11.10 Can't Create An Ad Hoc Network

[demonboy]

OK, going back to basics here. Here is my scenario: 3 laptops, all running 11.10, all with wireless capability. Two are connected to the internet via (expensive) 3G dongles.

All I want to do is a) share files between each laptop and b) access via remote desktop each laptop. I should just be able to use the wireless connection between the laptops, shouldn't I? There is no need to connect to the internet to achieve this.

I thought a simple ad hoc network was all that I'd need. I tried setting up an ad hoc network on laptop 1 (a la first part of this guide. Mode was Ad Hoc and Band was Automatic, no wireless security and under IPv4 method was Automatic (DHCP).

At this point should laptop 1 show that is has connected to its own ad hoc network, or will it only connect when the next laptop is connected? Either way, it doesn't and neither does laptop 2. Under IPv4 I've tried assigning automatically, manually and 'shared to other computers' too, but to no avail.

I've installed no extra packages. I keep reading about Samba, but that's for cross-platform so I shouldn't need that. Do I need Apache installed instead? My Personal File Sharing is greyed out but that should all relate to a problem further down the line. The fact is I can't even create an ad hoc network.

If anyone can give me some pointers, I've be grateful.

[tudor117]

From what I understand, you want to create an ad-hoc network, to which your other computers can connect to, and then share files.

I would change the IPv4 settings to "Shared to other computers" that way you don't have to worry about it. By doing so, you should be sharing the internet between computers too.
Then on the other computers, look for it's name and select it. Try accessing the internet.

As for sharing files, see this guide.
You do need samba. It's easy to set up and install. Create a folder that you want to be your shared folder, and then right-click on it and go to "Sharing Options" tell it to Share the folder, name the share and allow others to create and delete files. You could allow Guest access, but I found that permissions got screwed up when doing so. It will most likely ask you to log out (or restart).
To view shares, go to the network, select the computer, and select the share. You should be logging in either with a Guest account, or with the share's login and password.

As well, why not consider Ubuntu One or Dropbox? (Okay, maybe limited internet might be a reason...)

An other possibility is connecting them all by network cables, or by bluetooth (which is really slow).

[demonboy]

Firstly, all the guides suggest that Samba is required when sharing across different OS and not when all the machines are running Ubuntu, so either I don't need Samba or all the documentation I've read is misleading!

I forgot to mention that I also tried Share With Other Computers as my IPv4 setting.

I'll check out that link and get back to you. Thanks for your help.

[tudor117]

So for the ad-hoc, when you create the ad-hoc connection, it should show as connected to its own network. I found this to work using the shared to other computers. Have it "Connect automatically". On the computers that you want to connect, you need to go find the SSID that you gave, and then tell it to connect. This will only work once "Computer 1" is connected to itself.

UPDATE: Apparently not every wifi card supports creating an adhoc network. Is your card supported? Try running the network on other computers. If all computers don't work, you'll have to think of a different method. Do you have any internet cables around?

A thing to note that I found is that (at least from my desktop) ad-hoc networks are really slow.

I'm not sure what guides you found about sharing, because I'm more than fairly certain that Samba is required for sharing Folders. Of course there are other methods of sharing such as FTP, etc, but Samba should be the easiest once all computers are on the same network.

[demonboy]

I've successfully run an ad hoc network on these same computers before, but running 10.10, so I know the network cards can handle an ad hoc network.

I started installing Samba and was following this guide before I realised I didn't really know what I was doing. I mean, why is there a Network shortcut in the left hand column of Nautilus showing Windows Network which, when you click on it, says 'unable to mount location', all the while following that guide to create a different folder for sharing? This is what is extremely confusing to a fairly non-network savvy person like myself.

I still do not understand why laptop 1 will not connect to its own ad hoc network. There has to be something really simple that I'm missing.

[tudor117]

Does the ad-hoc connect to itself at least?
Does the network manager show the connecting state (the spinning thing)?
Maybe you have to tell it to connect?
How far is it from connecting?

As for samba, the documentation you followed is for servers. It is much more difficult (because of having to manually edit configuration files) and thus unnecessary.
All you really need to do is to create a folder and tell it to share that folder by right-clicking.

Inside the Network shortcut, will appear the linux computers that are sharing. It probably says unable to mount for the windows network because there is nothing inside it.

[demonboy]

Hello again, Tudor. All that happens with the connection is after creating the ad hoc network and trying to connect to it, the flashy thing makes that animation that looks like it is trying to connect, and then it fails. Annoyingly, after that, every few minutes a window appears asking me to try to connect to it again. So, to answer your questions: no, it does not connect to itself; yes, it shows the connecting state (not the connected state); I'm always telling it to connect, mainly through 'connect to hidden wireless network'; it tries to connect for around 10 seconds and then fails.

It was four in the morning when I was following that guide so excuse my stupidity at following a server guide. I did say I wasn't very good at this.

There is very definitely a small step that I have omitted. The frustrating thing is I have no idea where to start looking. If you have any other pointers...

[tudor117]

Okay!
I have more ideas.
For the ad-hoc, try following this guide.
Here is the important section to try:

Wireless Ad-Hoc connection sharing scenario
Step by step guide:

• dnsmasq-base has to be installed: sudo apt-get install dnsmasq-base
• remove dnsmasq as it's conflicting with NetworkManager: sudo apt-get remove dnsmasq
• restart NetworkManager: sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart
• Add a new wireless network with NetworkManager (left-click on NetworkManager icon, then select "Create New Wireless Network")
• Call the new network "UbuntuAdhoc" (note: if you choose another name you will have to turn on connection sharing later by editing the network you just created!)
• Set encryption to "WEP40..." (note: you may have to experiment here according to what type of encryption with ad-hoc the phone/other laptop/pc supports, wpa is not supported)

NetworkManager now should connect to itself (which means it creates the ad-hoc wireless network and routes any internet traffic to your wired network interface). Now connect with the client(s) and you should have a working internet connection.

From that site, you could also try the GUI Method. The important thing I think is to make sure you have the right package installed.
There's no point in trying to connect to a hidden wireless network, because if it isn't yet setup (computer 1 connected) there will be nothing to connect to.

Also, if you have a crossover Ethernet cable, you could try this. The speed would also be much faster.

Once you get those connected, you can also try to share files using SSH if you can't get Samba to work. This should work.

[demonboy]

Hi Tudor,

Just before I continue I should mention that whilst playing around with this problem (all of today) I have somehow killed wlan0 so that it is no longer detected. I've yet to find out how to get my computer to detect it.

Answering your other points:
- dnsmasq-base is already installed
- dnsmasq I do not have this installed
And then I can't continue because of this missing wlan0 issue!

[tudor117]

Hi,
That's really a bummer. What did you do? It's possible that you hit a switch (hardware or software) that just disables it... Try right clicking on the network manager and checking if Wireless is enabled.

Also, do you still not have an crossover ethernet cord or a network switch?

I understand that you can't progress with out all computers being on a LAN, and you can't try ad-hoc without wireless working. Hopefully you didn't remove the driver