Unable to install D-Link wireless adapter DWA-171C

[LEFT][LEFT]I am a “zero” with Linux and have just started to use the software and learn. After installing openSUSE Tumbleweed, I noticed that the D-Link wireless adapter DWA-171C is recognized by the OS as a standard USB disk instead of the wireless adapter that it actually is. The adapter does carry the driver installation files for Windows OS, but nothing for Linux. I could download the driver software for the adapter from D-Link’s website, “ftp://ftp2.dlink.com/PRODUCTS/DWA-171/REVC/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX.zip” and attempted installation in openSUSE Tumbleweed following the instructions provided along with the software. Everything goes well until the step asking to “compile module” which ends with errors being returned. The details are reproduced below -

A] Installation (and uninstall) steps as provided by D-Link:
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[LEFT][LEFT]Install make and gcc

  1. update apt
    >sudo apt update
  2. install make
    >sudo apt install make
  3. install gcc
    >sudo apt install gcc
    Install and active module:
  4. Unzip and change directory
    >cd /home/mathew/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/
    >tar zxvf rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141.tar.gz
    >cd rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141
  5. Compile module
    >make
  6. Install module
    >sudo make install
  7. Unplug adapter and re-plugin adapter to active module
    Please note that DWA-171C support auto install driver function in Windwos OS, user should exit Flash disk mode(default) to active adapter mode.

Uninstall module:

  1. Change directory
    >cd rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141
  2. Uninstall module
    >sudo make uninstall
  3. Clean object code
    >make clean

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[LEFT][LEFT]
What I did and the results:

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**mathew@localhost:~> sudo apt install make
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Resolving package dependencies…
The following 3 NEW packages are going to be installed: *make make-lang site-config
The following recommended package was automatically selected: *make-lang
3 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 449.5 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional
1.3 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/…? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package make-4.2.1-7.10.x86_64 (1/3), 275.5 KiB (402.6 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: make-4.2.1-7.10.x86_64.rpm …[done (220.5 KiB/s)]
Retrieving package site-config-0.2-12.6.x86_64 (2/3), *16.4 KiB ( 21.4 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: site-config-0.2-12.6.x86_64.rpm …[done]
Retrieving package make-lang-4.2.1-7.10.noarch (3/3), 157.6 KiB (886.1 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: make-lang-4.2.1-7.10.noarch.rpm …[done]
Checking for file conflicts: … …[done]
(1/3) Installing: make-4.2.1-7.10.x86_64 …[done]
(2/3) Installing: site-config-0.2-12.6.x86_64 …[done]
(3/3) Installing: make-lang-4.2.1-7.10.noarch …[done]
mathew@localhost:~> sudo apt install gcc
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Resolving package dependencies…
The following 11 NEW packages are going to be installed:
*gcc gcc9 glibc-devel libasan5 libatomic1 libitm1 liblsan0 libtsan0 libubsan1
*libxcrypt-devel linux-glibc-devel
11 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 26.9 MiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional
104.7 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/…? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package libasan5-9.2.1+r279103-1.1.x86_64
( 1/11), 394.1 KiB ( *1.5 MiB unpacked)

**so far, and until the next mentioned step, everything went off well (intermediate entries not shown due to limitation on total characters). Do not understand why the “Error 2” and “Error 1
**mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811C
U_Linux_driver_v5.8.1> cd rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141
mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811C
U_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141> make /bin/sh: bc: command not found
make ARCH=x86_64 CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/5.3.12-2-default/build M=/home/mathew/Do
wnloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1
/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141 *modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/5.3.12-2-default/build: No such file or directory. *Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:2327: modules] Error 2
mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141> makefile
If ‘makefile’ is not a typo you can use command-not-found to lookup the package that contains it, like this:
***cnf makefile
mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141> sudo make install
[sudo] password for root: *
/bin/sh: bc: command not found
install -p -m 644 8821cu.ko /lib/modules/5.3.12-2-default/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
install: cannot stat ‘8821cu.ko’: No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:2333: install] Error 1
mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141> make makefile
/bin/sh: bc: command not found
make: *** No rule to make target ‘makefile’. Stop.
mathew@localhost:~/Downloads/DWA-171_REVC_DRIVER_v5.8.1_LINUX/20190904_DWA-171C_RTL8811CU_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141>

Could someone please review and advise what I did wrong, and how to complete the installation successfully?

Thank you.

I am not sure if rolling distribution is the right choice for you then.

I noticed that the D-Link wireless adapter DWA-171C is recognized by the OS as a standard USB disk instead of the wireless adapter that it actually is

Show output of command “lsusb” with adapter inserted. Also make sure you have usb_modeswitch and usb_modeswitch-data packages installed. usb-modeswitch is a tool to switch adapter into WiFi mode from USB storage and as far as I can tell it should already support DWA-171C.

rtl8821CU

There is binary package built by user: openSUSE Software (select community packages). You may try it instead.

make[1]: *** /lib/modules/5.3.12-2-default/build: No such file or directory. *Stop.
You need package kernel-default-devel with matching version. At this time kernel is already updated so you need to update kernel and install kernel-default-devel additionally.

There is binary package built by user: openSUSE Software (select community packages). You may try it instead.

If this package is the right one (post as mentioned lsusb, use Code-Tags), please use my hardware repo, this includes an Tumbleweed repo.

PS:
If make fails, make install will also fail.

Also you have to read the Output:

U_Linux_driver_v5.8.1/rtl8821CU_WiFi_linux_v5.8.1_34171.20190628_COEX201 90509-4141> make /bin/sh: bc: command not found

Also here:
Please use Code-Tags, sample is here:
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/536143-Using-Code-Tags-Around-Your-Paste

I am having trouble with mine, it installed, but won’t connect, no matter what I do, I get the weak internal wifi adapter that is built into the computer and I wanna use something stronger than that, I installed the correct drivers, but it does not kick in.

Add the Repo:

zypper ar -f https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Sauerland:/hardware/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ Sauerland
zypper install rtl8821cu-kmp-defaut

For secure boot see:
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/560900-Help-on-booting-to-a-5-14-11-kernel-stable-backports-kernel-with-secure-boot-(or-must-I-disable)?p=3073187#post3073187