Arch Linux

shelley

Member

Registered: 2010-10-13

Posts: 11

[Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

I'm on a fresh install of Arch on a Dell Vostro 1400 and I'm trying to configure my network. The only wireless network I currently have access to uses shared key authentication (or at least that's how I got it working when I was on Fedora).

I'm issuing the following

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid [network] key [pass]
dhcpcd wlan0

and dhcpcd times out waiting for carrier. I was able to connect to this network without any problem when I installed Arch on my Asus Eee as a test run earlier. On my Dell I had to download and install a Broadcom driver with b43-fwcutter for my wireless card. It can scan for networks and everything, it just can't seem to connect to this one. Any advice?

Last edited by shelley (2010-10-13 07:11:39)

rootasaur

Member

Registered: 2010-10-12

Posts: 2

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

What type of encryption are you using, WPA-PSK?  To the best of my knowledge, iwconfig doesn't support anything out-of-the-box but WEP.  You'll want to use netcfg (if you installed it), or wpa_supplicant.

Your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf should look something like:

network = {
    ssid = "NetworkName"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
    psk = "YourPassword"
}

And you'd connect with wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
Followed by dhcpcd (of course.)

shelley

Member

Registered: 2010-10-13

Posts: 11

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

It's not WPA, just WEP shared key.

Proofrific

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 215

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

Maybe try dhclient instead of dhcpcd?  I've had weird things where my wireless driver will update, and one will work, but not the other.

Proofrific

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 215

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

Although this isn't related to your problem, WEP isn't secure.  WPA would be a better choice.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

Run iwconfig again after setting the essid to see if you are associated or not. If not, check your logs for clues.

shelley

Member

Registered: 2010-10-13

Posts: 11

Re: [Solved] Using iwconfig to connect to wireless network with shared key

Solved. Part one was actually finding a driver that worked for my wireless card. Part two was doing

iwconfig wlan0 essid [network] key restricted [pass]