I have just installed 12.04 LTS but cannot access network manager. Internet access is ok. I have a wired connection to my router but want to set up a VPN. I have checked via terminal and is says network manager is installed but i cannot find it. I'm running this on an older emachines desktop that was running XP. I have tried some of the fixes posted on various sites but to no avail. Any ideas?
1 Answer
The network-manager package just provides the backend networking service - the GUI interface is called nm-applet and is provided by the network-manager-gnome package, so first step would be to check that package is also installed.
The nm-applet program should run automatically in the Ubuntu desktop, and create an icon on the indicator bar at the top of the screen - for a wired connection it will look like an 'up-down arrow' rather than a 'fan' that you may be expecting (which is only used for wireless connections).
If nm-applet is running but the indicator is not showing for some reason, then you can access the configuration GUI by opening a terminal and typing
nm-connection-editor
If nm-applet is not running, then you can attempt to start it from the command line as well, i.e.
nm-applet & disown
(the & disown puts it in the background and stops it from being killed when the parent terminal is closed). However you should attempt to find out why it is not running - it can be configured not to start via files in /etc/xdg/autostart or ~/.config/autostart but that should not be the case in a clean install.
answered Jan 1, 2014 at 0:11
