Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

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tempestuous
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Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#1 Post by tempestuous »

I'm seeing quite a few wifi connection problems when using WEP/WPA/WPA2 in Puppy4.
I have responded several times that the problem is probably due to encryption-related modules not loading, and this has provided the solution on at least one occasion.
But it seems that few people with this problem check earlier posts before posting their own query.
So here is the same information again as a standalone post. It can also be found in the "How to configure wifi from the commandline" thread under "PART 4: Troubleshooting, encryption problems" -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 339#159339

A common cause of wifi connection problems is that encryption requires some additional cryptographic modules to be loaded. Sometimes the wifi modules (which are already loaded) will automatically load the extra modules, but sometimes not. The solution is quite simple; manually load the required modules.

These modules are related to WEP encryption:
ieee80211_crypt_wep
arc4
ecb

These modules are related to WPA encryption:
ieee80211_crypt_ccmp
ieee80211_crypt_tkip
aes (in Puppy 4.1 this is "aes_generic")
crc32c
michael_mic (only for the ipw2100/ipw2200 modules)

UPDATE June 9 2008: In recent kernels there is one more important cryptographic module related to wifi -
crypto_blkcipher

Some wifi modules do not use generic cryptographic modules, but have unique encryption-related modules. For example, the ath_pci (MADWiFi) module depends on the wlan_wep module.
Last edited by tempestuous on Mon 09 Jun 2008, 02:42, edited 1 time in total.

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BarryK
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#2 Post by BarryK »

tempestuous, thanks very much for your work on this.

The new module loading mechanism in 4.1 may have fixed that problem.

I noticed right off in 4.1alpha that some extra modules had loaded, that were not loaded in 4.00. I don't recall exactly what got loaded in 4.00, but just running lsmod right now on my 4.1alpha1 system, a partial clip:

arc4 2944 2
ecb 4608 2
crypto_blkcipher 20868 1 ecb
ath5k 95748 0
mac80211 132364 1 ath5k
cfg80211

Please don't rush and download 4.1alpha1 though! It has other things concerned with module loading that are quite broken. alpha2 should be more usable.
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astrogreek
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Re: Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#3 Post by astrogreek »

tempestuous wrote:...

A common cause of wifi connection problems is that encryption requires some additional cryptographic modules to be loaded. Sometimes the wifi modules (which are already loaded) will automatically load the extra modules, but sometimes not. The solution is quite simple; manually load the required modules.

These modules are related to WEP encryption:
ieee80211_crypt_wep
arc4
ecb
....
I am one of those with problems. I tried your suggestion. When I try to load these modules I get the message they are already loaded. I have been trying for weeks now, and it is getting really frustrating.

mustangcobra44
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#4 Post by mustangcobra44 »

Played w/ puppy before but never really got into it but I decided to give it another try. My main problem is the WPA. I use ndiswrapper and get on open network fine so I'm guessing it's not the driver. I tried the suggestions temp. made here and in the previous thread that was linked here but still can't get WPA working. I was initially using AES instead of TKIP which I thought might be an issue when I looked at the supplicant file but changing my wireless router to TKIP didn't help. Any help you can provide? Let me knwo if you need any specs on what equipment I'm using and I'll be glad to provide. I also did the debugging (-dd). Does that log it out a file? To be honest I didn't think to look before I rebooted back in into XP so I could get online and post question. Thanks in advance for any help. Would really like to get off of XP but have to clear this hurdle first.

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davids45
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#5 Post by davids45 »

G'day,
Have you checked that your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file has your correct information, particularly the pass-key phrase? I find the wizard may get this wrong if I enter this via the wizard. I manually edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file before I do anything with network wizard and have not had any problems with ndiswrapper and WPA.
Another thing could be to look for and delete any faulty wpa_supplicant file in /var/run. If at first you don't succeed, the residue from not succeeding at first seems to remain and interfere with subsequent attempts to get it right.
As you say you can access open networks with your Windows driver then it is probably not a driver issue, just the WPA stuff.
Good luck,
David S.

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#6 Post by mustangcobra44 »

Everything looked pretty good but I did discover and issue with the conf file when I ran everything tempetsuous suggested from command line. When I ran wpa_passphrase <ssid> <wpakey> it gave me an error on the key. I had to use "'s around my passkey in the conf file because it starts with & and it wasn't able to parse it. However, that wasn't my only issue.
I also discovered through many various trial and erros that my WAP had to be set to TKIP (instead of AES - does Puppy 4 support AES??) and that I had to broadcast my SSID. When I turned off SSID broadcast I got error messages along the lines of "key mismatch" which took me a bit to figure out.
But now that I've be able to get it work consistently with manual commands I may play with the gui/wizard a bit more since I know my WAP is setup correctly to work with my Puppy install and conf file.

Edit - forgot to post exactly what I had to do to get it working (besides the few things mentioned above). I have to go to a terminal window and enter these commands in this order:
modprobe ndiswrapper
ifconfig wlan0 up
rm /var/run/wpa_supplicant/*
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_ccmp
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip
modprobe aes
modprobe crc32c
wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -D wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd

Then open a new terminal and enter this to get dhcp address.
dhcpcd wlan0

tempestuous
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#7 Post by tempestuous »

UPDATE June 9 2008: From reading the documentation included in the iwlwifi (Intel) source code, I discovered one more wifi encryption-related module: crypto_blkcipher.
I have just updated the first post.

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#8 Post by mustangcobra44 »

tempestuous - anything in the works to support AES or to be able to connect even if my WAP isn't SSID broadcasting?

tempestuous
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#9 Post by tempestuous »

AES (WPA2) works fine. Forum member JustGreg is the expert in that area. You need to use /etc/wpa_supplicant2.conf, not /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. If you open both of these configuration files in Geany you will see the slight differences. Thus -

Code: Select all

wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -D wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant2.conf -dd
Regarding hidden SSID's, I recall that this requires a certain value for "ap_scan=". You may need to experiment with "0", "1", and "2".

mustangcobra44
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#10 Post by mustangcobra44 »

Thanks. I'll play with the ap_scan setting this evening if I get a chance.

On the AES issue. I'd love to run WPA2 instead of WPA but I have an older laptop and the nic doesn't support WPA2 (or so I've discovered from the windows side). I thought the WPA2 support was hardware so unless there's some way to to make the card play WPA2 with Puppy I'm handcuffed into running WPA which leads us back to preferring AES over TKIP. Seems like it's always something. :o)

Thanks again for your help.

astrogreek
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Re: Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#11 Post by astrogreek »

tempestuous wrote:
UPDATE June 9 2008: In recent kernels there is one more important cryptographic module related to wifi -
crypto_blkcipher

Some wifi modules do not use generic cryptographic modules, but have unique encryption-related modules. For example, the ath_pci (MADWiFi) module depends on the wlan_wep module.
Is the crypto_blkcipher module related to WEP or WPA? When I tried to load I got a message saying "driver not found" or something like that. The other modules are already loaded.

I have tried every suggestion I have come over, and I still cannot connect. I am about to give up on Linux Puppy. How come it is so easy in Windows, Xubunu, and Linux Mint?

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alienjeff
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Re: Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#12 Post by alienjeff »

astrogreek wrote:I have tried every suggestion I have come over, and I still cannot connect. I am about to give up on Linux Puppy.
In the immortal words of the immoral William Jefferson Clinton, "I feel your pain."

I've vowed to ditch Puppy on more than a few occasions, but what does work, works so well I stay on.
How come it is so easy in Windows, Xubunu, and Linux Mint?
Answers

Windows - Bill threw enough money and resources at the problem

ewwbuntu - huge user base for testing and significant "other" resources

Linux Mint - pure luck
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tempestuous
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Re: Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#13 Post by tempestuous »

I thought that crypto_blkcipher was related to WEP encryption, but I see from JustGreg's results in Puppy4.01alpha2 that the crypto_blkcipher module is loaded after a WPA connection ... so maybe it's necessary for both WEP and WPA.
astrogreek wrote:When I tried to load I got a message saying "driver not found"
astrogreek it's really important to reveal the exact Puppy version you are using when asking for help. It's also useful to reveal the device and the driver (module) in question.
The crypto_blkcipher module definitely exists in the experimental Puppy4-k2.6.25, and Puppy4.1 alpha1 and alpha2.
The crypto_blkcipher does not exist in earlier Puppy versions.

Generally, wifi in Puppy4.x is still under development and testing.
Wifi under Puppy3.x is quite solid.

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rarsa
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#14 Post by rarsa »

mustangcobra44 wrote:tempestuous - anything in the works to support AES or to be able to connect even if my WAP isn't SSID broadcasting?
Actually you are better of not broadcasting the SSID.

After some disbelief, reading and experimentation I finally accepted the fact that broadcasting the SSID is more secure than the alternative.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 892#207892
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#15 Post by JustGreg »

Based on some tests reported here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29205

One should use ap_scan=1 for networks that broadcast the SSID and ap_scan=2 for networks with a hidden SSID. This agrees with the wpa-supplicant documentation. I have also found that ap_scan=2 sometimes works with a broadcasted SSID network. However, ap_scan=1 always (for me works with broadcasted SSID networks) and will not worked with a hidden SSID network.

The bottom line, I use ap_scan=1 for a broadcast SSID network and ap_scan=2 for a hidden SSID network. I hope this helps.
Enjoy life, Just Greg
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tempestuous
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#16 Post by tempestuous »

JustGreg wrote:One should use ap_scan=1 for networks that broadcast the SSID and ap_scan=2 for networks with a hidden SSID.
I "half-knew" this, but thanks for spelling it out.
I think rarsa has already dealt with this situation in the Network Wizard - the default value in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is "ap_scan=2" and the gui shows the "AP Scan:" selection as "Hidden" - refer attached image.
When "Hidden" is deselected, the other two values become available - "Supplic." and "Driver". I assume that "Supplic." sets "ap_scan=1" and "Driver" sets "ap_scan=0".

I'm thinking that it would be more clear for users if "Supplic." was re-labelled "SSID broadcast" and "Hidden" was re-labelled "SSID hidden".

I realise you probably can't test whether the Wizard sets the correct values because of the various other bugs with the Wizard under Puppy4.x, but it appears that Barry has now sorted these bugs and hopefully you will be able to check the Wizard when Puppy 4.1 is released.
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astrogreek
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Re: Solving Wifi encryption problems (WEP/WPA) in Puppy 4

#17 Post by astrogreek »

tempestuous wrote:I thought that crypto_blkcipher was related to WEP encryption, but I see from JustGreg's results in Puppy4.01alpha2 that the crypto_blkcipher module is loaded after a WPA connection ... so maybe it's necessary for both WEP and WPA.
astrogreek wrote:When I tried to load I got a message saying "driver not found"
astrogreek it's really important to reveal the exact Puppy version you are using when asking for help. It's also useful to reveal the device and the driver (module) in question.
The crypto_blkcipher module definitely exists in the experimental Puppy4-k2.6.25, and Puppy4.1 alpha1 and alpha2.
The crypto_blkcipher does not exist in earlier Puppy versions.

Generally, wifi in Puppy4.x is still under development and testing.
Wifi under Puppy3.x is quite solid.
Well, I have tried Puppy 3.01, Puppy-4.00-k2.6.21.7, puppy-4.00-with-2.6.25-kernel. By device, do you mean my wireless card? It's an Intel PRO Wireless 2200 BG. Reveal the driver module; I don't understand.. As far as I can tell, the modules you listed are loaded, except the crypto_blkcipher module (I used the 2.6.21.7 kernel when I tried loading that module). My connection uses WEP. The modem does not belong to me; it's nextdoor in my landlord's flat, so I cannot mess with its settings. Please bear in mind I am (almost) new to Linux.

tempestuous
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#18 Post by tempestuous »

astrogreek wrote:By device, do you mean my wireless card? It's an Intel PRO Wireless 2200 BG.
Yes, yes. That means that your wifi driver should be the ipw2200.
But there are so many questions still remaining about your circumstances.
This forum thread is, after all, not about wifi connectivity in general. It was created specifically to deal with encryption-related connectivity problems.
We don't know whether you can establish a wifi connection with encryption (WEP/WPA) turned off. This is an important diagnostic step, and if your landlord won't temporarily disable encryption for you to test, you should probably borrow a different wifi router specifically to test with.

In fact, we don't even know whether the ipw2200 module has successfully loaded and created an interface. Encryption may be completely unrelated to your problem.
I suggest you read the Wifi HOWTO here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22469

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shri
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Hi

#19 Post by shri »

Hi to all
i am useing puppy2.02 with kernel 2.6.16.7.when i am connect to modem (ZTE Model no:-Classic 23) its can't connect. :(
when i am cat /proc/bus/usb/devices its shows me

=03 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=10c4 ProdID=ea60 Rev= 1.00
S: Manufacturer=Silicon Labs
S: Product=USB to UART Bridge Controller
S: SerialNumber=0001
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=(none)
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms

when i am useing Minisys kernel 2.6.21.7 its get connected to my pc.
when i am cat /proc/bus/usb/devices its shows me

=03 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=10c4 ProdID=ea60 Rev= 1.00
S: Manufacturer=Silicon Labs
S: Product=USB to UART Bridge Controller
S: SerialNumber=0001
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=cp2101
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms

how to get cp2101.ko file for kernel 2.6.16.7 or any other source code to download this file.or any other tips or trics to connect modem (ZTE Model no:-Classic 23) with kernel 2.6.16.7.

tempestuous
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#20 Post by tempestuous »

Your device is a wireless modem, not a wifi network adaptor.
It is not relevant to this thread.

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