Can't save changes in "Edit Connections..." for Wi-Fi networks to which one doesn't have the password

[Teo]

Binary package hint: network-manager

Steps to reproduce:
1) Right-click on Network Manager's tray icon
2) select "edit connections"
3) go to the "wireless" tab
4) select any connection in the list, except the one you are currently connected to
5) Click "Edit"
5) Change some settings

Expected: there should be some way to save those changes

Observed: the "Apply" button is greyed out. There is no "Save" button. If you hit Cancel, obviously the changes are discarded.

If you edit the network you are connected to, the Apply button works, but why on earth are'n you allowed to save changes to a network you are not connected to? And if there was a reason why you can't, then why are you allowed to edit in the first place?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: network-manager 0.8-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-29.58-generic 2.6.32.28+drm33.13
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-29-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Fri Mar 18 14:47:06 2011
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
IpRoute:
 192.168.2.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.2.105 metric 2
 169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0 scope link metric 1000
 default via 192.168.2.1 dev wlan0 proto static
Keyfiles: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: network-manager

[Shannon Orem (shannon-orem)]

I'm on 10.10 but can confirm this still behaves the same way.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Are the other connections set to "Available to all users"? It's the only thing I can think of that would not allow you to edit a connection.

Also, most of the fields greyed out or is the apply button the only item unavailable? Is this right after an upgrade of NetworkManager from a previous release?

I think it could be helpful to have screenshots of each of the tabs in a connection that can't be edited (e.g. where Apply is grey), to make sure all the fields are filled in properly.

[Teo (teo1978)]

@Mathieu as I already explained only the apply button is greyed out. I don't know if this has been right after an update.

Now I'm seen this only happens for some networks (most) but not all.

There's no doubt all the fields are filled in properly, because the apply button is greyed out since the beginning even if I don't change any of the fields. If some field wasn't filled in properly, then the connection could not have been saved in the first place - also, these are connection that I never edited and that were created automatically. And also, if there was some field with an invalid value, an error message should indicate which one is not valid, not just disable the apply button.

This is very annoying because I just want to disable the "connect automatically" checkbox so that it stop trying to connect automatically to the first network that happens to be available (most of them are set to automatically connect, of course I never chose that, it seems to be some sort of stupid default).

Where can I see the "available for all user" settings? How can I edit the connections as root so as to see if I then can save them?

thanks
m.

[Teo (teo1978)]

Ah Ok, I see the "available to all user" checkbox. It is greyed out. It is the only other disable option besides the apply button.

By the way it is grayed out AND not checked, which is kind of contraddictory. If I cannot edit the "available to all user" it should mean that the connection belongs to someone else (root? there are no other users apart of me), but if it belongs to someone else and is not available to all users, why is it available to me? (and it is, because it actually tries to automatically connect when the network is available).

[jlinkels (jlinkels)]

Well, you can make the save button ungray, but you have to press ENTER after entering the IP address, the netmask, etc.

jlinkels

[Max Barry (max-maxbarry)]

I encountered this problem and figured out that it's a misleading UI. After entering IPs for Address, Netmask, and Gateway, I clicked the "Add" button, thinking this would store it. I then went on to fill out "DNS servers" etc. I then encountered the grayed-out "Save" button, with seemingly no way to save these changes.

(Incidentally, the "Available to all users" box was also unchecked and grayed out.)

I then realized that clicking "Add" did not, like I had assumed, add the data I'd just entered, but instead opened up a new line, and that the reason the "Save" button is grayed out is because the new line does not contain any valid data. Selecting the accidental new line and clicking "Delete" restored the "Save" button to an active, clickable state.

The inadvertent new line is easy to overlook because it's completely blank, with its shaded background the only thing to suggest there's anything there.

[Thomas Bielawski (tfbielawski)]

I am having the exact same problem with 11.04. No matter what I do, I cannot make any changes to a wireless connection in connection manager. I can clear the "available to all users" box, which forces a password entry and save that. But NOTHING else will save.

If I enter any text or numbers in any field whatsoever, the save button greys out and I can't do anything.

Please help!!

Thanks,

Tom

[Teo (teo1978)]

@Thomas, In my case, in order to have the "Apply" button available again, I have to go to the "IPv4 Settings" tab and either enable DHCP OR (if i set it to manual) enter at least one VALID row (Address, Netmask, Gateway) in the "Addresses" table. Make sure there is at least one (usually one and only one) row of addresses and that all of them are valid. In my case, when this is ok, the Apply button is available again. Also, any other invalid value entered in any other field usually causes the Apply button to grey out and it becomes available again as soon as everything is valid.

Anyway, this still is a bug. because
1. saving a configuration with some invalid value is either allowed or not allowed. If it is not allowed, then it is absurd that you open a previously saved network and it is already invalid. If it is allowed, then you should be able to save it regardless of whether what you put is valid or not (and then you should get an error message when you try to connect to that network, or a warning when you save it).
2. If it is not allowing to save it because some value is invalid, it MUST tell you which one is wrong. It can't just refuse to save and not give you a clue. Not in the 21st century.

[Thomas Bielawski (tfbielawski)]

@Matteo - Thanks. I tried that and was able to edit and save settings on the desired connection; we will call it "5." However, once I tried to tell Ubuntu to connect to "5" it created a brand new entry for "5" with none of my settings and, naturally, failed to connect. I delete the new and incorrect "5" but it immediately reappears when I try to connect again.

One step forward...

[Teo (teo1978)]

Wow, that's strange, I never experienced that one. I would call it one step forward and a couple of steps backward!!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Teo (teo1978)]

I'm reopening this because it shouldn't have expired. It has expired because it was in "incomplete" status but reviewing the history It shouldn't have been in the "incomplete" status in the first place.

[Jason (jaseeverett)]

This is still a problem in 11.10. I cannot make any changes to my connections. The apply/save button stays greyed out regardless of what I click or change.

[Rune K. Svendsen (runeks)]

I'm experiencing this as well. I suspect it's related to the fact that the "Available to all users"-checkbox is greyed out, since only entries that exhibit this have a greyed out Save button (or perhaps these two symptoms just always appear simultaneously).

[hate_bugs_89 (oyv-soppelpost)]

I can confirm this, I have this on my Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit. Bloody annoying.

[Rune K. Svendsen (runeks)]

My problem was that Ubuntu kept trying to connect to WLANs that I didn't have the key for, but I was unable to change the "Connect automatically" option for these WLANs. I resolved this by deleting all the WLANs that I didn't have the key for, so that only one WLAN - for which I have the key - showed up in the Wireless list of network connections. Now Ubuntu doesn't try to connect to the foreign networks anymore.

[eupharis (eupharis)]

Thanks so much Rune! My issue was similar. NetworkManager didn't have the wireless password for the network I was trying to edit.

You should be able to click save always, but there should be some sort of popup like:

"Warning: Network Manager can't confirm with your router this IP address is valid. Please check the IP address you entered and/or your wireless password. Or click continue to continue with these settings."

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

@matteo: Is this bug still present in Ubuntu 12.04?

[Teo (teo1978)]

@Thomas: I don't know. Right now, if I do "edit connections" nothing happens at all!!!!!!!!

After a reboot I will be able to test it. There's a new dreadful regression that makes the whole network manager menu stop working randomly every once in a while. Reboot fixes it. I'll report it now

[Miklos Espak (espakm)]

Yes, this bug is still present in 12.04.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

I think I can reproduce at least one of the problems reported here. Under Edit Connections | Wireless I have several Wi-Fi networks listed including my neighbor's, "BRINK", for which I don't have a password. (I think that BRINK, unlike other neighbors' networks, is listed in the Edit Connections | Wireless window because I once accidentally selected that network from the list of available networks in the applet menu. Note that I never connected to BRINK because I have never had the password.)

If I select "BRINK" and click "Edit..." then I surprisingly get a "Wireless Network Authentication Required" dialog even though I am now at another location far far away from BRINK. I also get the Editing window for BRINK. See attached screenshot.

If I Cancel the authentication dialog or leave it open then the "Save..." button in the Editing window is greyed out.

If I edit some bogus password into the authentication dialog then the dialog goes away and the "Save..." button becomes ungreyed.

There are probably several different shortcomings in the UI, but one of the most important shortcomings is that the "Save..." button is greyed out and no reason is provided. Even if the user infers that some field is invalid (e.g., no password has been entered), she is not told by NM which field(s) is invalid.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

The problem is that there's no obvious way to tell the user why they can't save.

If you've created a network by mistake for which you don't have the password, why keep it there and try to edit it? You may just as well delete it to avoid it trying to connect automatically.

As far as I'm concerned, I'd leave things as they are right now -- using a dialog once Save is clicked is clumsy and looks bad, and if you're changing things for a connection you normally use (as opposed to one clicked by mistake), you'll usually know what you've just changed and be able to get back to it.

If there's something that can be changed; it would be something like changing the label for the Save button to say "Invalid property: XYZ", or so; or showing such a message on all tabs when editing, but it would need both design guidance and discussion upstream. Please file a bug about this on GNOME Bugzilla.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Yes, the list of invalid fields should be provided somehow. I'll file a bug upstream.

[StephanBeal (sgbeal)]

This is still a problem in 12.04. i cannot save a VPN entry, which is going to upset my boss a bit when i tell him i can't log in via VPN :(. Strangely enough: i have two VPN entries which i COULD save, but the latest one cannot. i have read through this thread and tried everything i can think of, but "save" stays grayed out.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

@Stephan: Well there may be a bug in addition to the shortcoming in the user interface. Can you please let us know exactly what's in all the fields on all the tabs of the Editing window which has the disabled "Save..." button? Screenshots would be best, but use something like the gimp to render local details unreadable.

[[e-mail] (sasha-kharkov)]

This bug is still present in 12.10

[Syed Hashmi (hakerzden1990)]

Same thing was happening on my suse, i deleted the connection ad recreated it. the save button wasn't grayed out after that. lemmi know if it works.

[lent (lent)]

The problem is unexpected order of user input resulting in "unsavable" data.
Input fields MUST be finished with an ENTER keypress or the data validation is apparently incomplete.
Sadly, the colored red to green background validation misleads the users into thinking the entry for each of the three fields, Address, Netmask, and Gateway is complete.

Problem could be mitigated by adding to hover help text.
Problem could be solved with data validation when click the "Add" button alongside "Addresses".
Or creating a flag for each of the three fields, all of which must be set to valid, for the Add to add a new address. A popup or some other indication, say blinking or turning all invalid fields red, could then direct the user to fix the bad field data.

Reproduce by:
Editing a connection
Select the "IPv4 Settings" tab.
Change the Method pull down to "Manual".
Delete any existing addresses.
Click Add
Type 192.168.1.49 (entry will turn from red to green)
press TAB (not Enter)
Type 255.255.255.0 (entry will turn from red to green)
press TAB (not Enter)
Type 192.168.1.1 (entry will turn green)
Press Add
Save will be greyed out but entry will appear as a row within addresses.

Also reproducible by clicking into each field rather than pressing TAB.

Workaround. Press ENTER after EACH entry rather then pressing TAB or clicking to the next entry.

Easy mitigation: Change hover text from:
IP addresses identify your computer on the network. Click the "Add" button to add an IP address.

to

IP addresses identify your computer on the network. Click the "Add" button to add an IP address.
Then enter Address, Netmask, and Gateway, pressing the Enter key after EACH entry.

This is perhaps icky, but might save others sanity :-)

Note: when you TAB from 199.168.1.49 to "Netmask" the number "24" appears automatically in the field.
Perhaps this is an indicator of the 24 bits that compose an old "Class C" address.
Pressing Enter after the 24 is displayed (and after click or TABbing to Address and press Enter, and after clicking and TABbing to Gateway and pressing Enter) allows you to save the Address. When you return to the re-edit the address the 24 has been automagically converted into 255.255.255.0.
No indication of this lovely and useful magic is on screen or in hover help text.

Thanks to for the clue to the problem:
> jlinkels (jlinkels) wrote on 2011-05-21: #6
>Well, you can make the save button ungray, but you have to press ENTER after entering the IP address, >the netmask, etc.

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

I'm still getting this issue even on Ubuntu 14.10.
It's sickening that the Ubuntu team can't even keep track enough of these networking errors that could be considered by some as a security risk.
Please fix.

[teo1978 (teo8976)]

I can't see the relation with #1409866.
Is it possible that this got duped to the wrong bug?

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

I myself marked it as a duplicate because they are essentially the same issue on the exact same program and OS: Manual WiFi connection values will not save and both tend to make the network connection previously saved "disappear" out of sight and/or stop showing up entirely.

[Serge (sergejzr)]

The problem is in the settings of the connection, but unfortunates the manager does not display this information.

SOLUTION:
- start nm-connection-editor from the terminal (sudo is possible, bus probably not necessary).
- open the connection settings as usual in the popped-up manager
- The exact error message will be printed in the terminal, read it.
- Fix the error and the buttons will be available again.

EXAMPLE OUTPUT in the terminal (in German in my case and I had to mark Certificate as ignored ):

** Message: Cannot save connection due to error: Editors wird initialisiert …
** Message: Cannot save connection due to error: ungültige Einstellung Sicherheit des Funknetzwerks: Ungültiges EAP-PEAP-CA-Zertifikat: Kein Zertifikat angegeben
** Message: Cannot save connection due to error: ungültige Einstellung IPv4-Einstellungen: ipv4.addresses: Diese Eigenschaft darf nicht für »method=manual« leer sein