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On a freshly imaged stretch lite (it would be the same on a regular stretch or jessie) I've set-up wpa_supplicant.conf with 2 known wifi networks. After boot, the system selects one of the network specified in wpa_supplicant.conf, but how do I select the other one from the command line (without editing wpa_supplicant.conf of course!)?

calocedrus
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1 Answers1

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It is not AFAIK possible to select by SSID, but you can manually select with something like the following.

wpa_cli select_network 1

It is quite a while since I used this, but networks are identified by position in wpa_supplicant.conf.

If you want to prefer one network setting priority is a better method.

Milliways
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  • So the index 1 in wpa_cli select_network 1 corresponds to the order of my networks in wpa_supplicant.conf? I'll try this soon. – calocedrus Jan 31 '18 at 00:07
  • Feedbacks on your answer: (1) wpa_cli select_network x with x = 0 or 1 returns the same Selected interface 'p2p-dev-wlan0' OK, and with both WiFi networks correctly broadcasting, my RPi still connects to only one of them, so this doesn't allow to switch between networks. (2) The position in wpa_supplicant.conf does not select the priority (setting my own hotspot in 2nd position in wpa_supplicant.conf will chose it even with the other WiFi turned on and set in 1st position). – calocedrus Jan 31 '18 at 01:14
  • And (3): I suppose that by setting priority you mean adding priority = x with x = 1, 2, ... inside network {...} in wpa_supplicant.conf? – calocedrus Jan 31 '18 at 01:16
  • As I said it has been some time since I used it (while testing with a number of AP). According to wpa_cli list_networks it works, I just switched from 1 PiNET any [CURRENT] to 1 PiNET any [DISABLED] but iwconfig shows wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"PiNET" Maybe the wireless hook in dhcpcd gets in the way. – Milliways Jan 31 '18 at 01:37
  • Here's my experiment: (a) after reboot I'm connected to wifi_hotspot. (b) wpa_cli list_networks shows the 2 lines 0 other_wifi any and 1 myhostpot any (c) wpa_cli select_network 1 (d) wpa_cli list_networks then shows 0 other_wifi any [DISABLED] and 1 myhostpot any [CURRENT] (e) wpa_cli select_network 0 (f) wpa_cli list_networks shows 0 other_wifi any [CURRENT] 1 myhostpot any [DISABLED]. But I still see me as a connected user on my hotspot and still have the same IP address (ifconfig), and can do apt-get install (I didn't set the other wifi password so not connectd)! – calocedrus Jan 31 '18 at 02:58