Pi Zero Fails to Raise Network Interfaces

Question

I recently installed Kali Linux on my Raspberry Pi Zero W and following this guide connected it to my local WiFi network. I was able to connect just fine on the first try as well as the second try and I could update all of my packages using apt-get as well as try to download a file with wget.

Then after shutting down the Pi for a couple of days, I got back to it and tried to change the WiFi network to another in my house, but after trying to connect it wouldn't and I realized that I was actually connecting to a 5Ghz WiFi network, one which the Pi Zero W doesn't support.

I then changed my configuration settings back to the old WiFi SSID and password and rebooted, but my Pi wouldn't connect back to the network. I re-tried multiple times to no avail. I continued to get the following output and subsequent errors every time I boot up the Pi:

[OK] Starting Network Manager
     Starting Hostname Service
[OK] Started WPA Supplicant
[OK] Started Authorization Manager
[OK] Started Modem Manager
     Starting Raise Network Interfaces...
[OK] Started Hostname Service
brcmfmac: power management disabled
[FAILED] Failed to start Raise Network Interfaces
See "status networking.service" for more details.
[OK] Reached Target Network
     Starting /etc/rc.local Compatibility
     Starting OpenBSD Secure Shell Server
     Starting Permit User Sessions

I had never seen the [FAILED] Failed to start Raise Network Interfaces line until after I tried connecting to the different WiFi network.

This is what I have set in my /etc/network/interfaces config file:

iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid homewifinetwork1
wpa-psk Password1

I searched the internet for quite some time and tried multiple solutions, none of them working. So I have turned to asking my own question, hoping it will help me figure it out.

Answer 1

I found the following answer on here (in the comments) and on the Raspberry Pi Forums here, but I am sharing it to be of use to anyone who might stumble upon my question above.

First, run the command sudo rfkill list all and you should get something like this:

0: phy0: Wireless Lan
Soft Blocked: no
Hard Blocked: no

Then, run the command sudo rfkill unblock all and reboot using shutdown -r now. I am told this won't work if you have a WiFi network that uses WEP security.

Then open /etc/rc.local in a text editor and add the following two lines before exit 0 at the bottom:

sleep 10
sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off

Save the file and reboot by typing shutdown -r now and when your Pi comes back up, it should be reconnected to the WiFi network.