Using Alfa AWUS036NH on a Raspberry pi 4 running kali linux
I'm having an issue with my raspberry detecting the Alfa antenna I got.
I'm trying to configure and get up running the Alfa AWUS036NH on my Kali linux system (Image here. Kali Linux RaspberryPi 2 (v1.2), 3, 4 and 400 (64-Bit)), which is installed on the Raspberry pi 4 model B.
When plugging the Alfa USB cable in the booted pi (I tried all the USB 2 and USB 3 ports), the Alfa signal LED lights up and stays lit. So I am assuming the system is powered up correctly.
I have read that the antenna is supported out-of-the-box by kali, and that it should be detected without further action. Though it looks like it is not on my system, because the antenna is not detected by the system in any way. (I did not install any driver).
I have also connected the raspberry to my local WiFi before inserting the alfa into the raspberry, so I do have an internet connection via the pi's internal network card.
I'm running kali on a headless pi over ssh. The alfa antenna was connected to an USB3 port prior to booting the pi.
kali@kali:~$ iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"Vodafone-8473648293" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.427 GHz Access Point: 74:36:6D:47:3A:3A Bit Rate=65 Mb/s Tx-Power=31 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:on Link Quality=50/70 Signal level=-60 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
eth0 no wireless extensions.
lo no wireless extensions.kali@kali:~$ ifconfig
eth0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 ether dc:a6:32:a6:7a:34 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet) RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B) RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B) TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536 inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0 inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host> loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback) RX packets 84 bytes 6680 (6.5 KiB) RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 TX packets 84 bytes 6680 (6.5 KiB) TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 inet 192.168.1.31 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 inet6 fe80::a700:d248:d3cb:5d46 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link> ether dc:a6:32:a6:7a:35 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet) RX packets 77 bytes 7591 (7.4 KiB) RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 TX packets 69 bytes 10740 (10.4 KiB) TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0kali@kali:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hubkali@kali:~$ sudo airmon-ng
[sudo] password for kali:
PHY Interface Driver Chipset
phy0 wlan0 brcmfmac Broadcom 43430kali@kali:~$ uname -a
Linux kali 4.19.127-Re4son-v8l+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Feb 21 13:39:21 UTC 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linuxdmesg stdout: here
The alfa does not show up anywhere, and I can't seem to find a reasonable solution.
Edit 1: after installing Kali 2021 on a notebook and doing the same procedure, the result is the same. Alfa light on, no usb signal, network interface not detected.
Edit 2: downloaded drivers from official website but they do not provide any instruction for compilation, and running make as described in the provided readme does not work. Also tried unsuccessfully installing with an error described in issue #774
12 Answers
it seems you do not have the drivers installed. i did a little research for ya and found these. i hope this is what you need. Also, if you are using a virtual machine, im pretty sure its not very easy to use a usb wifi adapter on that vm. Hope this helps. I would install those drivers just in case even if it says it works right out the box ¯_(ツ)_/¯
2As @xhienne pointed out, the cable was the issue. Yes. The one who came in the official shipping box from Alfa. It powered the device but (I suppose) did not allow to communicate with the computer. Changed to a new USB-A to USB-B connector and now the antenna works like a charm.
