nmcli can't see wifi networks, but iwlist does... [solved]

RayDude · Last edited by RayDude on Wed Mar 19, 2025 8:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm using network manager. Its been good.

But I'm visiting my sister and bro-in-law and my laptop can't see their wifi network.

I followed a rabbit hole and ended up installing new firmware for my MT7922, but that didn't help.

Here's the thing: If I run nmcli it shows a few networks, not the one I'm looking for, but iwlist shows all the networks.

I figure network manager is misconfigured. Does anyone have any ideas?

TIA
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grknight · Retired Dev Joined: 20 Feb 2015 Posts: 2063

This is likely due to net-wireless/wpa_supplicant and its broken mixed mode handling.
By default, if any access point has a mixed WPA/WPA2 enabled, wpa_supplicant will fail to report it as available.
To fix this, either:

Set only WPA2 (or WPA2/WPA3) on an AP you control or
Enable tkip USE on wpa_supplicant so it can handle the deprecated WPA again

RayDude · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 8:18 pm Post subject:

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 8:21 pm Post subject:

RayDude,

It would be safer to fix your sisters WiFi access point to not use the old broken WPA option ... if that's possible.
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NeddySeagoon

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grknight · Retired Dev Joined: 20 Feb 2015 Posts: 2063

It is always preferable to ditch WPA whenever possible. Hardware built since 2006 has been required to be WPA2 compliant