Raspbian wpa_supplicant problem

Question

My old wpa_supplicant and interfaces config not work!

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
    ssid="MySSID"
    psk="topsecret"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

/etc/network/interfaces

iface lo inet loopback    
iface eth0 inet manual

auto wlan0
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

I tried enable interface or restart with this command but:

sudo ifup --force wlan0

output message:

wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
Failed to bring up wlan0.

But, I fixed this overriding supplicant config on interfaces:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet manual

auto wlan0
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid "MySSID"
wpa-psk "topsecret"
#wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Any idea? thanks

System:
Linux raspberrypi 4.1.19-v7+ #858 SMP 
Distributor ID: Raspbian
Description:    Raspbian GNU/Linux 8.0 (jessie)
Release:    8.0
Codename:   jessie
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek RTL8188CUS 

Answer 1

Try to rewrite your WPA_supplicant.conf file.

first set your keboard to US (or the one you use)

it worked for me.

else try add:

network={
ssid="YOURSSID"
psk="YOURPASS"
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP
auth_alg=OPEN
}

if you use an SSH client like putty. try to write with "echo"

like this:

echo '
network={
ssid="YOURSSID"
psk="YOURPASS"
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP
auth_alg=OPEN
}
' >> /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Answer 2

If anyone is having a similar issue, check dmesg. In my case it gave the error:

[ 2587.167643] ieee80211 phy1:rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Loading firmware file 'rt2870.bin'
[ 2587.167717] rt2800usb 1-1.2:1.0: firmware: failed to load rt2870.bin (-2)
[ 2587.167737] ieee80211 phy1: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: error - Failed to request Firmware

The solution was to install firmware-ralink. This is probably caused because I installed Raspbian using the netinstaller. The WiFi dongle itself is a "Joy-it NET04-M" (apparently using the Ralink chipset).

Note that using wpa-ssid and wpa-psk did not solve the issue for me.

Answer 3

I migrated all stuff to the last Raspbian image.. strange problem.. closed for me. Many thanks guys.

Answer 4

I had this problem using a Raspberry Pi Zero W on Raspberian Stretch.

After spending an enormous amount of time and research into the issue - the solution was to downgrade to Raspberian Jessie.

After doing so - Wifi worked perfectly with nothing more than the wifi information placed into /boot/wpa_supplicant.conf - i.e. no messing with interfaces files or anything else.

Answer 5

I had the same problem, I solved it trying to keep the /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf as simple as possible.
So I suggest to write only the options you really need:

network={
  ssid="<ssid>"
  psk="<password>"
}

Without adding multiple networks.

Answer 6

Had a similar problem and it appeared to be linked to an update to python3 (my /usr/bin/python link move from python2 to python3). This led to problems while installing / upgrading with apt-get. Moved back to python2, then apt-get update and upgrade did the trick.

Answer 7

REMINDER: you access the wpa_supplicant.conf file on the command line by typing: sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Below is what the default wpa_supplicant.conf file looks like for my home network:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=US

network={
    ssid="name-of-wifi-network"
    psk="password"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

=============for Enterprise Network =====================

    network={
    ssid="name-of-wifi-network"
    priority=1
    proto=RSN
    key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
    pairwise=CCMP
    auth_alg=OPEN
    eap=PEAP
    identity="username"
    password="password"
    phase1="peaplabel=0"
    phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
    }