Configure wireless connection using command-line utility.
Operating system.
$ lsb_release --all
No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS Release: 22.04 Codename: jammy
Display networking status.
$ nmcli networking
disabled
Enable networking.
$ nmcli networking on
Display networking status.
$ nmcli networking
enabled
Check network connectivity.
$ nmcli networking connectivity check
none
Ad-hoc solution
Display radio status.
$ nmcli radio
WIFI-HW WIFI WWAN-HW WWAN enabled disabled enabled disabled
Enable wireless radio.
$ nmcli radio wifi on
Inspect wireless radio status.
$ nmcli radio wifi
enabled
Display network interfaces
$ nmcli device
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION wlp3s0 wifi disconnected -- p2p-dev-wlp3s0 wifi-p2p disconnected -- enp2s0f1 ethernet unavailable -- lo loopback unmanaged -- tailscale0 tun unmanaged --
Scan and list wireless networks.
$ nmcli device wifi list ifname wlp3s0 --rescan yes
IN-USE BSSID SSID MODE CHAN RATE SIGNAL BARS SECURITY
C0:C5:22:F0:4A:E8 wifi_home Infra 9 270 Mbit/s 65 *** WPA1 WPA2
B8:66:85:6C:04:E0 lightspeed_internet Infra 1 130 Mbit/s 55 ** WPA2
A1:24:58:AC:0E:04 lightspeed_internet Infra 100 540 Mbit/s 55 ** WPA2
54:13:10:4E:19:70 SPOT-2.4GHz Infra 6 195 Mbit/s 40 ** WPA2
C0:C5:22:F0:4A:EE wifi_home Infra 48 405 Mbit/s 39 ** WPA1 WPA2
38:70:0C:E0:69:58 2.4G-WiFi Infra 6 130 Mbit/s 32 ** WPA1 WPA2
Connect to specific wireless network.
$ nmcli device wifi connect lightspeed_internet ifname wlp3s0 password PSKKEYPSKKEY private yes hidden no
Device 'wlp3s0' successfully activated with '446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832'.
Display wireless password.
$ nmcli device wifi show-password ifname wlp3s0
SSID: lightspeed_internet Security: WPA Password: PSKKEYPSKKEY
Check network connectivity.
$ nmcli networking connectivity check
full
Thorough solution
Create wireless connection.
$ sudo nmcli connection add type wifi ssid lightspeed_internet wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-psk wifi-sec.psk PSKKEYPSKKEY ipv4.method auto connection.id "lightspeed_internet " connection.interface-name wlp3s0 connection.permissions "user:milosz"
Connection 'Home' (446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832) successfully added.
List connections.
$ nmcli connection
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE lightspeed_internet 446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832 wifi wlp3s0 Wired connection 92ba9eab-c22b-3fce-9076-e47b190990bf ethernet --
Show connection details.
$ nmcli connection show lightspeed_internet --show-secrets
connection.id: lightspeed_internet connection.uuid: 446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832 connection.stable-id: -- connection.type: 802-11-wireless connection.interface-name: wlp3s0 connection.autoconnect: yes connection.autoconnect-priority: 0 connection.autoconnect-retries: -1 (default) connection.multi-connect: 0 (default) connection.auth-retries: -1 connection.timestamp: 1672144573 connection.read-only: no connection.permissions: user:milosz connection.zone: -- connection.master: -- connection.slave-type: -- connection.autoconnect-slaves: -1 (default) connection.secondaries: -- connection.gateway-ping-timeout: 0 connection.metered: unknown connection.lldp: default connection.mdns: -1 (default) connection.llmnr: -1 (default) connection.dns-over-tls: -1 (default) connection.wait-device-timeout: -1 802-11-wireless.ssid: lightspeed_internet 802-11-wireless.mode: infrastructure 802-11-wireless.band: -- 802-11-wireless.channel: 0 802-11-wireless.bssid: -- 802-11-wireless.rate: 0 802-11-wireless.tx-power: 0 802-11-wireless.mac-address: -- 802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address: -- 802-11-wireless.generate-mac-address-mask:-- 802-11-wireless.mac-address-blacklist: -- 802-11-wireless.mac-address-randomization:default 802-11-wireless.mtu: auto 802-11-wireless.seen-bssids: A1:24:58:AC:0E:04 802-11-wireless.hidden: no 802-11-wireless.powersave: 0 (default) 802-11-wireless.wake-on-wlan: 0x1 (default) 802-11-wireless.ap-isolation: -1 (default) 802-11-wireless-security.key-mgmt: wpa-psk 802-11-wireless-security.wep-tx-keyidx: 0 802-11-wireless-security.auth-alg: open 802-11-wireless-security.proto: -- 802-11-wireless-security.pairwise: -- 802-11-wireless-security.group: -- 802-11-wireless-security.pmf: 0 (default) 802-11-wireless-security.leap-username: -- 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key0: -- 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key1: -- 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key2: -- 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key3: -- 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key-flags: 0 (none) 802-11-wireless-security.wep-key-type: unknown 802-11-wireless-security.psk: PSKKEYPSKKEY 802-11-wireless-security.psk-flags: 0 (none) 802-11-wireless-security.leap-password: -- 802-11-wireless-security.leap-password-flags:0 (none) 802-11-wireless-security.wps-method: 0x0 (default) 802-11-wireless-security.fils: 0 (default) ipv4.method: auto ipv4.dns: -- ipv4.dns-search: -- ipv4.dns-options: -- ipv4.dns-priority: 0 ipv4.addresses: -- ipv4.gateway: -- ipv4.routes: -- ipv4.route-metric: -1 ipv4.route-table: 0 (unspec) ipv4.routing-rules: -- ipv4.ignore-auto-routes: no ipv4.ignore-auto-dns: no ipv4.dhcp-client-id: -- ipv4.dhcp-iaid: -- ipv4.dhcp-timeout: 0 (default) ipv4.dhcp-send-hostname: yes ipv4.dhcp-hostname: -- ipv4.dhcp-fqdn: -- ipv4.dhcp-hostname-flags: 0x0 (none) ipv4.never-default: no ipv4.may-fail: yes ipv4.required-timeout: -1 (default) ipv4.dad-timeout: -1 (default) ipv4.dhcp-vendor-class-identifier: -- ipv4.dhcp-reject-servers: -- ipv6.method: auto ipv6.dns: -- ipv6.dns-search: -- ipv6.dns-options: -- ipv6.dns-priority: 0 ipv6.addresses: -- ipv6.gateway: -- ipv6.routes: -- ipv6.route-metric: -1 ipv6.route-table: 0 (unspec) ipv6.routing-rules: -- ipv6.ignore-auto-routes: no ipv6.ignore-auto-dns: no ipv6.never-default: no ipv6.may-fail: yes ipv6.required-timeout: -1 (default) ipv6.ip6-privacy: -1 (unknown) ipv6.addr-gen-mode: stable-privacy ipv6.ra-timeout: 0 (default) ipv6.dhcp-duid: -- ipv6.dhcp-iaid: -- ipv6.dhcp-timeout: 0 (default) ipv6.dhcp-send-hostname: yes ipv6.dhcp-hostname: -- ipv6.dhcp-hostname-flags: 0x0 (none) ipv6.token: -- proxy.method: none proxy.browser-only: no proxy.pac-url: -- proxy.pac-script: -- GENERAL.NAME: lightspeed_internet GENERAL.UUID: 446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832 GENERAL.DEVICES: wlp3s0 GENERAL.IP-IFACE: wlp3s0 GENERAL.STATE: activated GENERAL.DEFAULT: yes GENERAL.DEFAULT6: no GENERAL.SPEC-OBJECT: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/AccessPoint/7386 GENERAL.VPN: no GENERAL.DBUS-PATH: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/37 GENERAL.CON-PATH: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/7 GENERAL.ZONE: -- GENERAL.MASTER-PATH: -- IP4.ADDRESS[1]: 192.168.1.14/24 IP4.GATEWAY: 192.168.1.1 IP4.ROUTE[1]: dst = 192.168.1.0/24, nh = 0.0.0.0, mt = 600 IP4.ROUTE[2]: dst = 169.254.0.0/16, nh = 0.0.0.0, mt = 1000 IP4.ROUTE[3]: dst = 0.0.0.0/0, nh = 192.168.1.1, mt = 600 IP4.DNS[1]: 192.168.1.1 IP4.DOMAIN[1]: home DHCP4.OPTION[1]: broadcast_address = 192.168.1.255 DHCP4.OPTION[2]: dhcp_lease_time = 86400 DHCP4.OPTION[3]: dhcp_server_identifier = 192.168.1.1 DHCP4.OPTION[4]: domain_name = home DHCP4.OPTION[5]: domain_name_servers = 192.168.1.1 DHCP4.OPTION[6]: expiry = 1672230965 DHCP4.OPTION[7]: ip_address = 192.168.1.14 DHCP4.OPTION[8]: next_server = 192.168.1.1 DHCP4.OPTION[9]: requested_broadcast_address = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[10]: requested_domain_name = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[11]: requested_domain_name_servers = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[12]: requested_domain_search = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[13]: requested_host_name = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[14]: requested_interface_mtu = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[15]: requested_ms_classless_static_routes = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[16]: requested_nis_domain = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[17]: requested_nis_servers = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[18]: requested_ntp_servers = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[19]: requested_rfc3442_classless_static_routes = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[20]: requested_root_path = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[21]: requested_routers = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[22]: requested_static_routes = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[23]: requested_subnet_mask = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[24]: requested_time_offset = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[25]: requested_wpad = 1 DHCP4.OPTION[26]: routers = 192.168.1.1 DHCP4.OPTION[27]: subnet_mask = 255.255.255.0 IP6.ADDRESS[1]: fe80::19c2:a00c:3017:9939/64 IP6.GATEWAY: -- IP6.ROUTE[1]: dst = fe80::/64, nh = ::, mt = 1024
Modify connection parameters.
$ nmcli connection modify lightspeed_internet connection.id "Wireless network at home"
List connections.
$ nmcli connection
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE Wireless network at home 446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832 wifi wlp3s0 Wired connection 92ba9eab-c22b-3fce-9076-e47b190990bf ethernet --
Inspect stored configuration.
$ sudo cat /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/lightspeed_internet .nmconnection
[connection] id=Wireless network at home uuid=446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832 type=wifi interface-name=wlp3s0 permissions=user:milosz:; timestamp=1672144573 [wifi] mode=infrastructure ssid=lightspeed_internet [wifi-security] key-mgmt=wpa-psk psk=PSKKEYPSKKEY [ipv4] method=auto [ipv6] addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy method=auto [proxy]
Delete connection.
$ nmcli connection delete "Wireless network at home"
Connection 'Wireless network at home' (446d36b9-3d02-42dc-a338-a2322e755832) successfully deleted.