[Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

flipper T · 2013-11-16 21:20:13

I am unable to connect to wireless network following upgrade of netctl from 1.3-1 to 1.4-1.

Downgrading this package solves the issue, but I am looking for a better solution & would be grateful for some help.

With 1.4-1 I get:

sudo wifi-menu

Job for netctl@wlan0\x2djsk.service failed. See 'systemctl status 
netctl@wlan0\x2djsk.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details.

systemctl status netctl@wlan0\x2djsk.service
netctl@wlan0x2djsk.service - Networking for netctl profile 
wlan0x2djsk
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/netctl@.service; 
static)
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: man:netctl.profile(5)

...nothing of interest in journalctl -xn.

/etc/netctl reads:

/etc/netctl/wlan0-jsk 
Description='Automatically generated profile by wifi-menu'
Interface=wlan0
Connection=wireless
Security=wpa
ESSID=jsk
IP=dhcp
TimeoutDHCP=20
Key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DHCPClient='dhclient'

ps i blanked out the key, but it is encrypted.

Wireless connections are a mystery to me. Have follow the wiki as closely as I can, but may have made mistakes, so any gentle nudge in the right direction would be gratefully accepted.

Last edited by flipper T (2013-11-20 12:30:36)

noodlebox · 2013-11-17 03:30:30

I ran into this same problem today with netctl 1.4-1, and I just posted a bug report here:
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/37798

I'm also using WPA, and logs from journalctl indicate that the problem has something to do with parsing the Key:

Nov 16 19:28:08 noodlebook netctl-auto[384]: Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Nov 16 19:28:08 noodlebook netctl-auto[384]: Line 5: Invalid passphrase length 64 (expected: 8..63) 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"'.
Nov 16 19:28:08 noodlebook netctl-auto[384]: Line 5: failed to parse psk '"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"'.
Nov 16 19:28:08 noodlebook netctl-auto[384]: Line 8: failed to parse network block.
Nov 16 19:28:08 noodlebook netctl-auto[384]: Failed to read or parse configuration '/run/network/wpa_supplicant_wlp2s0.conf'.

The actual key here is in hexadecimal format, same number of characters.

My config hasn't changed in months and downgrading to 1.3-1 also works for me.

Update: I tried netctl-git from the AUR, and it seems to work.

There has been one update since the 1.4-1 release, and it seems to fix this problem:
https://projects.archlinux.org/netctl.g … 2fffd88159

Last edited by noodlebox (2013-11-17 03:48:49)

flipper T · 2013-11-17 06:01:24

Thank you @noodlebox for your informative reply. It does seem that we have ran into the same issue. It is always nice to have the "is it just me ?" question answered

As previously stated, downgrading does work, but I was unaware of netctl-git. Thank you for this hint & I can confirm that this also works & is the option I have chosen until the "regular" netctl is fixed.

I will leave this topic "open" until the fix comes down & will mark as "solved" then

Oreolek · 2013-11-17 09:30:34

netctl uses "special quoting rules" as it says on the wiki.

Try adding this symbol to the beginning of your passphrase:

\"

This fixes the issue.

Last edited by Oreolek (2013-11-17 09:30:45)

noodlebox · 2013-11-17 09:54:04

Yeah, that should work too. This bug specifically affected handling of hexadecimal strings which aren't "unquoted" in this way, which is what wifi-menu generated for me a while back.

It seems like "wifi-menu -o" still doesn't generate the correct syntax as described there.

arnitugem · 2013-11-17 13:43:22

@Oreolek Thanks a ton!!
This is one horrible bug - wonder why noone noticed that before updating the repo. I also read the logfiles (that needed to be escaped with two \ btw) but couldn't find the reason.
Forum here to help!

the productive systems are productive once again

flipper T · 2013-11-20 12:30:16

netctl 1.4-2 is now is core & solves this issue.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-11-16 21:20:13

[Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#2 2013-11-17 03:30:30

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#3 2013-11-17 06:01:24

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#4 2013-11-17 09:30:34

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#5 2013-11-17 09:54:04

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#6 2013-11-17 13:43:22

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

#7 2013-11-20 12:30:16

Re: [Solved] netctl wireless fails to connect

Board footer