Connecting from Pi OS to a wireless hotspot on Ubuntu MATE 20.04

Support & Help Requests
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#1

I am currently unable to connect from my Pi 4 w/- Pi OS (buster) to a hotspot on a Ubuntu MATE 20.04 machine (laptop).

The Ubuntu MATE hotspot was set up with a WPA/WPA2 passphrase; using the desktop connection manager.

I have been able to connect to the Ubuntu MATE 20.04 hotspot from my Android device.

The hotspot is visible to the Pi OS. However, when I enter the passphrase, I merely get a popup error saying the network could not be reconfigured.

I am also able to connect to other hotspots with my Pi 4.

Any help with debugging this or solving this would be greatly appreciated.

#3

To clarify, here's what does and doesn't work afaik:

        | Android hotspot | Laptop (MATE 20.04) hotspot |
--------|-----------------|-----------------------------|
Pi      |        Y        |               N             |
Laptop  |        Y        |               -             |
Android |        -        |               Y             |
#4

Not much progress. To elaborate on where the problem occurs:

  1. I configure a wireless hotspot via NetworkManager GUI on Ubuntu MATE 20.04 (laptop)
  2. I turn on wi-fi on the Pi, and the hotspot is visible.
  3. I attempt to connect to the hotspot, but after I enter the passphrase, nothing happens.

I've checked what's going on while I do this on both the Pi and laptop as best I can.

  • journalctl: the only clue is that the laptop gives me:

    wlp3s0: AP-STA-POSSIBLE-PSK-MISMATCH ...

  • iwlist wlan0 scanning (on the Pi) which had this:

    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
    Group Cipher: TKIP
    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
    Authentication Suites (2) : PSK unknown (6)
IE: WPA Version 1
    Group Cipher : TKIP
    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

It seems like there's some sort of problem with the authentication perhaps? What does "PSK unknown (6)" mean?

#5

Another update:

I created a network on the laptop with no authentication requirement, and the Pi was able to connect. Obviously this is not a solution - but it provides evidence that the problem is with WPA/WPA2.

#6

Update:

Using hostapd I've been able to set up a connection, with WPA2 authentication, hosted on my Ubuntu MATE laptop and connecting to Raspberry Pi (OS) with my Model 4B.

The configuration I used to begin with (still a work in progress as to what is needed versus what isn't):

interface=wlp3s0
driver=nl80211

ssid=nameofnetwork

hw_mode=g
channel=6

wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=thepassphrase
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
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#7

thanks,
I have a raspberry 3 and had the same problem, use hostapd works for me too!

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#8

Welcome @Patrichs to the community!

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