Overview

Set of scripts that allow a user to create Wifi Access Point. Creates WIFI session.

In my setup I create the Wifi server on ‘Edimax’ Wifi dongle.

This solution is obsolete on Ubuntu machines, since Ubuntu provides Wifi hotspot solution out of the box.

Use cases

• Making wireless hard drive (accessing hard drive through raspberry as Access Point)
• Controlling raspberry device by Wifi connection, where you as a client connect to the Wifi distributed by raspberry

• Easier to develop programs using HTTP than bluetooth between raspberry Access Point & client device

  My own use cases:

• transfer files from phone to laptop when I’m on a trip (laptop operation as Wifi Access Point)

Prerequisites

• isc-dhcp-server
• hostapd
• crda
• samba samba-common-bin

Use

• These scripts should be used as a point of reference
• if you plan on using a wifi dongle insert the dongle
• read your network card interface name (ifconfig). my device interface name was ‘wlx801f02e69c1c’, the files include that name

Configuration

Parts:

• The Wifi setup
  • The DHCP setup
  • SMB

The Wifi

• configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
• This configuration:
• SSID: ‘test’,
• password: ‘PASSWORD’
• country_code=PL

The DHCP setup

• configuration file: /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
• The computer acts as a server, has 192.168.20.1 IP.

SMB

• configuration file: /etc/samba/smb.conf

Provide public storage to path

[Shared]
comment = Public storage
path=/home/pi/Shared
read only=no
browseable=Yes

To be able to access samba share you have to create a samba user. At the beginning the OS user is not defined in samba.
For raspberry pi we can create samba user ‘pi’, define a password for it. It does not have to be the same as OS password.

sudo smbpasswd -a pi

By using pi user name we can access home pi directory. Otherwise we could not have these previliges out of the box.

Troubleshooting

• If wifi is not visible on you client device, then your hostapd might be incorrectly configured
• If wifi is not visible on you client device, then your client migh not be supported that Wifi standard version
• If you can connect to Wifi, but ‘Obtaining IP address’ is still visible on the client, or the client cannot receive ip number, then most likely dhcpd is incorrectly configured
• If you cannot create files, then it has something to do with SMB config/proviliges

TODO

automate via python script