Q4OS Forum

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Hello, is the driver Realtek 8821CE WiFi supported in Q4OS?
If not, what is the most easy way to install this driver after installation Q4OS on my new laptop?
In the drivers list it is a: Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC
Thanks for all support.

Hardware list in attachment included.

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Attachments:
DriversList.csv, Size: 78.07 KiB, Downloads: 165

theasmitkid

Member

From: NCT of Delhi

Registered: 2025-01-26

Posts: 345

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

If i remember correctly, realtek 8821ce and realtek 8821ae have the same driver, which is included in the kernel so you wouldn't require to install any extra packages and it should work out of the box.

However I have been facing issues with realtek 8821ae on my Q4OS installation. You should try to the live version of Q4OS to test if wifi works for you by connecting and disconnecting to a couple networks a couple times.

Besides that, Q4OS is great choice and you should really give it a go~

Last edited by theasmitkid (2025-06-28 14:06)

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Coding & Robotics Enthusiast | Brave & Spck Editor @ Lenovo Tab 4 8 · Android 8.1 · 2GB · 16GB

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Thanks so much for your answer Theasmitkid! I also asked ChatGTP and Deepseek about the config and both tell me there will be a problem with: Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC driver. But hopefully they are wrong :-). I have to give it a try. If anyone has also information about this, please inform me and thanks for support!

theasmitkid

Member

From: NCT of Delhi

Registered: 2025-01-26

Posts: 345

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Apparantly driver for these wifi cards were fixed a long time ago and it shouldn't have any problems, but I still do..

First, try using Q4OS and if wifi cards don't work then you can setup a test installation and try compiling
https://github.com/rtlwifi-linux/rtlwif … /rtl8821ae
or
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/ … /rtl8821ae

I tried doing it quite some time ago but I think I failed and gave up, if these work for you then I'd appreciate your guidance ;)
Also i since the drivers are still being updated I have a feeling that it'll be fixed in Q4OS 6 (Libra) which is based on Debian 13 (Trixie)

and you can also try adding bookworm-backports repo since it has updated the updated firmware aswell.. i can't do it in my current installation because I have unofficial drivers installed and i fear i would break the system if i try to install official ones now, so I'm just waiting for the next Q4OS LTS

Update: i installed the latest realtek firmware from bookworm backports, WiFi feels a little better.. I will report after a couple days of casual usage

Last edited by theasmitkid (2025-06-28 16:32)

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Coding & Robotics Enthusiast | Brave & Spck Editor @ Lenovo Tab 4 8 · Android 8.1 · 2GB · 16GB

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Thanks theasmitkid for your input! Appreciated! Q4OS installed. Wifi is no problem, Q4OS recognizes the Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC without problems. Only still have problems with sound :-( Only the headphone works, but no audio from the laptop speaker.

theasmitkid

Member

From: NCT of Delhi

Registered: 2025-01-26

Posts: 345

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

oh thats great! about the audio issue from laptop speaker, i dont have much experience so i may not be able to help you out. but since the headphones are working i doubt the issue is with the audio server.

i had some issues so i installed pavucontrol and tinkered with some settings and luckily it worked out for me

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

or the issue could be missing drivers for your laptop's speaker, please share the output of

inxi -Fxz

and

head -n 1 /proc/asound/card*/codec#*

and someone from the forum might be able to help you out

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Coding & Robotics Enthusiast | Brave & Spck Editor @ Lenovo Tab 4 8 · Android 8.1 · 2GB · 16GB

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Thanks for your support theasmitkid!
sudo apt-get install pavucontrol, did not do the job.
I hear after reboot a sound that looks like the speaker is activated. But after checking the settings it don't work. Even no sound from youtube.com. I make some screenshots, but not easy to upload here. Hereby the output: All thanks a lot!

mac@mac-x133:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 Distro: Q4OS 5.8.1-n1 base: Debian GNU/Linux
    12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop Mobo: N/A model: X133 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: JY66_X133G_D60R2V18_H4C6S1F35020
    date: 02/19/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 27.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 27.7/27.7 Wh (100.0%)
    volts: 8.8 min: 7.7 model: Simplo BASE-BAT status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Celeron N4000 bits: 64 type: MCP
    arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 1 cache: L1: 112 KiB L2: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1401 high: 1707 min/max: 800/2600 cores: 1: 1707 2: 1095
    bogomips: 4377
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-9 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: Realtek USB Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6:3
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK
    2) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio
    vendor: Realtek driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-apl bus-ID: 00:0e.0
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-37-amd64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: rtw_8821ce v: N/A port: e000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
  IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-7:4
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1
    lmp-v: 4.2
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 9.82 GiB (1.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda model: SSD1TB size: 953.87 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 937.53 GiB used: 9.81 GiB (1.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 5.9 MiB (2.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 176 Uptime: 9m Memory: 5.63 GiB used: 2.37 GiB (42.0%)
  Init: systemd target: graphical (5) Compilers: N/A Packages: 2079
  Shell: Bash v: 5.2.15 inxi: 3.3.26
mac@mac-x133:~$

-----------------------------------------------------------------

mac@mac-x133:~$ head -n 1 /proc/asound/card*/codec#*
Codec: Intel Geminilake HDMI
mac@mac-x133:~$

Last edited by Lotus123 (2025-06-30 17:28)

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

I will try to send some pictures:
https://ibb.co/gZCsqk3m
https://ibb.co/psbW9jQ

Last edited by Lotus123 (2025-06-30 17:26)

crosscourt

Banned

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,706

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Take a look at this, http://q4os.org/dqa011.html#install.3

Last edited by crosscourt (2025-06-30 20:36)

Lotus123

Member

Registered: 2023-02-03

Posts: 19

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Hello, thanks for all support. I put ChatGTP to work for me, and my audio and headphone are working great, hereby the solution:

Steps that solved the problem:
1. ✅ Ensure required firmware is installed:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-sof-signed firmware-intel-sound firmware-misc-nonfree
2. ✅ Download updated UCM configuration files:
git clone https://github.com/thesofproject/alsa-ucm-conf.git
3. ✅ Copy the ES8336-specific UCM files to the system:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/Intel
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d

sudo cp -r alsa-ucm-conf/ucm2/Intel/sof-essx8336 /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/Intel/
sudo cp -r alsa-ucm-conf/ucm2/conf.d/sof-essx8336 /usr/share/alsa/ucm2/conf.d/
4. ✅ Restart PulseAudio or reboot:
pulseaudio -k && pulseaudio --start
# or
sudo reboot
5. ✅ Open pavucontrol-qt and configure sound:
sudo apt install pavucontrol-qt
pavucontrol-qt
In Output Devices, the Speakers port should now appear as “available”

Set correct port and test audio output
Result:
Internal speakers now working
Headphones have proper volume
PulseAudio correctly detects all ports
No kernel patches or manual driver builds required

✅ Confirmed working on Q4OS (Debian 12-based) with Plasma desktop
Should also apply to other distros using SOF + ES8336

Step 4 i do: pulseaudio -k && pulseaudio --start
so reboot not necessary.

Thanks for all support!

Last edited by Lotus123 (2025-07-01 16:20)

crosscourt

Banned

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,706

Re: Realtek 8821CE WiFi support in Q4OS?

Glad you got it worked out.