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CyberNhull

Member

Registered: 2013-01-27

Posts: 99

Card that supports AP mode doesn't go into master mode

Hello, i have a usb nano-10 asus wireless card that supports AP mode. I installed dkms-8192cu drivers and hostapd-8192cu. When i run:

sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd.conf

I get this:

 Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
drv->ifindex=5
l2_sock_recv==l2_sock_xmit=0x0x25f6250
ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: Invalid argument
Could not set interface to mode(3)!
Could not set interface to master mode!
rtl871xdrv driver initialization failed.

So i think the problem is that my card isn't going into master mode (neither by hostapd or iwconfig). I've been tweaking around with it but with no luck.
My hostapd.conf file is this one:

ssid=Hotspot
#wpa_passphrase=SomethingHotspot
interface=wlp0s20u4
#bridge=br0
#auth_algs=3
channel=6
#driver=rtl871xdrv
#hw_mode=g
#logger_stdout=-1
#logger_stdout_level=2
#max_num_sta=5
#rsn_pairwise=CCMP
#wpa=2
#wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
#wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP

And this is the proof tha my card runs AP mode:

Supported interface modes:
		 * IBSS
		 * managed
		 * AP
		 * AP/VLAN
		 * monitor
		 * mesh point
		 * P2P-client
		 * P2P-GO

If someone could help i would really apreciate all the help i can get thanks in advance.

Last edited by CyberNhull (2015-07-11 15:52:13)

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If it does not kill you....It will make you smarter

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,606

Re: Card that supports AP mode doesn't go into master mode

hostapd-8192cu doesn't necessarily work with all wifi chips supported by the 8192cu driver. Check dmesg, maybe you'll find a bit more info there.

Also, instead of using dkms-8192cu and hostapd-8192cu, try the in-kernel rtl8192cu driver with the regular hostapd (in this case, the hostapd driver to use is nl80211). If that won't work, you're more or less out of luck. Realtek's usb drivers are far from ideal. The best usb driver is ath9k_htc so try to get a wifi adapter with an Atheros chipset. They're hard to come by nowadays unfortunately, TP-Link used to make them but then they switched to Realtek (for example, the TL-WN821N v1-v3 used Atheros, but v4-v5 use Realtek).

CyberNhull

Member

Registered: 2013-01-27

Posts: 99

Re: Card that supports AP mode doesn't go into master mode

hostapd-8192cu doesn't necessarily work with all wifi chips supported by the 8192cu driver. Check dmesg, maybe you'll find a bit more info there.

Also, instead of using dkms-8192cu and hostapd-8192cu, try the in-kernel rtl8192cu driver with the regular hostapd (in this case, the hostapd driver to use is nl80211). If that won't work, you're more or less out of luck. Realtek's usb drivers are far from ideal. The best usb driver is ath9k_htc so try to get a wifi adapter with an Atheros chipset. They're hard to come by nowadays unfortunately, TP-Link used to make them but then they switched to Realtek (for example, the TL-WN821N v1-v3 used Atheros, but v4-v5 use Realtek).

My eyes kinda sparkle for a moment when you mencioned TP-Link...because i knew i had one of those wireless cards here somewhere..after looking I found a tl-wn722n that is using the ath9k_htc module...when i use it with the hostapd (with the nl80211 driver) it gave me this:

Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
nl80211: Could not configure driver mode
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlp0s26u1u2 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
wlp0s26u1u2: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
wlp0s26u1u2: AP-DISABLED 
hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlp0s26u1u2 wasn't started

I didn't get it why he says the card is uninitialized tho

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If it does not kill you....It will make you smarter

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,606

Re: Card that supports AP mode doesn't go into master mode

Basically same as before, "driver initialization failed". Don't know how to help further, I haven't used hostapd yet. I did once create and AP using wpa_supplicant on an ath5k card, so I know that works. The wpa_supplicant.conf looks like this:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel

network={
        ssid="name_here"
        mode=2
        frequency=2437
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        proto=RSN
        group=CCMP
        pairwise=CCMP
        psk="password_here"
}

mode=2 is the setting to create and AP (mode=1 is for ad-hoc). And specifying a frequency is mandatory, the 2437 freq in my example is channel 6.