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Old 04-20-2012, 06:43 PM   #1
svenxix
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Registered: Feb 2012
Distribution: Debian, Fedora
Posts: 24

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Whats the deal with wpa_supplicant.conf


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.
 
Old 04-22-2012, 07:26 AM   #2
Peacedog
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Danville, VA
Distribution: Slackware, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X
Posts: 5,296

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Hi svenxix, Welcome to LQ. Here is an example file with explanations.

http://hostap.epitest.fi/gitweb/gitw...upplicant.conf

Good luck. ;-)
 
Old 04-23-2012, 02:18 AM   #3
dru8274
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Registered: Oct 2011
Location: New Zealand
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 105

Rep: Reputation: 37
The crunchbang forums have an interesting howto on wpasupplicant here... http://www.crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/171244/
 
  


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