Wifi says password is wrong (it isn't)

General system Newbie
1

Hi there,

I have an issue with my laptop (using KDE Plasma desktop).

I’ve noticed that when connecting to some wifi networks (through Network Manager GUI) I enter the password and it says it is wrong. It fails authentication and requests the password again.

What is weird is that it is not every network. Thankfully my home network and phone hotspot works. I have an impression it is something with WPA2 authentication (the networks that I had time to look that failed used it).

I was able to connect my phone to every network that failed.

Searching I saw it might be a problem with MAC address randomization by I didn’t find any solution.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any help

PS: I know very little about networks

2

Maybe not helpful and maybe only a ramble, but in the past I’ve seen such which seemed to be a negotiation problem with the protocols. It may be the same/similar or not related at all.

3

One thing is WPA2 is not as secure as WPA3. So if your router supports WPA3, better use that instead.

4

It happens sometimes. Usually, the fix is to delete and recreate the connection in your network manager.

Cheers.

5

Hi, it happens with networks I don’t control usually, for example in a cafe once or eduroam in my uni.

At home I have WPA3

6

It’s usually a new network. If I was able to connect to it before it usually connects no problem.

7

One reason could be the keyboard. For example if sometimes you have NumLock enabled or disabled, different keystroke from the same key can come out.

8

Hi there,

posting a message here again as the problem is not solved.

It is not a matter of keystroke, I checked.

Any hints on what to check? What to look for in the connections that don’t work? (I’m going to point out that it is not all connections and I’m able to connect to these networks with other devices such as my phone)

9

Are you using wpa_supplicant or iwd ?

Whichever one you’re using, I’d try switching to using the other.

10

I’m using the GUI for the Network Manager, which is used on the background in that case?

11

I think it would be good for you to take a look at the ArchWiki’s documentation on wpa_supplicant and iwd.

12

while I haven’t participated in this discussion, I concur that trying iwd vs wpa_supplicant is worth your time. It’s helped me when I had a realtek wifi that kept beaconing (reconnecting endlessly). They do definitely behave differently.

13

As well as both of them tend to experience on again, off again, bugs that can break connectivity.