kali linux doesn't detect wireless networks

Question

I have an Asus zenbook ux31a

It doesn't detect any wireless networks

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 7e:c5:37:b4:02:6a  
          inet addr:172.20.10.5  Bcast:172.20.10.15  Mask:255.255.255.240
          inet6 addr: fe80::7cc5:37ff:feb4:26a/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:574 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:213607 (208.6 KiB)  TX bytes:67421 (65.8 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:486 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:486 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:48202 (47.0 KiB)  TX bytes:48202 (47.0 KiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr c4:85:08:3a:a4:71  
          inet addr:192.168.1.12  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::c685:8ff:fe3a:a471/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:13241 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8492 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:15741418 (15.0 MiB)  TX bytes:1059391 (1.0 MiB)

No wireless networks are shown.

If I start a live USB I can see them.

How do I resolve this?

Answer 1

By default Kali does not manage your wireless interfaces using the network-manager, leaving your wireless interface for what Kali does best: pen testing.

If you want to manage your wireless interface, you can resort to iwconfig or add your wireless interface to the Network-Manager. To do the latter, open the following file in an editor: /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf. Under the section [ifupdown] enter managed=true and reboot your computer. After this, you can manage your wireless device through the network manager in the GUI (computer/networking icon at the right top of your screen).

Also see this article, which describes the behaviour in more detail.