Connect to WiFi through external adapter

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Hi all,

I’m aware of a few similar topics (most notably this and this which unfortunately didn’t get any replies), but can’t seem to figure out how to actually switch my WiFi connection over to my TP-Link T9UH-v2.

I believe I’ve successfully installed the drivers and the adapter is working:

[nils@nils-folio1040g1 ~]$ hwinfo --wlan
01: PCI 300.0: 0282 WLAN controller                             
  [Created at pci.386]
  Unique ID: S6TQ.eLFvLAxd3uF
  Parent ID: Z7uZ.Tm+Z3rGfED1
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.3/0000:03:00.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:03:00.0
  Hardware Class: network
  Device Name: "WLAN"
  Model: "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x08b1 "Wireless 7260"
  SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  SubDevice: pci 0xc070 "Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260"
  Revision: 0x6b
  Driver: "iwlwifi"
  Driver Modules: "iwlwifi"
  Device File: wlo1
  Features: WLAN
  Memory Range: 0xd0400000-0xd0401fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 48 (no events)
  HW Address: e8:2a:ea:c5:76:5a
  Permanent HW Address: e8:2a:ea:c5:76:5a
  Link detected: yes
  WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140
  WLAN frequencies: 2.412 2.417 2.422 2.427 2.432 2.437 2.442 2.447 2.452 2.457 2.462 2.467 2.472 5.18 5.2 5.22 5.24 5.26 5.28 5.3 5.32 5.5 5.52 5.54 5.56 5.58 5.6 5.62 5.64 5.66 5.68 5.7
  WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP
  WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d000008B1sv00008086sd0000C070bc02sc80i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: iwlwifi is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe iwlwifi"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #8 (PCI bridge)

23: USB 00.0: 0282 WLAN controller
  [Created at usb.122]
  Unique ID: 7bWa.mrMiG6x0pX0
  Parent ID: pBe4.2DFUsyrieMD
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb2/2-3/2-3:1.0
  SysFS BusID: 2-3:1.0
  Hardware Class: network
  Model: "TP-Link Archer T9UH v1 [Realtek RTL8814AU]"
  Hotplug: USB
  Vendor: usb 0x2357 "TP-Link"
  Device: usb 0x0106 "Archer T9UH v1 [Realtek RTL8814AU]"
  Serial ID: "123456"
  Driver: "8814au"
  Driver Modules: "8814au"
  Device File: wlp0s20u3
  Features: WLAN
  Speed: 480 Mbps
  HW Address: 22:c6:aa:4f:91:91
  Permanent HW Address: d0:37:45:a4:7c:ac
  Link detected: no
  WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136
  WLAN frequencies: 2.412 2.417 2.422 2.427 2.432 2.437 2.442 2.447 2.452 2.457 2.462 2.467 2.472 2.484 5.18 5.2 5.22 5.24 5.26 5.28 5.3 5.32 5.5 5.52 5.54 5.56 5.58 5.6 5.62 5.64 5.66 5.68
  WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP
  WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap
  Module Alias: "usb:v2357p0106d0000dc00dsc00dp00icFFiscFFipFFin00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: 8814au is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe 8814au"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #26 (Hub)

In the GNOME WiFi manager I can see both adapters:

image
image977×401 30.7 KB

But it doesn’t seem possible to connect to any of the networks shown under the “TP-Link” tab - I’m alway connected through the internal adapter.

From one of the other topics I saw that manual module management might solve this, so I tried

[nils@nils-folio1040g1 ~]$ sudo modprobe -r "pci:v00008086d000008B1sv00008086sd0000C070bc02sc80i00"
modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use.

but I’m a bit hesitant to do anything drastic to iwlwifi for fear of losing my connection.

Any ideas on how I can connect through the external adapter?

2

Actually it appears I might have managed to connect through the external adapter through the drop-down menu in the top-right corner:

image

How do I know which of the two connections I’m using? Is one of them automatically preferred over the other for my actual network traffic?

3

Just run the nmcli command. It will show all connections and some IP information.

At first you can try
ip r s
the route with the lowest metric value will be preferred. But it does not mean it will be used. A connection that is already established will not switch. If the metric is the same, it is not so easy. There are some rules, but if you need to prefer a wifi set it upwith a low metric. The Gnome GUI can’t do this, use nmcli (or edit the connection file).
If you want to be sure use a tool like traceroute, but a connection form applications might use a different way.

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