# Anyone tried NM with iwd? It can't connect to wifi properly

## jorgicio

Hi!

As you may notice, recent version of net-misc/networkmanager (1.12.2) brings iwd support (which requires net-wireless/iwd). Of course, I had to rebuild the kernel because of lots of options required by iwd. Ok, everything fine, wpa_supplicant was removed and stuff, but I'm having problems with getting connected to wifi networks. It just can't connect.

I tried iwctl (as mentioned in the Gentoo Wiki) and it says "Operation aborted", but no more info than that. Also, Google can't help me on that because the iwd package is kinda "new". So I had to go back to wpa_supplicant. Also, the iwd comes with a daemon which is run when I tried to connect wifi, and only can connect once when I restart both daemons (NetworkManager and iwd) and then it has the same problem again and again.

May I have to do something else? Or iwd has some bugs which don't allow me to connect to wifi?

Thanks!

PS: Meanwhile, I'm using an ethernet connection, so I can be connected anytime I want to try new packages.

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## khayyam

jorgicio ...

I'd have to ask why you'd want this, what specific problem does it solve? wpa_supplicant has a proven track record, it's written and maintained by people with credible experience, and supports practically every feature of 802.11i, EAP, etc, logs without you having to setup a monitor interface, etc, etc. Whereas iwd is developed by intel, who where linux and the kernel is concerned have a fairly bad track record (including: binary blobs for wireless drivers, poor support for their graphics chips). When I read "aims to replace wpa_supplicant" I honestly can't think of a single reason for someone needing to do that ... other than so that they control the development of that particular area of networking/connectivity. wpa_supplicant, or hostapd (which is also maintained by w1.fi) are on practically every embeded WAP/WRT, and linux install ... and has been keeping apace of wireless developments for over 16 years, how much better is intel going to be (given its not an area they've contributed much too in the past, nor is it part of their revenue generation)?

best ... khay

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## jorgicio

 *khayyam wrote:*   

> jorgicio ...
> 
> I'd have to ask why you'd want this, what specific problem does it solve? wpa_supplicant has a proven track record, it's written and maintained by people with credible experience, and supports practically every feature of 802.11i, EAP, etc, logs without you having to setup a monitor interface, etc, etc. Whereas iwd is developed by intel, who where linux and the kernel is concerned have a fairly bad track record (including: binary blobs for wireless drivers, poor support for their graphics chips). When I read "aims to replace wpa_supplicant" I honestly can't think of a single reason for someone needing to do that ... other than so that they control the development of that particular area of networking/connectivity. wpa_supplicant, or hostapd (which is also maintained by w1.fi) are on practically every embeded WAP/WRT, and linux install ... and has been keeping apace of wireless developments for over 16 years, how much better is intel going to be (given its not an area they've contributed much too in the past, nor is it part of their revenue generation)?
> 
> best ... khay

 

I know, but some time in the future, wpa_supplicant may be deprecated (I hope not) as being iwd promoted as a replace for wpa_supplicant. Also, when I tried iwd, I noted the boot is quickly and doesn't get stuck, which happens when used wpa_supplicant, and I don't know why. And the documentation about iwd is kinda little.

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## khayyam

 *jorgicio wrote:*   

> [...] but some time in the future, wpa_supplicant may be deprecated [...]

 

jorgicio ... but why would wpa_supplicant be depreciated, is there some technical reason why it's nolonger fit for purpose?

 *jorgicio wrote:*   

> [...] being iwd promoted as a replace for wpa_supplicant.

 

By whom? I can guess what that "promotion" will amount to: "works better with NetworkManager", whereas wpa_supplicant runs on every variety of linux, and bsd, there is even a windows version. So why do we need a replacement?

 *jorgicio wrote:*   

> Also, when I tried iwd, I noted the boot is quickly and doesn't get stuck, which happens when used wpa_supplicant, and I don't know why. And the documentation about iwd is kinda little.

 

That sounds as though you're starting wpa_supplicant, when you shouldn't be, as it's started by NetworkManager.

best ... khay

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## jorgicio

 *khayyam wrote:*   

>  *jorgicio wrote:*   [...] but some time in the future, wpa_supplicant may be deprecated [...] 
> 
> jorgicio ... but why would wpa_supplicant be depreciated, is there some technical reason why it's nolonger fit for purpose?
> 
>  *jorgicio wrote:*   [...] being iwd promoted as a replace for wpa_supplicant. 
> ...

 

1) I'm not saying that it will going to be deprecated, but some time in the future it may happen as it may not. It happened with lots of projects (i.e. OSS was deprecated when PulseAudio came in). Preventing is the best idea (I'm still using wpa_supplicant until it may not going be supported anymore)

2) I'm not saying this is better than wpa_supplicant, also, iwd can be used as a standalone package. Don't tell this to me. Tell it to Intel or whoever is going to promote iwd as a replacement for wpa_supplicant (checked in some wikis like the Gentoo one, ArchLinux and Debian, which are where I got the documentation)

3) I'm not using wpa_supplicant as a daemon, it starts with NetworkManager.

Also, the question here is for support, not for critics. I know iwd is not the best option (indeed, it doesn't work properly, but sometime will), but this is NOT the point of the post.

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## jorgicio

Now iwd works flawlessly since some version (now I'm using the 0.10 version). However, sometimes, at start, it can't find the wireless networks until I restart both iwd and NetworkManager (also I made NetworkManager depend on iwd). But at least it can connect to wireless networks.

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## Moonboots

I seem to have a similar problem with the latest iwd-1.0-r1.

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <info>  [1572676614.0237] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <info>  [1572676614.0240] device (wlan0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <error> [1572676614.0253] device (wlan0): Activation: (wifi) Network.Connect failed: GDBus.Error:net.connman.iwd.NoAgent: No Agent registered

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <info>  [1572676614.0255] device (wlan0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'supplicant-failed', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <info>  [1572676614.0258] manager: NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <warn>  [1572676614.0261] device (wlan0): Activation: failed for connection 'Livebox-****'

nov. 02 07:36:54 eleven NetworkManager[585]: <info>  [1572676614.0263] device (wlan0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

Any ideas ?

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## charles17

 *Moonboots wrote:*   

> Any ideas ?

 

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Iwd#NetworkManager

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## Moonboots

 *charles17 wrote:*   

>  *Moonboots wrote:*   Any ideas ? 
> 
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Iwd#NetworkManager

 

That was the 1st place i went to   :Wink:   NetworkManager was rebuilt with iwd flag.

I can see perfectly the wifi  networks, but can't connect to them either by NM-applet  or iwctl   :Confused: 

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## Fitzcarraldo

 *Moonboots wrote:*   

> Any ideas ?

 

Have you considered entropy?:

 *iwd - ArchWiki wrote:*   

> A low entropy pool can cause connection problems in particular noticeable after reboot. See Random number generation for suggestions to increase the entropy pool. 

 

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