How to Manually Add Wireless Profiles Ubuntu Server 16.1

Question

I've got the Ethernet port working but can't get the wireless card to work on DHCP. I need to have the know how to add in wireless networks into a file that will connect to them when available. Here are my

/etc/network/interfaces

auto wlp3s0
iface wlp3s0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver iwlwifi 
#wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wireless-rate 54M
pre-up wpa_supplicant -Bw -Diwlwifi -iwlp3s0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant

and my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf files:

ctrl_interface=/var/run//wpa_supplicant

network={
    ssid="myNet"
    scan_ssid=1
    proto=WPA RSN
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
    pair wise=CCMP TKIP
    group=CCMP TKIP
    #psk="###"
    psk=########################
}

I feel like there is something simple I'm missing/overlooking.

EDIT I get errors such as "Destination Host Unreachable" when I ping 8.8.8.8

EDIT I can't get the wireless card state to come UP. Here is an error log:

Starting /sbin/wpa_supplicant...
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpa_supplicant exited with return code 1
Failed to bring up wlp3s0.

Have you checked to see if it is a driver issue (can it pick up networks at all, etc?). If you think it is please get info by following this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/425155/my-wireless-wifi-connection-does-not-work-what-information-is-needed-to-diagnos. See also https://askubuntu.com/questions/235279/my-wifi-adapter-is-not-working-at-all-how-to-troubleshoot — Wilf, Feb 17 '17 at 23:46
I can connect statically with wlp3s0 to my router. But I can't connect using DHCP and wpa_supplicant. — ketenks, Feb 18 '17 at 00:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

This is not a complete answer but this problem is found here:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2325768

And the error with wpa_supplicant was never fixed to allow wireless profiles to be saved and used. So for a user to readily connect wirelessly using DHCP they must do this every time:

sudo iwlist wlp3s0 scanning | egrep 'Cell |Encryption|Quality|Last beacon|ESSID'

Found here How do I scan for Wireless Access Points?

Then set your /etc/network/interfaces file as such:

auto wlp3s0
iface wlp3s0 inet dhcp 
wpa-ssid YOUR_ESSID
wpa-psk YOUR_PASSWORD

Get your hex generated password using this command if you need to use the wpa_supplicant.conf file for whatever reason:

sudo wpa_passphrase YOUR_ESSID YOUR_PASSWORD

You can find the name and state of your network interfaces using this command:

ip link show

Which will tell you the name of wlp3s0 or wlan0 or whatever yours is. But as for actually using wpa_supplicant.conf and keeping track of what wireless networks you use, maybe someone can answer that.

/etc/network/interfaces will not work with a hex generated password. It expects to see your password in clear text. I suggest that you edit your answer to correct it. — chili555, Feb 18 '17 at 14:00
Edited it to reflect those changes. Thanks. For whatever reason it was working for me though. — ketenks, Feb 18 '17 at 20:50

How to Manually Add Wireless Profiles Ubuntu Server 16.1

1 Answers1