I can open Network Manager and the open a dialog to add a new WiFi connection.
I can edit the tabs in the new connection (search for and click the new SSID, add password characters)
but the OK button remains grayed out.
Feels like a permissions issue. I know I should at some point be prompted to enter root password, as I am trying to add a system connection,
but I don’t see how to get that to complete.
Is there a group one must belong to to make changes?
I am already a member of
carl@HPDV7-Linux:~> groups
users daemon tty lp dialout cdrom at vboxusers sshd systemd-journal plugdev
I had no problems adding and getting connected when I first installed Leap 42.1, but have not had the need to do anything for about 4 months of updates and shift to KF5.
Also of interest - Connections Manaagement window will not let be edit an existing connection with a new passcode either.
If you use Plasma5’s connection editor, you may have to enter the connection password/credentials on the “Wireless Security” tab first before you can click on OK.
Or just select the access point in the applet and press on “Connect”.
And no, you do not have to be in any special group to be able to use NetworkManager.
There are two types of connections though: user connections and system connections (i.e. “Allow all users to connect”). The latter ones can only be modified by root (if you try as user, you will be asked for the root password), the former ones can only be seen and modified by the corresponding user.
Thanks, Wolfi
I enter the WiFi HotSpot Password and Select “Allow all users to connect”, But the OK box remains grayed out. I would expect to be prompted for the root password here, but am not.
If I simply try to connect to the new HotSpot without going thru the Connectin editor, it prompts me for password as I would expect, but just as above, the Connect button stays grayed out as I enter the WPA2 password.
Question - How do I make sure I have the correct Plasma5 Connection Editor.
It looks correct to me:
About Connection editor reports
Version 5.6.3
KDE Frameworks 5.21.0
Qi 5.6.0 (built against 5.6.0)
The xcb windowing system
Again, you have to enter the password in the editor’s “Wireless Security” tab to make the OK button active, IIRC.
It’s irrelevant whether you allow all users to connect or not.
If I simply try to connect to the new HotSpot without going thru the Connectin editor, it prompts me for password as I would expect, but just as above, the Connect button stays grayed out as I enter the WPA2 password.
Sorry, never seen such a problem.
Did you really type in your password?
Maybe there’s a root password dialog in the background somewhere? As mentioned, the root password is necessary to modify a system connection. And due to a bug (in NetworkManager apparently), it’s also required to connect, when the password is not saved system-wide yet.
Question - How do I make sure I have the correct Plasma5 Connection Editor.
There is only one.
If all else fails, you could just use nm-applet (package NetworkManager-GNOME) or nmtui (the text mode interface that’s part of the main NetworkManager package) to setup the connection though.
Plasma-nm should just be able to use it as well, even if it’s setup with some other tool.
Bottom Line, the password for the Hotspot was 1234567)
My brain was only seeing 1234567.
My issue was possibly 2 fold.
I am suspecting that a WPA passcode is a minimum of eight characters.
The OK button went from gray to white as soon as I entered the eighth digit the “)”.
I was then able to say OK and connect.
Thanks for mentioning nmtui, when I could not make that work I knew something was amiss.
I decided to try to connect to the HotSPot via an Android tablet, which forced me to read the supplied password again,
this time is saw the “)”.
I did have a second issue, for a while I was connected but could not navigate web sites.
For some reason, NetMgr was reporting both a wired connection plus my wifi.
But the Ethernet cable is not connected.
I manually disconnected from the Wired Network, after that traffic all routed to WiFi and a web page refresh worked.
I sort of recall seeing an issue posted in this regard, perhaps as a wicked issue?
Anyway, the simple answer was: Read and enter the complete pass code, stupid.
I’ll need to be careful using trailing ) on passwords.
Yes, that’s the case for WPA(2) indeed. A minimum of 8 characters is required, “OK” stays greyed out as long as you typed in less.
From Wikipedia:
WPA-Personal
Also referred to as WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) mode, this is designed for home and small office networks and doesn’t require an authentication server. Each wireless network device encrypts the network traffic using a 256 bit key. This key may be entered either as a string of 64 hexadecimal digits, or as a passphrase of 8 to 63 printable ASCII characters.
It’s different for other encryption methods though…
For some reason, NetMgr was reporting both a wired connection plus my wifi.
But the Ethernet cable is not connected.
Hm, shouldn’t happen normally.
That is, if you have an Ethernet interface, a wired connection should indeed be shown even if no cable is plugged in. But not as connected of course…
Although, if I run VirtualBox, NetworkManager does try to establish a second wired connection here (it is in state “connecting” endlessly).
That’s the VM’s virtual network card, and AFAIK a bug in NetworkManager, it shouldn’t try to manage that interface in the first place (probably fixed in more recent versions though, I’m still on 13.2 here).
But that doesn’t cause any real problems…
I manually disconnected from the Wired Network, after that traffic all routed to WiFi and a web page refresh worked.
I sort of recall seeing an issue posted in this regard, perhaps as a wicked issue?
But wicked is completely unrelated to NetworkManager…
I agree, my wicked comments was clearly out of context here.
I have been away from wired internet for 3 weeks with that machine, so could not retest.
As of right now, the laptop behaves appropriately when connected to both wired Ethernet and wifi, controlled by Network Manager.
This is my Leap 42-1, KF 5.21, Plasma 5.6.3, Qt5.6.0 laptop.
When I remove the Ethernet cable, Network Manager responds showing only wifi as connected.
I don’t have time at the moment to backtrack and try to reproduce the situation where the Wired connection appeared to be
still connected, when it was not.
