Please help with wifi in Tails

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tails

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Hello,

I'm using Tails for the first time and when I try to connect to wifi then it doesn't work.

I'm using the latest Microsoft Surface Pro laptop. I'm able to select a wifi network in UI (I made my wifi open, without passwords), it tries to connect but then I see "WI-FI Not Connected"

"ip a" command shows that eth0 interface has state "DOWN":

eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether 58:82:a8:74:36:db brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

could someone please help to troubleshoot this issue?

thanks in advance!
 


Hi @tails, and welcome! I've never used the Tails OS, so I'll just start with some questions and comments to get your thread moving.

Did you install Tails with VirtualBox? Or are you running off a DVD/USB in Live mode? Or something else?

eth0 refers to an ethernet (cable) connection... not wifi. Can you connect to your router with an ethernet cable instead?

Cheers
 
atanere,

Thanks for response. I'm running Tails from USB flash drive. Just connected with an ethernet cable, it shows "wired connected" in UI, 1000mb/s, dns and gateway are resolved correctly (192.168.1.1), but still no internet... ping google.com just hangs, and when pinging google by IP address I'm getting "Destination Port Unreachable. ping: sendmsg: operation not permitted."
 
Okay, that sounds like progress! :D

Again, not being sure how Tails works, it may need one or more ports open in your router to access the outside world. I'd review the router settings (and Tails documentation) to see if something rings a bell there. (Possibly a firewall setting?) You might also try to connect your ethernet cable direct to your modem and skip the router altogether.
 
Running Tails on USB right now. It always helps me to try to duplicate a problem to understand it better.

I had the same issue: ping doesn't work from terminal. Forget ping! Open up the Tor browser and start surfing. It will probably work without tweaking your router.

You probably don't need ping or other command line tools anyway. Hope you're up and running!

Cheers
 
connected to modem directly, rebooted, and Tails couldn't connect to wired/wireless networks... Connected wire back to router, rebooted, and see same behavior (Wired Off, Wifi not connected). Router itself works very well because another windows/osx laptops can connect to it (via wifi or wire) and have internet.
Maybe the problem is in hardware drivers and I need to buy another wifi receiver..
 
With it connected back to the router, did you try to just run the browser? I used the Tor browser and it worked, even though ping did not work from terminal.
 
just tried. Connected via wire, Tails shows "Wired connected", opened a Tor browser, it displays "connecting" and that's it.... Nothing happens, just hangs. Then shows "The connection has timed out".
Tried 'unsafe browser', it shows same behavior...
 
Digging deep into the Tails FAQ showed that ping is not permitted. Ping uses ICMP protocol and Tails only supports TCP connections.

The Tails instructions are also extremely particular about their installation method and media. Some USB sticks do not work well with Tails. It's hard to think that these might be the cause of your trouble since you can boot the USB stick, but it might be something for you to review anyway. Tails seems to be a very picky system, even on a good day. :eek::D

I don't think you're too far away from having it work though. I found the Tor browser to be quite slow and sluggish... it might be that you could reboot and try again and it will work. Since you can confirm that the ethernet connection is made and you've got an IP address from the router, you can't be too far away from internet access.

If possible, I might try these two things: 1) boot your USB on another computer to see if you can connect, and 2) burn Tails to a DVD and boot that instead (if the Surface Pro has a DVD drive... I can imagine that it doesn't).
 
I've been reading a bit more... probably not helpful though. Did you use 2 USB sticks (and Windows) to create the Tails USB stick that you are booting on? Like I said above, this seems to be a very picky system, and maybe something in that Windows install process went wrong, even though it boots.

I'm wondering about my own installation too, because I did not follow their very particular method to install using Linux Mint. Mine did boot up and was able to use the ethernet connection, but there still may be "security or usability" issues that are not plain to see.

The Tails networking documentation indicates that with a wired ethernet connection, you should be good to go. I further tested on a Windows 10 laptop but it would not boot (probably needs Legacy mode enabled and Secure Boot disabled)... and also on another laptop that did work. Tails actually found the wireless on that laptop. You might want to double-check that also... maybe your wifi actually works too, and if so, maybe it will get online more readily (though usually ethernet is the better choice).

Maybe someone else will have a clue to help you further along, but you may just have to fiddle with it some more, and possibly create another USB and carefully follow all their instructions (if you didn't follow carefully before).

Cheers
 
Yes, I used 2 USB drives to install it. Trying to install on another USB drive as Tails documentation says that PNY drive that I'm using is not supported...
As for Secure Boot, I've disabled it but then when loading Windows it asked me for a recovery key that I didn't have, so had to format entire laptop and reinstall Windows. That was sad experience...
 
Bummer about Windows, but nothing surprises me anymore about them. If you haven't learned about Fast Boot yet, then you should probably Google around for info on that little gem too. When you are running Windows 10 and tell it to "shutdown".... it doesn't. It goes into "hibernation" instead. This allows it to boot faster... because it never shut down! Grrrr. This can cause some issues with Linux, but I don't think it relates to your connection/internet problem.

I don't know if the PNY issue will relate to the internet connection either, but you have to try the things that are suspicious.
 
installed to another flash, same. Installed linux-firmware-nonfree drivers, doesn't work. I think I'll buy external wifi adapter and try again. I'll share results here then.
atanere, thank you very much for helping on that
 
tails said:
So the latest Tails (3.5) has problems with 2017 Surface Pro and 2015 SurfaceBook.
Click to expand...
3.5 is not the latest Tails version. It is 3.7.1 -- released just 9 days ago. It might help your wifi to try that one, but it also may not help. But that still doesn't explain ethernet not working. Linux is extremely good at using ethernet connections, and your Tails already shows that you are connected to your router. Basically this should be working now, but if it isn't, it should be fixable.

Linux can also be very picky with wifi dongles... I've had several that don't work well, or at all. One that has worked extremely well for me is a TP-Link TL-WN722N. It's a bit slower than what's available these days, but it has been reliable and fast enough. It's also pretty cheap if you shop around... about $15 on Amazon.

But I'd probably concentrate on the ethernet rather than buying a new device. At least to figure it out first. If "getting internet" is a problem with ethernet, it may still be a problem with wifi, even if you make wifi work.

[EDIT: My timing is awful. This is about the 3rd time (or more) that I've replied while you are connected to the forum, but by the time I finish typing and post my reply, you are gone. LOL :D:D]
 
Yeah, Tails 3.7.1 had same problems. I'll buy an external module. Thanks for hint on tl-wn722n!
 
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Well, I hope that will work for you and make the connection. If not, keep trying. I'm fairly hopeful that Tails will work as long as there isn't some issue with the Surface Pro itself.

Cheers
 
atanere said:
Linux can also be very picky with wifi dongles... I've had several that don't work well, or at all. One that has worked extremely well for me is a TP-Link TL-WN722N. It's a bit slower than what's available these days, but it has been reliable and fast enough.
Click to expand...
Just FYI about wifi dongles: I also have a similar TP-Link dongle... looks the same, but faster (AC 600, model Archer T2UH), and I just tested it this morning using Tails. It did not work as a plug-n-play network adapter, unfortunately. Linux can see it, but it will take extra effort to make it work (if it will work at all). TP-Link offers a driver that you'd have to compile from source code, and it's only specified to work with Linux kernels 2.6 - 3.16 (Tails is using kernel 4.15.0-2). I have not tried to compile and use the driver, but you can tell that it may or may not be worth the effort to build a driver that may or may not work! :eek:

I booted Tails up with the TL-WN722N and it was detected and worked just fine with Tails 3.7.1. :D

No guarantees that it will also work on your Surface Pro, but this adapter really has been my go-to device for a Linux dongle when needed. It's kind of big and clunky, but the large antenna also gives it better range than the small stubby devices.

Cheers
 
atanere said:
Bummer about Windows, but nothing surprises me anymore about them. If you haven't learned about Fast Boot yet, then you should probably Google around for info on that little gem too. When you are running Windows 10 and tell it to "shutdown".... it doesn't. It goes into "hibernation" instead. This allows it to boot faster... because it never shut down! Grrrr.
Click to expand...

Microsoft should read this and let their Programmers actually BE Programmers and make Windows BETTER..... :D But, alas, Microsoft and their bottom line ™..... :\
 
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