WI-Fi issue, Adapter worked in installation but not anymore

Question

I'm brand new to Linux (without a GUI at least) and I'm trying to run a home server. Couldnt get a hold of a copy of 64 bit Windows for my server so I went with Ubuntu, thinking I could figure out enough to get it to do what I needed it to do just through tutorials and such xD.

So, during the installation of Ubuntu Server (14.04 LTS) it recognized my USB WiFi adapter and the PCI USB card that it was attached to, all went well! (It actually amazed me that it worked with no hassle!) But once everything finished and I logged in, I went to find my local IP address with ifconfig and it only detected the Local Loopback.

I used iwconfig, and it does detect wlan0. It gives me this"

    IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID off/any
    Mode:Managed  Access Point:Not Associated  Tx-Power:0 dBn
    Retry short limit:7  RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off
    Power Management:off

Its probably just something silly but I'd appreciate the help! Thanks!

Answer 1

FIXED!!!

Just had to edit my /etc/network/interfaces and add:

    auto wlan0
    iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wpa-ssid <my ssid>
    wpa-psk <my password>

rebooted and all was well!

Questions that helped me:

• Ubuntu 14.04 Server - WiFi WPA2 Personal
• ubuntu server: wifi

Answer 2

Maybe go to top right corner of your desktop screen. There are two arrows- one up and one down side by side. Click. Make sure your wi-fi is on.