Bring up and bring don wifi

wifi2012 · 12-19-2012, 11:22 AM

Hi,

I have few queries in linux wrt wifi network:
1.Where do I find the wireless configuration file in linux machine i,e details of my prefered wifi access point.(File which has ESSID,password,MAC address)
2.When i disable the connections on my machine and when I enable the wirelss connectivity , the machine should not connect to the prefered access point
instead of that I should be able to connect to AP from the list of Access points.
3.are there any linux commands to stop and start wifi interface

Thanks in advance

camorri · 12-20-2012, 09:33 AM

Quote:

1.Where do I find the wireless configuration file in linux machine i,e details of my prefered wifi access point.(File which has ESSID,password,MAC address)

This is a very distro specific question, or said another way, it is different on many distros. It also varies with what gui tools may be in use in the system; Network Manager, WICD etc. If you need a more specific answer on this, you need to post the distro version and release with your question.

Quote:

2.When i disable the connections on my machine and when I enable the wirelss connectivity , the machine should not connect to the prefered access point
instead of that I should be able to connect to AP from the list of Access points.

What you describe is normal operation, and the way most users would want their wireless interface to work. Not sure where you got the idea this should not be the case.

Quote:

3.are there any linux commands to stop and start wifi interface

Yes. The commands would be 'ifconfig wlan0 up' to activate an interface called wlan0 and 'ifconfig wlan0 down' to deactivate the same interface. You probably need root privileges on most systems to activate or deactivate an interface.

'ifconfig' by it self will list all configured interfaces, and give you the names of each interface. ( all commands without quotes ).

wifi2012 · 12-20-2012, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camorri

This is a very distro specific question, or said another way, it is different on many distros. It also varies with what gui tools may be in use in the system; Network Manager, WICD etc. If you need a more specific answer on this, you need to post the distro version and release with your question.

I used dmesg | head -10 and cat /proc/version command to get the version as following:-
Is this correct?,as I am fresher to linux environment

Linux version 3.2.0-32-generic-pae (buildd@roseapple) (gcc version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5) ) #51-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 26 21:54:23 UTC 2012

What you describe is normal operation, and the way most users would want their wireless interface to work. Not sure where you got the idea this should not be the case.

I am trying to connect to the access point of my choice. The problem I am facing on my laptop is that it is connecting to the default AP as soon as I switch on my laptop wireless. Instead of that I want to connect to the AP of my choice(when I switch on the Wireless) but not the default one.(Not the saved connection or prefered connection)

Yes. The commands would be 'ifconfig wlan0 up' to activate an interface called wlan0 and 'ifconfig wlan0 down' to deactivate the same interface. You probably need root privileges on most systems to activate or deactivate an interface.

'ifconfig' by it self will list all configured interfaces, and give you the names of each interface. ( all commands without quotes ).

Here when I do ifconfig wlan0 up ..my laptop is directly connecting to the default AP (Which is in my preferd list).
I do not want this to happen. When I do "ifconfig wlan0 up" ..My machine should not connect to default or prefered AP. Instead of that I should be able to choose to which AP i want to connect.

Thank you

camorri · 12-20-2012, 01:54 PM

What network manager are you using? What distro?

If you were using WICD, there is a check box that controls the 'default' connection. You can set it for no default, it will not connect. Then you can choose the AP you want. I do not know if Network Manager can do the same thing.