How to find and install network driver

[Fluffigt]

I'm a complete linux noob and just installed Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon. Both update manager and driver manager seem to think I am up to date with no additional drivers required. However inxi shows my network as:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
driver: N/A

When I ran mint on usb during install it prompted me to select a wifi connection and I had access to internet. After install and restart I still had internet. When I restarted again later suddenly I not only don't have internet, but no network driver. I'm so new to this and genuinely don't know what to do. I found this https://github.com/juanro49/rtl88x2ce-dkms but don't know what commands to run and where to find the downloaded packages. Internet seems to say I should be getting these drivers automatically but something is not working? Any help is welcome.

I tried running sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get install linux-firmware which did try to update my network driver but encountered an error.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
linux-firmware is already the newest version (20240318.git3b128b60-0ubuntu2.15).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Setting up rtl88x2ce-dkms (35403) ...
Removing old rtl88x2ce-35403 DKMS files...
Deleting module rtl88x2ce-35403 completely from the DKMS tree.
Loading new rtl88x2ce-35403 DKMS files...
Building for 6.8.0-78-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 6.8.0-78-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.8.0-78-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package rtl88x2ce-dkms (--configure):
installed rtl88x2ce-dkms package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
rtl88x2ce-dkms
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

make.log says:
DKMS make.log for rtl88x2ce-35403 for kernel 6.8.0-78-generic (x86_64)
Tue Aug 26 01:50:22 PM CEST 2025
make ARCH=x86_64 CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/6.8.0-78-generic/build M=/var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-6.8.0-78-generic'
warning: the compiler differs from the one used to build the kernel
The kernel was built by: x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc-13 (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0
You are using: gcc-13 (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_cmd.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_security.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_debug.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_io.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_ioctl_query.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_ioctl_set.o
CC [M] /var/lib/dkms/rtl88x2ce/35403/build/core/rtw_ieee80211.o

 

[Trml]

The repo for the dmks you tried seems not to be maintained anymore, it is unlikely you get it to work with new kernels.
Having a search, the instructions in https://fostips.com/realtek-wifi-drivers-ubuntu-linux-mint/ seem to be current. For Mint you can use the Ubuntu ppa instructions.

Prior to installing it, what you should do is simply boot the Mint install ISO again. Once you see your wireless working with it, use the command

lspci -nnk | grep -i 'network\|ethernet' -A3

to see what wireless module is listed for the card. Then, reboot into your Mint and try to use the command modprobe <modulename> as sudo user. Paste the errors you see. If it is just "module not found", search the Mint repos for it. It is highly likely the install just did not pick it up correctly, but you can get it to work simply by installing the not found module.

 

[Brickwizard]

the original kernel drivers for the RTL8822 may work with some variants, but there are now so many [mainly for regional reasons] it is often best to download and install the correct one for your card from Github
using Mint/other debian based distro, download to your machine right click open new box select extract and save, note what the file is now called, you will now have 2 files in your download box find the decompressed one right click and click on install

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

I'm running Mint xfce on my 13 year old Laptop and never had your problem.


Did you do this...
https://www.linuxfordevices.com/tutorials/linux/connect-to-wifi-on-linux-mint

Is the internet working on the live session ?

Have you tried connecting the Laptop to the Modem with an internet cable ?

 

[theLegionWithin]

I found this https://github.com/juanro49/rtl88x2ce-dkms but don't know what commands to run and where to find the downloaded packages. Internet seems to say I should be getting these drivers automatically but something is not working? Any help is welcome.

the link you've got there points to a .deb (click on "Releases" over on the right-hand side of the page --> https://github.com/juanro49/rtl88x2ce-dkms/releases/tag/5.7.3_35403_20230222) but it's from 2 1/2 years ago so not sure how relevant it is now.

typically with .deb files you need to use dpkg in the terminal:

sudo dpkg -i filename.deb