Where is my WiFi configuration configured in Raspberry Pi Imager?

Question

I can't find WiFi configuration that I entered during Raspbian installation. I have fresh Raspberry Pi 4 with default Raspbian x64 system installed on SD card by using Raspberry Pi Imager 1.8.4.

During installation I have entered my user, password and WiFi configuration, enabled SSH and regional options.

My Pi connects to that network, however my /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file contains only this:

$ sudo cat wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

There is no network.

I also have no /etc/NetworkManager directory.

Questions:

1. What is going on? Is this network configuration only for first boot?

2. I want to use multiple networks (phone hotspot first, and home network if hotspot is not available during boot). Should I just configure it in my wpa_supplicant.conf? I'm worried that initial configuration will still exist somewhere.

Answer 1

Starting in the bookworm release of raspbian, the purveyors have designated a new "NetworkManager" that replaces the familiar dhcpcd. While NetworkManager uses wpa_supplicant, the settings are stored elsewhere.

However, you should have a folder named /etc/NetworkManager; double-check that.

Assuming you find that folder, you can see what little information is available in this folder: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/

On my system, I have to do this to see the only file in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/:

sudo less /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Mesh01.nmconnection 

As far as using multiple networks, and other configuration changes, you will need to consult man nmcli (or use the GUI apparatus if you're into that). There's also a WiFi wiki for NetworkManager available on the Debian website that's helpful.