Arch Linux

w201

Member

Registered: 2012-10-04

Posts: 289

[SOLVED] Arch as Guest on VirtualBox on a Dell XPS 15 - Wireless Not..

I have a Dell XPS 15 (2012 Model L521X) that I'm running arch on as a guest in virtualbox. Dell XPS 15 Wiki says the Atheros wireless adapter should work out of the box. It's not working for me, so I found under the wireless wiki that the module for this card is ath9k. I modprobed it but I still can't get the interface to come up. I also tried /etc/modules-load.d/ath9k.conf and rebooted. Still nothing. ip link shows no wireless interface. Ethernet works fine.

lspci -v

only shows the Ethernet controller.

journalctl -b | grep Network

just shows the e1000 Intel PRO/1000 Network Driver.

The last thing I tried per the XPS 15 wiki is installing rfkill to toggle the wireless adapter on/off by using fn+f2 key, also with no luck. So I'm stomped. Anything else that I can possibly check for to get this wifi running?

Last edited by w201 (2014-01-23 19:52:37)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,354

Re: [SOLVED] Arch as Guest on VirtualBox on a Dell XPS 15 - Wireless Not..

The problem is, you are not running on a Dell XPS 15.  You are running on a VirtualBox virtual machine.  That machine has a (virtual) wired Ethernet adapter that looks like an e1000.   You establish Ethernet connectivity through that 'wired' network to your host computer.   Depending on how VirtualBox is configured, that virtual network is either bridged to to Wireless Card that is owned by the host, or the host/VirtualBox provide NAT forwarding to whatever network the host is attached.   In all likelihood, it is NAT.  Leave it NAT, unless your guest needs to be a server.

What is your host OS?
What happens, on your guest OS, if you just run dhcpcd as root?  You should get an address like 10.0.0.2.  If so, and if the host has a wireless connection, you will probably find the guest does too.

Last edited by ewaller (2014-01-23 19:29:26)

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w201

Member

Registered: 2012-10-04

Posts: 289

Re: [SOLVED] Arch as Guest on VirtualBox on a Dell XPS 15 - Wireless Not..

The host OS is Windows 7. Okay, it's working now, and you're right I have a 10.0.2.15 address. I never tried running dhcpcd without my CAT5 cable plugged in, I was trying to get the wlan interface to show up. Thanks for your help, ewaller!