[MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

seekawan · 2026-09-07 17:16:38

Hi there,
Got an issue some of you might be familiar to, connecting Network Manager with IWD to a eduroam-like education network.
As it is an already discussed subject, i'll do my best to explain the specificity of this particular issue and the material I found related to it.
In particular https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=276106 which is very similar.

Config is the following:
Network Manager with IWD as backend, config below. For services IWD is disabled - NM is enabled - wpa_supplicant is disabled and dead, only there as a NM dependency.

[device]
wifi.backend=iwd

# Configuration file for NetworkManager.
# See "man 5 NetworkManager.conf" for details.

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

As for the network config it is using wlan0, WPA & WPA2 Enterprise with TTLS and inner PAP with my credentials.

It used to be PEAP, but the institution does not provide certificates. I similarly have issues connecting even with android.

I used this config in var/lib/iwd, it is the only ".8021x" file. I have to say that previous networks I used were in ".psk" and never experienced issues whatsoever.

[Security]
EAP-Method=TTLS
EAP-Identity=anonymous@tld
EAP-TTLS-Phase2-Method=Tunneled-PAP
EAP-TTLS-Phase2-Identity=username@tld
EAP-TTLS-Phase2-Password=password

[Settings]
AutoConnect=true

Now journalctl -r -u NetworkManager yields :

[1788786152.0904] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
[1788786152.0905] device (wlan0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786152.0911] device (wlan0): new IWD device state is connecting
[1788786152.4671] device (wlan0): Activation: (wifi) Network.Connect failed: GDBus.Error:net.connman.iwd.Failed: Operation failed
[1788786152.4675] device (wlan0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'no-secrets', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786152.4678] manager: NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
[1788786152.4680] device (wlan0): Activation: failed for connection 'thisNetwork'
[1788786152.4680] device (wlan0): new IWD device state is disconnected
[1788786152.4683] device (wlan0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786153.8600] device (wlan0): new IWD device state is connecting
[1788786153.8608] device (wlan0): Activation: starting connection 'thisNetwork' (ad3f4d3a-dc29-424a-84c7-9c92bd06c584)
[1788786153.8609] device (wlan0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786153.8610] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
[1788786153.8611] device (wlan0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786155.8667] device (wlan0): new IWD device state is connecting
[1788786155.8668] device (wlan0): IWD is connecting to the wrong AP, replacing activation
[1788786155.8669] device (wlan0): state change: config -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-disconnect', managed-type: 'full')
[1788786155.8675] manager: NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
[1788786155.8682] device (wlan0): Activation: starting connection 'aOneThatWorks' 

and then it connects successfully to this other network using WPA2 personal

So as you see I have the "no secrets" error, previously with PEAP it was the "supplicant failed" error.
I tried best practices from https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#WPA_Enterprise and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … n_with_iwd but to no avail.

Please ask me more details if needed

Last edited by seekawan (Yesterday 08:11:41)

seekawan · Yesterday 08:13:20

Tried steps in https://www.math.cmu.edu/~gautam/sj/blo … m-iwd.html that were recommended in the arch iwd wiki section "eduroam".
It did not work unfortunately, it prompts for credentials but nm still gives the "no secrets" error

seth · Yesterday 15:02:46

a) does wpa_supplicant work?
b) please post the entire journal covering failure, inc. kernel and iwd messages
c) do you *know* the the network uses https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#TTLS-PAP ?

seekawan · Today 08:40:18

seth wrote:

a) does wpa_supplicant work?
b) please post the entire journal covering failure, inc. kernel and iwd messages
c) do you *know* the the network uses https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#TTLS-PAP ?

Hi thanks for your answer.

a) Last time I managed to connect to it, I was using KDE, and they still use wpa as NM backend. So yes I guess so
c) I do not think so, thats why i reverted to PEAP. The thing is that I originally thought I needed certificates beforehand for PEAP hence why I tried TTLS

I'll share the complete log asap

mithrial · Today 09:29:42

For the certificate, either your university should provide one or it's signed by trusted anyway and included in ca-cert=/etc/ca-certificates/extracted/tls-ca-bundle.pem

Beemo · Today 10:03:12

Did you have a previous working config (e.g. from KDE) or official instructions for Windows / Android?
Sometimes you'd be able to see quirks of the network from the instructions (e.g. self-signed cert, not supporting anonymous identity etc.)

NetworkManager logs are not as helpful, the backend (wpa_supplicant, iwd) might have more information.

seth · Today 10:04:34

They should™ also express the 2nd level authorization process.

I'm not sure what KDE has to do w/ this, but you could set NM to use wpa_supplicant as backend (ie. the default), have it generate an eduroam profile and steal take inspiration from the wpa_supplicant config it writes.
Or just use wpa_supplicant if that doesn't cause other compatibility issues.

Edit: got ninja'd

Last edited by seth (Today 10:05:20)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-09-07 17:16:38

[MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#2 Yesterday 08:13:20

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#3 Yesterday 15:02:46

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#4 Today 08:40:18

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#5 Today 09:29:42

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#6 Today 10:03:12

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

#7 Today 10:04:34

Re: [MOTHBALLED] Can't connect with IWD and WPA2 Enterprise

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