Wi-Fi Linux Network Manager quick start guide

Using Network Manager to setup a wifi connection is quick and automatic once the configuration is in place. Install the Wi-Fi card and make sure the device shows up in your Linux system with:

lspci 

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00:1e.0 SD Host controller: Intel Corporation Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series SDIO Controller (rev 0d)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Low Pin Count Interface (rev 0d)

00:1f.1 SMBus: Intel Corporation Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series SMBus Controller (rev 0d)

01:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA986x/988x 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)

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The Qualcomm 900vx wifi module we have plugged in here shows up as expected. If that is not the case, make sure that the card is properly seated, pin-compatible and that the host system has correct drivers installed!

What drivers are being utilized can be found using the index in the previous code snippet:

 sudo find /sys | grep drivers.*01:00.0

/sys/bus/pci/drivers/ath10k_pci/0000:01:00.0

Here we see that the device is using the kernel built-in wifi driver ath10k which is compatible 524wifi 900VX Pro+ module used here.

Next step is to check that NM finds the device:

sudo nmcli

wlp1s0: unavailable

“Qualcomm Atheros QCA986x/988x”

wifi (ath10k_pci), 04:F3:21:4F:0A:A2, sw disabled, hw, mtu 1500

Here it is found by NM but in disabled state, activate it using:

sudo nmcli radio wifi on //activate wifi

wlp1s0: disconnected

“Qualcomm Atheros QCA986x/988x”

0 connections available

wifi (ath10k_pci), 04:F3:21:4F:0A:A2, hw, mtu 1500

sudo nmcli dev wifi //lists available wifi access points

sudo nmcli dev wifi connect 'SSID' password 'password' //connect to a network/access point

To setup an automatic connection instead of manual direct-connect follow the below steps:

nmcli con add con-name 'wifi' ifname 'wlp1s0' type wifi ssid 'SSID'

nmcli con modify 'wifi' wifi-sec.key-mgmt 'wpa-psk' //Add security layer matching the access point

nmcli con modify 'wifi' wifi-sec.psk 'password' //Add the access point password to the connection 

nmcli con up 'wifi'//Activate the connection

nmcli dev set 'wlp1s0' autoconnect yes //Set connection to autoconnect

There are also a number of different settings that can be changed to your liking. Below you can see an example of how to set which band an existing connection should use:

nmcli connection edit wifi

goto wifi //Access general wifi settings

goto band //Access band settings

set a //Sets the band to 5GHz

save //Persistent save

quit //Quit the interactive terminal

sudo systemctl restart network-manager //Restart to apply settings

More information available at: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#nmcli_examples 

Note: Tested on Ubuntu 22.04 kernel 5.19