Connecting to WPA internet using terminal

[slgtheindividual]

I need to reinstall my GUI but all I can access currently is a terminal, I have the encryption key and SSID but have found all the how to's I've read really confusing since following certain steps on them give me error messages, I'm connecting wirelessly to wlan0. Thank you in advance.

[Buntumatic]

Well, you have to tell us:

0. what HOWTO you are following,
1. at which step you get stuck
2. and what error messages you get.

[slgtheindividual]

Ok well the one I was following (I lost the page now) said to try

"sudo ifup wlan0" which I did and gave me "Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0"

I don't want to set up anything new either which some of them seem to show, just connect to the connection I usually use via the gui

[Buntumatic]

Is your wireless card seen if you do
ifconfig -a

[slgtheindividual]

Yes it comes up with

"wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr..."

[chili555]

You might try:
sudo iwconfig wlan0 wpa-ssid mynetworkname
sudo iwconfig wlan0 wpa-psk mypassphrase
sudo dhclient wlan0If that doesn't work, try editing /etc/network/interfaces to:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid mynetworkname
wpa-psk mypassphraseThen do:
sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0You will either connect or get some instructive messages about why not.

[slgtheindividual]

ok I got an "unkown command wpa-ssid" also I edited the file interfaces and when I ran "sudo ifdown..." I got out "ifdown: interface wlan0 not configured"

[chili555]

And when you did 'sudo ifup wlan0' and the system re-read the interfaces file, what happened? Any interesting messages?

[slgtheindividual]

it gives me "ifup: interface wlan0 already configured"

[chili555]

Well; it went from not configured to already configured in a few moments. Did it connect? Any interesting messages?
sudo cat /var/log/syslog | grep wlan0
iwconfig wlan0

[Joe of loath]

To connect in the terminal you'll need to use wpa_supplicant or wicd-curses. wpa_supplicant is more flexible, but wicd-curses is easier.

[slgtheindividual]

ok well I rebooted and ran those last two commands and it worked, I'm online and it's currently downloading. I have no idea how but thank you very much for your help =]

to clarify I ran

sudo cat /var/log/syslog | grep wlan0
iwconfig wlan0

[slgtheindividual]

ok one last thing, so I have my gui back and everything is working fine except at the top the little applet that tells you what network you are connected to says I'm not connected to any but I can still get on the internet and ping myself etc. Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe if I change that file back to how it was and restart it'll be fine?

[chili555]

ok one last thing, so I have my gui back and everything is working fine except at the top the little applet that tells you what network you are connected to says I'm not connected to any but I can still get on the internet and ping myself etc. Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe if I change that file back to how it was and restart it'll be fine?Yes you will, although it will probably take a reboot.

However, if you have a stay-at-home computer that will not be taken down to the library or coffee shop to connect, you could remove Network Manager and leave the interfaces file as is. You will connect on boot to your network automatically.

[slgtheindividual]

Thank You so much for all of your help, everything is as it was =]