I installed Kali Linux on my Sony Vaio laptop (model number SVF142C1WW), but I had no wireless out of the box. Ethernet works fine, and I can connect to wireless networks normally from Windows running on the same machine.

I found [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkDaK8589KY) on Google which suggested I install the compatible wireless driver. I downloaded it from [kernel.org](http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/), extracted it to `~/Desktop` and ran the following commands:

```
$ cd desktop
$ cd filenameofthatextracted folder
$ make unload
$ make load

```

After these commands, my wireless [NIC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_interface_controller) seems to be recognized (see `iwconfig` output below), but I can't see any available wireless networks. Also, the driver disappears after restarting, and I have to run the commands again and reinstall to get the NIC to show up in `iwconfig` again.

Relevant information:

```
root@Light:~# iwconfig

wlan1     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

hwsim0    no wireless extensions.

```

```
$ lspci -vq
07: 00. 0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802. 11b/g/n (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e071
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at 90700000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
    Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <? >
    Capabilities: [48] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-87-ff-ff-7c-34-23
    Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <? >
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridg

```

I found one more thing, and now I'm totally confused...

See, while installing Kali Linux this is the menu you get in the beginning:

```
Kali - boot Non Persistent Mode
Kali - Boot Persistent
Kali - Failsafe
Kali Forensics - No Drive or Swap Mount
Kali Graphical install
Kali Text install

```

I went into the option *Kali Graphical Install* to install Kali Linux.

I believed to run live Kali, and I have to go in *Kali - Boot Persistent*. I went into that, and I got Kali desktop. And I found out that Wi-Fi drivers were perfectly fine and they were working well. I can connect to any Wi-Fi connections and all Wi-Fi connections were showing.

**What is this?**

And there is one more thing. While installing Kali Linux, inbetween I got an error message saying the following...

```
[!DETECT NETWORK HARDWARE]
Some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to
operate. The firmware can be loaded from removable media
such as a USB stick or floppy.

The missing firmware files are: rtl_nic/rtl8168e3.fw

```

But after I ran some update and upgrade commands, it is present in `/lib/firmware`.