Linux – Create a wifi hotspot on Gnome 3 / Arch Linux

arch linuxnetworkmanagerwifi

I'm trying to create a wifi hotspot in gnome shell and Arch Linux.
I open "System Settings" > "Network", then I select "wifi" on the LH side and click "Use as Hotspot…" on the bottom.

The system tells that the hotspot is on, shows me the SSID, Security Type (WEP only) and a security key. It does not allow me to configure (there's no configure option).
Also the hot spot seems actually not being avaiable.
If I try to scan for hotspots by any other device, the hotspot is not found and by manually inserting SSID, WEP and password it doesn't work too.

I used to do without problems in Ubuntu, so my feeling is that I'm missing some dependencies and/or configuration in Arch Linux.

EDIT:
I made little progress by installing modemmanager and enabling it

sudo systemctl start ModemManager.service && sudo systemctl enable ModemManager.service

Now the hotspot starts and divices can connect to it.
However there's still no configuration available for the hotspot (i.e. change name, wep etc) and also I noticed that if running some web services on host (hot spot host) consumed by connected devices, not always works as expected and give errors.

I guess I'm still missing something to make it complete and working 100%. Any hints?

Best Answer

I fixed by installing modemmanager and enabling it

sudo systemctl start ModemManager.service && sudo systemctl enable ModemManager.service

Now the hotspot starts and divices can connect to it. However there's still no configuration available for the hotspot (i.e. change name, wep etc).

Initially it was working but still a little buggy especially with virtualbox and webservices... however I just got a systemd update few minutes ago and now everything seems to be working well and fast.

During my attempts I aslo installed and enabled wpa_supplicant.service but I'm not sure it is actually required (I'll try to disable it to check).

Related Solutions

NetworkManager – Terminal Commands Equivalent to ‘Use as Hotspot’ Option

See my answer to the "Create wireless access point and share internet connection with nmcli"

I created a Hotspot with the GNOME Network-Manager. The problem was, that I can not configure the SSID and password in GUI. If you create the Hotspot with the Network-Manager GUI, it creates the file /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Hotspot. In that file it is possible to edit the SSID and the password.

sudo vim /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Hotspot

The content of the file looks like this:

[connection]
id=Hotspot
uuid=0bf627gd-8e34-48c6-865a-06f898b4y1hb
type=wifi
autoconnect=false
permissions=
secondaries=

[wifi]
hidden=false
mac-address=YOUR_WIFI_INTERFACE_MAC_ADDRESS
mac-address-blacklist=
mode=ap
seen-bssids=
ssid=SSID_NAME

[wifi-security]
group=ccmp;
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
pairwise=ccmp;
proto=rsn;
psk=YOUR_WIFI_AP_PASSWORD

[ipv4]
dns-search=
method=shared

[ipv6]
dns-search=
method=auto

I only changed the ssid and the psk properties to my needs. Then I restarted my computer because the command: sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager for network restart seems not to work correctly, because in the Network-Manager GUI I have no wireless network settings anymore and also the following command worked not before the restart. After restart you can use the nmcli command to start the access point.

nmcli con up Hotspot ifname YOUR_WIFI_INTERFACE

YOUR_WIFI_INTERFACE you can find out with the command iwconfig.

Linux Mint 15 WiFi hotspot options

Haven't used Mint 15 myself, but, you can right click on the Network Manager icon in your panel and select Edit Connections.

You will see a option 'Hotspot' under the Wi-Fi section. Edit that and you can set the SSID, the type of security(WEP/ WPA2) and the key.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

NetworkManager – Terminal Commands Equivalent to ‘Use as Hotspot’ Option

Linux Mint 15 WiFi hotspot options

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