Arch Linux

abchobo

Member

Registered: 2014-02-28

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Hi,

I installed arch on a virtualbox with win7 host. Went through the install process with the wifi working the whole time.  Upgraded pacman -Syu and made sure all the wifi tools and 'linux-firmware' were installed. Installation completed and rebooted and wifi won't work.

I first ran wifi-menu enp0s3 and get this:

Then, with 'ip link' enp0s3 was DOWN

I set it to UP, checked it and it was up, then got the same exact error as the first when inputting wifi-menu, then enp0s3 returned to DOWN.

Then I tried going through the Wireless Network Configuration wiki and followed those steps and got these results:

lspci -k

dmesg

I googled the error, but not much shows up. One thing I found is that someone with a radeon video card got a similar error, and I think his firmware and kernel were not matching versions, but I don't know how to fix that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Last edited by abchobo (2014-02-28 22:29:44)

abchobo

Member

Registered: 2014-02-28

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

I realized that I probably should have posted this in Installation instead of Newbie Corner, but don't know how to change that.  Don't wanna post it twice.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Hi, abchobo, and welcome to the Arch Linux forum :-)
Each post has a 'Report' link in the lower right corner. You can use it to contact the moderators and they will move the thread. I already did report it, so you don't have to this time.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,347

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Moved, by request.  Karol offers good advice; the moderators are happy to move stuff and using the report function brings it to our attention quickly.  One of us are usually around

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abchobo

Member

Registered: 2014-02-28

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Thanks for the welcome and tip.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,347

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

There is a subtlety  about VMs that your are missing.  Your host computer has a wireless card.  Your VM does not.
Your VM does not have direct access to the peripherals of your host machine. Some of the modern emulators are really good at giving the illusion you do, but you do not.

Your Virtual Machine has a Virtual Ethernet Card that Connects to a Virtual Network that exists between your Virtual Environment and the host computer.
You can see what virtual peripherals you have using lspci.  The "Ethernet Adapters" use regular kernel modules in the VM to control those "Adapters".

The way this works is you set up your VM as a wired Ethernet.  The emulator creates a virtual interface on the host side that is connected to the virtual interface in the guest.  It can then either bridge the networks, or can provide NAT forwarding.  Unless you need to run a server in the guest, set up the host to use NAT (The default for VirtualBox).  If you run dhcpcd on the guest, you will probably get a 10.0.0.0/8 address. (the DHCP server is on the host computer in the emulator).  If the host has an internet connection through its wireless, in all likelihood, the guest also will have connection as well.  The host will act like a firewall.

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

abchobo

Member

Registered: 2014-02-28

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Awesome! Thank you.

I ran 'dhcpcd' then 'systemctl enable dhcpcd.service' and rebooted and ran ping to make sure it works after reboot and everything works.

Thanks especially for the detailed explanation.

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Please edit your first post in the thread and append [SOLVED] to the thread title.

The report button is usually reserved for letting the moderators know about possible violation of forum rules or if you want threads moved.

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abchobo

Member

Registered: 2014-02-28

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] wireless error 'Direct firmware load failed with error -2'

Okay thanks for the clarification