Kali linux wpa_supplicant cli config

Kali linux wpa_supplicant cli config.

To setup a wifi connection using wpa_supplicant on the cli in kali, first you have to bring up your network interface

ifconfig wlan0 up

Next, we create a config file

wpa_passphrase 'router_ssid' 'wifi_password' > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

We need to edit the config file and remove some things

vim /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Change the config file so that it contains:

network={
    ssid="router_ssid"
    #psk="wifi_password"
    psk=long_hex_string_goes_here
}

Finally, we can auth with our router and obtain an ip address to access the network

sudo wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dwext
sudo dhclient wlan0

Command Line Options (taken from the wpa_supplicant man page)

Most command line options have global scope.
Some are given per interface, and are only valid if at least one -i option is specified, otherwise they are ignored. Option groups for different interfaces must be separated by -N option.

-b br_ifname Optional bridge interface name. (Per interface)
-B Run daemon in the background.
-c filename Path to configuration file. (Per interface)
-C ctrl_interface Path to ctrl_interface socket (Per interface. Only used if -c is not).
-i ifname Interface to listen on. Multiple instances of this option can be present, one per interface, separated by -N option (see below).
-d Increase debugging verbosity (-dd even more).
-D driver Driver to use (can be multiple drivers: nl80211,wext). (Per interface, see the available options below.)
-f output file Log output to specified file instead of stdout.
-g global ctrl_interface Path to global ctrl_interface socket. If specified, interface definitions may be omitted.
-K Include keys (passwords, etc.) in debug output.
-t Include timestamp in debug messages.
-h Help. Show a usage message.
-L Show license (GPL and BSD).
-p Driver parameters. (Per interface)
-P PID_file Path to PID file.
-q Decrease debugging verbosity (-qq even less).
-u Enabled DBus control interface. If enabled, interface definitions may be omitted.
-v Show version.
-W Wait for a control interface monitor before starting.
-N Start describing new interface.

Kali linux wpa_supplicant cli config sources: wpa_supplicant man page

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Rupert

    I don’t fully understand this. Can you please elaborate on what this is doing to my Windows XP Computer?
    Should I be using Windows XP for this? I’ve already tried on Windows 7, and it doesn’t work as well.
    Some help would be greatly appreciated!

    Great tutorial though!

    1. jonathan

      sure, run your python 2.7 scripts from your xp oem install. pretty sure you got here from a google for ‘kali wpa supplicant’ or similar, so you arent on xp or 7.

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