Debian installer asking for non-free WiFi drivers
A WiFi chip without a free driver, and three ways around it.
- Answers
- Why does the Debian installer ask for non-free WiFi drivers and how do you get past it?
- Topics
- Amsterdam · Circulair · Durable · Freedom · budget · environment · hacking · howto · laptop · linux · networking · people · repair · volunteer
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2018-07-20_helping-people-with-free-software/
Summary
When I installed Debian on a laptop in 2018, its WiFi chip had no free software driver, so the installer stopped and asked for non-free firmware. A USB WiFi adapter with free drivers got me past it.
Full text
Hardware vendors often keep the inner workings of their chips to themselves, which makes it hard to write free drivers. Debian ships free software and keeps working vendor drivers in a separate non-free repository. When the installer meets a WiFi chip without a free driver, it prompts for non-free firmware and cannot finish, because it needs the network to download additional installation files. Three ways around it: plug in a USB WiFi adapter that has free drivers (I used an Alfa One, not fast, but it pretty much always works), use a wired ethernet connection, or put the correct non-free drivers on the installation medium itself. Once the fresh installation booted, I installed the laptop's own WiFi drivers with a few terminal commands. The Debian wiki has instructions for this.