[SOLVED] Enabling Wireless Networking on BackTrack 4 RC2

Peacedog · 03-21-2011, 07:52 PM

Doh! I'm sorry, I was looking for the Broadcom drivers as frankbell posted when your chip is the Realtek! Double Doh! So sorry. ;-)

Okay, it looks like the chip is recognized and the modules are loaded. The card even appears to be scanning properly. Let's try associating with the AP and see what happens.

Code:

# iwconfig wlan0 essid your_network_name key your_wireless_hex_key
# dhclient wlan0

Good luck. ;-)

01010011 · 03-21-2011, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peacedog

Doh! I'm sorry, I was looking for the Broadcom drivers as frankbell posted when your chip is the Realtek! Double Doh! So sorry. ;-)

Okay, it looks like the chip is recognized and the modules are loaded. The card even appears to be scanning properly. Let's try associating with the AP and see what happens.

Code:

# iwconfig wlan0 essid your_network_name key your_wireless_hex_key
# dhclient wlan0

No worries m8.

I was not sure what to enter for "your_wireless_hex_key" so I entered my WPA Shared Key like this:

Code:

# iwconfig wlan0 essid your_network_name key My_WPA_Shared_Key

but I got the following error message:

Quote:

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A): invalid argument "My_WPA_Shared_Key"

Where or how do I get this wireless hex key?

Edit 1

I was reading on the Man iwconfig that I have to enter the key in hex digits as XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX and that passphrase is currently not supported

Edit 2
I'm also reading in the manual that I can enter the key as an ASCII string using the s: prefix.

Edit 3

I tried using the s: prefix, like this:

Code:

# iwconfig wlan0 essid your_network_name key s:My_WPA_Shared_Key

but I got this error message:

Quote:

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8V2A) : SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument

Peacedog · 03-22-2011, 05:46 PM

"My_WPA_Shared_Key" is intended to be the hex key generated for the pass phrase by the router you're trying to connect to. If you choose to use the actual pass phrase, you can try the s: option. If you don't know what the key or pass phrase is you should ask the router Admin for it.

Good luck. ;-)

01010011 · 03-22-2011, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peacedog

"My_WPA_Shared_Key" is intended to be the hex key generated for the pass phrase by the router you're trying to connect to. If you choose to use the actual pass phrase, you can try the s: option. If you don't know what the key or pass phrase is you should ask the router Admin for it.

I already know what the pass phrase is, and the security mode for our router is WPA, not WEP. According to the router's documentation:

Quote:

WEP:
Default Transmit Key: The key you would like to use for transmitting WEP keys.
WEP Key Bit: You may select from 64-Bit or 128-Bit encryption.
Passphrase: You may enter a passphrase consisting of any keyboard character to be used to generate a hex WEP key. Passphrase option is only supported when you are only using Linksys devices on your network.
Key 1-4: You may enter a WEP key manually. You must use only hex characters (0-9 and A-F). 64-Bit WEP requires 10 hex characters. 128-Bit WEP requires the use of 26 hex characters.

I saw no such info for hex key for WPA. If we change the security mode to WEP to get this hex WEP key, isn't that less secure than WPA? I tried the s: option like this:

Code:

# iwconfig wlan0 essid your_network_name key s:My_WPA_Shared_Key

but I got this error:

Quote:

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8V2A) : SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument

I'm not sure what to do

01010011 · 03-23-2011, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peacedog

Hi 01010011, welcome to LQ. It would be an odd coincidence that the card has stopped working, but it does happen. Have you tried toggling the wifi switch?

On the Linux side, just issuing dhclient isn't likely to work unless you've already associated the card with the access point. Did you start networking? I believe Backtrack has networking turned off by default.

Code:

# /etc/init.d/networking start

To associate with an access point you can use the cli tools iwconfig or WICD from the gui.

Good luck. ;-)

Hi Peacedog, I got it to work.

After reading your reply above again I decided to try your second recommendation (WICD). Here are the steps I took:

I ran

Code:

wicd start
wicd-curses

then pressed the right arrow key for Config, and in the Configuring preferences, I ignored the first two options (Use Static IPs, Use Static DNS). I choose the third option (Use DHCP Hostname), changed the DHCP Hostname (which was "bt") and selected "Automatically connect to this network". I entered the router's passphrase (Preshared Key) and F10 to save!

Thanks man!

Peacedog · 03-23-2011, 07:21 PM

Glad you got it sorted.

Good luck. ;-)

SG86- · 04-13-2011, 12:57 PM

what did you change your DHCP Hostname to??

01010011 · 04-13-2011, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SG86-

what did you change your DHCP Hostname to??

I changed it to a name I made up, like "xxx" because when I logged into the router, my computer's name was displayed as "bt". However when I changed the name to xxx, the name in the router did not change immediately, it took a few days to change, if I remember correctly. However, after it changed, the new name stayed only for a few days and changed back to "bt". I am not sure why.

Anyway, my internet connection works fine, and Im currently playing around with Metasploit with Armitage, and Ettercap on a another personal network.