Trouble connecting to wifi with a password protected accesspoint; Debian

Delta_X · 10-27-2008, 11:14 AM

I can connect to my WiFi at home just fine on my Debian laptop. I just edit /etc/network/interfaces and change wireless-essid home network but at school the wifi has a password to access it. So I say wireless-essid ASD5 but how do I put the password in the interfaces file?

tredegar · 10-27-2008, 11:25 AM

My interfaces file looks like this:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback


auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
broadcast 192.168.0.255
address 192.168.0.4
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
wpa-passphrase mysecurepassphrase
wpa-ssid MyAPsName
wireless-channel 11

Notes: 192.168.0.1 is the address of my router, and its wireless is on Channel 11.
I have wpasupplicant installed.

If you want a DHCP lease try this:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
wpa-passphrase mysecurepassphrase
wpa-ssid MyAPsName
wireless-channel 11

And welcome to LQ!

Delta_X · 10-27-2008, 06:00 PM

Thanks. I'll drive by the school in a few minutes and try this out.

Delta_X · 10-28-2008, 12:22 AM

no luck with that. Try to ping google and I get unknown hostname. I wonder if it's giving me an ip and just not connecting to DNS. Any other ideas on how to connect? I have wireless-tools installed. It'sjust a password for the network I don't think the transmission is encrypted.

tredegar · 10-28-2008, 06:10 AM

Please post your interfaces file.

Delta_X · 10-28-2008, 09:28 AM

# Loopback Interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# Ethernet port
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

# Netgear WG511v2 PC Card
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid ASD5

tredegar · 10-28-2008, 01:35 PM

OK.

I think you now need to get in touch with the school's network admin, and ask them what encryption (Eg WEP, WPA WPA2) they are using, and what the passphrase is. Tell us this information, and we can then help you set it up.

If the wireless is unencrypted, you can normally get a dhcp lease (as in your interfaces file in post #6) but then you may need to open your browser, and you may then get a login page which will ask for the network's password. You should check these details with the network's admin.