can't connect to wifi

[rufus]

I tried all kinds of troubleshooting and nothing worked. I have an alfa awus036neh adapter that I want to use inside Kali or windows as a matter of fact.

I have the USB attached. Before booting I can still select the USB network adapter, but after it is booted it's gone. See screenshots. I keep getting the "activation of network connection failed" error.

Log attached and here are the screenshots (sorry, i had to put a space after the "." because it didn't let me post a link)
ibb. co/TL8PXRc
ibb. co/dbTYJWH
ibb. co/mtmdw5V
ibb. co/r66mp9p
ibb. co/wdpcfcF

What can I do?

[socratis]

I took a look at your pictures. You don't always have to include pictures. Plus, if you can copy/paste text (like for hostonlyifs or dhcpservers), use the text, not a picture. BTW, neither the hostonlyifs nor the dhcpservers output are needed in your situation.

I have the USB attached. Before booting I can still select the USB network adapter, but after it is booted it's gone

Here's the situation, as best as I could tell:

• You have a Realtek 8812AU USB adapter in your host, among other adapters.
• You select this as a Bridged adapter for your VM.
• You start the VM, and the adapter disappears from the list of Bridged adapters on your host.
• In the meantime, you don't see the adapter in your VM.

Is that correct? Please let me know if I got the situation right, before we can continue with what might be going on here.

[rufus]

Thank you for getting back to me. Sorry for the few days delay. I was waiting on the notification that someone responded then I realized that was not turned on by default.

yes, that is correct what you said

[rufus]

I was able to make it work on the Win 10 machine but not on Kali

[rufus]

Can anyone please help out here?

[rufus]

Is that correct? Please let me know if I got the situation right, before we can continue with what might be going on here.

Yes, that's correct. What can I do?

[socratis]

First of all, I'd like to know how you managed to get it working on Win10, and why whatever you did for Win10 didn't work for Kali.

Second, I'd like to see the "recipe" of the Kali VM, the ".vbox" file:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Explorer".
2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it to your response.

Finally, a new a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run:

• Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe error / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

[rufus]

I removed Vbox and reinstalled it. Now Win10 just works as bridge adapter as it should.

Two requested files are attached.

Thank you for your help.

[socratis]

You have to understand a couple of things...

A VM will never have a native WiFi adapter, only an Ethernet one. So, it doesn't matter where you bridge your VM to, you're always going to have a wired adapter in the VM.

You have a USB filter (actually 3 identical ones) for your Realtek 8812AU USB adapter. At the same time, you're bridging your network to the same device. Once the VM starts, you're grabbing the Realtek 8812AU USB adapter based on the filter that you have. This action (the filter) removes the USB from the available network adapters, causing the missing adapter that you see.

What you need to do, if you want to have the Realtek 8812AU USB adapter in your VM, is the following: remove two out of the three USB filters that you have, leaving just one. Read the following: USB basics and troubleshooting, #4: USB Filters to get a better understanding about the USB filters.

In the networking options, do *not* bridge the network adapter to the Realtek 8812AU USB adapter, bridge it to something else if you have to.

Now, once your VM starts, you're going to have a USB WiFi adapter. Configure it appropriately...

[rufus]

I turned off the bridge (no network option is enabled in vbox setting prior to boot)

I removed all 3 USB options and just created 1 filter for the specific Alfa card using USB 3.0 (tried with 2.0 too and same results)

Boot up Kali, plug in USB adapter, it recognizes what it is, but still doens't see it as WiFi adapter.

lsusb shows me it's there

ifconfig doesn't show any network and iwconfig tells there are no wifi devices

what am I missing?

[socratis]

Drivers in Kali for your device?
As long as the Kali VM sees the USB, VirtualBox has done its job. You should start looking at this from the Kali point of view...

[rufus]

It shows up now as WiFi but it can't "hold" the connection. It keeps dropping and barely has any range. I see 10x as many WiFi points through Windows.

Also, when I try to connect to the network it pops up a message "Activation of network connection failed"

Is that Kali or Vbox issue?

[socratis]

Is that Kali or Vbox issue?

Kali. As long as the USB is visible and working in the guest, VirtualBox doesn't do anything with it. It simply passes the information. Just boot your host with a Kali DVD to confirm/refute it...