How to create a WiFi Hotspot on Debian 10?

[mathew2214]

i am trying to create a WiFi hotspot form my laptop, but i cant figure out how to do this.
i have created a NetworkManager connection called “Hotspot”, but it will not activate.
here is my connection file for NetworkManager.

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[connection]
id=Hotspot
uuid=34f58a3d-3af6-464d-9525-87941d61ffe0
type=wifi
autoconnect=false
interface-name=wlp5s0
permissions=

[wifi]
band=a
mac-address=00:1A:6B:0D:E5:C5
mac-address-blacklist=
mode=ap
ssid=matswifi

[wifi-security]
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=wordpass

[ipv4]
dns-search=
method=shared

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy
dns-search=
ip6-privacy=0
method=ignore

when i issue “nmcli connection up Hotspot” it doesnt work, and instead gives the error:

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Error: Connection activation failed: 802.1X supplicant took too long to authenticate

what am i doing wrong here? how do i make a WiFi hotspot on Debian 10? the intention is to enable LAN gaming between my laptop and other laptops nearby.

my WiFi card is the Dell Wireless DW1601. its device id is 168c:0034. the driver in use is ath9k
im using Linux 5.2.9 as my kernel.

[shep]

https://www.shellvoide.com/wifi/setup-wireless-access-point-hostapd-dnsmasq-linux/

[mathew2214]

that guide does not work.
when i try it, (changing the device names to match mine of course), i get the error

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nl80211: Could not configure driver mode
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlp5s0 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211: driver initialization failed.

[shep]

I do not run this but recalled that the hostapd was needed for an AP. The page is obviously dated and starts the daemon manually. I suspect it is now started by systemd.
Consider going through the man page for hostapd(8) and using the status and debug flags.

[mathew2214]

using the debug flags on hostapd doesnt help.
this error seems to be at the root of the issue:

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nl80211: Could not configure driver mode

[shep]

Maybe try the wext driver

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/WPA_supplicant#Troubleshooting

[mathew2214]

wext doesnt work either.
unknown driver.

[peer]

I installed "Create_ap" on my eeepc a time ago.
With this software you can create an accesspoint on your laptop.
It does not work with all wifi adapters.


see: https://github.com/oblique/create_ap

[mathew2214]

i fixed it. the solution was to upgrade to Linux 5.4.

[mathew2214]

UPDATE
it broke again.
networkmanager gives the same error to stdout
networkmanager's log reads:

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Mar 03 12:06:17 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258777.5532] Config: added 'frequency' value '5180'
Mar 03 12:06:17 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258777.5532] Config: added 'freq_list' value '5035 5040 5045 5055 5060 5080 5170 5180 5190 5200 5210 5220 5230 5240 5250 5260 5280 5290 5300 5320 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580 5600>
Mar 03 12:06:17 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258777.5532] Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK WPA-PSK-SHA256'
Mar 03 12:06:17 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258777.5532] Config: added 'psk' value '<hidden>'
Mar 03 12:06:18 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258778.5679] device (wlp5s0): supplicant interface state: ready -> disconnected
Mar 03 12:06:25 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258785.1980] supplicant: wpa_supplicant die count reset
Mar 03 12:06:43 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <warn>  [1583258803.1981] device (wlp5s0): Activation: (wifi) Hotspot network creation took too long, failing activation
Mar 03 12:06:43 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258803.1982] device (wlp5s0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'supplicant-timeout', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mar 03 12:06:43 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <warn>  [1583258803.1993] device (wlp5s0): Activation: failed for connection 'Hotspot'
Mar 03 12:06:43 Aisling NetworkManager[19084]: <info>  [1583258803.1996] device (wlp5s0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

wpasupplicants log reads:

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Mar 03 12:06:14 Aisling systemd[1]: Starting WPA supplicant...
Mar 03 12:06:15 Aisling systemd[1]: Started WPA supplicant.
Mar 03 12:06:15 Aisling wpa_supplicant[19205]: Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Mar 03 12:06:17 Aisling wpa_supplicant[19205]: Note: nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures
Mar 03 12:06:18 Aisling wpa_supplicant[19205]: wlp5s0: Failed to start AP functionality

[reinob]

i am trying to create a WiFi hotspot form my laptop, but i cant figure out how to do this.
i have created a NetworkManager connection called “Hotspot”, but it will not activate.
here is my connection file for NetworkManager.

Is there a reason why you don't want to do that with hostapd? (combined with dnsmasq)

I've never seen wpa_supplicant implementing AP. Now I know it (supposedly) can implement some crude form of AP, but if hostapd works fine I don't see why you add the unnecessary complexity of Network Manager (which apparently wants to use wpa_supplicant).