assign driver with wpa_supplicant

Question

Ubuntu server. I have a AR93xx wireless network adapter. I'm trying to use wpa_supplicant to connect to my home network. I run this: sudo wpa_supplicant -D ath9k -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa.conf The device is at wlan0 and the wpa.conf file is located there. Here's the conf file:

network={
    ssid="Enkidu"
    psk="mypasscode"
    #psk=hashed number not sure where it came from commented out
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
    #proto=RSN WPA 
    pairwise=CCMP TKIP
    group=CCMP TKIP
}

Message from wpa_supplicant: wlan0: Unsupported driver 'ath9k'

I'm changing my approach as I go. The driver is loaded, iwlist wlan0 scan shows all the local networks.

Next I edited the .conf file, un-commented the hashed password(my network passwords are AES encrypted, I read that in the router GUI). Then I went into the /etc/network/interface file and edited it like this:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-conf /etc/wpa.conf

Now when I run wpa_supplicant -D ath9k -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa.conf I get what looks like the correct feedback. Hooray! On to the next step.

So, now I'm stuck. I tried sudo dhclient -r and sudo dhclient wlan0` to see if that was needed to release the previous wired connection. Not sure what to do next. Any help would be appreciated.

I rebooted the system and it connected to the system.

Answer 1

wpa_supplicant does not directly use wireless device drivers, and the version of Linux kernel being used is important. Check output from running wpa_supplicant in a terminal for its supported drivers.

Older kernels and drivers expect wpa_supplicant -Dwext; newer kernels and drivers are cfg80211-based. Look for cfg80211 when running: lsmod | grep ath9k

wpa_supplicant in Ubuntu 14.04.2 uses -Dnl80211 to communicate with cfg80211.