[solved] Headless wifi setup - conflict between NetworkManager and /etc/network/interfaces

[cvxx]

Hi,

 

I have few boards that were once connected to wifi manually, but now are headless. I would like now to upgrade Armbian and put wifi connection during sd card flash.

 

Tried the classic way: /etc/network/interfaces

 

Quote

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wpa-ssid wifi
        wpa-psk 12345678

 

When the board boots it connects to the wifi, I see few pings and then it goes offline

 

After taking one of the boards for troubleshooting using serial console I found that NeworkManager starts right after the network is up and screws everything:

 

Quote

 

Feb 10 04:59:33 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[526]: wlan0: Trying to associate with f8:d1:11:11:ee:c4 (SSID='wifi' freq=2412 MHz)
Feb 10 04:59:33 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[526]: wlan0: Associated with f8:d1:11:11:ee:c4
Feb 10 04:59:33 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[526]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SUBNET-STATUS-UPDATE status=0
Feb 10 04:59:33 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[526]: wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with f8:d1:11:11:ee:c4 [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
Feb 10 04:59:33 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[526]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to f8:d1:11:11:ee:c4 completed [id=0 id_str=]

...snip...

 

Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite NetworkManager[669]: <info>  [1549774776.5293] supplicant: wpa_supplicant running
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite NetworkManager[669]: <info>  [1549774776.5297] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: init -> starting
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[665]: ctrl_iface exists and seems to be in use - cannot override it
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[665]: Delete '/run/wpa_supplicant/wlan0' manually if it is not used anymore
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[665]: Failed to initialize control interface '/run/wpa_supplicant'.
                                                  You may have another wpa_supplicant process already running or the file was
                                                  left by an unclean termination of wpa_supplicant in which case you will need
                                                  to manually remove this file before starting wpa_supplicant again.

Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite wpa_supplicant[665]: nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite NetworkManager[669]: <error> [1549774776.7041] sup-iface[0x1ff0890,wlan0]: error adding interface: wpa_supplicant couldn't grab this interface.
Feb 10 04:59:36 orangepilite NetworkManager[669]: <info>  [1549774776.7052] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: starting -> down

 

Executing sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup -v wlan0 restores the connection

 

My question is: what is the correct way to put wifi configuration on the sd card of a headless Armbian installation?

 

Thanks

[isan98]

from this link you can try this way :

 

nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

ap_scan=1 

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

network={ ssid="xxxxxx" 

scan_ssid=1 

psk="yyyyyyy"

}

added to /etc/network/interfaces

auto wlan0 

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

pre-up sudo wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dnl80211 

post-down sudo killall -q wpa_supplicant

 

[cvxx]

Thanks for the idea

 

I found this solution to be more compatible: /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
 

Quote

 

--- /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf.bak 2019-02-10 04:57:51.988000067 +0000
+++ /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf     2019-04-16 11:14:51.616145076 +0000
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 plugins=ifupdown,keyfile

 [ifupdown]
-managed=true
+managed=false

 [device]
 wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

 

Source: https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkManager#Wired_Networks_are_Unmanaged

[cvxx]

The `ifupdown` method to connect a headless device no longer works with the latest Armbian 21.02.3. For some reason the interface remains down and requires manual `sudo ifup -v wlan0`

`rc.local` does not start as there is root password change prompt blocking it

Anyone knows what do I need to change to start wlan0 on boot? Or any other way to configure network on a device without HDMI?

Thanks

[Igor]

13 minutes ago, cvxx said:

The `ifupdown` method to connect a headless device no longer works with the latest Armbian 21.02.3.

We haven't change anything so this could be an issue with NetworkManager. Debian or Ubuntu based?

[cvxx]

Armbian_21.02.3_Orangepilite_focal_current_5.10.21

[cvxx]

UPDATE

I have set up a fresh sd card to investigate and collect logs, but this time `ifupdown` worked
Probably it was some typo I made in /etc/network/interfaces during setup

 

Also, a note for future myself when I visit this thread again, there is a way to create the connection through `armbian_first_run.txt`. I tested and it worked. So, probably, better to switch to this way to have less conflicts between Network Manager and ifupdown