WLAN not configured fully during Debian 10 installation

[Dr.H]

This is not as much a cry for help as it is also a rant to vent frustration....with the Debian installation process.

I'm trying to set up a headless machine; so just SSH, no GUI and after multiple tries and searching the interweb I can't get the wireless configuration work across reboots.

During the Debian 10 installation process the wireless card (wlp2s0 - Intel) is detected and functioning properly up to the moment one has to pull out the installation media and reboot. As you can tell, I'm not using the LAN NIC to do the installation.

After the fresh installation, it seems that the WLAN drivers are installed, but the NIC is not UP and doesn't get an IP address from DHCP.
Manually configuring (wpa_supplicant) does make it work, but not across reboots.

I've tried both the regular Debian 10 installation (non-free drivers on another drive) and the image with the non-free drivers included.
The weird thing is that installing WITH the GUI the WLAN NIC is configured and functioning properly!

Why is the CLI install not properly picking up and saving the wireless config during installation time?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse#W ... d_WPA2-PSK

[Dr.H]

https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse#WPA-PSK_and_WPA2-PSK

Thanks for that link, but it is somewhat confusing in my opinion.
Where to put the following?

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ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1

Would that be ouside the network={ ... } or inside?

But I found a solution myself in some old notes I had laying around.
1. First make sure you have the psk as per command:

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wpa_passphrase myssid mysecret

2. (optional) Update /etc/default/grub with

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"

This will rename funny wifi nic names to wlan0 (at least on my Dell it does).

Apply that:

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update-grub

3. Create a dedicated interface config

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nano /etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0

Add the following:

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   allow-hotplug wlan0
   iface wlan0 inet dhcp
   wpa-ssid <yourssid>
   wpa-psk  <yourpsk>


And reboot

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Where to put the following?

Code: Select all

ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1

Would that be ouside the network={ ... } or inside?

Outside.

But you would only need wpa_supplicant.conf if you wanted to use wpa_cli & wpa_supplicant directly, most users would prefer ifupdown.