network-manager scanning for wifi's on wlan1 but won't scan when on wlan0?

BlackHawk · 12-25-2011, 03:16 AM

Hello everyone,

I have a really weird issue that i am really hoping that someone here could help me sort out...

Okay here is my setup.

Laptop:
host os (win 7)
guest os (ubuntu)
vmware player
usb wifi adapter

I use a usb wifi adapter so i can have wireless capabilities on linux. (no i am not hacking wifi!)

Okay now that you know my setup here is my issue...

When i startup linux through vmware in order for me to use my usb wifi adapter i need to add/remove my module from my driver inorder for it too load which i do and then it loads fine without any issues. Sometimes it loads on the wlan0 interface and sometimes it loads on the wlan1 interface. When it loads on wlan0 for the most part the light on my usb wifi adapter will be flashing and my wifi adapter works with only one issue. I can scan for wireless networks with such tools as (Wicd Network Manager) and that works without issue. The usb wifi adapter works on wlan0 only when i try to scan for wifi networks with Network-Manger it will not show any available networks. I go into the wireless section of Network-Manager and it only has a wlan interface option to use and you can not specify wlan0 or wlan1 like you can do on Wicd Network-Manager.

When my usb wifi adapter loads on wlan1 however, my usb wifi adapter's light is always flashing. I can scan for networks with (Wicd Network-Manger) no problem, and I can even scan for available wifi networks with Network-Manager without any issues. It seems to work perfect on the wlan1 interface.

What i am also wondering is why does it sometimes load on wlan0 and sometimes it loads on wlan1? What criteria decides on which interface name it will be loaded on? The reason i ask is because it seems to work perfect on wlan1 so there has to be some kind of reason why i can not scan for wifi networks with Network-Manager when my usb wifi adapter is assigned to wlan0?

I have been doing some research and here is a copy of my /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules file

Code:

# PCI device 0x1022:0x2000 (pcnet32)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:0c:29:8b:2d:fa", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

# USB device 0x0bda:0x8187 (usb)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:c0:ca:54:ac:7b", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan0"

# USB device 0x0bda:0x8187 (usb)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="2c:68:04:1e:04:1e", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan1"

Do you think this could be just an issue with Network-Manger, and if it is then why is it working when my usb wifi adapter is assigned to wlan1 ? On Wicd Network-Manger you can manually specify which wlan* interface you are going to be using but i don't think you can do this on network-manager. Any thoughts?

Also why does my usb wifi adapter sometimes not flash the light when assigned to wlan0? Sometimes it does flash the light though when assigned to wlan0 which makes this issue very weird...

If you need any more information please let me know and i will be happy to provide it. Again i only log on to my wifi network i just really want to fix this issue.

I thank you all for your time..

-BlackHawk

agentbuzz · 12-25-2011, 11:02 PM

BlackHawk,
I think wicd and Network Manager are supposed to be mutually exclusive. Wicd uninstalls Network Manager, and I can't remember if the reverse is true.
Why don't you download the deb packages for both wicd and Network Manager, uninstall Network Manager, and see if everything works as it should using wicd. Then perhaps uninstall wicd and install Network Manager and see what happens.

BlackHawk · 12-26-2011, 06:56 PM

Thanks for your reply,

I have tried removing then re-installing network-manager but that didn't seem to work, so i am unsure about how to fix this issue. I don't think it is as simple as removing and reinstalling... When i start up linux i load/remove the module for my usb wifi adapter to get it to work, and then when i check either airmon-ng or iwconfig to see which wlan* interface is available.

If wlan0 is the one that comes up when i run 'airmon-ng' or 'iwconfig' i need to turn off wlan0 by either 'airmon-ng stop wlan0' or 'ifconfig wlan0 down' and then i either load/remove the module again for my usb wifi adapter. Then when i check to see which wlan* interface is available it is wlan1 and everything works great...

When wlan1 is up and running i can scan for available wifi's with wicd, and network-manager, and the light on my usb wifi adapter is running, everything is perfect.

What i am unclear about is why is this happening when wlan1 is up and running, and not happening when wlan0 is up. Again when wlan0 is up i can scan for wifi's with Wicd but not network-manager, and sometimes the light on my usb wifi is not working.

What is the criteria for ifconfig to choose which wlan* interface it will load, is what i am trying to figure out...?

I know that network-manager can be very unstable and is not recommended to be used a lot of times i just want to try and fix this issue because sometimes network-manager is needed.

If anyone has any thoughts i would love to hear them, and again if you need any more info on my end i will be more than willing to provide anything anyone might need...

Thank you all for your time,

PS. I want you all to know that i am doing nothing illegal with tools such aircrack-ng and other tools included in its suite. I only use the airmon-ng application to control wlan* interfaces, especially when the usb wifi is in monitor mode.

-BlackHawk