Access Point: Not-Associated for usb wifi adapter

[AlexGuillermo]

Mac OS X 10.11.2
Parallels Desktop 11.1.2
Kali Linux: 2.0
Wifi Nano USB Adapter: Edimax EW-7811Un
Wireless Router: TP-Link 300M Wireless N Router Model: TL-WR841N
Book: Kali Linux Wireless Penetration Testing; Ramachandra, Buchanan

I've been trying to set up my usb wireless adapter to connect to the the router I've set up with the following settings:
SSID: Wireless Lab
Security Disabled

Here is my wifi adapter:
1.jpg

Then I run:

iwlist wlan0 scanning

Which reveals the router I want to connect to:
2.jpg

After which I try to FULLY connect to it running:

iwconfig wlan0 essid [ESSIDname]

iwconfig wlan0 essid [ESSID name] ap [MAC addr]

3.jpg

or the following:
Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 12.14.09 AM.jpg

I try to still ping the router:

ping 192.168.0.1

But I, of course, get nothing.

And now my arp table says:
192.168.0.1 at <incomplete> on wlan0


I have been looking for anything to help me set my access point from "Access Point: Not-Associated" to an access point field that contains the router's MAC address!
Has anyone with this issue or understanding know of a way?

[Freshnuts]

If you're willing, here is an alternate method to connect to a router via terminal with a wireless adapter.

This is to unlock the wireless adapter:

rfkill unblock 0

Create the configuration file necesarry for Authentication.
File: /etc/wpa_supplicant/wireless_lab.conf

Insert code into wireless_lab.conf:

network={

	ssid=""
	key_mgmt=NONE
}

Initialize Authentication:
Note - Notice no spaces between the arguments and options in the correct example.

Wrong example:
-D wext -i wlan0 -c /etc/etc/wpa_supplicant/wireless_lab.conf

Correct:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wireless_lab.conf

Request an IP from router's DHCP:

dhclient -r
dhclient wlan0

You should now be able to ping the router itself and be on the network.

I'm not sure if you created a wireless AP and you're trying to get a connection with your wireless adapter.
If the router is proprietary (like a Zyxel or something) then you're mostly likely good to go.
If you created the AP, it might just be a DHCP issue.
When I created an AP I used isc-dhcp-server module to implement DHCP.

Hopefully I addressed this issue correctly and that it helps, cheers.

[AlexGuillermo]

Well forgive my novice-ness, but if I do go through with this and it doesn't work, how can I undo the "rfkill unblock 0" code such that my usb wifi adapter is back to normal?

[Freshnuts]

To undo the command and set it back:

# rfkill block 0

or just a reboot because it's not permanent.

I know some people are having issues with open wifi and wpa_supplicant,
so they also placed proto=RSN.

network={

	ssid="test"
	proto=RSN
	key_mgmt=NONE
}

If that doesn't work:

Try to set a password if you can, then connect. We can then see if we are doing something wrong with the open wifi settings.


The setup with wpa_passphrase.
Note - wpa_passphrase is a module that helps you set a configuration file for wpa_supplicant.

For example:

wpa_passphrase SSID password > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wireless_lab.conf

This will replace the original file and will try to connect with the password.


Sorry it didn't help much, but hopefully you get connected soon man. cheers

[AlexGuillermo]

I'm glad you took the time to help out! In the meantime to your last response I reluctantly used the GUI to connect fully to the router, and sure enough it did it and I was able to ping the router via terminal. It's just unfortunate that I couldn't get the command line to do it as the GUI did. I will use your advice sometime, but for now I'm too excited to proceed with the book's content. Thanks again!

[Freshnuts]

I am the same way!
Once something works I'm happy to continue, not going to poke the bear to get to the river, it's all about the lowest hanging fruit! haha

Have fun,
cheers!

[AlexGuillermo]

Right! I agree. Thanks again!