↓Skip to main content

Arch iwd/WiFi Eduroam Setup - UWaterloo

linux guide

Introduction #

Setting up iwd when first installing Arch proved to be quite a hassle, especially because I was relying on campus WiFi via eduroam. Eduroam has a lot of mandatory configuration options that are abstracted away when using typical network managers. Since iwd is the recommended way of getting connected to the internet during the arch install, it felt particularly important to document how to set it up for beginners!

Note: This guide is specific to the University of Waterloo, but the setup is applicable to any other institution which uses eduroam

Config #

Here’s the config file you should place at /var/lib/iwd/eduroam.8021x. Be sure to replace the EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Identity/EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Password fields!

[Security]
EAP-Method=PEAP
EAP-Identity=anonymous@uwaterloo.ca
EAP-PEAP-CACert=/etc/ssl/certs/GlobalSign_Root_CA_-_R3.pem
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Method=MSCHAPV2
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Identity=WATID@uwaterloo.ca
EAP-PEAP-Phase2-Password=YOUR_PASSWORD
EAP-PEAP-ServerDomainMask=eduroam.uwaterloo.ca

[Settings]
AutoConnect=true

You can find the keys to the values in the Arch wiki, but the values are unique to each university, and are obtained by digging through the “eduroam installer” (a python script).

Connecting #

From this, iwctl (command line front-end for iwd) can get you connected:

iwctl station wlan0 connect eduroam

And you’re in!

Tips #

  • Make sure everything in the config file is spelled correctly!

  • Connecting to non-eduroam networks is much simpler, you just need the password to your network!

  • When connecting to other networks, iwd will automatically generate config files at /var/lib/iwd/name_of_network.type_of_network

Investigating Errors: #

When connecting to a network and it seems to inexplicably not work, you can use:

systemctl status iwd

to better understand what’s going wrong.

↑