Nixpkgs: Creating a wifi hotspot doesn't work

[cxandru]

Issue description

Creating a secured wifi hotspot (i.e. following the instructions here:https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/234552/create-wireless-access-point-and-share-internet-connection-with-nmcli) Doesn't work: The attempt to bring the connection up fails with
'Error: Connection activation failed: 802.1X supplicant took too long to authenticate'.

This seems to me related to this bug:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1518190
https://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?322184-nmcli-(NetworkManager)-create-AP-(with-wpa-psk)-doesn-t-work

I tried downgrading my kernel version but had the same error with 4.14 and 4.9

Steps to reproduce

1. have networking.networkmanager.enable = true;
2. Be connected to Ethernet and have an AP-capable WLAN chipset
3. Try to create a secured hotspot i.e. with nmcli dev wifi hotspot ifname <wireless-iface-name> ssid test password "test1234"

Technical details

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 4.9.188, NixOS, 19.03.173266.bd1358fed9d (Koi)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.2.2
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

[cxandru]

Can anyone reproduce this? Also, how do I add the bug flair?

[worldofpeace]

I tried this on Pantheon without issues. Can try GNOME 3 next, but it's likely tied to your wifi card.

[worldofpeace]

Also, how do I add the bug flair?

Do you mean nix run nixpkgs.nix-info -c nix-info -m?

[cxandru]

@worldofpeace I know it's not tied ultimately to my card because I was able to create a secured hotspot on linuxMint a day before I started installing NixOS, _also_ creating an unsecured Hotspot works, as mentioned.

[cxandru]

Ok I have managed to get the log:
If you compare it with the one in https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1518190 it is nearly identical. Also search results for the various in-between errors pointed me again to fedora forums where the issue was closed after an update.
In particular this bug report: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1463245 emphasizes that the warning nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures is not the issue.
Here are the relevant parts of the log:

Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde nm-dispatcher[11238]: req:1 'down' [wlo1]: new request (1 scripts)
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde nm-dispatcher[11238]: req:1 'down' [wlo1]: start running ordered scripts...
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-100
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Note: nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures
Sep 06 13:49:37 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Using interface wlo1 with hwaddr 84:3a:4b:58:5c:24 and ssid "Ondolinde"
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Interface initialization failed
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: AP-DISABLED
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: Unable to setup interface.
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Failed to initialize AP interface
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: interface state DISABLED->DISABLED
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: AP-DISABLED
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlo1 wasn't started
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:49:38 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=84:3a:4b:58:5c:24 reason=3 locally_generated=1
Sep 06 13:50:02 Ondolinde NetworkManager[760]: <warn>  [1567770602.8102] device (wlo1): Activation: (wifi) Hotspot network creation took too long, failing activation
Sep 06 13:50:02 Ondolinde NetworkManager[760]: <warn>  [1567770602.8126] device (wlo1): Activation: failed for connection 'wifi-hotspot'
Sep 06 13:50:02 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:50:02 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:03 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:03 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:50:03 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending
Sep 06 13:50:06 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:06 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:06 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:50:06 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Note: nl80211 driver interface is not designed to be used with ap_scan=2; this can result in connection failures
Sep 06 13:50:06 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Using interface wlo1 with hwaddr 84:3a:4b:58:5c:24 and ssid "Ondolinde"
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Interface initialization failed
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->DISABLED
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: AP-DISABLED
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: Unable to setup interface.
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: Failed to initialize AP interface
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: interface state DISABLED->DISABLED
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: AP-DISABLED
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wlo1 wasn't started
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlo1: link is not ready
Sep 06 13:50:07 Ondolinde wpa_supplicant[859]: wlo1: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=84:3a:4b:58:5c:24 reason=3 locally_generated=1

[cxandru]

Just to make sure I tested this with the Archiso install image and the problem does _not_ occur.

[worldofpeace]

Thanks for testing and verifying this @gregor-alexandru. There is a good amount of info here that someone could figure this out.

Though could you get the package versions that worked in Arch?
(wpa_supplicant, networkmanager, kernel version)

And have you tried a newer kernel version?

[cxandru]

@worldofpeace yes, I originally and again afterwards tried it with kernel version 4.19. I also changed my package source to unstable and it didn't help. Arch versions are:
wpa_supplicant: v2.9
networkmanager: 1.20.2-1
kernel: 5.2.11-arch-1-ARCH

[worldofpeace]

On unstable, where this works for me, we have
networkmanager: 1.18.2
wpa_supplicant: 2.9
kernel: 5.2.11

On 19.03 it's
wpa_supplicant: 2.8
networkmanager: 1.14.2

So there's a pretty big disparity between versions here, because it works in arch for you I have a feeling that maybe this isn't broken on unstable, just 19.03.
Is it possible you could try unstable?

[cxandru]

Do you know where I can actually find the available kernel versions? The entry in the wiki does not work anymore, pkgs.linuxPackages just spits out a lot of verbose stuff

[worldofpeace]

@gregor-alexandru Off the top of my head I don't recall a better way than

nix search linuxPackages_ 

or

nix repl '<nixpkgs>'
$ linuxPackages_ # tab completions

[cxandru]

Ok, I've now switched to unstable with your stated versions of the relevant packages. Sadly it's still broken, the messages are rather more cryptic than before:

Sep 07 01:24:41 Ondolinde sudo[1868]: earendil : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/earendil ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/run/current-system/sw/bin/nmcli con up wifi-hotspot
Sep 07 01:24:41 Ondolinde sudo[1868]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Sep 07 01:24:41 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 01:24:41 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 01:24:44 Ondolinde kernel: refused connection: IN=enp0s25 OUT= MAC=74:46:a0:3b:3f:2d:30:7c:5e:03:a2:00:08:00 SRC=117.93.71.129 DST=213.124.164.223 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=49 ID=19454 PROTO=TCP SPT=24708 DPT=80 WINDOW=58251 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 
Sep 07 01:24:53 Ondolinde kernel: refused connection: IN=enp0s25 OUT= MAC=74:46:a0:3b:3f:2d:30:7c:5e:03:a2:00:08:00 SRC=159.203.199.14 DST=213.124.164.223 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=243 ID=54321 PROTO=TCP SPT=37236 DPT=8084 WINDOW=65535 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 
Sep 07 01:25:06 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <warn>  [1567812306.8446] device (wlo1): Activation: (wifi) association took too long, failing activation
Sep 07 01:25:06 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <warn>  [1567812306.8469] device (wlo1): Activation: failed for connection 'wifi-hotspot'
Sep 07 01:25:06 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 01:25:07 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 01:25:07 Ondolinde sudo[1868]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root

Interestingly I found this post on r/NixOS as the first result when searching for kernel: refused connection: https://www.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/9wplyg/kernel_refused_connection_ineth0_in_system/

[worldofpeace]

Which kernel?

[cxandru]

5.2.11

[cxandru]

Btw I also tried creating one with hostapd like so: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixos-access-point-via-hostapd/1060/4 and it also timed out, so this is not a networkManager issue.

[cxandru]

Log updated with NetworkManager logging messages set to debug:

Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde sudo[5196]: earendil : TTY=pts/6 ; PWD=/home/earendil ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/run/current-system/sw/bin/nmcli con up wifi-hotspot ifname wlo1
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde sudo[5196]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde kernel: iwlwifi 0000:24:00.0: Radio type=0x1-0x2-0x0
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <info>  [1567840348.8357] device (wlo1): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> disabled
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <info>  [1567840348.8358] device (wlo1): supplicant interface state: disabled -> disconnected
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <info>  [1567840348.8369] device (wlo1): Activation: (wifi) access point 'wifi-hotspot' has security, but secrets are required.
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <info>  [1567840348.8399] device (wlo1): Activation: (wifi) connection 'wifi-hotspot' has security, and secrets exist.  No new secrets needed.
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <info>  [1567840348.8541] device (wlo1): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Sep 07 09:12:28 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840348.8541] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scanning-state: scanning
Sep 07 09:12:32 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840352.1952] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scan-done callback: successful
Sep 07 09:12:33 Ondolinde kernel: refused connection: IN=enp0s25 OUT= MAC=74:46:a0:3b:3f:2d:30:7c:5e:03:a2:00:08:00 SRC=185.175.93.14 DST=213.124.164.223 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=246 ID=62794 PROTO=TCP SPT=58229 DPT=44455 WINDOW=1024 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 
Sep 07 09:12:37 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840357.8446] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scanning requested but not allowed at this time
Sep 07 09:12:37 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840357.8447] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scheduled in 33 seconds (interval now 33 seconds)
Sep 07 09:12:40 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840360.4138] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scan-done callback: successful
Sep 07 09:12:40 Ondolinde kernel: refused connection: IN=enp0s25 OUT= MAC=74:46:a0:3b:3f:2d:30:7c:5e:03:a2:00:08:00 SRC=218.65.5.176 DST=213.124.164.223 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=240 ID=63446 PROTO=TCP SPT=43156 DPT=445 WINDOW=1024 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 
Sep 07 09:12:48 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <debug> [1567840368.7841] device[0x189aed0] (wlo1): wifi-scan: scan-done callback: successful
Sep 07 09:12:53 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <warn>  [1567840373.8446] device (wlo1): Activation: (wifi) association took too long, failing activation
Sep 07 09:12:53 Ondolinde NetworkManager[820]: <warn>  [1567840373.8466] device (wlo1): Activation: failed for connection 'wifi-hotspot'

[cxandru]

Also my wifi card is Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]

[cxandru]

Ok, I googled one of the other parts of the error message (Activation: (wifi) association took too long, failing activation), and found a thread of a ubuntu user having problems with his intel chipset (using the iwlwifi driver): https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2173329. I also found that iwlwifi apparently doesn't work very well with the 802.11n protocol. (Source: https://www.linux.com/tutorials/tips-and-tricks-get-most-out-your-linux-wifi/)
So I added these two lines in a new file /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf:

options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1
options iwlwifi wd_disable=0

And now it works!! Hooray!
According to this post: https://superuser.com/questions/924559/wifi-connection-troubles-solved-why-does-my-fix-work the bt_coex_active option also sometimes seems to cause problems.

I couldn't find the .conf file in Arch, so I don't know how they do it. Also this does not appear to be a problem with _all_ intel wifi cards as I had a friend fail to replicate it with a different intel wireless card (Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265).
Since I've gotten it to work on my setup I don't know if I should close this issue or wait for a fix to be introduced to the repo?

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[pmssantos]

Thanks, @cxandru . Your solution also worked for me, with a IWL 5300 (I was trying to use it to obtain CSI - https://dhalperi.github.io/linux-80211n-csitool/)
Out of curiosity, how did you guess that those two particular lines, in that particular file, would work?