I'm trying to run a USB Wi-Fi dongle off Ubuntu Server. I edited /etc/netplan/*.yaml and I'm running multiple network interfaces, which all work as intended. See the lines below for the Wi-Fi setting. Renderer is NetworkManager.

  wifis:

wlan0:

  access-points:

    "SSID":

      password: "********"

  dhcp4: true

  optional: true

I'm able to see the wlan0 interface and scan:

wlan0     Scan completed :

      Cell 01 - Address: 1C:43:63:26:2C:DC

                Channel:9

                Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)

                Quality=42/70  Signal level=-68 dBm

                Encryption key:on

                ESSID:"SSID"

                Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s

                          9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s

                Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s

                Mode:Master

                Extra:tsf=0000000e5148e399

                Extra: Last beacon: 72ms ago

Logs from NetworkManager:

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6108] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: starting -> ready

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6111] Wi-Fi P2P device controlled by interface wlan0 created

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6117] manager: (p2p-dev-wlan0): new 802.11 Wi-Fi P2P device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/5)

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6125] device (p2p-dev-wlan0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys-iface-state: 'external')

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <warn>  [1669569703.6141] sup-iface: failed to cancel p2p connect: P2P cancel failed

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6142] device (p2p-dev-wlan0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

Nov 27 17:21:43 sp4k001 NetworkManager[2312]: <info>  [1669569703.6147] device (wlan0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-available', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

Any ideas? I've tried with and without wpa_supplicant, but Netplan.io says you don't need wpa_supplicant when running NetworkManager backend.

I've also found the following logs in netplan-wpa-wlan0.service:

Nov 27 16:18:53 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 1c:43:63:26:2c:dc (SSID='Hairy-Lemon' freq=2452 MHz)

Nov 27 16:18:53 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: Trying to associate with 1c:43:63:26:2c:dc (SSID='Hairy-Lemon' freq=2452 MHz)

Nov 27 16:18:53 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="Hairy-Lemon" auth_failures=7 duration=90 reason=CONN_FAILED

Nov 27 16:20:24 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-REENABLED id=0 ssid="Hairy-Lemon"

Nov 27 16:20:24 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 1c:43:63:26:2c:dc (SSID='Hairy-Lemon' freq=2452 MHz)

Nov 27 16:20:24 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: Trying to associate with 1c:43:63:26:2c:dc (SSID='Hairy-Lemon' freq=2452 MHz)

Nov 27 16:20:25 sp4k001 wpa_supplicant[3908]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="Hairy-Lemon" auth_failures=8 duration=90 reason=CONN_FAILED

When I run nmcli dev wifi connect SSID password ******, it all works. Am I not able to use netplan and NetworkManager without reliance on wpa_supplicant? Any help appreciated, this seems to be a common problem for quite a few people on Ubuntu Server.

To clarify, this is not resolved via the following steps: No WiFi on IntelNUC Following Release Upgrade

Out of the box, I'm not able to set up a netplan and attach a Wi-Fi connection to an AP with PSK. See error messages above.