Bug 691139 - Network applet doesn't provide option to connect to hidden wireless network
Summary: Network applet doesn't provide option to connect to hidden wireless network
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: gnome-shell
Version: 15
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Owen Taylor
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard: AcceptedNTH https://fedoraproject.org...
: 697891 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks: F15Beta-accepted, F15BetaFreezeExcept
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-03-27 00:43 UTC by Michael Young
Modified: 2012-08-07 20:00 UTC (History)
31 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-08-07 20:00:53 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
System logs from NetworkManager crash when trying to connect to a wireless network with hidden SSID (17.76 KB, text/plain)
2011-04-08 19:55 UTC, Tim Flink
no flags Details

Description Michael Young 2011-03-27 00:43:10 UTC
My wireless connection died when I updated to the latest F15 NetworkManager, and I can't get it working again with that version. I connect to a hidden wireless network using wpa-psk.

This is with NetworkManager-0.8.997-4.git20110325.fc15.x86_64
I have forced a downgrade to NetworkManager-0.8.2-8.git20101117.fc15.x86_64 (which I fortunately still had RPMs for) and wireless works again for that version.

Comment 1 Adam Williamson 2011-03-28 15:52:26 UTC
For Beta blocker consideration: Relevant criterion are Alpha "It must be possible to run the default web browser and a terminal application from the default desktop environment. The web browser must be able to download files, load extensions, and log into FAS" and "The installed system must be able to download and install updates with yum and PackageKit" - both imply a functional network connection. Question here is does this affect all hidden networks, and if so, is that enough configurations for us to consider it a blocker.

Comment 2 James Laska 2011-03-31 11:40:52 UTC
I'm not seeing my hidden wireless network either.

NetworkManager-0.8.997-7.git20110330.fc15.x86_64

Comment 3 Tim Flink 2011-04-01 17:28:01 UTC
Discussed at the 2011-04-01 blocker bug meeting. Accepted as beta blocker.

Comment 4 Tim Flink 2011-04-01 20:12:13 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> Discussed at the 2011-04-01 blocker bug meeting. Accepted as beta blocker.

Hits Alpha release requirement:

It must be possible to run the default web browser and a terminal application from the default desktop environment.

No fix proposed yet or additional information asked for. Waiting for devel response.

Comment 5 Matthias Clasen 2011-04-06 03:32:47 UTC
While we don't have any knob in the ui for it yet, here is a workaround for connecting to hidden aps:

gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.network_manager_applet --object-path /org/gnome/network_manager_applet --method org.gnome.network_manager_applet.ConnectToHiddenNetwork

Comment 6 Richard Hughes 2011-04-06 14:43:50 UTC
See https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=645002

Comment 7 Adam Williamson 2011-04-06 16:01:45 UTC
Cool, good to know this is being worked on.

Comment 8 Fedora Update System 2011-04-06 20:22:22 UTC
control-center-3.0.0.1-2.fc15 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 15.
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/control-center-3.0.0.1-2.fc15

Comment 9 Fedora Update System 2011-04-07 02:22:00 UTC
Package control-center-3.0.0.1-2.fc15:
* should fix your issue,
* was pushed to the Fedora 15 testing repository,
* should be available at your local mirror within two days.
Update it with:
# su -c 'yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing control-center-3.0.0.1-2.fc15'
as soon as you are able to.
Please go to the following url:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/control-center-3.0.0.1-2.fc15
then log in and leave karma (feedback).

Comment 10 Tim Flink 2011-04-08 19:23:13 UTC
Tested with the following setup:
 - F15 Beta RC1 x86_64 live (control-center-3.0.0.0.1-2.fc15)
 - 802.11g wireless network (hidden SSID, WPA/WPA2)
 - Intel Ultimate-N 6300

I am not able to connect to the hidden wireless network. A network named '<unknown>' shows up in the "system tray" network manager icon in the upper right of gnome-shell, but there is no apparent option of connecting to a wireless network with hidden SSID from that menu.

If I go into the network settings, I am able to select 'Other...' as a wireless network. If I enter in my hidden wireless network name and WPA secret, both the wired and wireless networking devices disappear from the control panel and the network manager icon disappears from the upper right of gnome-shell.

If I exit and reopen the network settings, my wireless and wired devices re-appear and so does the network manager system tray icon.

This setup has no issues connecting to the wireless network when the SSID is not hidden.

Comment 11 Adam Williamson 2011-04-08 19:34:30 UTC
does it work if you use the gdbus workaround in comment #5? everything 'disappearing' sounds like NM crashed at that point; do you get an abrt crash alert?

Comment 12 Adam Williamson 2011-04-08 19:41:02 UTC
on blockeriness of this: i would probably be okay with downgrading it to NTH if the gdbus workaround and/or using nm-connection-editor do the job, those are both pretty usable workarounds we can easily document.

Comment 13 James Laska 2011-04-08 19:41:51 UTC
(In reply to comment #10)
> I am not able to connect to the hidden wireless network. 

Owen suggested on #fedora-desktop that this feature wasn't planned and won't be ready for F-15-Beta.  I was surprised when early support landed.  Unfortunately, tflinks' testing shows it may not be up-to-speed yet.

tflink: Owen suggested a possible workaround of using starting nm-connection-editor and specifying the hidden wireless network details manually.  I think that might be worth exploring if you are still able to test.  Thanks!

Comment 14 James Laska 2011-04-08 19:42:53 UTC
(In reply to comment #12)
> on blockeriness of this: i would probably be okay with downgrading it to NTH if
> the gdbus workaround and/or using nm-connection-editor do the job, those are
> both pretty usable workarounds we can easily document.

Agreed.  Given that upstream is planning to resolve this post beta, it seems our only options are slip for an undetermined period of time, or document "reasonable" workarounds.

Comment 15 Tim Flink 2011-04-08 19:53:37 UTC
(In reply to comment #11)
> does it work if you use the gdbus workaround in comment #5? everything
> 'disappearing' sounds like NM crashed at that point; do you get an abrt crash
> alert?

The workaround from comment #5 brings up the same menu that I can get to from the network settings control panel.

NetworkManager is indeed crashing, nothing shows up in ABRT, though. Will attach the system logs that show the crash.

Comment 16 Tim Flink 2011-04-08 19:55:13 UTC
Created attachment 490862 [details]
System logs from NetworkManager crash when trying to connect to a wireless network with hidden SSID

Attaching system logs from NetworkManager crash. Nothing shows up in ABRT, though.

Comment 17 Tim Flink 2011-04-08 19:59:25 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> tflink: Owen suggested a possible workaround of using starting
> nm-connection-editor and specifying the hidden wireless network details
> manually.  I think that might be worth exploring if you are still able to test.
>  Thanks!

This does work on my system. I am able to connect to the hidden wireless network and use it.

Comment 18 Adam Williamson 2011-04-08 20:09:17 UTC
ah - NM runs as root, so you'd only see the crash if you ran abrt-gui as root.

So, there's a definite bug here, but we do have what looks like a usable workaround too. I guess if we could get a quick fix for NM that would be good? Dan?

Comment 19 Adam Williamson 2011-04-08 20:27:13 UTC
do we have any other +1 / -1 votes to downgrading this to NTH?

Comment 20 Tim Flink 2011-04-08 20:38:18 UTC
(In reply to comment #19)
> do we have any other +1 / -1 votes to downgrading this to NTH?

I'm +1 on downgrading to NTH. The workaround isn't painful and does work as long as we write it down somewhere :)

Comment 21 James Laska 2011-04-08 20:51:14 UTC
(In reply to comment #19)
> do we have any other +1 / -1 votes to downgrading this to NTH?

The workaround seems reasonable and documentable.

Comment 22 James Laska 2011-04-08 20:51:39 UTC
(In reply to comment #21)
> (In reply to comment #19)
> > do we have any other +1 / -1 votes to downgrading this to NTH?
> 
> The workaround seems reasonable and documentable.

That was supposed to be a +1 :)

Comment 23 Adam Williamson 2011-04-08 21:00:28 UTC
okay, so we have a consensus on downgrading this (dgilmore is also good with it). so dropping this to NTH. We will have to document the workaround if we don't wind up spinning an RC3 and fixing this.

Comment 24 Fedora Update System 2011-04-09 05:27:57 UTC
Package control-center-3.0.0.1-3.fc15:
* should fix your issue,
* was pushed to the Fedora 15 testing repository,
* should be available at your local mirror within two days.
Update it with:
# su -c 'yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing control-center-3.0.0.1-3.fc15'
as soon as you are able to.
Please go to the following url:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/control-center-3.0.0.1-3.fc15
then log in and leave karma (feedback).

Comment 25 Fedora Update System 2011-04-15 21:12:35 UTC
control-center-3.0.0.1-3.fc15 has been pushed to the Fedora 15 stable repository.  If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.

Comment 26 Michael Young 2011-04-15 22:08:41 UTC
I am reopening this bug as control-center-3.0.0.1-3.fc15 provides a workaround rather than fixing the regression of the "Hidden wireless network" going missing from the network applet - the F14 applet would auto-connect as well if suitably configured but I haven't seen the current one do this.

At the very least the workaround should be clearly documented - step by step - because it isn't obvious how to get from the applet to connecting to a hidden network and is a 4 stage process which people could easily get confused.

Comment 27 Juan Francisco Fernández 2011-04-19 10:47:07 UTC
I don't find a way to delete configured networks through control-center, is there any method to do it?

NM creates a new Connection when you try to connect to a wireless network, so my hidden network never gets connected automatically because it tries to connect to some others networks I have used before. I want to delete these networks, but I don't find the way to do it.

If I want to connect to my hidden network, I must go to Control Center, select wireless, expand the connections dropbox, select the last entry (Others), select my hidden network AP and wait to get connected. These steps every time I turn on my computer... It could be a lot of easier if you could go directly to Hidden networks as you can do on Gnome 2.30 NM Applet.

Comment 28 James Laska 2011-04-19 13:19:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #27)
> I don't find a way to delete configured networks through control-center, is
> there any method to do it?

Try using nm-connection-editor as a workaround for now.

Comment 29 Juan Francisco Fernández 2011-04-19 14:40:02 UTC
Thanks James!!

Comment 30 Arand Nash 2011-04-19 15:35:18 UTC
*** Bug 697891 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 31 Tom Horsley 2011-05-25 00:17:38 UTC
Just installed the released f15 (no updates loaded yet since I've been trying
to get the network to function :-). I have this same problem which I got around
for now by turning back on SSID broadcast in my router.

When I tried the Ubuntu 11.04 live USB on this same hardware, the network
app looked very similar, but had a "Connect to hidden network..."
item at the bottom of the list of potential wireless networks. It popped
up a place where I could type the SSID and passphrase and then worked
perfectly. (Ubuntu also already had the broadcom driver I had to
fetch from rpmfusion :-).

Don't know how much code is shared between the NM versions, but the
Ubuntu approach to this looked pretty good to me.

Comment 32 Rahul Sundaram 2011-05-25 00:28:49 UTC
Ubuntu uses a older version of NM.  NM 0.9 was a rewrite and Fedora 15 uses in part because of integration with GNOME Shell.  However the Shell UI doesn't support all of the functionality yet.  Using nm-connection-editor is a workaround till the point the missing features are adding back.   Other than that,  NM is just 99% the same across distros having the same versions.

Comment 33 Adam Williamson 2011-05-25 06:19:15 UTC
in final F15, there's an Other... option in the network list in Network Settings which should let you connect to a hidden network.



-- 
Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Comment 34 Juan Francisco Fernández 2011-05-25 09:01:21 UTC
(In reply to comment #33)
> in final F15, there's an Other... option in the network list in Network
> Settings which should let you connect to a hidden network.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Yes, but Does it auto connecto to hidden networks? Every time I turn on my computer, I must go to Network Settings -> Others -> Select my hidden network... Will it change on F15 final?

Comment 35 Tom Horsley 2011-05-25 09:26:42 UTC
I didn't notice an "Other..." option in my list, maybe I missed it. Anyway, it
was simpler just to start broadcasting my SSID again :-).

Comment 36 Adam Williamson 2011-05-25 15:09:59 UTC
tom: it's not in the list in the Shell 'panel applet', only the control center applet (which you can get to by clicking Network Settings in the Shell applet). doesn't seem like a great design to me either, before you ask =)



-- 
Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Comment 37 Greg Faith 2011-05-27 14:07:36 UTC
I also encountered the same situation yesterday on new installation of Fedora 15 (fully updated). Each time I rebooted I would have to recreate my hidden wireless information. I enabled broadcasting on wireless AP and connection is found automatically on reboot.  Basically, I am just confirming the bug again.

Comment 38 Fredrik Duprez 2011-05-27 19:46:12 UTC
I can confirm the problem on an updated F14 (using preupgrade). It had stored the credentials but after reboot it refuses to connect to my hidden SSID.

gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.network_manager_applet --object-path /org/gnome/network_manager_applet --method org.gnome.network_manager_applet.ConnectToHiddenNetwork

Is the only way to get around it, and there I can select the stored settings from the list and it works.

Comment 39 Mike Parker 2011-06-12 18:40:54 UTC
Is this not a duplicate of Bugs 516788 & 448437? 

If so, this bug has been around since F9... Can't someone at Redhat (Dan Williams?) extract their digit?

My workaround (that worked in F12/14, see comment 35 of Bug 448437) appears not to work for F15 :o(

Comment 40 Michael Young 2011-06-12 19:33:28 UTC
(In reply to comment #39)
> Is this not a duplicate of Bugs 516788 & 448437? 
> 
> If so, this bug has been around since F9... Can't someone at Redhat (Dan
> Williams?) extract their digit?
> 
> My workaround (that worked in F12/14, see comment 35 of Bug 448437) appears not
> to work for F15 :o(

No, you have an additional problem. Do any of the workarounds given in this bug help you?

Comment 41 Jirka Klimes 2011-06-13 08:50:17 UTC
(In reply to comment #39)
> Is this not a duplicate of Bugs 516788 & 448437? 
> 
> If so, this bug has been around since F9... Can't someone at Redhat (Dan
> Williams?) extract their digit?
> 
> My workaround (that worked in F12/14, see comment 35 of Bug 448437) appears not
> to work for F15 :o(

What this bug is about seems to be there's no knob for connecting to hidden networks in gnome-shell applet. So, maybe we should reassign it to the gnome-shell and edit the title accordingly.

Mike, the bug you are experiencing is "NM doesn't *automatically* connect to a hidden network". That is addressed in bug 707406.

Comment 42 Michael Young 2011-06-13 22:06:02 UTC
(In reply to comment #41)
> (In reply to comment #39)
> > Is this not a duplicate of Bugs 516788 & 448437? 
> > 
> > If so, this bug has been around since F9... Can't someone at Redhat (Dan
> > Williams?) extract their digit?
> > 
> > My workaround (that worked in F12/14, see comment 35 of Bug 448437) appears not
> > to work for F15 :o(
> 
> What this bug is about seems to be there's no knob for connecting to hidden
> networks in gnome-shell applet. So, maybe we should reassign it to the
> gnome-shell and edit the title accordingly.

Yes, though this bug pre-dates the control-center fix that allowed the connection to be made at all except by manually typing a command.

> Mike, the bug you are experiencing is "NM doesn't *automatically* connect to a
> hidden network". That is addressed in bug 707406.

I had assumed the applet was still provided by NetworkManager. Reassigning to gnome-shell.

Comment 43 Matthias Clasen 2011-06-14 02:12:09 UTC
There is not going to be a 'know for connecting to hidden networks' in gnome-shell, so reassigning the bug there is not going to help...

Comment 44 Juan Francisco Fernández 2011-06-14 07:14:46 UTC
The easiest and fastest solution in my opinion is to list the hidden networks added via the Other option with all the not hidden wireless network on the applet.

Maybe the icon shown on the applet for manually configured hidden networks could represent that is a hidden network (as the lock that the applet shows with protected networks).

Comment 45 Adam Williamson 2011-06-20 22:54:49 UTC
matthias: why not? it seems oddly byzantine to force people to go into the the control center applet to find the special list of wireless networks which has the 'More...' entry that lets you connect to a hidden network. Why is it better design to have two different lists of wireless networks for the Shell 'applet' and the control center applet, with the one that's more obscure being more useful?

Comment 46 Matthias Clasen 2011-06-21 03:10:25 UTC
Because the shell menu needs most of all to be simple and quick to use. It is is already bordering on too complicated for a menu. We don't want to repeat all the mistakes of the nm-applet do-it-all-from-the-statusicon UI here...

Comment 47 Adam Williamson 2011-06-21 03:17:16 UTC
I can see that concern, but still, the workflow for connecting to a hidden network is now pretty convoluted, especially if you're used to the existing one. So you look at the SSID list and the entry you expect to see is gone; even if you now figure out 'hmm, maybe I should go to Network Settings and look for something there', it's pretty counter-intuitive to then look at the SSID list in the Network Settings applet - it seems unlikely that people will expect it to be different. They'd probably be looking for something else.

Comment 48 Juan Francisco Fernández 2011-06-21 06:29:12 UTC
Matthias, could the applet show your configured hidden networks on the SSID list with the visible ones? The applet remains as simple as it is now and the hidden networks users don't need to go through 3 or 4 screens to get connected.

Comment 49 Mike Parker 2011-06-21 08:05:16 UTC
FWIW, I agree with Juan (Comment 48). The current setup is a PITA for connecting to pre-configured hidden networks. Clean menus are all well and good, but I want to be able to connect to my pre-configured WLAN at home without having to go through 3/4 steps every time. I'd like my FC15 laptop to automatically connect to the default wireless network (hidden or not), but that seems too much to ask in FC15 (unlike FC14 and earlier where it all worked beautifully....)

Comment 50 seventhguardian 2011-06-21 22:35:20 UTC
I also agree.

a) There should be no more than 2 or 3 hidden networks configured in a normal setup. So it would not clutter the list.

b) Even if there were more, this makes it even more imperative to have them easily accessible.

Moreover, I suggest to mark them, so that the user knows that they may not be available. For instance, they could have a special icon (an eye with a cross on top comes to mind) or have them slightly grayed out in some way. As soon as the SSID is verified to be available, it would change to the normal mode.

The user would readily understand the message, since he configured it himself.

Comment 51 Charlie Brady 2011-10-23 11:39:08 UTC
(In reply to comment #22)
> (In reply to comment #21)
> > (In reply to comment #19)
> > > do we have any other +1 / -1 votes to downgrading this to NTH?
> > 
> > The workaround seems reasonable and documentable.
> 
> That was supposed to be a +1 :)

The workaround does not work for me. This is a regression from F14 anyway - workarounds should not be needed.

Comment 52 Charlie Brady 2011-10-23 11:49:07 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> While we don't have any knob in the ui for it yet, here is a workaround for
> connecting to hidden aps:
> 
> gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.network_manager_applet --object-path
> /org/gnome/network_manager_applet --method
> org.gnome.network_manager_applet.ConnectToHiddenNetwork

Doesn't work for me:"

[root@localhost ~]# sh -x /tmp/x
+ gdbus call --session --dest org.gnome.network_manager_applet --object-path /org/gnome/network_manager_applet --method org.gnome.network_manager_applet.ConnectToHiddenNetwork
Error: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.network_manager_applet was not provided by any .service files
[root@localhost ~]#

Comment 53 Adam Williamson 2011-10-25 01:48:50 UTC
if you're in F16, I think the command may need updating.

Comment 54 Charlie Brady 2011-10-25 03:17:32 UTC
(In reply to comment #53)
> if you're in F16, I think the command may need updating.

No, I have F15.

[charlieb@localhost ~]$ rpm -qf /etc/system-release
fedora-release-15-3.noarch
[charlieb@localhost ~]$

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