How to connect to Wifi Network with i3wm?

Question

I just installed Ubuntu minimal with i3wm, but I can't figure out, how to connect it to the wireless network.

I already have installed network-manager package. Also I added exec --no-startup-id nm-applet to my ~/.config/i3 but apt-get cannot find network-manager-applet to install.

Im stuck here, what can I do?

Solution 1

I use (and would recommend) nmtui, a curses based TUI that will allow you to edit and activate connections.

It should already be installed on your system, but if not, you can get it by running sudo apt install network-manager.

Solution 2

You can use Network Manager's command line tool called nmcli.

1. Use nmcli dev wifi to locate the access point(AP) name.
2. Use nmcli device wifi connect APname password password

Solution 3

Use dmenu ($mod+d by default) and type gnome-control-center then Network → Wireless.

On some older Ubuntu versions you'll need to do unity-control-center instead.

Solution 4

If you don't have NetworkManager, install it:

$: sudo apt -y install network-manager-gnome

Set up your connection:

$: nm-connection-editor

This way your connection will be persistent on restart.

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Comments

[desgua]

make sure that you have nm-applet installed running: apt install network-manager

[Vorsek]

Thanks for the answer, i did have the network-manager-gnome installed, but the i3 status bar doesnt show any icon, also im having the same problem with dropbox. Any other suggestion? Thanks.

[Vincent.]

Can you try running nm-applet from a terminal to see if gives any errors?

[Vorsek]

nm-applet doesnt give any error or message when i run it from the console, what can it be?

[Vincent.]

To be honest I don't really know either at this point. You could try connecting to a network through the command line to see if the problem lies with NetworkManager or the applet. Check out instructions here link. Or maybe the problem is with the i3 tray, check out the user guide for it here link

[Vorsek]

I connected to the network via the command line, i cant fix the tray problem with i3, no idea what can it be. Thanks a lot for your help.

[Fan]

Is it possible to set it connect to wifi when log in using i3?

[Qinsheng Zhang]

this should be the easiest option