2

What I want:

  • Every time the Pi starts, it should connect to the wifi
  • I should be able to ssh into it via its IP

So, after a whole day of trying and searching, I managed to finally connect to my wifi router. But, unfortunately, the connection is somehow not persistent. So here is my setup:

I ssh into my raspberry while it is connected to USB. From here I created a /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file with following content:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=DE
network={
  ssid="MYDEVICENAME"
  psk="MYDEVICEPASSWORD"
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
#fake network workaround for headless Raspberry Pi Zero
network={
  ssid="fakessid"
  psk="fakepass"
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

I don’t really remember where I got this from but it seems to work. Because I had no idea if it is relevant and saw both locations used, I copied the exact same thing one directory up to /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf (is that even necessary?)

I rebooted, but the Pi did not connect to the wifi by itself. So I found this command online:

sudo wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dwext -B

which did connect my Pi to the internet. I also can ssh into it. I also have internet as I can clone an online repo. I can’t apt-update but I guess that’s probably a topic on its own.

But everytime I unplug it or reboot it, it won’t connect automatically and I’ll have to retype the above command.

How can I have the Raspberry Pi zero w connect to that network automatically every time it gets turned-on/booted?

I feel like it’s just one last small piece missing

Thank you!

tlhIngan
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chitzui
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    You may have followed some other advice and modified other files, You should check How to set up networking/WiFi and list any changes you made. The "fake" stuff does no harm, but is unnecessary - this was just to opinion of one user. You should only have 1 /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf – Milliways Nov 11 '17 at 01:16
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    You can't apt-update because there is no such command. – Milliways Nov 11 '17 at 01:17

1 Answers1

1

Ok, I don’t know why but now it’s working, here is what I did:

I added this file:

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant/conf

and placed these information inside:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=DE
network={
  ssid="MYDEVICENAME"
  psk="MYDEVICEPASSWORD"
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
#fake network workaround for headless Raspberry Pi Zero
network={
  ssid="fakessid"
  psk="fakepass"
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

only changing MYDEVICENAME and MYDEVICEPASSWORD to the correct values. I guess for others the country code might also have to be edited.

And then rebooting with 

sudo reboot

I never used that command before but always rebooted using sudo /sbin/shutdown -r now, so it could also be that a proper sudo reboot what was needed.

So I have these settings now at 3 locations (/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf and /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant/conf) and also it feels as if I have to much information in these setting files.

I’m happy with the solution for now (after like 6 hours) but I’ll investigate this further (what is really needed).

Oh yes and I also found this link: https://www.piborg.org/blog/pi-zero-wifi-bluetooth and this one: https://brandonb.io/raspberry-pi-zero-w-headless-setup-on-macos maybe it helps someone.

chitzui
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  • You dont need wpa_supplicant/conf you just needed to reboot after making the changes to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicanr.conf. – Steve Robillard Nov 11 '17 at 01:29