how do I get the right version? I tried installing it, but apt said I already had the most current version. I uninstalled gcc and then reinstalled it, and that seemingly innocuous act may have been my big mistake. Now the computer complained that distro-watch-(something) was not the most recent. I ignored that (perhaps also a seemingly innocuous act that was a mistake), and tried rerunning the script to build the T4U module, but it again failed. I again got a warning that distro-watch-(something) was not current. I again ignored it and returned to this page to document my actions and what was not working, while I still had all the information. In the middle of typing, the page disappeared. Okay, I’ll write it in a document and copy and paste it. As I was writing the document, the system went into spontaneous reboot.

When the reboot progressed from Grub, Ubuntu never came back. I rebooted into Ubuntu maintenance mode, and selected to repair dkms. I looked at the details beforehand, and it said three distro-watch-(something) packages needed to be repaired. I selected to repair them, and when that finished, it still wouldn’t boot into Ubuntu. I went into maintenance mode again, and it said the same three distro-watch-(something) packages needed to be repaired. I selected to repair them. When it finished, I selected to repair dkms again, and it said the same three packages needed to be repaired. I went into the same loop several times until I was convinced this was going nowhere, i.e., this installation of Ubuntu was bricked.

Luckily, I had installed another installation of Ubuntu 20.04 in another partition set on this computer before I upgraded. I rebooted into that, and everything is fine. I’ve already deleted the offending 22.04 installation, reinstalled Grub, and also removed the 22.04 logical volumes, volume group, and physical volume. I’m good with staying with 20.04 on this computer with the T4U dongle. I was in the process of moving 22.04 to a new computer I had just purchased (with onboard WiFi), and thankfully I had finished the critical steps of that process before this happened. I have already posted this on the author’s webpage. Thank you for the link.

  @sudoranger 

@tplink 

First of all, good to see this discussion. I have a T3U Plus, which works perfectly under Win 10, but I would also like to use for a Ubuntu / Linux setup. 

I am not an expert in this area, but is there any possibility that TP-Link either makes an official driver for Linux available, or better looks to get this integrated in Ubuntu / Linux kernel generally? I also use a D-Link USB Wifi, which works perfectly with Linux out of the box. Thus, wd be good if the same could be implemented for the T3U Plus.

Many thanks

  @MobileRouter It's good that you have the D-Link which works with Linux. It's unfortunate that TP-Link doesn't support this with Linux, because people running Linux on older computers tend to need an external WiFi adapter, and the T3U and T4U are otherwise good, fast adapters. I bought mine many years ago because I had a TP-Link WiFi router. But a different brand name adapter would have worked fine. I called customer service and they told me about the "unofficial" Linux driver module, which is why I kept it instead of returning it immediately. If the compiled version works for you, fine. It does for some people. Just make sure you back up beforehand.

The provided steps outline the process to install a specific driver for the RTL88x2BU chipset on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish). However, it's important to note that these steps are specific to that particular driver and chipset and may not work for other drivers or hardware.

Here is a summary of the steps:

Update the package lists and install necessary dependencies:
sql
Copy code
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git linux-headers-generic dkms
Download the driver source code:
bash

unzip master.zip
cd RTL88x2BU-Linux-Driver-master
Clean up any previous installations (optional):
go
Copy code
sudo make uninstall
make clean
Build and install the driver:
go
Copy code
make
sudo make install
Load the driver module:
Copy code
sudo modprobe 88x2bu
Reboot your system for the changes to take effect:
Copy code
sudo reboot
Please note that this driver is not officially endorsed by TP-Link, and it's important to use it at your own risk. If you encounter any issues, it's recommended to reach out to the author or contributors of the driver for support.

Regards,

Rachel Gomez

Hello everyone!

This thread is quiet old and I may not be able to provide support anymore because I'm no longer using this USB dongle.

I have recently upgraded my network card to Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 160Mhz and my connection works out-of-the-box for all versions of Ubuntu from 20.04 up until 23.04 Lunar Lobster (at this point of writing). I'm done with Realtek chipset. If you plan to "Linuxify" yourself, I suggest you find an Intel-powered chipset Wi-Fi card/dongle instead.

Here are the links for supported Wi-Fi cards for Ubuntu.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsRealTek

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsIntel

Please raise your concern directly to the driver's author. Moderator please lock this thread to avoid more soft-brick devices.

  @sudoranger 

@rachelgomez1619

adding: @Solla-topee (from this thread: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/509006?sortDir=ASC&page=1 )

Hi, is my understanding correct that the following USB dongles use all the same drivers for Linux (at least that is my reading of the above mentioned thread):

• Archer T2U  ( Nano / Plus)
• Archer T600U ( Nano / Plus)
• Archer T3U ( Nano / Plus)
• Archer T4U  ( Plus )
• Archer T4UH
• Archer T9UH

Out of these dongles, the latest Linux driver I can find is the one for the T2U v3 (https://www.tp-link.com/de/support/download/archer-t2u/v3/ or https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/archer-t2u/ - though I did not check every local TP-Link support for every single device...)

Does that then mean that the latest Linux driver for the T2U v3 should also work for the T3U Plus on Linux 22.04?

Would it be possible that someone at TP-Link maintains the Download pages for the relevant dongles with the latest Linux drivers? Or better, could someone at TP-Link see to get the relevant drivers included in the Linux kernel / Ubuntu distros so that the dongles work out-of-the-box (just like certain dongles from other certain brands).

Many thanks