Using wpa_gui (Could not get status from wpa_supplicant)

[Davespice]

Hi folks;
I'm trying to help a young friend of mine who is attempting to setup his Wifi on his Pi.
He is using one of the Maplin kits that comes with a Wifi adapter and USB hub etc.

The SD card comes with the wpa_gui wifi config utility.
As per this one, but obviously under LXDE;
http://manual.aptosid.com/en/inet-wpagui-en.htm

Here is the problem, if anyone can point me in the right direction;

He does a scan, double clicks the network he wants to join, types in the PSK field and clicks add;

Status: Could not get status from wpa_supplicant
Last message: -signal 15 received

Any ideas? Does he have to be root to use wpa_gui? Or is it something else?
Thanks in advance, any help appreciated.

[thogue]

Wpa_supplicant isn't running or has crashed.

Check logs for errors and if there are none its probably not starting. check the config files related to networkinfg /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/path.to.wpa.supplicant.conf

[Davespice]

Thanks for the reply, but this is not hugely helpful because the lad I'm trying to help won't know what to do with those log files.
The SD card image he's using is one supplied by Maplin, so I would imagine the setup is correct in terms of wpa.supplicant.conf.
The only thing I can think of is that you need to be root to modify the config files?

[thogue]

I suggest having your friend give you the config files and post them here.


I would imagine that wlan0 in interfaces / and a wpa_supplicant file did not come fully configured out of the box.

Maybe you should suggest WICD ?

Honestly, I am unsure if WPA_GUI should build out these configs or not. Cmd line junkie here.

[gfitzg]

I had the same message using the Maplin's kit - but on first connection I accidently got the WiFi key/password wrong (unknowingly). After a quick Google I examined the /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file and discovered the incorrect password embedded within the file.
sudo cat /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
I editied the file (from CLI) and rebooted (sudo shutdown -r now).
The WiFi adapter connected without error from wpa_gui after restart. There are probably several ways of fixing this but this is what worked for me.
HTH,
GFitzG.

[Davespice]

Thanks gfitzg, I will also have a look at this.

[richardkendell]

I am very new to the Pi (opened the box this morning) so please bear with me.
On trying to connect to the internet via the Maplins dongle I get "could not get status from wpa supplicant".
I have read the above posts and looked at the wpa-supplicant .conf files . I assume what I have managed to input there (via the GUI interface) is wrong and needs editing, but I don't know how. I assume I get there via the command line but what do I need to input? When I get there do I just delete everything in the Network = {SSID etc....} entry and reboot?
Any help much appreciated.

[paxerit]

I had the same problem and in my case the solution was to move the wireless dongle from the USB hub to a USB port directly on the Pi. This caused the Pi to reboot and then it connected without a hitch.

[richardkendell]

Thanks. My Pi had to go back but I will try on my next one if I have a problem.

Richard

[richardash1981]

For anyone else hunting a solution to this, a checklist of what was stopping me using a MicroNext MN-WD542T dongle based on the (old) popular ZD1211 chipset:

• No firmware loaded. This isn't in the SD card image, so you somehow need to load the 'zd1211-firmware' package. Note that without the firmware you can see a 'wlan0' network device, it just won't work!
• Make sure the following lines are in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf for wpa_gui to work (the 'pi' user should already be a member of the netdev group)

  Code: Select all

  # needed for wpa_gui to work
  ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
  # needed to allow wpa_gui to alter the configuration
  update_config=1
  

I've just found that I need the

[eried]

For anyone else hunting a solution to this, a checklist of what was stopping me using a MicroNext MN-WD542T dongle based on the (old) popular ZD1211 chipset:

• No firmware loaded. This isn't in the SD card image, so you somehow need to load the 'zd1211-firmware' package. Note that without the firmware you can see a 'wlan0' network device, it just won't work!
• Make sure the following lines are in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf for wpa_gui to work (the 'pi' user should already be a member of the netdev group)

  Code: Select all

  # needed for wpa_gui to work
  ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
  # needed to allow wpa_gui to alter the configuration
  update_config=1
  

I've just found that I need the

Thanks a lot! This fixed my Wifi (for some reason stopped working)

[victagayun]

For anyone else hunting a solution to this, a checklist of what was stopping me using a MicroNext MN-WD542T dongle based on the (old) popular ZD1211 chipset:

• No firmware loaded. This isn't in the SD card image, so you somehow need to load the 'zd1211-firmware' package. Note that without the firmware you can see a 'wlan0' network device, it just won't work!
• Make sure the following lines are in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf for wpa_gui to work (the 'pi' user should already be a member of the netdev group)

  Code: Select all

  # needed for wpa_gui to work
  ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
  # needed to allow wpa_gui to alter the configuration
  update_config=1
  

I've just found that I need the

Thanks a lot! This fixed my Wifi (for some reason stopped working)

eried you talk in riddles...
working or not?

[eried]

Yup

[fouraces]

just to say some things endure over time:

the post of ( by gfitzg » Wed Oct 17, 2012 5:26 pm ) has saved another user!

I just got my maplin kit and after the first login it refused to restart the wifi. In my case the network was a combination of a wireless router and then a mac airport base station and series of airport extremes used to get better signal strength. This seems to look to the PI like a series of separate networks with the same name but different MAC IDs for each device. I too had mis-entered the network name and password during the first configuration attempt and in addition had had to re-select the network name from the scan list and re-enter the password multiple times. As a result the /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file appeared to contain a series of 3 separate blocks of configuration information. At startup and when trying to configure the WiFi the wpa-gui routine seemed to try each of these several times and then reported the signal 15 code.
I edited the /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file down to one block of code only and corrected the spelling and case of the network name and password and then rebooted. Seems to have fixed the problem.
Thanks to gfitzig.
PS - the forum also introduced me to the shutdown command and it's use as a 'restart' command " sudo shutdown -r now ". Good thing to know. I expect, as a matter of good practice, one should use this rather than simply pulling-the-plug although it does not suggest this anywhere that I have seen so far. It also seems that using the 'halt' form: " sudo shutdown -h now " is a much more civilised way to close down the machine as well.

[hardwaredongle]

I was getting the same 2 errors. My problem was fixed when I found out i had been putting the wrong password for the line psk="*****" in the /etc/wpa.conf file.

[daddadhad]

Um guys for some reason I dont have a /etc/wpa.conf file

[MrEngman]

Um guys for some reason I dont have a /etc/wpa.conf file

The default for raspbian is /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

[daddadhad]

Also no matter how hard I try I can't seem to make it stop thinking wlan0 is eth0

[daddadhad]

Also no matter how hard I try I can't seem to make it stop thinking wlan0 is eth0

and it thinks the wlan0 encap is ethernet

[daddadhad]

WAIT! i have gotten it to scan but i am at a stand still because i don`t have a usb hub

[Hibid]

Hello everyone I am new to pi and programming and I am trying to get internet using dongle, but when I go to the wifi config it shows no adapter and no network, it also says status: Could not get status from wpa_supplicant. I have tryed to go to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf but it says permission denied.
Could someone please help

[DougieLawson]

Try activating the interface first.

sudo ifup wlan0

[Hibid]

Try activating the interface first.

sudo ifup wlan0

Before I do what?
My major problem is that I am a total newbie which means all the guides are rubish to me they all expect you to know some stuff before hand, even the guides that say specially for beginners. At first I tried Ethernet cable to my laptop I had a problem looked it up and all the guide said was check the connection. I don't know what to look for so that does not help. Thanks for the reply

[MrEngman]

Hello everyone I am new to pi and programming and I am trying to get internet using dongle, but when I go to the wifi config it shows no adapter and no network, it also says status: Could not get status from wpa_supplicant. I have tryed to go to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf but it says permission denied.
Could someone please help

To be able to help it will be useful if you give details of your wifi dongle. Type command lsusb in a terminal window and this will give a list of usb devices which should include your wifi dongle. Then type command uname -a which will give us a clue as to which linux image you are using. This will help in determining what you need to do to get it working.

Copy the output from these two commands so we can see what we are dealing with.

FYI the file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf is restricted to root user access. You need to add sudo to the beginning of the command you are using to access it. sudo will give you temporary root user rights. Rather like using administrator access on a windows machine.


MrEngman

[DougieLawson]

Try activating the interface first.

sudo ifup wlan0

Before I do what

Er, ... before you start wpa_gui.