Hello everyone,
I installed Leap16 yesterday, which was a bit of a struggle, as mentioned in a previous post.
I think the installer needs some improvement: the graphics drivers aren’t loaded during installation, so the screen resolution is very low.
When I installed Tumblebee, I was happy to have a fully functional installation screen that was clear and at the correct resolution.
My problem today concerns KDE and the internet connection.
I managed to import the VPN servers I want to connect to.
But KDE isn’t saving the corresponding passwords: at the bottom of the configuration screen, “Apply” remains grayed out even though I entered my password.
I’ve closed and reopened the configuration window several times without success in saving these settings.
Even when using the Network Manager, the “Configure” option doesn’t accept the password.
Of course, I entered the administrator password to make the changes.
On Trumblebee, I was able to do this without any issues.
Best to focus on the details of the problem at hand rather than unrelated installation details.
From the information provided so far, this seems less like a VPN issue itself and more like KDE’s KWallet not functioning correctly within the user session.
Is the KDE wallet subsystem enabled? Check System Settings.
Hello deano_ferrari
Your question calls for several answers.
Although it is not advisable to mention other distributions, I should point out that I have not used Kwallet on any of them, as I do not like it.
These other distributions all used KDE, and none of them forced me to use Kwallet.
And on all of them, I was able to use my VPN without any problems.
Currently on my computer, I keep Tumbleweed and Leap 16 up to date.
On Tumbleweed, Kwallet never opened to save my VPN, and my VPN works correctly.
KDE has saved my 6 servers and their credentials without any hassle.
I should point out that the Kwallet version on Tumbleweed is 6.26.0.-1.1
whereas on Leap 16, the version is 6.16.0-bp160.1.2
On Leap 16, the first time I tried to add my first VPN server, KDE automatically opened Kwallet, forcing it on me.
I refused this by closing the window that had opened (see above: I don’t want Kwallet)
When I realised I couldn’t register my servers properly, I naturally posted a message on the forum.
While waiting for a reply, I carried on searching.
So I launched Kwallet and got a surprise: here is Kwallet on the screen below.
It is neither forced nor is it mandatory at all. It can be enabled or disabled in systemsettings with only one click. As it always was, on all distributions. If the user/admin does not like a preset, he needs to change it. In this case, via one single click in systemsettings.
In the KDE network configuration window, the option ‘Save password for all users (unencrypted)’ is selected.
When I click in the field to enter the network password, a pop-up window opens asking for my root password.
And this window always opens twice, and I have to confirm my root password each time.
That was not what I was asking you to do. I asked if you could create a VPN connection manually using Network Manager.
No.
You can upgrade the KDE Plasma desktop build as explained in the wiki page: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:KDE_repositories
However, I don’t think doing so would make any difference to the issue you describe.
To summarise:
VPN secrets for system connections are stored by NetworkManager itself in the root-owned system connection configuration.
Activating the VPN normally should not require administrator authentication, assuming the secrets were successfully stored in the system connection.
However, modifying or saving a system-wide NetworkManager connection does require elevated privileges, so being prompted for authentication at that stage is normal.
