[SOLVED] NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

[unplugged]

Kubuntu 9.10 on a Toshiba Satellite...

having a problem getting NetworkManager to connect to my home
wifi router with WPA-PSK enabled.

Question: How to configure NM permanently (not every time) a wifi
router using WPA-PSK? What widget or applet to run and what
to set so the NM will connect?

The router works fine, as I have two other laptops (WinXP on wife's;
F-10 on a 2nd) both have WPA1 working smoothly with that D-Link DI-624.

Wired networking works great. wifi ALSO DOES work well in public free
unencrypted locations.

The NetworkManager configuration has a widget to enter password/key
so I entered my 32-char key here. However, it seems to be ignored:
1) it never negotiates a successful connection with the router and
2) it always asks again for the password/key and doesn't recall that
I provided that data in the config widget already.

I once had Ubuntu 7 or 8 (don't recall which) which used some keyring
applet to save the 32-char password and it assigned a short key to
the keyring to facilitate the password storage/retrieval. But, that
was Gnome and so I don't know what the KDE equivalent is to Gnome applet.

[vinnywright]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I beleve the stock network manager in Karmic still has problems with encripted networks.
a lot of pepole say WICD is better for encripted networks and can be had frome you'r package manager

after installing go to K>systemsetings>advanced>hardware and move wicd to the top of the list in network managment backend.

wicd is in the universe repo so make shure you have it enabeld befor looking for it

VINNY

[unplugged]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

Thank You, Vinny! Works perfectly now. Even remembers the 32-char password.

<rant>
So, it occurs to me: why is Kubuntu STILL having issues with NM after multiple releases and several years? Why doesn't Kubuntu DUMP that POS as the DEFAULT network management pkg and move on to WICD or anything else that works once and for always?? Instead of having users grope around until they stumble across WICD?
/<rant>

[unplugged]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

Some historical support to my <rant> in the previous reply for those who don't see where I am coming from:

http://lwn.net/Articles/338715/

[vinnywright]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I dont Know

but glad you got it working

VINNY

[CharlesG]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

Thank you for that advice. It appears to have solved my wireless networking problems with my Acer Aspire One.

[vinnywright]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

Thank you for that advice. It appears to have solved my wireless networking problems with my Acer Aspire One.

VINNY

[tjohnson_nb]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I beleve the stock network manager in Karmic still has problems with encripted networks.
a lot of pepole say WICD is better for encripted networks and can be had frome you'r package manager

after installing go to K>systemsetings>advanced>hardware and move wicd to the top of the list in network managment backend.

wicd is in the universe repo so make shure you have it enabeld befor looking for it

VINNY

I had Network Manager working but I wasn't happy with it so I tried Wicd. Funny thing though, when I tried to install wicd it said I had to remove networ-kmanager first so I did. Then I had no internet, wired or wireless, to install wicd! So it took me an hour or so to manually get a wired connection working and then install wicd and it didn't find my wireless network until I told it the essid name?? Now it seems to be woking fine and I think it handles the encrypted connection better because my download speeds are around 630 kb/s which is the same as the wired connection. It wasn't that good with Network-Manager.

[wizard10000]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I beleve the stock network manager in Karmic still has problems with encripted networks.
a lot of pepole say WICD is better for encripted networks and can be had frome you'r package manager

Good advice but I've had problems with wicd as well - since my work network uses a hidden SSID and that's a known bug in networkmanager. I had to script the work connection using wpa_supplicant and dhclient to get the thing to work - but other than trying to connect to a hidden network wicd is great stuff.

[dibl]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I've had good results on both my netbooks with wpa_supplicant + wicd. Here's my "fits 'em all" wpa_supplicant.conf file for a roaming configuration:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
       key_mgmt=NONE
}

With the wicd daemon running automatically, and my WPA2 encryption key set in wicd, the netbook will automatically, upon booting, hook up to either my home router or my neighbor's (foolishly) open router, and works anywhere I can find wireless access.

The /etc/network/interfaces file that supports this setup is this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug eth0
iface etho inet dhcp

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
 wpa-driver wext
 wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp

Note that some of these variables (eg. "wext" and "wlan0" and "dhcp") may not be correct for your system and router setup -- you'll need to research the appropriate terms for your hardware and router setup.

Hope this helps.

[jglen490]

Re: NetworkManager fails to connect to WPA1

I have nothing against wicd; it's saved my bacon more than once in earlier Kubuntu installs. What I have now with Karmic is Knetworkmanager (Network Manager) which was installed, during upgrade from 9.04, in conjunction with b43-fwcutter (Broadcom, a problem unto itself). KDE applies a GUI frontend on the network-manager package and pretty much manages the same thing as K->Settings->System Settings->Network Connections. It sits in my system tray and interfaces with Kwalletmanager to start my network connection once I'm in KDE. I know some of you prefer a network connection before that point, so my solution probably isn't for you.

Works fine for what I need, and rarely have to worry about it. So does wicd. They all do, when they are set up at the beginning.