How to setup Access Point (WiFi hotspot) on Debian

I'm trying to setup an AP got stuck. I'm using an Odroid U3 and the WiFi adapter is the Module 3 from Hardkernel. I'm also using a Debian Jessie.

Not, I've got it to almost work: the Odroid has access to the internet and other devices (my phone and my tablet) can see the network, however when I try to connect to the network, I get the message: Unable to join the network "myNetwork".

My hosts file is as follow:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5). auto lo br0 iface lo inet loopback allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet manual allow-hotplug wlan0 iface wlan0 inet manual # Bridge setup # for dhcp address #iface br0 inet dhcp # bridge_ports eth0 wlan0 # for static ip iface br0 inet static bridge_ports eth0 wlan0 # adapt with your network settings address 192.168.1.250 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.1.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 gateway 192.168.1.1 # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1 fns-search localdomain 

my hostapd.conf file is:

 interface=wlan0 driver=nl80211 ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd ctrl_interface_group=0 ssid=RaspAP hw_mode=g wpa=2 channel=8 wpa_passphrase=raspiwlan wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK wpa_pairwise=CCMP rsn_pairwise=CCMP beacon_int=100 auth_algs=3 wmm_enabled=1 

and the result of ifconfig is:

 br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 1e:fb:50:05:6b:da inet addr:192.168.1.250 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::1cfb:50ff:fe05:6bda/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:803 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:466 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:90238 (88.1 KiB) TX bytes:48926 (47.7 KiB) eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 1e:fb:50:05:6b:da UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:1838 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:466 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:557975 (544.8 KiB) TX bytes:54146 (52.8 KiB) lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1 RX packets:390 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:390 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:25662 (25.0 KiB) TX bytes:25662 (25.0 KiB) mon.wlan0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-A8-2B-00-05-4D-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:21913 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:6729206 (6.4 MiB) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:a8:2b:00:05:4d UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:17 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:9 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:2828 (2.7 KiB) TX bytes:2490 (2.4 KiB) 

After some research, I've found an answer on SO (unfortunately lost the link) where suggests that the problem might be related to dynamic ip addresses for the devices connecting to the Odroid, but I'm not sure that's case. Any suggestions?

Many thanks

1 Answer

Here are scripts for creating WiFi AP:

• SetupWiFi.sh - Sets up WiFi network and shares eth0 with wlan0. Change "ssid" and "wpa_passphrase" for setting WiFi SSID (AP name) and password.
• StartWifi.sh - Starts WiFi. (SetupWiFi.sh already starts it so you can skip it first time.)
• StopWiFi.sh - Stops it.

SetupWiFi.sh:

#!/bin/bash apt-get install -y hostapd dnsmasq wireless-tools iw wvdial sed -i 's#^DAEMON_CONF=.*#DAEMON_CONF=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf#' /etc/init.d/hostapd cat <<EOF > /etc/dnsmasq.conf log-facility=/var/log/dnsmasq.log #address=/#/10.0.0.1 #address=/ interface=wlan0 dhcp-range=10.0.0.10,10.0.0.250,12h dhcp-option=3,10.0.0.1 dhcp-option=6,10.0.0.1 #no-resolv log-queries EOF service dnsmasq start ifconfig wlan0 up ifconfig wlan0 10.0.0.1/24 iptables -t nat -F iptables -F iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -o eth0 -j ACCEPT echo '1' > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward cat <<EOF > /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf interface=wlan0 driver=nl80211 channel=1 ssid=WiFiAP wpa=2 wpa_passphrase=YOUR_PASSWORD wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK wpa_pairwise=CCMP # Change the broadcasted/multicasted keys after this many seconds. wpa_group_rekey=600 # Change the master key after this many seconds. Master key is used as a basis wpa_gmk_rekey=86400 EOF service hostapd start 

StartWiFi.sh:

#!/bin/bash service hostapd start service dnsmasq start 

StopWiFi.sh:

#!/bin/bash service hostapd stop service dnsmasq stop 

Notes:

• Tested on Debian 7, but should work on newer version.
• Make sure you are running superuser. (For newbies) make these files executable by using chmod +x 'SetupWiFi.sh'

Hope it helps.