The network connection is via Wifi, and this only starts when a user logs in. Since there is another user account on this machine, when the second user logs in the wifi connection will be started again even though its the same one.
I also have some windows shares that I want to mount at boot time, but keep failing because the network isn’t started yet.
I want to set the system up so that the wifi connection is started during the boot process. Can someone tell me how to do this?
28.4.1 User and System ConnectionsNetworkManager knows two types of connections: user and system connections. User connections are connections that become available to NetworkManager when the first user logs in. Any required credentials are asked from the user and when the user logs out, the connections are disconnected and removed from NetworkManager. Connections that are defined as system connections can be shared by all users and are made available right after NetworkManager is started—before any users log in. In case of system connections, all credentials must be provided at the time the connection is created. Such system connections can be used to automatically connect to networks that require authorization. For information on how to configure user or system connections with NetworkManager, refer to Section 28.3, “Configuring Network Connections”.
To make your connection available as a system connection go to the Identity tab and set the check box Make available to other users. For more information about user and system connections, see Section 28.4.1, “User and System Connections”.
That is simply the way it is done for ages on Unix/Linux systems. It starts the network at boot. The normal way for every system that is not a “walk around and connect to different networks at the end-users whim” system.
You have the option to use Wicked only if the machine is stationary and only connects to this one Access Point.
Since Wicked can’t remember more than one configured connection, if this machine were to connect to a different AP, the credentials for this first connection would be forgotten and have to be re-created if you wanted to connect again.
Network Manager can be easily configured to support “system-wide” so would then start when the system boots instead of waiting for a User to log in, which is usually more convenient for wireless connections.
This is a key point here. Plasma wants to save the connection credentials in kwallet.
Go into the connection editor with NetworkManager. For that, right-click on the tray icon.
Using the security tab for your connection, there should be three options for the security key:
save the key for this user
save the key for all users (not encrypted)
prompt for the key every time you connect.
Okay, the wording is probably a bit different from the above, but that’s the gist of it. The default for plasma is the first of those options. You should instead go with the second of those options.
Once that is done, then go to the general tab for the connection, and change this to share the connection with all users. That will prompt for the root password. After that, you should be set for connection on boot.
Your other users will have different configurations for this connection. Ask them to delete the connection so that they can use the one that you shared. Maybe you should start by having them delete the connection before you make the other changes.