[CentOS] Wireless Interface Does Not Connect Automatically At StartUp

[Cody Jackson]

Hi Manish;

I've never tried NM during boot. (Personally, I dislike NM at all.)
You might find a system similar to this to be more of your liking:

http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/WpaSupplicant

I use this in place of my CentOS 6 backup server, which has an
rt2500pci card in it--which, by the way, is a horrible shoddy card
that I do not recommend. It doesn't play nice with Netgear APs. But I
digress.

CentOS 6 appears to have made some changes to the above document. What
I've discovered is:

1. You don't need to edit ifup-wireless.
2. You don't need to edit ifconfig-* (although one should be
created--I can post mine if it'll help you.)
3. All you need in /etc/rc.local is an 'ifup wlan0' line.
4. You DO need to edit /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant and add the
interface of your wireless card to the options there (example:
-iwlan0).
5. wpa_supplicant should be ENABLED on boot.

I also found out that I actually have editing rights on that page, so
I'll post my experiences in the next day or so. I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Cody Jackson


On 7/18/11, Manish Kathuria <mkathuria at tuxtechnologies.co.in> wrote:
> I have recently installed CentOS 6 on a system with  a Realtek 8180L
> wireless card. The wireless card is detected properly and uses the
> rtl8180 driver. But it connects to our wireless network only after
> logging to the Desktop Environment (GNOME) and using the Network
> Manager Applet. In order to make the wireless card connect to the
> network automatically at system start up, I edited the Connection
> using the Network Manager Applet and checked "Connect Automatically"
> and "Available to all users" options.  However, while booting the
> system, the following error message is displayed when the wireless
> network interface is brought up.
>
> Device does not seem to be present, delaying initialization
>
> But as soon as a user logs on to the Desktop, he can connect to the
> network using the NM Applet.
>
> I have also toggled between using DHCP and Static IP Address for the
> the wireless card but it makes no difference. The SSID is not being
> broadcast and the Wireless Access Point / Router uses WPA-PSK.
>
> TIA,
> --
> Manish Kathuria
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