Re: How to get NetworkManager connect to known WIFI networks upon BOOT

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Wed, 2007-11-28 at 23:42 -0600, Igor Chudov wrote:
> My Ubuntu 7.10 computer boots up and gets its IP address just fine
> when it is on a wired network (via DHCP). 
> 
> It can also connect to wireless networks, however, it requires me to
> be logged on to gnome and enter my password. 
> 
> I want to skip all of that and make NetworkManager connect to several
> known wifi networks automatically upon boot, even if no one logs on to
> this laptop. 
> 
> In Fedora, I wrote a custom  script calling wpa_supplicant with a .conf
> file, but I want to integrate NetworkManager better as I like its
> reconnection abilities. 
> 
> So. How can I make NM connect to password protected wifi networks upon
> boot, without users logging in?
> 
> How can I do it?

It isn't possible with NM 0.6.x.  I've already committed code to trunk
(0.7) for the system settings service, which will provide NM connection
information before logins, therefore providing this functionality.  I'm
currently implementing the 'ifcfg' backend that will work with Fedora
and SUSE distros, and I'm going to implement a more flexible format
based on key/value pairs (essentially .ini files, really) and maps much
better to the NM connection/setting structure.  Somebody from the
Debian/Ubuntu community will need to step up and write the plugin for
their distro.

The system settings service will make it's way into Fedora 8 at some
point later this year.

Dan