Unable to get Wifi working on a clean Windows install

Mind Maker Kit
1

I have a Mind 2 AI Maker Kit and am trying to install Windows on a blank SSD.

There are no WiFi drivers built into the Microsoft Windows install, so I went to the Khadas support page and downloaded a 3GB zip file of drivers.

I tried installing the WiFi driver from this zip file, and the install completed, but it did not enable the WiFi.

I also tried installing the Chipset drivers and Serial I/O drivers from the zip file but both were rejected as being for the wrong platform.
I also tried many of the other drivers from this zip file, even trying Bluetooth. None of them worked. Either they didn’t install, or they didn’t help get the WiFI working. I also tried Install from the context-menu on the *inf files for several drivers.

I downloaded the Mind application, hoping it might install drivers but it doesn’t.

There are still quite a few devices needing drivers when opening Device Manager.

How do I get WiFi working on a clean Windows install?

Thank you for any help.

3

Update. The attempts listed above were all for Windows 10 (Windows 11 defaults to VBA which makes nested virtualization difficult, has a UI many don’t like, and has had some serious problems with some of the updates).

I tried Windows 11, and during the install it stops at “Let’s connect you to a network”, and will not proceed until you click on the “Install driver” button and provide a network driver.

I again went into the giant 3GB zip file of Khadas drivers and only one relates to WiFi.
But it’s an executable, which does not help Windows find the driver files it needs.
I unzipped this WiFi exe file and pointed Windows 11 at every folder it created.
Windows 11 did not recognize any file in any folder as having a driver,

So I still can not complete an install.
Not with Windows 10. Not with Windows 11,

Open to any ideas or file sources for the WiFi driver.

4

Update. Now the machine is unbootable. It boots into an incomplete Windows 11, and I can’t find a way to boot from USB.

I tried F1, F7, and F10 during boot and none of them went into the BIOS/UEFI setup.

How do I enter firmware setup?

1 Like
5

Hello @Harry Entering BIOS: Please press the DEL key while the computer is starting up.

1 Like
6

Hello @Harry

We suggest you to use the Windows OS here:

You can check this documentation to install it:

7

Update.

Still unable to get any Windows working on this machine.

The link above for “the Windows OS here” is not useful.
It only has two files, and no explanation or readme. It appears that one is for Chinese with a “cn” in the name, and one is for English with an “en” in the name.
“mm2kai-windows-11-home-en-v1.0-241023.zip”

It’s an incredible 17GB, and it’s in zip format. This requires a huge download, and to unzip it a huge temp area on C:

More importantly it’s not useful.
The file inside the zip is named *.ios, which I assumed was a typo for what should have been *.iso.
I re-named it to *.iso but it is not an ISO formatted file.
This means it can not be used to boot. Only a bootable ISO image can be used to create bootable media.
Just to see if I could get around this error, I created a bootable Windows 11 install drive, then deleted all the files on it, and tried copying the files extracted from the *.ios file.
This won’t work because the drive format required for a bootable Windows 11 drive is incompatible with a monster 16GB file from the *.ios file from Khada.

I did follow the directions in the PDF linked above, but just as expected it is not bootable.
You can’t just copy some files onto a standard drive and boot from it.

I was able to get past the Windows 11 login problem (it won’t allow a login without an internet connection, unlike Windows 10).
I plugged in a USB WiFi device that had built-in support in Windows. That allowed me to login.

I looked around again at Khadas Support and noticed a new directory went up for Khadas for this AI Kit, with a new drivers zip file. Again, a giant 3GB zip file.
https://dl.khadas.com/products/mind/driver/mind-2-ai-maker-kit/
I downloaded the zip, extracted the WiFi driver, and tried to install it by running the installer. Windows 11 returns an error.

I finally got an email response from Khadas Support and it also mentioned a new driver directory, but it only has a small driver for Intel AI-specific features.
https://dl.khadas.com/products/mind/intel-aipc-dev-kit-tool/

Finally, during reboot, I tried F7 (as the linked PDF above says to use), and I tried Delete.
Neither one of them worked.
I had to use Windows Recovery settings to try booting from a USB drive.

So still unable to use the Khadas machine.

Any help would be appreciated.

8

Hello @Harry

We suggest you to use the OS we provided with full drivers pre-installed.

You can downloaw the OS here: dl.khadas.com - Index of /products/mind/os/mind-2-ai-maker-kit/

And just follow this documentation to install the OS.

It should work, maybe you can try other wire keyboard?

9

As I already explained, you can’t just copy files onto a flash drive and boot from it. It has to be specially setup to be bootable.

Typically you create an ISO file and use a tool like Rufus to create the flash drive.
That’s why Microsoft and Canonical (Ubuntu) post ISO files.

Is there anyone at Khadas that knows how to do this and can post the ISO?

Modern wireless keyboards look no different than a wired keyboard during boot. They don’t require any special OS drivers.

10

Can anyone go to Device Manager in Windows on a working one of these machines?

Please post exactly what model the Network Adapters are listed (not the WAN adapters).
Thanks!

11

Have you follow the documentation and tried? Follow the documentation we can install the OS from it, please have a try.

12

I did follow the instructions. I formatted NTFS, named the drive as specified, and copied the unzipped files, and verified file size.

And again, you can’t just copy files onto a flash drive and have it bootable.
If you were correct, then why does Microsoft and Canonical (and everyone else) create an ISO file?
Khadas needs to post an ISO file of a bootable image.

Khadas also needs to identify the Network Adapter used in this PC, or post a working Windows 10 or 11 device driver for it.

13

Please just follow the documentation above to have a try, we provide the documentation means that it must work.

Insert the USB storage to Mind 2 AI Maker Kit and reboot to press F7 to select the boot device.

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The installation will start automically:

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After reboot, you can activate your system.

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And Wi-Fi must work:

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Thanks for your suggestion, we will consider about this.

The Windows OS we provided Wi-Fi will work out of box.

14

I already said before I did try the process in the document. And just because someone put together a document does not mean it will work.

And you haven’t explained how it is that every other PC and every other flash drive needs to be specially created to be bootable, and why Khadas does not.

When will Khadas post a working bootable image so I can use this PC?

Why is it that Khadas refuses to identify the Network Adapter so I can try to find a driver on my own.

Why is it that Khadas is unable to post a working WiFi driver?

15

No need special setup, just follow the documentation to format the USB storage.

Current images are already work. Do you mean the ISO image? If so, it will need some time.

There is a screen from the Windows on our server.

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You can find all drivers here: dl.khadas.com - Index of /products/mind/driver/mind-2-ai-maker-kit/

16

You can keep repeating it, but it is not true. You can’t just open up a new flash drive from the package, copy some files to it from Windows Explorer, and then boot from it.
Khadas needs to post a bootable ISO, and then you need to use a special utility.

“Current images are already work” is not true, as explained above here, and repeatedly in other posts.
This means Khadas doesn’t even hire people who understand firmware and boot processes.

Thank you for finally identifying the Network Adapter.

I have already tried the WiFi driver from that giant 3GB zip file, and I already posted that they don’t work.

I did finally get the boot files from Khada to work.
On my first try I used the Microsoft free tool to write the Win11 install files directly to the flash drive. Then I deleted the Microsoft Win11 install files and tried replacing them with the unzipped files from Khada. This did not work.
On my second try I downloaded an ISO from Microsoft and used Rufus to write the image to the flash drive. Then I deleted the Microsoft files and replaced them with the unzipped Khadas files.
That drive was bootable, but note that you must enter the BIOS/UEFI settings and turn off Secure Boot for this drive to work (not the fault of Khadas, it’s a limitation of UEFI/NTFS for booting the installer).
You also need to change the Boot Order so the Khadas will boot from the USB drive first.

The Khadas install has some serious problems.
It destroys all data on the entire drive, with no warning, no backup, no pause to allow the user to make decisions or customize drive layout.
It also requires hours of updates to complete.
It forces Windows 11, which for certain uses, has a number of issues which make Windows 10 preferable.
There is no Ubuntu install possible from Khadas, so software developers are forced to use Windows 11.
I even installed the latest Ubuntu LTS on my own, and it did not support the WiFi device in the Mind 2.

The Mind 2 uses a number of non-standard hardware parts so a user can not use Microsoft Windows install files.
This is a huge problem for deployment and security.

When this is done I’ll take a snapshot of the relevant drive partitions using a drive-level backup, so I can skip the problems and issues with the Khadas install in the future for restoring the OS.

What Khadas should do:

  • create a drive image of a completed OS install, either in ISO, or using a special utility, like Acronis (many SSD drives have used Acronis to allow customers to snapshot their old drive and load it onto the new drive)
  • allow a standard Microsoft Windows install using direct-from-Microsoft software, and then Khadas provides the drivers to install on Windows, with a specified order for installation
17

We pre-installed the Windows 11 by default, For Ubuntu, the users can install themselfs, nothing special, same as other PCs, just follow Ubuntu official documentation to install it.

If you use the server OS, then it might missing the Wi-Fi drivers, but if you use the Desktop OS, the Wi-Fi should work out of box, we have checked the Desktop on our side and it works.

Thanks for you suggestions, we will consider about this.

18

I installed the latest Ubuntu Desktop from an ISO image. I have installed it many times on many different computers.
It does not work.
Just as with the authentic Windows 11, the current Ubuntu Desktop does not have WiFi drivers.

It’s easy to prove you have a working Ubuntu, extract a disk image into ISO format and post it. Then I’ll install it to verify it works.
That won’t verify you used an un-modified Ubuntu, but it will verify you have a working install.

19

We checked on Ubuntu that it seems the default ISO from Ubuntu offcial missing the Wi-Fi firmware, we will check this issue, before we fixed this issue we suggest you to use a USB network adaptor for the network access.

21

We checked on Ubuntu 24.10 and make the Wi-Fi work, the default ISO image from Ubuntu official lack of the Wi-Fi firmware, so after install the system, you need to copy the Wi-Fi firmware to /lib/firmware folder.

Download firmware here:

And copy to /lib/firmware and reboot.

This issue can be fixed in futrure official release.

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