[SOLVED] wpa_supplicant: Failed to initiate AP scan

Message

yufw · Post by **yufw** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:49 am

I tried to set up wireless connection with wpa_supplicant. I have this minimal configuration in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf,

Code: Select all

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1

Following the Arch Wiki, I run

Code: Select all

# wpa_supplicant -B -i wlo1 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

The output,

Code: Select all

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCGIWMODE]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWESSID]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument

Then

Code: Select all

# wpa_cli
> scan

It won't stop outputting the "Failed to initiate AP scan message"

Code: Select all

OK
<4>Failed to initiate AP scan
<4>Failed to initiate AP scan
<4>Failed to initiate AP scan

I have an Atheros wireless card, the driver is ath9k. I really have no idea where I did wrong. Any help is appreciated.

Logicien · Post by **Logicien** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 5:56 am

Can you see some access points when you do

Code: Select all

ip link set wlo1 up
iwlist wlo1 scan | less

You can try a more complex command. You can try alternatively -D wext if -D nl80211 fail. You can have a look at wpa_supplicant log in the file /var/log/wpa.log.

Code: Select all

wpa_supplicant -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -D nl80211 -dd -f /var/log/wpa.log -i wlo1 -t

If nothing work, the problem can come from the wireless interface itself. Atheros wireless network cards are, from my experience, reliable when drive by the ath9k Linux module.

yufw · Post by **yufw** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:29 am

The "-D nl80211" driver option solves my problem.

Thanks, Logicien. Could you please tell me the difference between wext and nl80211?

khayyam · Post by **khayyam** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:41 am

yufw wrote:Could you please tell me the difference between wext and nl80211?

yufw ... WEXT (wireless extensions) has been replaced by NL80211/CFG80211/MAC80211 (netlink). The former is slated for removal but as there are tools which don't use the new layer (and use WEXT exclusively ... ie, wireless-tools, wicd, and others) there is a compatibility layer which allows these to work. In your case this compatibility layer, CFG80211_WEXT, is not enabled, so anything expecting WEXT will fail. The wpa_supplicant package on gentoo is built with support for both WEXT and NL80211, you just need to provide '-D <driver>' ... but obviously if your current setup doesn't have CFG80211_WEXT then you can only use NL80211 (which of course would be native netlink, rather than the compatibility layer).

best ... khay

yufw · Post by **yufw** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:13 pm

khayyam wrote:yufw ... WEXT (wireless extensions) has been replaced by NL80211/CFG80211/MAC80211 (netlink). The former is slated for removal but as there are tools which don't use the new layer (and use WEXT exclusively ... ie, wireless-tools, wicd, and others) there is a compatibility layer which allows these to work. In your case this compatibility layer, CFG80211_WEXT, is not enabled, so anything expecting WEXT will fail. The wpa_supplicant package on gentoo is built with support for both WEXT and NL80211, you just need to provide '-D <driver>' ... but obviously if your current setup doesn't have CFG80211_WEXT then you can only use NL80211 (which of course would be native netlink, rather than the compatibility layer).

khay, thanks for the explanation.

But I don't think there is a USE flag related to this compatibility layer, is it controlled by something else other than the USE flag?

khayyam · Post by **khayyam** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:27 pm

yufw wrote:khay, thanks for the explanation. But I don't think there is a USE flag related to this compatibility layer, is it controlled by something else other than the USE flag?

yufw ... you're welcome. The wext compatibility layer (CFG80211_WEXT) is in the kernel.

best ... khay

yufw · Post by **yufw** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:15 pm

khayyam wrote: yufw ... you're welcome. The wext compatibility layer (CFG80211_WEXT) is in the kernel.

Code: Select all

$ grep CFG80211_WEXT /usr/src/linux/.config
# CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT is not set

Indeed, thank you.

doublehp · Post by **doublehp** » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:55 pm

"-D nl80211" did it for me too (Orange Pi Zero, H2+, ARMBIAN 5.38 stable Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS 4.14.18-sunxi )