Whonix and external USB failure in 3.1 RC2

[thefoc]

I have an internal and external wifi. I can access the web with Whonix with the internal wifi OK, However, I cannot with the external wifi. This issue is related to Whonix because if I turn sys-whonix off, and change the VM settings of the Untusted VM to access sys-firewall, I can access the web with the external USB device. So this is not an error in Qubes or an error with my system. Every time with the external USB wifi Tor fails to connect with 5% completed.

Either this is some type of firewall issue or something is not being passed properly between sys-whonix and sys-usb.

[Patrick]

@marmarek any idea?

[marmarek]

Can you reach the net from sys-usb?
I assume you’ve switched sys-firewall to use sys-usb as a netvm, to use
external USB device, right?
Do you see any traffic using tcpdump (in sys-usb, or sys-firewall), when
sys-whonix is trying to connect using USB adapter?

[thefoc]

I am have been investigating this issue and my suspicion now is that it is a driver issue. What is happening is that the usb wifi cannot maintain a consistent connection. So what was happening was that I was connecting via clear net and it was working but by the time I switched to whonix and launched tor the connection to the internet would drop. It’s strange because the wifi stays connected, just the DCHP seems to drop. But over the days I found it to be flaky. Sometimes it will connect for hours and then other times it pulls the stunt I first complained about.

However, I can confirm that it is not a problem with Tor nor a problem with my internet connection. When I get some free time I am going to see if I can blacklist the default generic driver for my usb wifi and install a different one and see if that solves the problem.