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Gnome-Network-Manager Config File Migration

rated 0 times [ 3] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 11494 / 2 Years ago, wed, september 21, 2022, 3:08:33

I think I have an issue with gnome-network-manager, I used to have a lot of connections configured, Wireless, Wired and VPN. After upgrading to 12.04 (from 11.10) I lost every configuration.

I realized that the configs that used to be saved in $HOME/.gconf/system/networking/connections now are being saved in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/.

I don't know how to migrate my settings to the new config file format

Can anybody help me?

jorge@thinky:~$ sudo lshw -C network

*-network

   description: Ethernet interface

   product: 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection

   vendor: Intel Corporation

   physical id: 19

   bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0

   logical name: eth0

   version: 03

   serial: 00:1f:e2:14:5a:9b

   capacity: 1Gbit/s

   width: 32 bits

   clock: 33MHz

   capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation

   configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=1.5.1-k firmware=0.3-0 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair

   resources: irq:46 memory:fe000000-fe01ffff memory:fe025000-fe025fff ioport:1840(size=32)

*-network

   description: Wireless interface

   product: PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection

   vendor: Intel Corporation

   physical id: 0

   bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0

   logical name: wlan0

   version: 61

   serial: 00:21:5c:32:c2:e5

   width: 64 bits

   clock: 33MHz

   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless

   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl4965 driverversion=3.2.0-23-generic-pae firmware=228.61.2.24 ip=192.168.2.103 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

   resources: irq:47 memory:df3fe000-df3fffff



jorge@thinky:~$ lsb_release -a



No LSB modules are available.



Distributor ID: Ubuntu

Description:    Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Release:    12.04

Codename:   precise



jorge@thinky:~$ uname -a

Linux thinky 3.2.0-23-generic-pae #36-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 10 22:19:09 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux



jorge@thinky:~$ dpkg -l  | grep -i firm



ii  linux-firmware                                              1.79                                    Firmware for Linux kernel drivers

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laiuct

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3 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago looweets · Accepted Answer

The migration is usally done by "nm-applet", meaning it reads the old user config via GConf and writes them in the new format under "/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/"

One problem is that this only done once, but you can trigger "nm-applet" to rerun the migration by "gconftool-2 -s /apps/nm-applet/stamp --type=int 2", so on the next start it will rescan GConf. Double entries will get a UUID attached.

But as "nm-applet" search for old config via GConf you should make sure that ".gconf/system/networking/connections" is really listed in it. So verify it with "gconftool-2 --dump /system/networking/connections", that should list all your connections.

In my case ".gconf/system/networking/connections" wasn't available via GConf and therefore "nm-applet" could not migrate it. Therefore i created a new user on the system and copied my ".gconf/system/networking/connections" to the new user's home and migrated it from this new login. To correct the wrong permission i used "sudo sed -i "s/permissions=user:NEWUSER/permissions=user:REALUSER/g" /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*" where REALUSER is obviously your real user and NEWUSER is the temporary migration user.

After all while it's nice to finally have everything migrated to "/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/", there are quite a few problems with the new storage location, you should be aware of:

for reinstallations and backup cases you always need to save/move the new location, where formerly your /home was enough

your user only connections are no longer secured by your encrypted home directory

the are some security flaws, where passwords for user only connections are stored in clear text under /etc instead of being stored securely in the encrypted keyring