D-Link WiFi USB Adapter AC1200 Mini (DWA-182)

This adapter works great with my new HP computer which does not have a dual band adapter (and it’s very difficult to access for replacement).
I am using Windows 10…went to the D-Link web site and downloaded the installation package. It installed and runs like a champ. So many reviews said it didn’t work with Windows 10 that I was reluctant to order it but I was anxious to try it out with my new D-Link dual band router. Over the years I have found that matching brands with computer gear usually has fewer problems.

I also saw a recommendation that the internal wireless adapters should be disabled but I’m not sure it’s required. It appears to function properly with the internal adapters enabled so I don’t bother with changing the settings.

This was a replacement for an similar unit I got about 2 years ago. Both the older one and this one work very well. My office is not wired for a direct connection for my desktop so I have to rely on the WIFI. My tech guru said these only last for 2-3 years so replacement was to be expected. Shipping was fast. Installation took about 5 minutes.

Works great for my laptop that has a wireless card that is supposed to work my new wireless router but does not no matter what updating/settings used. With the cable that comes with the WiFi adapter my worries of snapping it off in my laptop or damaging my laptop with movement are gone. It works great, easy to set up and use. I do recommend IF you need one.

Was looking for a wireless adapter for my new Ubuntu build and purchased this based off of the previous reviews that indicated it worked with Ubuntu 18.04.02 LTS, which I can confirm it does. It’s not exactly plug-and-play like in Windows, but it’s still do-able for novices.

Once you plug the adapter in, open up Software & Updates > Additional Drivers tab. In there you should see D-Link Corp.: Unknown and an option to either “Do not use the device” or “Using dkms source for the r8812au network driver from rtl8812au-dkms (open source)”. Choose that open source option and click Apply Changes. It might take a few minutes, but it should go through.

Note you may be prompted to enter a password for secure boot (this is called the MOK key) – go ahead and enter an easy-to-remember password (MOK key). After that, you’ll need to reboot (it will most likely automatically prompt you to reboot, if not then just reboot manually). Pay attention during the reboot since you’ll need to press the Enter key to enter the MOK key process (you’ll see a window asking if you want to do this). I forget the exact terminology, but you want to navigate into a section where you type in that easy-to-remember password (MOK key) you just made. Once you put that password in, do whatever you need to do to gracefully get out of the MOK key area and complete the reboot process, eventually landing at the normal user log-in screen you see every time you reboot your computer. Once you log in, the adapter should work just fine. Don’t miss that MOK key process since you’ll need to remove and redo the driver installation process again to get back to it. IMO driver processes like this (and this is an easy one!) are one of the biggest hurdles for normal users moving into Linux-land….

Another thing to note is the drivers don’t automatically load every time you start/restart your computer. To have them automatically load up every time you restart (which is likely something you’ll want), is add the module name to the /etc/modules file. To find your module name, first get everything fully installed and working fine, then in a terminal window type lsmod. This will show you all of your kernel modules. Look for the name of this puppy – in my case it’s 8812au (derived from the rtl8812au-dkms I previously mentioned) – and copy that text. For your next terminal command, type in sudo gedit /etc/modules – this will open a text editor and at the bottom of that file just paste in the text you copied. Save and exit gedit, restart your computer, and viola. Note that apparently my current Ubuntu build has a but where the wireless icon at the top right (near the speaker & power button) entirely disappears **sometimes** but the wireless still connects and works just fine. You can confirm everything is still working OK by going into your Settings > Wi-fi and you’ll see you’re still connected just fine.

I am using this with my NETGEAR R8000-100NAS Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Wireless Router Model R8000-100NAS and 1 gbps down / 20 mbps up internet connection. Wireless speeds about 15 feet away through one interior wall are 176 mbps down (22 MB/s down) and 23 mbps up (maxing out my upload internet speed)

I bought this adapter along with D-link DIR-865L AC1750 router to be able to transfer large files fast over the wireless connection. Installation of both the router and this adapter took no more than 10 minutes, and I was happy to see 585Mbps connection between my Windows 8 desktop and the router… until I tried to copy a 2GB file from my desktop to my NAS drive. The transfer speed was just 11MBps (approximately 88mbps), just a little bit faster than my old N300 router could handle… and that’s not even the worst part of the story. During the transfer, my desktop lost wireless connection. I opened device manager and couldn’t find wireless adapter under network controllers at all. It simply disappeared. I removed it from the USB port and put it back – nothing. Put it into another USB port – nothing. Both USB ports on the front of my desktop just stopped working. My desktop couldn’t recognize any device connected to them. I turned off my desktop, removed power cord from the wall outlet, and, after a few minutes, turned on the desktop. This time, thanks God, both USB ports worked just fine. From my experience, such kind of things happens when some device, connected to USB port, requires more power than the USB port can supply. Long story short, I tried 16 different USB ports on 2 desktops and 1 laptop (let me say, modern desktops and laptop with both USB2 and USB3 ports) and found a few ports which could handle this adapter’s power requirements while transferring large files better than others. Even now, most of the time, I wasn’t able to transfer any files larger than 3-4GB. I think this adapter has a major design flaw which could probably be fixed by firmware or driver update… but let’s see what’s the latest driver’s date on D-link website. It’s dated 10/29/2012, and it’s major advantage, according to D-link – “Supports Windows Vista”. It doesn’t even officially supports Windows 8 (but in fact works with it, I must say). Six months without any updates… Well, I better return this thing to Amazon and buy adapter from another brand.