iwd

iNet Wireless Daemon (iwd) project aims to provide a comprehensive Wi-Fi connectivity solution for Linux based devices. iwd provides a self-contained environment that only depends on the Linux Kernel and the runtime C library. iwd is supported since v3.10 of Alpine Linux.

Note: Alpine Linux supports both wireless daemons i.e wpa_supplicant and iwd. Using both wireless daemons i.e wpa_supplicant and iwd simultaneously lead to conflicts.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you have working wireless drivers.
iwd requires D-Bus service to be running.

Installation

Install iwd package using the command:

# apk add iwd

Next decide if you want to use iwd in Standalone mode, or with NetworkManager, or with ifupdown-ng. Choose one among the three options and then proceed to service configuration.

Standalone mode

To have iwd do most networking configuration on its own upon connecting to a wi-fi network, requires openresolv package, so install it first:

# apk add openresolv

Then edit the configuration file /etc/iwd/main.conf and set it as follows:

Contents of /etc/iwd/main.conf

[General]
EnableNetworkConfiguration=True

[Network]
NameResolvingService=resolvconf

To test openresolv package, issue the command:# resolvconf -u to update the nameserver information in /etc/resolv.conf file.

Use iwd as a networkmanager backend

NetworkManager can be configured to manage Network configuration for iwd. Since wpa_supplicant is the default backend in NetworkManager, it must be replaced by iwd.

Use iwd with ifupdown-ng

ifupdown-ng can be used to manage Network configuration for iwd. Refer to ifupdown-ng configuration section.

Configuration

Note: To avoid conflicts, ensure that wpa_supplicant and related services are stopped before continuing.

Start iwd service first to proceed with the configuration:

# rc-service iwd start

The iwd package provides the client program iwctl, the daemon iwd and the Wi-Fi monitoring tool iwmon.

Begin by starting the client:

$ iwctl

To list all available commands:

[iwd]# help

To connect to a network

To list all Wi-Fi devices:

[iwd]# device list

If your wireless adapter is not listed, refer to Wifi troubleshooting page.

If the device or its corresponding adapter is turned off, turn it on:

[iwd]# device device set-property Powered on

[iwd]# adapter adapter set-property Powered on

Then, to initiate a scan for networks (note that this command will not output anything):

[iwd]# station device scan

You can then list all available networks:

[iwd]# station device get-networks

Finally, to connect to a network:

[iwd]# station device connect SSID

If a passphrase is required, you will be prompted to enter it. Alternatively, you can supply it as a command line argument:

$ iwctl –passphrase passphrase station device connect SSID

Note:

iwd automatically stores network passphrases in the /var/lib/iwd directory and uses them to auto-connect in the future.
If you run diskless Alpine, be sure to commit:
# lbu add /var/lib/iwd && lbu commit -d
To connect to a network with spaces in the SSID, the network name should be double quoted when connecting.
iwd only supports PSK pass-phrases from 8 to 63 ASCII-encoded characters.

Disconnect from a network

To disconnect from a network:

[iwd]# station device disconnect

Show device and connection information

To display the details of a WiFi device, like MAC address:

[iwd]# device device show

To display the connection state, including the connected network of a Wi-Fi device:

[iwd]# station device show

Manage known networks

To list networks you have connected to previously:

[iwd]# known-networks list

To forget a known network:

[iwd]# known-networks SSID forget

Note: It is not possible to assign a priority to a network, instead iwd will prioritize networks based on:

signal strength level
security features
maximum rate
channel utilization
time since the last connect.

ifupdown-ng configuration

If ifupdown-ng is used for network configuration management with iwd, edit the /etc/network/interfaces file based on instructions in Network configuration page.

Whenever system wakes up from sleep/suspend, the wireless interface name may change from wlan0 to wlan1, wlan2 and so on resulting in loss of connectivity when using ifupdown-ng. To avoid this issue, create and add the following two files. The /etc/iwd/main.conf file should have:

Contents of /etc/iwd/main.conf

[DriverQuirks]
DefaultInterface=wlan0

If mac address of wlan0 interface is "50:91:e3:71:83:d2", then file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net-wlan0.rules should be as follows:

Contents of /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net-wlan0.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{address}=="50:91:e3:71:83:d2", NAME="wlan0"

The commandcat /sys/class/net/wlan0/address shows the mac address of your wireless interface wlan0.

For the above changes to take immediate effect, reload Udev rules:

# udevadm control --reload-rules # udevadm trigger

A reboot is usually necessary for the changes to fully take effect.

Service configuration

To start the iwd service immediately issue the command:

# rc-service iwd start

Once iwd service has been fully configured and tested, to have iwd service start automatically on every boot (recommended):

# rc-update add iwd boot

To avoid conflicts, ensure that wpa_supplicant service and networkmanager (if not used with iwd) are not started automatically.

Refer to openRC page for more options.

iwgtk

iwgtk is a wireless networking GUI for iwd with supported functionality similar to that of iwctl. Features include viewing and connecting to available networks, managing known networks, provisioning new networks via WPS or Wi-Fi Easy Connect, and an indicator (tray) icon displaying connection status and signal strength.

To install the iwgtk package:

# apk add iwgtk

Troubleshooting

If iwctl commands fail with the message The name net.connman.iwd was not provided by any .service files Failed to retrieve IWD dbus objects, quitting....

The above error means that the iwd daemon is not started. Start the iwd daemon

"ip: ioctl 0x8913 failed: No such device"

When iwd is used with ifupdown-ng, the above error message may occur whenever the networking service gets loaded by openrc after iwd. The solution given in the above ifupdown-ng configuration will not work if the default mdev is used. A temporary workaround is to edit the file /etc/init.d/iwd and replacing before net to after net in the depends function as follows:

Contents of /etc/init.d/iwd

depend() {
	need dbus
	after net
	keyword -shutdown
	provide wlan
}