# wpa_supplicant - ioctl[] message

## BlueShark

I am runnning gentoo on a raspberry pi with an Edimax EW-7811UN wifi-usb-key and everythings works fine so far. When I start net.wlan0 I receive following lines

```
 * Bringing up interface wlan0

 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on wlan0 ...

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant

ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument

 *   Starting wpa_cli on wlan0 ...                                      [ ok ]

 *   Backgrounding ... ...                                              [ ok ]
```

The lines starting with ioctl[..]... are bothering me, since I do not understand what is going on. Research on google did not help.

What does it mean and how can I fix it?

Here is my lsusb

```
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMC9514 Hub

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
```

and a part from my conf.d/net

```
...

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext"

config_wlan0="192.168.178.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.178.255"

routes_wlan0="default via 192.168.178.1"

dns_servers_wlan0="192.168.178.1"

...
```

----------

## khayyam

 *BlueShark wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext"
> ```
> ...

 

BlueShark ... changing the above to '-Dnl80211' should resolve the issue. Also, you might also want to add '-qq' (quiet, quiet) to suppress wpa_supplicant output.

HTH & best ... khay

----------

## BlueShark

Thank you for your answer.

 *khayyam wrote:*   

> BlueShark ... changing the above to '-Dnl80211' should resolve the issue.

 

When I do so, I receive the following message

```
 * Bringing up interface wlan0

 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on wlan0 ...

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant

nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands

nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0

wlan0: Failed to initialize driver interface

 *   start-stop-damon: failed to start '/user/sbin/wpa_supplicant'                                      [ !! ]

 * ERROR: net.wlan0 failed to start

```

 *khayyam wrote:*   

> Also, you might also want to add '-qq' (quiet, quiet) to suppress wpa_supplicant output.

 

Actually, I do not want to suppress those messages. I rather want to understand what is going on.

Unfortunatelly, today has something changed. Sometimes -  and that is really weired - an additional line appears when starting wlan0

```
 * Bringing up interface wlan0

 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on wlan0 ...

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant

rfkill: Cannot open RFKILL control device

ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument

 *   Starting wpa_cli on wlan0 ...                                      [ ok ]

 *   Backgrounding ... ...                                              [ ok ]
```

I never have seen the line rfkill: Cannot open RFKILL control device before. What does that mean. How does it appear. What can I do to fix it.

----------

