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I have a laptop with Ubuntu 20.04. I can connect to my main WIFI signal, but cannot connect to TP Link WiFi extender. The same laptop with Windows 10 (dual boot) works fine. Other devices like tablets, ipads or phones are connected to this extender normally. Only in Ubuntu 20.04 is the problem. Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Martin Lopez Funes
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  • I had many issues connecting Ubuntu 20.04 to TP-Link devices. The only way I could fix it was by updating my kernel to 5.6. Now everything is working fine. – Rafael May 24 '20 at 23:31
  • Do you have WPA2/AES enabled for the wireless network in your TP-Link, and in your router? Do you have `wpasupplicant` installed in Ubuntu? – heynnema May 24 '20 at 23:53
  • I'm new in GNU/Linux, I've a WPA2/AES password in my main router and other in my TPlink extender (the extender have other network name). I don't know what is wpasupplicant. I just installed ubuntu 20.04 and its updates via software updates panel. – Martin Lopez Funes May 26 '20 at 15:06
  • I've updated to kernel 5.6.14 and the problem was not fixed. – Martin Lopez Funes May 26 '20 at 22:47
  • I am sad to hear that updating your kernel did not fix the problem. Would you mind describing in more details what kind of error you experience when you try to connect to the TP Link WiFi Extender? – Rafael May 27 '20 at 18:40
  • I'll try to be clear in my description....I see the TPLink extender Signal on my Networks, I connect with this network, but the network can't connecto to internet...at the same time other devices like phones or TV are connected without problems. The same laptop with windows works fine, the issue is only with ubuntu. The problem is only with TPlink extender, I can connect fine to my main WiFi signal. – Martin Lopez Funes May 29 '20 at 03:44

6 Answers6

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Today I faced a similar problem after switching over to Linux from Windows 10. Windows, my phone, consoles, etc were all able to connect to my TP-Link extender, but my Linux installation couldn't. I found your thread and was dismayed to find it had no solution, but as I managed to fix the problem for myself, I thought I'd post what worked for me here.

After a while of searching, I decided to try changing the DHCP client. I installed the package dhcpcd5 (ref) from the repositories and then used a text editor to open the file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf.

Underneath the header [main], I added the line dhcp=dhcpd.

I ran sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager.service, then sudo systemctl start NetworkManager.service. I was then able to connect, and a speed test indicates the WiFi network is working properly.

Hope this helps!

Community
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bimblesticks
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  • works for my TP-Link RE650. The package is called `dhcpcd5`. See here: https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/18.04/ubuntu-universe-amd64/dhcpcd5_6.11.5-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb.html Install goes with `sudo apt install dhcpcd5` – 5th Mar 18 '21 at 20:43
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    It actually did work for me, too. After those changes and a restart, I was able to connect to my repeater (TP-Link RE365) and did get a IPv4 address. But I still don't like the idea to have to install a new DHCP client after a fresh ubuntu installation. Does no one have an idea, why ubuntu fails to connect to a repeater? – The End Jun 25 '21 at 15:32
  • Also worked for TP-Link TL-WR841N. – hussam Apr 24 '22 at 07:52
  • I needed to disable IPv4 method in wifi settings gui. Then it worked. – umpirsky Jun 27 '22 at 20:12
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I also faced the same problem. I checked /var/log/syslog and found there a suspicious warning dhcp4 (...): request timed out. So I tried the suggestion to add to /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf the line dhcp=dhcpcd and it didn't work for me. But adding instead dhcp=dhclient did work.

Uf fish
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I also faced the same problem. In my case, the previous solution didn't work (installing dhcpd5 and adding the line in NetworkManager.conf).

On top of that, I did apply the steps suggested in this link (which ironically seems to get info from AskUbuntu) and that worked. I copy the steps here just in case they help somebody else:

git clone https://github.com/cilynx/rtl88x2bu.git
cd rtl88x2bu
VER=$(sed -n 's/\PACKAGE_VERSION="\(.*\)"/\1/p' dkms.conf)
sudo rsync -rvhP ./ /usr/src/rtl88x2bu-${VER}
sudo dkms add -m rtl88x2bu -v ${VER}
sudo dkms build -m rtl88x2bu -v ${VER}
sudo dkms install -m rtl88x2bu -v ${VER}
sudo modprobe 88x2bu
xavi ametller
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Thanks bimblesticks, the solution outlined by you works for me with Comfast wifi extender. I had restart the system to get working. And you have dhcpd in your comment that need to be replaced with dhcpcd as package name is dhcpcd5.

zwets
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HMSZONE
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I wanted to leave this as a comment on @bimblesticks answer but I don't have the necessary reputation.

Device is a TPLINK RE300, Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS, Kernel: Linux 5.17.0-1020-oem

When I had the question mark symbol, the results of ifconfig showed that I was getting assigned inet6 entries but no inet4.

After running sudo apt install dhcpd5 and restarting my machine, the question mark symbol was gone, and running ifconfig now showed both inet4 and inet6 entries.

Ziad S
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  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Nov 01 '22 at 15:15
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My God, I wasted so much time trying to fix this from the linux side. I had the same issue, and here's what solved it for me, in case it helps anybody else (I have a TP-Link RE550):

  • Use the Tether app to connect to the TP-Link device
  • Go to Tools > DHCP Settings
  • Change Auto to Enable
  • Tap SAVE

For whatever reason I had to change the start of the IP Address Pool to 192.168.1.180, because 192.168.1.200 is "Invalid format".

Zantier
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