My machine as Wi-Fi Hotspot broken after upgrade to 20.04

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I have the same issue. Everything was working fine on 18.04, it only stopped working after upgrading to 20.04. My phone (Android) can see the wifi network (hotspot), it connects to it, it says it is connected but there is no internet. I tried many different configurations, different software, but nothing worked.

Hello, could someone please help me debug this problem?

This ubuntu 20.04 box is the only viable wifi router in my house!
I'm considering downgrading my system, but would prefer to find the bug.

For me the "Turn on WiFi hotspot" is greyed out. I tried http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2019/10/fix-wi-fi-hotspot-not-working-ubuntu-18-04/ - and that does give me something hotspot-y, but when trying to connect I get *Association request to the driver failed*, and then *Cntrl-event-netwerk-not-found*. Upon reconnecting, I get *Associated with ...*, followed by some quick messages that disappear before I can read them, and then again the "Network not found". And it would be a kluge anyway, because the option remains greyed out - one has to connect to a hidden network to get the hotspot (not really) going.

The workaround in http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2019/10/fix-wi-fi-hotspot-not-working-ubuntu-18-04/ works, but as a kluge. The option "Turn on WiFi hotspot" remains greyed out, but by connecting to a hidden network one can get the hotspot going.

I have the same problem. I see packets being received by Ubuntu through the WiFi iface, but they don't seem to be delivered.

Could you try if it works better in nm-connection-editor? Could you add your 'journalctl -b 0' log after triggering the issue? It would also be useful to have details on how it's not working. Is the menu option disabled? do you fail to connect? do you connect by have no data working?

1. I removed the network from the Wi-Fi setting and "Turn On Wi-Fi Hotspot..." is not grayed out.
2. I opened nm-connection-editor and click the +, then "Wi-Fi", then chose:
  - Mode: Hotspot
  - Device: wlp3s0
  - No security
3. I connect with Ubuntu from another machine. There does appear to be a connection (WiFi settings has a check mark next to the network), but there is no internet and the icon remains a question mark.

I noticed the iptables needed for the hotspot to work are not set when the hotspot is enabled.

The log has iptables errors

May 18 14:50:08 julep NetworkManager[1050]: <info> [1589806208.0498] Executing: /sbin/iptables --table filter --insert INPUT --in-interface wlp3s0 --protocol tcp --destination-port 53 --jump ACCEPT
May 18 14:50:08 julep NetworkManager[1050]: <warn> [1589806208.0512] Error executing command: Failed to execute child process “/sbin/iptables” (No such file or directory)

Do you have iptables installed? could you do
$ which iptables?

=> which iptables
/usr/sbin/iptables

=> iptables --version
iptables v1.8.4 (legacy)

/usr/sbin/iptables is a symlink to another name with is linked to another name which is linked to /usr/sbin/xtables-legacy-multi

Could you try if the build from https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/19327707 fixes the issue for you?

With the new packages installed I can now connect and use the hotspot as long as the WPA is disabled.
Thanks for the fix!

As soon as I re-enable the WPA, I can no longer connect with my Ubuntu laptop.
I can, however, connect from Android, Windows 10, and MacOS when the WPA in enabled.

Is this a different Ubuntu client bug?

Another related bug is that the "Turn On WiFi Hotspots..." menu item is always gray. The only way I can create or modify a hotspot is using the nm-connection-editor. Is this a bug I should report elsewhere?

Thanks for testing, what do you mean 'as long as the WPA is disabled'? You mean you need to disable wifi to enable hotspot? That's expected since you only have one antenna and it can't only have on role at a time, either receiver or access point.

The 'always grey' is another issue, can you report it? There is a known issue that on first opening the item is unactive but works after changing to another settings page and back to wifi, but if that's solving if for you then opening a new report makes sense

On the computer with the hotspot, if I make the network open, with no WPA, then I can connect and use the hotspot with all machines.

If I enable WEP in the hotspot settting (nm-connection-editor), all machines can still connect and use the hotspot.

If I enbale WPA in the hotspot settings (nm-connection-editor), then my Ubuntu laptop (another machine) cannot connect to the hotspot, while all other machines can.

The "always gray" issue is indeed solved by clicking out of the wifi setting and then back in.

Thanks, bug #1879122 is the menu not enabled issue, you should open a new ticket about the WPA problem, it's different from the one initially discussed on this report

@seb128 Which package do you want me to report this against?
ubuntu-bug will not let me do it against network-manager because it is "not an official Ubuntu package".

Hello Krister, or anyone else affected,

Accepted network-manager into focal-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/1.22.10-1ubuntu2.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

All autopkgtests for the newly accepted network-manager (1.22.10-1ubuntu2.1) for focal have finished running.
The following regressions have been reported in tests triggered by the package:

systemd/unknown (armhf)

Please visit the excuses page listed below and investigate the failures, proceeding afterwards as per the StableReleaseUpdates policy regarding autopkgtest regressions [1].

https://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-archive/proposed-migration/focal/update_excuses.html#network-manager

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Autopkgtest_Regressions

Thank you!

I installed 1.22.10-1ubuntu2.1 and turned the hotspot on...
   my clients can use the hotspot normally.

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager - 1.22.10-1ubuntu2.1

---------------
network-manager (1.22.10-1ubuntu2.1) focal; urgency=medium

  * debian/rules:
    - the iptables binary is in /usr/sbin now, use the correct location in
      the configure. Should fix the hotspot feature not working in GNOME
      on upgraded systems which haven't been usrmerged.
      (lp: #1870359)

 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Wed, 20 May 2020 18:23:10 +0200

The verification of the Stable Release Update for network-manager has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager - 1.24.0-1ubuntu2

---------------
network-manager (1.24.0-1ubuntu2) groovy; urgency=medium

  * debian/rules:
    - the iptables binary is in /usr/sbin now, use the correct location in
      the configure. Should fix the hotspot feature not working in GNOME
      on upgraded systems which haven't been usrmerged.
      (lp: #1870359)

 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Wed, 20 May 2020 12:03:07 +0200