Installing Broadcom Drivers Offline in Ubuntu 16.04

I recently upgraded my laptop to Ubuntu 16.04 and save one issue, it has been rock solid. The problem? Wi-Fi, of course. Prior to the install, I ran Ubuntu in a live session and poked around. I even installed the proprietary Broadcom drivers, and they worked straight away. During the installation process, I checked the box directing that proprietary drivers, codecs, etc. be installed. However, upon boot I discovered that the Wi-Fi drivers had not been installed! The following instructions provide a quick offline fix for this issue using either the GUI or the terminal.

Installing Via GUI

In order to install the Broadcom drivers you only need to boot up your 16.04 installation and have your installation media handy. Insert your installation media and navigate to the following folder on it:

/pool/main/d/dkms/

In the folder you will find a single .deb file with a name beginning with dkms. Double click the .deb file and then click “Install” once it is opened by Ubuntu Software.

Now you need to navigate to another folder on your installation media:

/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/

Again you will find a single .deb file. This one begins with bcmwl. Double click the .deb file and then click “Install” once it is opened by Ubuntu Software.

Installing Via Terminal

To install via the terminal, first find the two .deb files mentioned above on your installation media (dkms at pool/main/d/dkms/ and bcmwl at pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/). Copy both of the .debs to your desktop. Now open the terminal by pressing CTL + ALT + T. Enter the following into the terminal:

cd Desktop
sudo dpkg -i <dkmsPackageName.deb>
sudo dpkg -i <bcmwlPackageName.deb>

Tip: Rather than typing out the entire package name for the .deb files, you can take advantage of the terminal’s auto-complete feature by typing the beginning of the name (e.g., type dkms) and then pressing Tab.

That’s it. You should now have working Wi-Fi in Ubuntu! If you have more questions about this process, please ask for more help in the comments.

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