Wireless before login for Ubuntu joined to AD

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!

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

Try here

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CyberNerd

Try here

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

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Is there any way to start NetworkManager before login?

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

Thanks!

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CyberNerd

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

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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.

Code:

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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

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

Code:

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chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

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

Code:

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

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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.

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?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dhicks

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.

Code:

---

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:

Code:

---

chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

---

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

Code:

---

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.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarsRed

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

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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"

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?