Why is the Edit button greyed out in Network Manager?

11.10 network-manager

48,064

Solution 1

One quick work-around is to invoke the connection editor manually from the command line:

nm-connection-editor

You'll get the same familiar edit screen. Worked for me.

Solution 2

Try this fix-for-error-network-device-not i think you got the similar problem as me.

Summary from linked content:

Run in terminal sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Edit file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
Change managed=false to managed=true
Run:
```
sudo killall NetworkManager
```
Now attempt to configure your interface.

Solution 3

For NetworkManager to manage an interface, that interface must not be configured under /etc/network/interfaces. Following is my /etc/network/interfaces:

[ubuntu@desktop network] cat interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

Notice that eth0 does not show up; it is managed by NetworkManager. And because of this, it can now be edited with nm-connection-editor, the GUI.

Of course, NetworkManager must be configured to manage your eth0 connection. Follow Sumant's solution on this page on how to configure managed=true (I am not copying his answer because I want to respect his and give credit to where it is due).

48,064

Oscar Martinez

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Oscar Martinez almost 2 years

Since 2 days ago I can't edit any connections using network manager, because the "edit" button is greyed out. I tried doing a normal restart of the service to no avail.

Any suggestions?
Oscar Martinez over 12 years

I checked and I don't see there is any unlock button as it is in other configuration options not related to network-manager. I Have done an upgrade and still can edit.
Thomas Ferris Nicolaisen almost 9 years

Running nm-connection-editor did it for me. Was all greyed out and empty otherwise.
David Foerster over 7 years

What? How did you reach that conclusion? You never need to specify a certificate authority for wireless networks with shared-secret encryption or no encryption at all (which is the default and what most people use).
Ann Kilzer over 7 years

The first step failed with the following output: stop: Job failed while stopping start: Job is already running: networking
rrosa over 7 years

@AnnKilzer I got the same error, but editing conf and rebooting got it to work.
JuanGG over 7 years

The input field is mandatory if you don't check the "No CA cert required". I guess there is input validation but no error is shown. It fixed the issue for me in both Ubuntu 16,04 LTS and 14.04 LTS. Don't believe me? Just try it by yourself, as simple as that.
Pablo about 7 years

For me that was not enough. I had to comment all the stuff refering to that interface in /etc/network/interfaces as well
Martin Revert almost 7 years

Running as sudo nm-connection-editor did it for me.
vineeshvs almost 5 years

Both didn't work.
vineeshvs almost 5 years

It messed up my network. Now getting the error mentioned in askubuntu.com/questions/755316/… . I had to restart to get a new connection (which happened automatically).
THE JOATMON over 4 years

Did not work. Saw the exact same behavior as opening it from the GUI.
THE JOATMON over 4 years

Did not work for me. Still grayed out.
Antonio about 4 years

Did work for me but after $ nm-connection-editor cmd. Edit the selected connection and right after run $ sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
kohane15 over 2 years

Make sure you go to Wi-Fi Security tab and enter your Password there. Then you should be able to save any new changes.