Question

14

How to configure wpa_supplicant in Ubuntu server 20.04

rated 0 times [ 14] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 22854 / 2 Years ago, sat, june 4, 2022, 3:40:05

For esoteric reasons I have a server which only has WiFi access to the network.

By copying the necessary dpkg files on a removable drive I've managed to install wpa_supplicant.

The thing that's bugging me is that on other distributions configuring it can be done by editing /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. But this doesn't work on Ubuntu because the systemd service file starts up wpa_supplicant without specifying a configuration file. There is no -c specified in its arguments.

Even the Ubuntu man page says the most common way to start it is by specifying a config file...

In most common cases, wpa_supplicant is started with:
         wpa_supplicant -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0

Because this is a server there is no GUI installed and I'm not using network manager (AFAIK)

I have of course confirmed that shutting down the systemd service and manually starting the Daemon from the command line will work. And I can of course modify the .service file. But this feels like the wrong solution.

Can anyone tell me how I am supposed to configure wpa_supplicant on Ubuntu server?

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

puccop

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 66

Total Questions: 99

Total Answers: 93

Location: Aruba

Member since Sun, Nov 27, 2022

2 Years ago

puccop questions

1 Autoinstall local repository

Thu, Feb 17, 22, 08:16, 2 Years ago

1 Activity stuck in ubuntu 21.04

Fri, Jan 13, 23, 18:55, 1 Year ago

1 Can someone explain why there exist two org.gnome.Software.desktop files? Which one (how) is loaded?

Mon, Aug 29, 22, 06:05, 2 Years ago

1 How to bookmark in file explorer Ubuntu 20.04?

Fri, Jan 21, 22, 07:21, 2 Years ago

1 Cannot ping GitHub

Thu, Jul 28, 22, 06:32, 2 Years ago

View All

answered 2 Years ago bunsistent · Accepted Answer

It is not necessary to manually configure wpa_supplicant.

Networking in recent Ubuntu server versions is managed by netplan. Check to see the name of your netplan file:

ls /etc/netplan

I will assume that the name of the file you found is 01-netcfg.yaml. Substitute your details here if not 01-netcfg.yaml.

We will amend the file to specify your details:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

Change the file to read:

network:

  version: 2

  renderer: networkd

  wifis:

    wlx-----:

      dhcp4: yes

      dhcp6: yes

      access-points:

        "network_ssid_name":

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

Please substitute your wireless interface name here instead of wlx----. Please note that the access point name and password are enclosed in quotation marks ". Spacing, indentation, etc. are crucial, please proofread carefully twice.

Save (Ctrl+o followed by Enter) and exit (Ctrl+x) the text editor nano. Follow with:

sudo netplan generate

sudo netplan apply

If you instead prefer a static IP address for the server, you can find the template here:

cat /usr/share/doc/netplan/examples/wireless.yaml