[SOLVED] Reconnect to saved hidden wireless network

[kwatson512]

Moving from Linux Mint 7 to 8 has been a joy, except for one annoying thing. The newest version of the NetworkManager Applet (0.7.996) does not allow connecting to saved hidden wireless networks. I need to repeatedly access two hidden secure networks, one at home, and one at work. Both use WPA2 with a passphrase and do not broadcast the SSID. (The work network uses WPA2 Enterprise security, which also requires an anonymous identity, inner authentication, and username, but that's immaterial to this problem.)

I used the identical wireless network configurations in LM7, and they worked flawlessly. All I needed to do to connect was to click on "Connect to Hidden Wireless Network" in the NM icon, select the saved network, and click Connect. Now, everything in the "Connect to Hidden Wireless Network" popup is greyed out except the network name and "Cancel." I have to go back to configuration of the networks, create the hidden network as a new connection and then connect.

I believe this is an upstream problem--I've tried Ubuntu 9.10 and had the same problem. Is there something I can do in the configuration file to enable connection to a saved hidden network? Or is this a regression issue?

I'm running LM8 on a Lenovo X60s, Intel Core2 Duo CPU L7700@1.80GHz, 3 MB RAM, Intel 4965 AGN network controller.

Here's my lspci output:

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kwatson@kwatson-lnx ~/Desktop $ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HBM (ICH8M-E) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)
05:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ba)
05:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 04)
05:00.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 21)

[viking777]

When you edit the network select the option to connect automatically, then it will. It will take its time though, can be a minute or two, but as long as you are in range of work or home it will connect without intervention from you to whichever one it senses, but you will have to be a bit patient for it to occur though. If it can't connect for some other reason it will pop up a window asking for the network password to be entered, when this occurs you know you have waited long enough.

Some people say that wicd is better - I can't say that I agree though, not by a long chalk!

[kwatson512]

@viking777,

Thanks. I had already checked that, and it does connect automatically to one or the other. The problem arises when I am in range of both wireless networks and want to connect to the one it did NOT automatically select. I have a home network, and in my home office also have a virtual office setup that uses my work wireless network. The NM applet picks the home network, which has a slightly stronger signal, and I can't manually select the work network without reconfiguring it. Any other thoughts?

[kwatson512]

Now I feel a little stupid. I just tried clicking on the list of available networks and it connects to whichever one I click. No need to go through the drill of clicking on "Connect to HIdden Wireless Network," selecting one, and then clicking "Connect." This version makes those available right in the main menu. Duh. Nobody published that new feature, and it's very nice!

[kwatson512]

Not so fast. This is NOT solved. I also have a wired connection to my corporate network at home, so after I had authenticated to the work wireless network I was able to switch back and forth. I tried again without the wired connection, and the problem returned. If I try to connect to "Available" saved hidden networks, the only security options are WEP, LEAP, and Dynamic WEP. When I go to the "Connect to Hidden Wireless Network" menu and select the saved network, the "Connect" button is greyed out. The only way to connect is to delete that saved network configuration and recreate it.

This is true across other distros I have tried, so I think it's a Network Manager applet problem (upstream). Version 0.7.0.100 (Mint Gloria, Ubuntu Jaunty, etc.) did not have this problem. I've searched the Ubuntu Forums for an answer, and found nothing. Unfortunately, the gnome.org website times out, so I can't check directly with the project page (http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/.

I've also tried wicd, but I was never able to configure it for WPA Enterprise, Protected EAP, with anonymous identity, username, and password.

[mjshoaf]

Having the exact issue you are...have you figured this out?

[kwatson512]

No. I miss NM version 0.7.0.100.

[kwatson512]

I've been experimenting with other distros to see if I can duplicate the problem there. The problem exists in Ubuntu 9.10, but not in Fedora 12. Fedora uses the same version of NM Mint and Ubuntu do (0.7.998), but under Fedora the NM Applet behaves as it used to under Ubuntu 9.04 and Mint Gloria. I wonder what's different in the Ubuntu/Mint implementation, and whether it also applies upstream to all .deb implementations?

[viking777]

I've been experimenting with other distros to see if I can duplicate the problem there. The problem exists in Ubuntu 9.10, but not in Fedora 12. Fedora uses the same version of NM Mint and Ubuntu do (0.7.998), but under Fedora the NM Applet behaves as it used to under Ubuntu 9.04 and Mint Gloria. I wonder what's different in the Ubuntu/Mint implementation, and whether it also applies upstream to all .deb implementations?

That is interesting. I have been experimenting along similar lines to try to get my Huawei E220 broadband modem working with Mint Helena (gnome). I never succeeded until recently when I installed the Fluxbox CE. Now it works perfectly. I have even tried installing Fluxbox window manager on top of a gnome install and it again it works perfectly.

Now I know that the original post here and my experiments are on different topics, so maybe there is no correlation at all, but one thing I would urge you to try is to install one of the other version of Mint (KDE, Fluxbox, Xfce, Lxde, it doesn't matter) If it works it will save you having to endure something as awful as Fedora

Also it might add some support to my contention that Gnome/Gnome Network Manager have a serious bug that is not present in other DE's / WM's.

[kwatson512]

I don't think it's Gnome. I'm running Fedora 12 Gnome on my other laptop and the NM Applet works perfectly there. I have Linux Mint XFCE on a USB stick, but alas, it's Gloria.

I looked around gnome bugzilla, and this bug is well documented. It should have been pushed out with updates to Karmic, but I'm not sure it has made it to the main repositories yet.

[kwatson512]

Well, I just installed Mint 8 XFCE on another machine and tried this. Same problem under XFCE as Mint 8 under Gnome. So it isn't limited to one desktop environment. The problem does not exist under Fedora 12 under Gnome, even though the NM Applet version number is the same.

[viking777]

Well, I just installed Mint 8 XFCE on another machine and tried this. Same problem under XFCE as Mint 8 under Gnome. So it isn't limited to one desktop environment. The problem does not exist under Fedora 12 under Gnome, even though the NM Applet version number is the same.

Thanks for trying that out for me, obviously my problem is a different one to yours.

[jethromdias]

I have the same problem here with an ad-hoc wifi connection. Here's my situation:

I have a desktop pc running Ubuntu 9.10 (routing the DSL internet), and a laptop running Mint Helena.
I've set my ad-hoc connection on both of them, and it worked just fine. And if I restart just one of the machines, they still can automatically connect to the ad-hoc network because the other machine is still broadcasting. The problem starts when both of the machines are down.

When I turn the machines up, they don't start the connection untill I tell one of them to do it.
To do that, I have to go through the "Connect to Hidden Wireless Network..." option, and then I get all the problems you got there... the grey button or making a new hidden connection.

I ran masonux (ubuntu + lxde desktop) from a pendrive and found out that when you go through the "Connect to hidden wireless..." and choose the saved connection profile, it asks for your keyring password right away, and only after that, the Connect button is enabled.

So, I think it's a problem of user's rights... I mean, Ubuntu or Mint should ask us for that password as well but it's not doing that.

Now how to solve it? Closing network-manager and re-opening it in sudo mode??

[highfructose327]

I was having the same issue

everything in the "Connect to Hidden Wireless Network" popup is greyed out except

I found a bug on launchpad that fit the description https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/446394. This is what fixed it for me, add the PPA for Network-manager.

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:network-manager/ppa

then I did an update/upgrade

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Now I am able to select connect in the "Hidden Wireless Network" dialog, and it connects perfect

edit: also I did a reboot after the upgrade, not sure if it made a difference figured it would not hurt.

[jethromdias]

highfructose327, you're the man!!! I knew it might have been a bug! Thank you very much.

This tread can be marked as solved, at least from my side of the story, thanks to highfructose327

[kwatson512]

@highfructose327,

Thanks! This worked like a charm for me, too. I can confirm that you do have to reboot. I left the machine running after the upgrade and all my network connectivity failed. I was a little worried until reboot.