Wi-Fi AP and hostapd
Topics in this section,
In this section, you are going to learn
How to run hostapd in AP mode
# |
Version |
|---|---|
Ubuntu |
Ubuntu 22.04 64 bit |
Linux Kernel |
6.9.0 |
Hostapd |
Hostapd 2.9 |
STEP 1: Remove if any old packages of wpa_supplicant or hostapd is present
test:~$ cd $HOME
test:~$ pwd
/home/test
test:~$ rm -rf hostap* wpa_supp*
Make sure internet is available in laptop to download hostapd package
test:~$ sudo wget http://w1.fi/releases/hostapd-2.9.tar.gz
Make sure internet is available in laptop to download hostapd package
test:~$ sudo apt install libnl-genl-3-dev libnl-3-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev
Internet is cut-off after this !
test:~$ sudo killall wpa_supplicant
test:~$ sudo killall wpa_cli
test:~$ sudo killall hostapd
test:~$ sudo killall hostapd_cli
test:~$ sudo killall dhclient
test:~$ sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager.service
test:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
4: phy1: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
5: phy2: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
test:~$ sudo rfkill unblock all
test:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
wlan0 is the name of wireless interface on this laptop
test:~$ sudo iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
wlan0 is the name of wireless interface on this laptop
test:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0
wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 02:00:00:00:00:00 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
tar -xvf command extracts zipped hostapd package
test:~$ sudo tar -xzvf hostapd-2.9.tar.gz
Change to hostapd-2.9/hostapd directory
Copy defconfig to .config file
.config file is required for make to start compilation of hostapd
test:~$ cd hostapd-2.9/hostapd
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ cp defconfig .config
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ make
ssid in ./run_hostapd.conf should be used by clients while connecting to AP
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo vim ./run_hostapd.conf
ctrl_interface=/run/hostapd
interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
ssid=test_wpa2
hw_mode=g
channel=6
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=12345678
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
group_cipher=CCMP
Turn on wifi on your mobile client/laptop client
wifi name is ssid in ./run_hostapd.conf
wifi password is wpa_passphrase in ./run_hostapd.conf
AP-STA-CONNECTED indicates successful connection of STA
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo ./hostapd ./run_hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Using interface wlan0 with hwaddr 02:00:00:00:00:00 and ssid "test_wpa2"
wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ENABLED
wlan0: AP-ENABLED
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ ps -N | grep -i hostapd
36261 pts/3 00:00:00 hostapd
aid=1 is assigned to connected station. Check output of all_sta
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo ./hostapd_cli -i wlan0
hostapd_cli v2.9
Copyright (c) 2004-2019, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and contributors
This software may be distributed under the terms of the BSD license.
See README for more details.
Interactive mode
Mode field in iwconfig should show master
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 Mode:Master Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo iw dev
phy#1
Interface wlan0
ifindex 5
wdev 0x100000001
addr 02:00:00:00:00:00
ssid test_wpa2
type AP
channel 6 (2437 MHz), width: 20 MHz (no HT), center1: 2437 MHz
txpower 20.00 dBm
Station and AP should be in same IP subnet.
Assign 192.168.3.10 to station i.e mobile client/laptop client
Station and AP should be in same IP subnet.
Assign 192.168.3.1 to AP
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 192.168.3.1 up
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo ifconfig wlan0
wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.3.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.3.255
ether 02:00:00:00:00:00 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 61 bytes 11085 (11.0 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 130 bytes 25688 (25.6 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
192.168.3.10 is IP address of Station
test:~/hostapd-2.9/hostapd$ sudo ping 192.168.3.10
PING 192.168.3.10 (192.168.3.10) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.3.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.092 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.036 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.10: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.094 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.10: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.105 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.3.10: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.094 ms