At the prompt, enter the following command:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
In the nano text editor, you’ll see something like this:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp
That’s the very basic configuration that governs your Pi’s Ethernet connect (indicated by the eth0 portion). We need to add on a very minor bit to enable the Wi-Fi dongle. Use the arrow keys to move down below the existing entry and add the following lines:
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp
Once you’ve annotated the file, press CTRL+X to save the file and exit the nano editor. At the prompt again, enter the following command:
sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
Compare the contents of the file, if it exists, to the following code. If the file is empty, you can use this code to populate it. Take note of the commented lines (indicated by the # marks) to reference which variable you should use based on your current Wi-Fi node configuration.
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="YOURSSID"
psk="YOURPASSWORD"
# Protocol type can be: RSN (for WP2) and WPA (for WPA1)
proto=WPA
# Key management type can be: WPA-PSK or WPA-EAP (Pre-Shared or Enterprise)
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
# Pairwise can be CCMP or TKIP (for WPA2 or WPA1)
pairwise=TKIP
#Authorization option should be OPEN for both WPA1/WPA2 (in less commonly used are SHARED and LEAP)
auth_alg=OPEN
}
When you’re done editing the file, press CTRL+X to save and exit the document. Now is the time to unplug the Ethernet cable and plug in the Wi-Fi dongle.
At the command prompt, enter the following command:
sudo reboot