WLAN0 keeps forgetting the ESSID when trying to connect.

[bitsmack]

Hello All,

When trying to connect to a wireless network using the command prompt, the network interface almost immediately forgets the essid. The problem happens with both the 32 and 64-bit bit versions of Kali 1.0.5, booting from CD or USB. It worked fine using BackTrack 5r3. This network doesn't broadcast its essid.

This is what I believe should work (and works in BackTrack on the same laptop):

ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 essid NetworkName
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhclient wlan0

Here's what happens in Kali. Start with this:

ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 essid NetworkName

So far, so good:

root@kali:~# iwconfig
wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"NetworkName" 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=15 dBm  
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

Then I bring up the interface:

ifconfig wlan0 up

Within a second or two, the ESSID goes away:

root@kali:~# iwconfig
wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=15 dBm  
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

dmesg shows the following:

62.444953 wlan0: authenticate with xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
62.452532 wlan0: send auth to xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (try 1/3)
62.455299 wlan0: authenticated
62.455366 wlan0: waiting for beacon from xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
62.488293 wlan0: associate with xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (try 1/3)
62.491647 wlan0: RX AssocResp from xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (capab=0x401 status=0 aid=1)
62.496073 wlan0: associated
62.496136 IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
62.496712 wlan0: disassociating from 48:5b:39:42:60:4b by local choice (reason=3)
62.505828 cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
62.520601 cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:

(I've highlighted what I think is the clue)

Until the interface is brought up, the ESSID remains configured. After the interface is up, the essid only shows up in iwconfig for a second or two, then goes away. Obviously, dhclient doesn't work at this point...

I can connect fine using NetworkManager.

I found a similar issue on some other distributions forum, and tried this fix, but it didn't work:

iw wlan0 set power_save off

Thanks for reading. Any thoughts?

[kcdtv]

If you say that it goes fine with the network manager and if you have this "local choice", it loooks like that network manager takes the control after a little while.
You should try to kill all the process linked to it and totally disable it.

[bitsmack]

Thanks, kcdtv, killing the NetworkManager process worked just fine!

I'm booting from CD, non-persistant, so NetworkManager comes up each time I boot. It's easy enough to kill it, although it seems strange that it would come up by default. It interferes with any command line network configuration. If anyone is going to use the command prompt, I bet it's Kali users

Even in Forensic Mode, NetworkManager comes alive and scans for local available networks. I don't know if the scanning is passive, but I would consider it a bug if it was actively scanning by default... I'll look into it.

Thanks again,
bitsmack