Wireless before login for Ubuntu joined to AD

[MarsRed]

Hi all,

I'd like to set up wireless logins for Ubuntu laptop clients that are joined to Active Directory with Likewise Open. Our wireless network uses WPA2 Enterprise and I have configured a system-wide profile in "Network Connections" for this, but it looks like the connection is not made until after login, so AD authentication cannot occur.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[CyberNerd]

Its because the Ubuntu network manager runs as a user, you need to configure the wireless manually and remove the Ubuntu network manager.

[CyberNerd]

Try here

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin: Networking tips and tricks - SitePoint

[MarsRed]

Try here

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin: Networking tips and tricks - SitePoint

Is there any way to start NetworkManager before login?

With that link, what would I do about an 802.1x wireless connection?

Thanks!

[CyberNerd]

I've not actually done this in Ubuntu, so i dont have any config details.but that was the general principal.

I'm 99% sure @dhicks uses this method for connecting Debian "chrome books" though...

Apologies if this was a rather slack answer but I've not got a Ubuntu box now.

[dhicks]

I'm 99% sure dhicks uses this method for connecting Debian "chrome books" though...

I have the setup notes I made handy for setting up a Debian laptop from scratch, logging in to wireless via the command line before X Windows starts. I imagine Ubuntu is very similar, but you might want to check through step-by-ste and not just follow along without some thought.

For hardware, we were using original model EeePCs, so I had to install the ralink firmware to get the wireless to work in the first place - you can probably skip that bit. You'll need to install wireless-tools and wpasupplicant - the tools for connecting to a wireless network. On Debian, I had to add a line to sources.list to be able to load the (non-OSS) ralink firmware - again, you can probably skip that bit if you already have your wireless hardware working.

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list:
	Edit line to read:
	deb ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab squeeze main contrib non-free
apt-get update
apt-get install firmware-ralink wireless-tools wpasupplicant

For some reason that currently escapes me, I needed a permissions change to /etc/network/interfaces:

chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

You should then just be able to edit /etc/network/interfaces to set up your wlan interface, e.g.:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
	wpa-ssid YOURNETWORKSSIDGOESHERE
	wpa-psk PASSWORDGOESHERE

The above should, I think, get you a network connection at boot time, before X Windows starts. You also avoid having a GUI wireless tool for users to fiddle with - the device just starts up and connects to wireless, the end user doesn't see anything. This is probably going to work best if you have a nice managed wireless system that gives you ubiquituous wireless access all round the school - you aren't going to get any error messages if the wireless can't connect.

[MarsRed]

This is very helpful - thanks! But what would I add to /etc/network/interfaces for WPA2 Enterprise, which uses a username and password combination, not just a password?

I have the setup notes I made handy for setting up a Debian laptop from scratch, logging in to wireless via the command line before X Windows starts. I imagine Ubuntu is very similar, but you might want to check through step-by-ste and not just follow along without some thought.

For hardware, we were using original model EeePCs, so I had to install the ralink firmware to get the wireless to work in the first place - you can probably skip that bit. You'll need to install wireless-tools and wpasupplicant - the tools for connecting to a wireless network. On Debian, I had to add a line to sources.list to be able to load the (non-OSS) ralink firmware - again, you can probably skip that bit if you already have your wireless hardware working.

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list:
	Edit line to read:
	deb ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab squeeze main contrib non-free
apt-get update
apt-get install firmware-ralink wireless-tools wpasupplicant

For some reason that currently escapes me, I needed a permissions change to /etc/network/interfaces:

chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

You should then just be able to edit /etc/network/interfaces to set up your wlan interface, e.g.:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
	wpa-ssid YOURNETWORKSSIDGOESHERE
	wpa-psk PASSWORDGOESHERE

The above should, I think, get you a network connection at boot time, before X Windows starts. You also avoid having a GUI wireless tool for users to fiddle with - the device just starts up and connects to wireless, the end user doesn't see anything. This is probably going to work best if you have a nice managed wireless system that gives you ubiquituous wireless access all round the school - you aren't going to get any error messages if the wireless can't connect.

[dhicks]

But what would I add to /etc/network/interfaces for WPA2 Enterprise, which uses a username and password combination, not just a password?

I'm not sure. However, the bit doing the actual connecting-to-wireless is wpasupplicant, and a quick Google for "wpa_supplicant wpa2 enterprise" turns up a few results - you might need a line to set the identity, e.g.:

identity="myid@mydomain.com"

[MarsRed]

So I've tried a number of different wpa_supplicant.conf configurations and still can't get wireless authentication to work. Does anyone have a known, working configuration file and/or setup tips for connecting to a WPA2 Enterprise/PEAP/MSCHAPv2 network using Microsoft IAS 2003 for RADIUS?