Arch Linux

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

Hi everyone!

I am looking for some advice in configuring eduroam with wpa_supplicant (for those who don't know, it's a Wi-Fi network avaiable in most universities and/or research facilities, protected with PEAP). I'm currently doing research in a facility where it is the only reliable network and I would love to do most of my work on my laptop running Arch, so making it work is now on top of my priority list.

I previously managed to connect to "classic" Wi-Fi networks (like my home Wi-Fi) with no problem by the use of NetworkManager only. To connect to eduroam, which requires an username and password, I followed the instructions provided in the wiki. More precisely:

1) created /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. After some googling, I found these settings to (apparently) be the right ones for institutional networks such as eduroam:

ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
ap_scan=1
eapol_version=2
update_config=1

network={
disabled=2
auth_alg=OPEN
ssid="eduroam"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
proto=WPA RSN
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
eap=PEAP
identity="whatever@ds.units.it"
password="mypassword"
phase1="peaplabel1=0"
phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
}

(I obviously editet the "identity" and "password" fields).

2) I run wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

3) sudo wpa_cli

and then, in the wpa_cli prompt:

4) enable eduroam

Which, however, just says "FAIL". I suppose there is something wrong with my conf file, or maybe I misinterpreted the wiki and did something wrong. I'll appreciate any help and I'll do my best to give further details and explanations whenever needed. Thanks everyone in advance!

martinc2

Member

Registered: 2011-09-23

Posts: 66

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

This may not be the solution you're looking for, but I've successfully configured eduroam (more than once) using the installer at cat.eduroam.org.  Looks like it will configure NetworkManager (which I use) or offer to do a wpa_supplicant config if NM isn't running.

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

Thank you @martinc2! I wasn't aware of that option. I'll try as soon as I can and let you know

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

I just tried it, but executing the python script gives me:

import distro
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distro'

I suppose I have to download the mentioned module and "implement it" in my version of python in some way, but I am no expert in this. Do you have some suggestions?

Xyne

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-03

Posts: 6,965

Website

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

Try this minimal configuration:

ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
network={
  ssid="eduroam"
  key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
  eap=PEAP
  identity="foo@bar.xyz"
  password="password"
  phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
  anonymous_identity="anonymous@bar.xyz"
  ca_cert="/etc/ssl/certs/AddTrust_External_Root.pem"
}

If that doesn't work, try commenting out the "phase2" and/or "ca_cert" fields. Obvously update the identity and password and the domain of the anonymous identity (anonymous@your.uni).

edit
Please use code tags when posting commands and file contents, as above.

Last edited by Xyne (2021-11-17 08:53:59)

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icar

Member

Registered: 2020-07-31

Posts: 562

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

I just tried it, but executing the python script gives me:

import distro
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distro'

I suppose I have to download the mentioned module and "implement it" in my version of python in some way, but I am no expert in this. Do you have some suggestions?

You are missing a Python module. Try after installing this:
https://archlinux.org/packages/communit … on-distro/

Last edited by icar (2021-11-17 11:06:35)

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

@icar thanks! This solved the issue.

@martinc2 now that I managed to make the script work, can you give me some tips on the procedure since you said you did it multiple times effectively? I run the python script, it asks me for my username and password and everything seems fine, but then it apparently fails to configure NetworkManager and offers to create a wpa_supplicant.conf file to configure eduroam. After a while it says "installation succesful", but no conf file is created in /etc/wpa_supplicant/ and NetworkManager still fails to connect to eduroam.

martinc2

Member

Registered: 2011-09-23

Posts: 66

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

Argh I've never tried it without NetworkManager.  Do you have NM running in a reasonably vanilla (think KDE, GNOME) desktop?  It looks like the installation script checks for NM via DBUS.  Failing that, a quick scan of the source code suggests it creates config files in ~/.cat_installer/, which you might be able to use.

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

@martinc2 I am not running a desktop environment, only dwm. I have installed networkmanager and networkmanager-runit (n.b. runit is an alternative init system to systemd). Maybe there is some NM "sub-package" that I missed? I think there is one which is specifically required to edit connections, althouth I don't remember the name exactly. May I ask you which NM packages do you have installed in order for the script to work properly, so I can try and replicate your results?

shako

Member

Registered: 2021-11-16

Posts: 50

Re: eduroam w/ wpa_supplicant

EDIT: I think I finally figured it out. I think there is no need for either wpa_supplicant conf files or the eduroam CAT, I (seemingly) managed to configure it with the use of nm-connection-editor only. I think this is the simpler solution for now according to my needs. Thanks everyone for the support!