[SOLVED]wpa_supplicant and hidden wpa2 network.

nathan28 · 2011-07-18 21:50:41

I'm having trouble with wpa_supplicant and associating with hidden wpa2 networks without first scanning for the network by its SSID, even with scan_ssid=1 in wpa_supplicant.conf.

I just switched ISPs. My previous network was a DSL modem --> Wireless router, WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK with the static IPs and MAC filtering on my WLAN and hidden SSID. Right now I have a cable modem --> wireless router, WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK with the router using DHCP to assign IPs, and a hidden SSID.

Broadcasting the SSID fixes the problem on Arch, as does being sure to kill any lingering dhcpcd and wpa_supplicant processes, then # iwlist wlan0 scan essid="[my network]" channel=11 prior to logging back on successfully. OTOH that does seem to solve the problem consistently, which seemed to be

Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='[home hidden wpa2 network]'
id=1 ssid='[other network]'
id=2 ssid='[other network]'
WEXT: cfg80211-based driver detected
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=22 WE(source)=21 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf flags 0x0
netlink: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: [9A:RA:N0:1D]
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
WPS: UUID based on MAC address - hexdump(len=16) [... paranoia]
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized [yeah, duh]
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
ctrl_interface_group=10 (from group name 'wheel')
Added interface wlan0
Daemonize..

Network Manager on my 'stable' GNOME2 / CrapBuntu 10.04 machine doesn't have any issues, and my Arch machine was able to connect to hidden WPA2 networks previously using wpa_supplicant without all the hassle. Only conditions that have changed are the static vs. DHCP WLAN IPs and server-side stuff.

I haven't tried network manager which obviously works in another environment. This machine is a laptop and I don't like waiting longer for network daemons to time out than it would take to key in commands. Is there something stupid I'm doing (other than not just scripting all the wpa_supplicant stuff) ?

Last edited by nathan28 (2011-07-20 03:46:56)

djgera · 2011-07-18 23:31:05

Hello

Short answer: Enable the the SSID broadcast and enjoy.

There is no benefit with not broadcasting it (sometimes called "hidden"), like filtering by MAC address.

About static vs dynamic IP is irrelevant at the connectivity level

But if you always want not broadcasting SSID and using wpa_supplicant, then first setup the SSID in your wlan0: iwconfig wlan0 essid "your-not-broadcasted-ssid"

Good Luck.

Last edited by djgera (2011-07-18 23:31:40)

nathan28 · 2011-07-20 01:22:28

Thanks for the reply. I'll tag this as solved. I think the other solution would have been to script the process. Wicd in the daemon array logs in far faster than I can type "ifconfig wlan0 up && wpa_supplicant blah blah blah" though with no issues.

I know unbroadcasted SSIDs aren't exactly bulletproof or even useful, but not only am I bashful but I'm also pretty sure the paranoia package is included by default in most linux distro installs.

Last edited by nathan28 (2011-07-20 03:47:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-18 21:50:41

[SOLVED]wpa_supplicant and hidden wpa2 network.

#2 2011-07-18 23:31:05

Re: [SOLVED]wpa_supplicant and hidden wpa2 network.

#3 2011-07-20 01:22:28

Re: [SOLVED]wpa_supplicant and hidden wpa2 network.

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