Windows 11 not detecting WiFi Adapter

[JSacras]

Hello all,

I'm on a MacBook Pro M2 using VMWare Fusion Professional Version 13.6.2.

I downloaded and installed Windows 11 using the VMWare Fusion's option "Get Windows from Microsoft".

I have 2 WiFi adapters:

• Alfa AWUS036AXML
• TP-Link Archer T2U Nano

I'm trying to use them on Windows 11 in order to be able to connect to WiFi networks however, even tho I've installed their drivers, Windows 11 isn't recognizing them.

As you can see in the following print screens  the adapters are connected to the Windows VM but they are not recognized:

If I access Device Manager I will find the adapters in "Other devices", being the "Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller" the Archer T2U Nano and the WiFi_If the Alfa AWUS036AXML.

It says the drivers are not installed but that's not true. As you can see in the following print screen, they are installed:

"TP-Link Archer TU Nano Driver" is the driver for the Archer T2U Nano;

"MT7961_Neutral" and "WiFi6 Bluetooth Adapter" are the drivers for the Alfa AWUS036AXML.

Does someone know what can I do to get this to work?

I use these two adapters with Linux running on VMWare Fusion and they work just fine.

[Technogeezer]

The Device Manager output is indeed correct. 

Drivers in Windows need to be specifically compiled for the CPU architecture that you're running on. I think you'll find that the drivers you installed are for Windows x86_64 (Intel) only.  Intel drivers won't work on ARM CPUs.  Also note that those driver packages are from 2015. That pre-dates Windows 11 ARM, so it's highly unlikely that those drivers are compiled for the ARM CPU architecture.

Bottom line: There are no drivers on the system for those devices that Windows 11 ARM can use. Nothing you can do to fix that. 

The devices work on Linux because they have drivers compiled for the ARM CPU architecture built into the distributions.

This is not a Fusion problem. It's a problem with the vendors not having drivers compiled for ARM.  You will need to contact the vendors to see if they have drivers compiled for Windows 11 ARM. (I've investigated this recently for TP-Link, and it does not appear that they have drivers for ARM).

One other poster in this community has had luck finding a USB BT dongle that does have ARM driver support. You might want to search the forum to see what USB adapter they were able to get working (I think it may have had a Broadcom chipset).

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- Paul (technogeezer)
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[Ken Reid]

Hello

Yes as Paul said I managed to find a TDK USB bluetooth adapter that works with Win11 ARM 64.   Strangely it was an older device.  

You can check which manufacture have drivers that support devices, via the update drivers in windows.

 

If you investigate the list of manufactures,  you will get an idea of the devices that could work with Win11 Arm64 .

I found the TDK device on eBay.  

[JSacras]

Hello, thank you for your answer. I will contact the manufacturer!

[JSacras]

Thank you for your answer, I will contact the vendors and ask if they have the drivers available!