NM prompts user for Wi-Fi password when a (dial-up) connection is already established

[Steve White]

Scenario:

I'm in a place that has a WLAN, but either I don't have authorization for it, or it's somehow broken.

I make a connection through my phone using DUN (other protocols are possible I think, but that's how I do it.)
This works pretty well in itself, although it's not as fast as WLAN.

But then NetworkManager (I think) keeps popping up dialogs that say

         Wireless Network Authentication Required

and ask for a password.

This is very annoying. It interferes with whatever I'm doing, and is embarrassing in meetings.
(It just did it again.)

It might make sense to inform a DUN user that a faster network is available, via a notification perhaps that does not otherwise interfere with typing. A dialog popping up is *not* the right answer.
But such notifications should be optional (you don't want them when doing a presentation, for instance.)

Thanks!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: network-manager 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue May 29 12:17:13 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/sbin/NetworkManager
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
IpRoute:
 default via 10.6.6.6 dev ppp0 proto static
 10.6.6.6 dev ppp0 proto kernel scope link src 10.131.160.144
 169.254.0.0/16 dev ppp0 scope link metric 1000
NetworkManager.state:
 [main]
 NetworkingEnabled=true
 WirelessEnabled=true
 WWANEnabled=true
 WiMAXEnabled=true
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 TERM=linux
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SourcePackage: network-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-09 (19 days ago)
nmcli-dev:
 DEVICE TYPE STATE DBUS-PATH
 3C:8B:FE:E4:6D:38 bluetooth disconnected /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/43
 20:D6:07:F9:00:49 bluetooth connected /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/42
 wlan1 802-11-wireless disconnected /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/41
 eth1 802-3-ethernet unavailable /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1
nmcli-nm:
 RUNNING VERSION STATE NET-ENABLED WIFI-HARDWARE WIFI WWAN-HARDWARE WWAN
 running 0.9.4.0 connected enabled enabled enabled enabled enabled

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Why don't you just de-select "Enable Wireless" in the NM applet?

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

Hi Thomas,

That might be one work-around for the bug.

What is incomplete about this report?
Should I gather more information?

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

The only thing that was missing was your answer, which you quickly provided --- thanks.

If Wireless is enabled then it seems reasonable for NetworkManager to prompt you that an opportunity to make a Wi-Fi connection exists.

It might be nice, though, if the popup had a "Don't connect; disable wireless networking now and close" button.

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

Hi Thomas,

Somehow we're not seeing eye-to-eye. Let me try it another way.

Inappropriate prompts are the problem. Prompts interfere with my work.

The current NM logic doesn't seem to handle well the common scenario I described, and will pester me, and keep pestering me (unless I disable Wi-Fi, as you suggested.)

It is not good for NM to interfere with my work, when I already have a functioning network connection. It is not reasonable for NM to prompt to disconnect a functioning connection, nor is it reasonable for NM to prompt the user to disable Wi-Fi. That is really not called for.

Usually, if I have specified a DUN connection over a Wi-Fi connection, there was a good reason for it. If I choose not to switch from the established DUN connection to a Wi-Fi connection, NM should just accept my decision, but not *disable* anything.

Maybe the term "notification" is the source of misunderstanding: I mean the modern, relatively unintrusive, non-interactive notifications, as opposed to an "alert dialog" or a "prompt" or the like. Again: If a functioning connection is in place, NM might *notify* me of the existence of a wireless signal, but not otherwise interfere with my work.

Thanks!

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Thanks for clarifying your view of the problem.

The way NM works now is *somewhat* defensible because Wi-Fi is (usually) faster than dialup. But I do agree with you that NM shouldn't interrupt the user if there is already a functioning connection.

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

Hi Thomas,

I outlined in the original report practical situations in which the current behaviour is bad.

Obviously WLAN connections are usually faster. If they were *always* faster and better in
every way, maybe nobody would object (maybe). But often the WLAN connection is not working
right, and the user should be in the position to pick which connection they use, and not be
pestered about it.

Again: the pestering is the problem: popping up work-stopping, embarrassing dialogs.
Again: a solution would be to use instead non-interactive notifications.

This should be an easy fix.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

that wireless prompt will come back because after marking the connection as failed for a while, it will be automatically re-attempted by NM. We'll fix this soon, there's another bug report for it, but I haven't found it again just yet.

The fix for your issue though is simply to delete the connection in the "Edit Connections" dialog is you just don't have the password for it, or if it's known to be broken and not accepting your password. Then, it will not be attempted again, and NM will not try to ask you for the password.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

This bug needs further triaging to match it with the other similar reports, marking this one a duplicate of the master bug.

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

Hi, Mathieu and Thomas,

It is clear to me that I have not communicated the problems to you.
So I'll try again.

Problem 1
========
is that it nags with *dialogs* that interfere with work.
It should never do that, unless my work really needs to be stopped.
This is a user interface issue, not a logic issue.

A much better approach is to use non-interactive notifications.
These do not stop typing or other work.

Please re-consider the *way* in which NM nags.

Problem 2
========
is that it continues to nag, when the user has clearly made a choice.

This is what the other bug report is about, and the "fix" you refer to
is a work-around for this problem.

Thanks!

[Krellan (ubuntu-krellan)]

Steve White: I completely agree with you. I have the same thing happen to me on my Ubuntu system (although I don't use DUN).

NetworkManager pops up the dreaded "Authentication required for wireless network" dialog box incessantly, right in the middle of the screen, stealing the keyboard focus. This is the first problem.

NetworkManager also doesn't allow the user to make a persistent choice, so the user must be forced to decide again and again, via the dialog box. This is the second problem.

There seems to be 3 choices the user could make:

1) It really is the wrong password. Give user the opportunity to change the password. This is what NetworkManager always assumes now, which is the root cause of this bug.

2) The user wants to give up connecting to this network. Maybe they weren't told of the new password, and it really did change. The network should be removed from the automatic search list. If the user wants to try again later, they can do so manually.

3) The network is flaky, and just needs another try. There's nothing wrong with the password. NetworkManager hasn't forgotten it, in fact, it's already prepopulated within the dialog box. So, there's no reason NetworkManager can't just keep trying in the background.

NetworkManager keeps assuming #1, but most users want #2 or #3. The user has no way to get NetworkManager to stop assuming choice #1, and it's frustrating.

Please reconsider fixing this. To me, this is by far the *most* frustrating thing about using the Ubuntu desktop in general. All other annoyances pale to this!