On 09/16/2010 11:08 AM, José Queiroz wrote:
Sometimes, a problem with the wireless adapter may cause NM to fail connection. When the connection fails repeatedly, NM opens a window asking you to retype the password, even though it is correct.The Ubuntu and Fedora and Mac laptops work perfectly with every other WPA2 AP. Notice this is multiple laptops, running different OSes and different linux distros. Only Windows laptops work with the problem AP. All those other APs (including another Linksys) were configured using the Web interface, which is why I'm suspecting the setup CD sets up something Windows only. I've posted the log file from NM to the Fedora chat, and they agree that the error is truly an invalid passphrase. (I'll post here as soon as I get access to the laptop in question again.) My current paranoid theory is that the M$ setup CD configures the WPA2 with a binary key, derived from the passphrase by a proprietary password hash that only Windows uses. In several days of googling this problem, I've seen several claims that M$ has 2 password hashes that it tries with WPA2 (thus enabling Windows to also work with standard APs). M$ had an excuse for that with WEP, since it hadn't been standardized yet, but not with WPA2. *If* that paranoid theory is correct, then surely someone has deciphered the M$ hash, and I can run a program to derive the binary key. Then the question is, how to make NM use a binary key instead of a passphrase. <politics>You may ask, "Why not just factory reset the AP and setup with the same passphrase using the web interface?" Well, I would like to do that, but currently, the owner is convinced that this behaviour is proof that Windows is the only serious OS. If the 2 hash theory is confirmed, I'll add it to my list of M$ sins.</politics>
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