LinuxQuestions.org - Whats the deal with wpa

I'm trying to connect to a wpa wireless network via linux command line. As many of you know, this is needlessly complex.

I am using a BackTrack 5 CD with an Alfa networks USB wireless card. The interface is named wlan0.

After browsing around for several hours, it seems the best way to establish a connection is via the wpa_supplicant command. The problem is there are lots of different ways to write a config file, but no website explains how to actually build one.

One common method is to use the wpa_password command. This generally creates the following file.

Code:

network={

    ssid="MyNetwork"

    #psk="mypassword"

    psk=000459ac030f03858e192349599ffa934

}

Most websites ask me to uncomment the plaintext password or to delete the hex password.

Many websites also tell me to include the following lines

Code:

ap_scan=1

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

Although the ap_scan arguement can be a value between 0 and 2 depending on the website. It instructs me to pick the one that's appropriate for my card. Whatever that is.

the ctrl_interface is interesting because it always seems to reference /var/run/wpa_supplicant regardless of the website, but that file doesn't even exist on my machine.

Other information that is often included but never explained are the following lines.

Code:

scan_ssid=0

proto=WPA

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

pairwise=TKIP

group=TKIP

Anyway, regardless of the config file I use the result is always the same.

Code:

Trying to associate with <My MAC address> (SSID="mynetwork" freq=2462 MHz)

Authentication with <My MAC address> timed out.

Trying to associate with <My MAC address> (SSID="mynetwork" freq=2462 MHz)

Associated with <My MAC Address>

CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect even - remove keys

WPS-AP-AVAILABLE

Then it repeats the last four lines until I ctrl+c.

A lot of websites also suggest editing startup scripts and rebooting the computer, but since this is a live disk, that won't work.

If anyone could explain any part of what I just talked about, I would be ecstatic.