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My Panda USB wi-fi adapter works just fine on 16.10, but when I try to connect to my wi-fi router in 17.04, GNOME network manager reports "Connection failed." I did some tinkering, and noticed that my MAC address for my wifi adapter, according to GNOME, is DIFFERENT every time I make it forget my wifi settings and try to reconnect. Any leads on a possible fix or work-around?

I'm running Ubuntu GNOME 17.04, kernel 4.10.0-19-generic, GNOME 3.24.0.

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I also filed a bug for this issue: bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1681513 – Jesse Apr 13 '17 at 21:07
    
@Jesse when you say " [device] wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no" does one change [device] to the specific wireless device, or leave it literally "[device]"? Maybe you can let us take a look at your NetworkManager.conf file. – heynnema Apr 13 '17 at 21:53
    
@heynnema, it's left as "[device]", just like that. You don't need to change it to the actual device. Then, on the next line, past the text "wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no". – Jesse Apr 13 '17 at 21:58
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@Jesse I think we will need some further info to get a firm grasp on what your situation is. In most cases everything needed can be obtained via the wireless script available here Thank you for helping us help you! – Elder Geek Apr 13 '17 at 22:19
    
For those who don't understand the reason behind mac randomisation during scanning, arstechnica.com/apple/2014/06/… might be informative. – unhammer Apr 16 '17 at 19:02
up vote 94 down vote accepted

So Jesse discovered a solution and I'm going to share it here in answer form as clearly as I can muster. This fixed wifi for me using a Panda Wireless USB wifi adapter on Ubuntu 17.04:

For privacy reasons, the default settings for Ubuntu 17.04's network manager (ALL flavours, not just GNOME) cause the MAC address of the Wifi device to change constantly. To fix this, you just have to edit a config file and then restart the network-manager service.

Open a terminal and run:

gksu gedit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

(On Ubuntu Mate it should be pluma instead of gedit; use kate on Kubuntu, leafpad on Lubuntu and mousepad on Xubuntu) list of default text editors

At the bottom of this file, copy and paste the following:

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

Your final results should look something like this: Configuration file to allow USB Wifi to work in Ubuntu 17.04

Then just save and close the file and run:

sudo service network-manager restart

And wifi should work again! (unless something else is wrong)

This fix should work even on a live CD/USB session.

According to the NetworkManager.conf manpage /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf should not be modified as it will get overwritten on update. To make this change persistent you should make it in a new .conf file under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d, e.g. /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/disable-random-mac.conf.

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That is great, man! – heroin Apr 15 '17 at 15:54
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Why isn't this ironed out in betas? This is so unprofessional, to release a distro with such high importance bug – Hrvoje T Apr 15 '17 at 22:14
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@HrvojeT: Did you help with beta testing? – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Apr 16 '17 at 20:28
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I had the same problem. Did what you described but it is not working – Jay Chakra Apr 20 '17 at 0:07
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After fixing this issue I also had to do what's described here to get online: superuser.com/a/1200745/722957 – Matt Apr 28 '17 at 6:01

protected by Community♦ Apr 16 '17 at 7:12

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