Retrieve Wi-Fi Password on iPhone

I needed to share a Wi-Fi password for a network my iPhone regularly connects to, but I was not near at the time. This is with iOS 16.5, I’m not sure what versions this will work with. On the iPhone go into settings, then select Wi-Fi.

Settings

The default view shows what you are connected to and the nearby networks. Hit the Edit button at the top right of the screen to see stored networks instead of what’s nearby.

Wi-Fi

Select the network you want to examine.

Wi-Fi after hitting Edit

Hit the hidden password item. (the dots)

Network selected

It should prompt you for access. My phone used facial recognition. Then it will show you the password and let you copy it.

Password exposed

Raspberry Pi ZeroW WiFi Power Management

Every Raspberry Pi Zero W I’ve had has had intermittent connection problems on Wi-Fi. I’ve been able to fix the problems by disabling power management on the Wi-Fi interface each time. This page gave me my preferred solution for taking care of the problem on each machine. I’m duplicating the information here to contribute/prevent webrot.

See the current state of power management:

sudo iw wlan0 get power_save

set power management off:

sudo iw wlan0 set power_save off

Create a systemd unit file to set Wi-Fi power management:

sudo systemctl --full --force edit wifi_powersave@.service

With this as the contents of the unit file:

[Unit]
Description=Set WiFi power save %i
After=sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlan0.device

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/sbin/iw dev wlan0 set power_save %i

[Install]
WantedBy=sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlan0.device

Then enable the unit file, setting power management to off whenever wlan0 is activated.

sudo systemctl disable wifi_powersave@on.service
sudo systemctl enable wifi_powersave@off.service

5GHz WiFi on Raspberry Pi 4

In my post about quickly setting up a headless Raspberry I had a simple wpa_supplicant.conf file example. This week I got a Raspberry Pi 4, which according to the documentation supports 5GHz networks and 802.11ac.

I’d been running the command sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | grep ESSID and only seeing 2.4GHz networks.

It occurred to me that I’d seen some people in other countries putting the country detail in their wpa_supplicant.conf file, so I decided to see if it made a difference. Sure enough, after adding the line country=US to my file I was able to see 5GHz networks as well as 2.4GHz networks.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=US

network={
       ssid="MyNetworkSSID"
       psk="MyNetworkPassword"
}

After a bit of reading on the https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/wireless-cli.md page, I noticed a section that made this point with the Pi 3B+, but because I’d not used a 3B+, I didn’t realize it supported 5GHz networking as well.

On the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, you will also need to set the country code, so that the 5G networking can choose the correct frequency bands. You can either use the raspi-config application and select the localisation option, or edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file and add the following. (Note you need to replace ‘GB’ with the ISO code of your country. See Wikipedia for a list of country codes.)

My new favorite WiFi Analysis Program

I recently came across WinFi Lite, and while it claims to be in beta and for professionals only, it’s currently my favorite WiFi analysis program.  The fact that it was in the Microsoft store gives me the idea that it will uninstall cleanly if I decide to get rid of it later.

The default view shows details about both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks nearby. The first picture was what it looked like when I ran it in my local Starbucks on my Microsoft Surface 4 Pro.  The next picture was what it looked like when I ran it in my apartment. In my apartment I was connected to my network via wired ethernet, so the Surface WiFi adapter wasn’t being used for my active connection. At Starbucks, I was connected to the WiFi.

While I was at Starbucks, the number of networks it could see was 188. That number is visible in the top right of the image. Just to the left of that number are a set of buttons that allow you to look at 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or All available networks.

My apartment showed only 161 networks by comparison, but that number was bouncing around as it rescanned in both locations. I was surprised that the Starbucks had so many visible networks. There are a lot of details available in this tool, and it’s current price makes it an interesting tool to work with. I used to like inSSIDer, but the developers choice to dumb down the free version led me to drift away from it.

BeagleBoneBlack 5.8GHz WiFi Reliability

After upgrading the operating system, providing more power via a powered USB Hub, and better understanding the startup scripts, I seem to have a reliable WiFi link from my BBB.

I still have occasional problems at boot time with the device not connecting to my WiFi network. I’ve got an FTDI USB-SerialTTL console cable that I can connect to the device and examine the status. Most of the time when I’ve not been able to reach the device over the network and I do this, running the lsusb command produces results showing nothing connected beyond the internal USB devices.

root@beaglebone:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

If I disconnect the USB hub, remove and reapply it’s power, and reconnect the USB hub, sometimes it will cause the BBB to recognize the USB devices, but often it requires removing all power, disconnecting the hub, and reconnecting everything.

USB Power is the first issue in getting things to work. I only have the verbose reports from the lsusb command to go on for deciding how much power I need. The spec sheet for the BBB reports that it can only supply 500 mA on it’s USB port, and even then only if it’s powered by an external power adapter via the barrel jack. My WiFi adapter reports 450 mA. My camera reports 500mA. The hub in self powered operation reports 100mA. The power adapter that came with my hub reports it’s output as 2.1A, which would indicate that it should be able to provide the standard 500mA to each of it’s 4 ports if it’s running on external power.

root@beaglebone:~# lsusb ; lsusb --verbose | grep MaxPower
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0409:005a NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13b1:002f Linksys AE1000 v1 802.11n [Ralink RT3572]
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:082d Logitech, Inc.
    MaxPower              100mA
    MaxPower                0mA
    MaxPower                0mA
    MaxPower              450mA
    MaxPower              500mA

I’m running a system that I started by flashing my eMMC with the 9/4/2013 image I downloaded from http://circuitco.com/support/index.php?title=Updating_The_Software#Procedure

The dmesg command reports the kernel as “Linux version 3.8.13 (koen@rrMBP) (gcc version 4.7.3 20130205 (prerelease) (Linaro GCC 4.7-2013.02-01) ) #1 SMP Wed Sep 4 09:09:32 CEST 2013”

I am running with a 32GB micro sd card installed, and partitioned into two volumes. In the root of the FAT volume I’ve got a uEnv.txt file that continues the boot process to the eMMC and it also issues the kernel command to disable the internal HDMI cape on the BBB. Since I’m only running this device over the network, I have decided it is more efficient to disable the HDMI entirely. I don’t think that the HDMI changes affect my WiFi, but I’ve not investigated it either.

root@beaglebone:~# fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0 /dev/mmcblk1

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048    41945087    20971520    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2        41945088    62333951    10194432   83  Linux

Disk /dev/mmcblk1: 1920 MB, 1920991232 bytes, 3751936 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk1p1   *          63      144584       72261    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk1p2          144585     3743144     1799280   83  Linux

root@beaglebone:~# cat /media/BONEBOOT/uEnv.txt
mmcdev=1
bootpart=1:2
mmcroot=/dev/mmcblk1p2
optargs=quiet capemgr.disable_partno=BB-BONELT-HDMI,BB-BONELT-HDMIN

root@beaglebone:~# cat /etc/fstab
rootfs               /                    auto       defaults              1  1
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0  0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0  0
tmpfs                /tmp                 tmpfs      defaults              0  0
/dev/mmcblk0p2       /home                auto       defaults              0  2
/dev/mmcblk0p1       /media/BONEBOOT      auto       defaults              0  2
/dev/sda1            /media/PNY           auto       noauto                0  2
/dev/mmcblk1p1       /media/BEAGLEBONE    auto       ro                    0  2

I have created a file /var/lib/connman/wifi.config that has two sections, one for each of the wifi networks that I regularly connect to. The first is my primary network, and it seems to be stable connecting. The second is a network I occasionally power up, but I’ve not spent much time testing it. The good thing is that the credentials are in one place, and it’s supposed to chose the first network in the list that is found.

root@beaglebone:~# cat /var/lib/connman/wifi.config
[service_WimsWorld-5G]
Type = wifi
Name = WimsWorld-5G
Security = wpa2-psk
Passphrase = MyPasswordInPlainText

[service_WimsWorld-UAV]
Type = wifi
Name = WimsWorld-UAV
Security = wpa2-psk
Passphrase = MyPasswordInPlainText

I created /etc/udev/rules.d/70-wifi-powersave.rules following the information in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_saving#Network_interfaces , paying explicit attention to the fact that naming the file matters.

In this case, the name of the configuration file is important. Due to the introduction of persistent device names via 80-net-name-slot.rules in systemd v197, it is important that the network powersave rules are named lexicographically before 80-net-name-slot.rules, so that they are applied before the devices are named e.g. enp2s0.

root@beaglebone:~# cat /etc/udev/rules.d/70-wifi-powersave.rules
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="net", KERNEL=="wlan*", RUN+="/usr/sbin/iw dev %k set power_save off"

The iw dev wlan0 set power_save off command disables a WiFi feature called power save mode. I believe it is part of the 802.11 standard, but support varies by driver and chipset. It gets negotiated between the client device and the access point on authentication. If it is enabled, the access point may buffer multiple small packets before sending them to the client and the client spends less time either transmitting or receiving. If I run the command ping -t 192.168.0.17 from my windows machine with power_save off, the time is very stable at 1 to 2ms. If I get a connection with power_save on, the time varies greatly with most times reported over 100ms.

My home network has plenty of nearby networks to conflict with.

root@beaglebone:~# iw wlan0 scan | grep SSID | sort
        SSID: Aman-Guest
        SSID: Aman2.4G
        SSID: Aman5G
        SSID: Angela's Wi-Fi Network
        SSID: Battlestar Galactica
        SSID: Battlestar Galactica
        SSID: CenturyLink0705
        SSID: Cyberia
        SSID: Dagobah
        SSID: Derek's Wi-Fi Network
        SSID: HP-Print-60-LaserJet 100
        SSID: HSE-1305(a) .media
        SSID: Jaggernet
        SSID: Jaggernett
        SSID: Joergstrasse
        SSID: Joergstrasse5
        SSID: Joshernet
        SSID: MOTOROLA-06F23
        SSID: NCH1205
        SSID: NCH515
        SSID: NCH611
        SSID: NETGEAR84
        SSID: Paris
        SSID: PhishingNet
        SSID: Poop2 5GHz
        SSID: PoopTime
        SSID: SMC
        SSID: Se1301
        SSID: Seattle2GHz
        SSID: SusansWIFI
        SSID: WimsWorld
        SSID: WimsWorld-5G
        SSID: XVI
        SSID: bedford
        SSID: bedford
        SSID: go-seahawks
        SSID: goodtimes
        SSID: goodtimes-guest
        SSID: ladines
        SSID: maverick
        SSID: mridula_air
        SSID: shubaloo
        SSID: shubaloo-5g
        SSID: washington

One other change that I made was to disable the cpu-ondemand.timer service with the command:

systemctl disable cpu-ondemand.timer

I don’t know if that has affected my WiFi stability, but it has certainly made my overall system more stable. By default this service runs after the BBB has been running for ten minutes, and then puts the system clock into variable mode with the command cpufreq-set -g ondemand. I ran into problems with my machine changing it’s internal frequency on a regular basis. for my purposes, I chose to leave the CPU in it’s default state, running with the performance governor, which leaves it at 1000 MHz. run the command cpufreq-info to see what state the BBB is currently in, and what it’s possible to change it to.

My machine seems to be stable right now, as can be shown by nothing being added to the dmesg log since the initial boot, 19 and a half hours ago.

root@beaglebone:~# dmesg | tail -32 ; uptime
[    9.360135] usb0: eth_open
[    9.360359] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): usb0: link is not ready
[   10.281944] gs_open: ttyGS0 (dcaccc00,dcaa8600)
[   10.282105] gs_close: ttyGS0 (dcaccc00,dcaa8600) ...
[   10.282119] gs_close: ttyGS0 (dcaccc00,dcaa8600) done!
[   10.283944] gs_open: ttyGS0 (dcaccc00,dcd1f980)
[   11.637465] usb0: stop stats: rx/tx 0/0, errs 0/0
[   11.742846] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   12.058808] net eth0: initializing cpsw version 1.12 (0)
[   12.070772] net eth0: phy found : id is : 0x7c0f1
[   12.070810] libphy: PHY 4a101000.mdio:01 not found
[   12.075883] net eth0: phy 4a101000.mdio:01 not found on slave 1
[   12.133068] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   12.694713] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   18.301568] wlan0: authenticate with 20:4e:7f:85:ce:5b
[   18.327171] wlan0: send auth to 20:4e:7f:85:ce:5b (try 1/3)
[   18.327734] wlan0: authenticated
[   18.336184] wlan0: associate with 20:4e:7f:85:ce:5b (try 1/3)
[   18.337359] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 20:4e:7f:85:ce:5b (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=2)
[   18.342420] wlan0: associated
[   18.342545] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[   18.342777] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
[   18.342940] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: US
[   18.342951] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[   18.342962] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
[   18.342973] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 1700 mBm)
[   18.342983] cfg80211:   (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   18.342993] cfg80211:   (5490000 KHz - 5600000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   18.343003] cfg80211:   (5650000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   18.343013] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 3000 mBm)
[   18.343022] cfg80211:   (57240000 KHz - 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 4000 mBm)
[   18.418237] wlan0: Limiting TX power to 23 (23 - 0) dBm as advertised by 20:4e:7f:85:ce:5b
 16:34:09 up 19:35,  1 user,  load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.05

BeagleBoneBlack WiFi configuration problems

I got a BeagleBone Black last week. It seems to be a nice system, with a 1GHz ARM7 processor, ethernet, USB, HDMI and plenty of expansion possibilities, all for $45.

It’s shipping configuration runs the Angstrom Linux distribution. I’ve worked with Angstrom in the past on a Beagleboard used for an embedded application. It seems that the newer Angstrom is using ConnMan 1.4 as the network manager. The version that’s available at the ConnMan site, 1.7, has a command line configuration tool, while the version included in the distribution does not.

I’ve not been able to figure out how to enable wireless networking. Plugging in an ethernet cable just works. Plugging in the USB WiFi adapter gives me a wlan0 device, and the MAC matches that printed on the device.

I’m not able to issue the command “ifup wlan0” without an error. It looks like the connman settings file should enable WiFi by default.

root@beaglebone:~# ifup wlan0
ifup: can't open '/etc/network/interfaces': No such file or directory
root@beaglebone:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
ifconfig: SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
root@beaglebone:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04b4:6560 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. CY7C65640 USB-2.0 "TetraHub"
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13b1:002f Linksys AE1000 v1 802.11n [Ralink RT3572]
root@beaglebone:~# ls -alFR /var/lib/connman/
/var/lib/connman/:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 ./
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 ../
drwx------  2 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 ethernet_c8a030a62b80_cable/
-rw-------  1 root root   68 Jan  1  2000 settings

/var/lib/connman/ethernet_c8a030a62b80_cable:
total 16
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 ./
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 ../
-rw------- 1 root root 4096 Jan  1  2000 data
-rw------- 1 root root  186 Jan  1  2000 settings
root@beaglebone:~# cat /var/lib/connman/settings 
[global]
OfflineMode=false

[Wired]
Enable=true

[WiFi]
Enable=true

I went so far as to connect to an HDMI monitor with keyboard and mouse and was able to see the graphical connection manager. I tried both with and without having the ethernet cable plugged in, but was not able to click on the “Enable” button on the wireless networks dialog.

I believe that I need to do something with wpa_supplicant to get the password properly accepted on my machine, but I’m more interested in getting the wireless up and running than worrying about getting the security set.

I included the lsusb command in my code listing before because it lists the WiFi device that I’m using. I’m powering the device by a standalone power supply, not via USB, so I believe that I should have enough power to run the wifi. This connection has it connected via an external hub, but I’ve had the same results when connected directly to the board.