NetworkManager: Failed to activate – The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files
November 5, 2015 1 Comment
Because I need to connect quickly and easily to numerous wired and wireless networks (DHCP or static IP addressing), I use NetworkManager in my Gentoo Linux amd64 installation running OpenRC and KDE 4. My Clevo W230SS laptop has an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth adapter card, and my installation uses the iwlwifi module:
# lspci -knn | grep Net -A2
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 [8086:08b1] (rev bb)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 [8086:4070]
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
# lsmod | grep iwl
iwlmvm 143919 0
iwlwifi 75747 1 iwlmvm
As I am using NetworkManager instead of netifrc, in accordance with the instructions in the Gentoo Wiki article on NetworkManager I do not have any net.* services enabled (not even net.lo):
# rc-update show -v
NetworkManager | default
acpid |
alsasound |
avahi-daemon |
avahi-dnsconfd |
binfmt | boot
bluetooth | default
bootmisc | boot
busybox-ntpd |
busybox-watchdog |
clamd |
consolefont |
consolekit | default
cronie | default
cups-browsed | default
cupsd | default
dbus | default
devfs | sysinit
dhcpcd |
dhcpd |
dhcrelay |
dhcrelay6 |
dmesg | sysinit
dropbox |
fancontrol |
fsck | boot
fuse |
git-daemon |
gpm |
hddtemp |
hostname | boot
hwclock | boot
ip6tables |
iptables |
keymaps | boot
killprocs | shutdown
kmod-static-nodes | sysinit
lm_sensors |
local | default
localmount | boot
loopback | boot
mit-krb5kadmind |
mit-krb5kdc |
mit-krb5kpropd |
modules | boot
mount-ro | shutdown
mtab | boot
mysql |
nas |
net.enp4s0f1 |
net.lo |
netmount | default
ntp-client |
ntpd |
nullmailer |
numlock |
nvidia-persistenced |
nvidia-smi |
osclock |
pciparm |
procfs | boot
pwcheck |
pydoc-2.7 |
pydoc-3.4 |
rfcomm |
root | boot
rsyncd |
s6-svscan |
samba | default
saned |
saslauthd |
savecache | shutdown
sntp |
sshd | default
svnserve |
swap | boot
swapfiles | boot
swclock |
sysctl | boot
sysfs | sysinit
syslog-ng | default
teamviewerd10 |
termencoding | boot
timidity |
tmpfiles.dev | sysinit
tmpfiles.setup | boot
twistd |
udev | sysinit
ufw | boot
urandom | boot
wpa_supplicant |
xdm | default
xdm-setup |
I have left the netmount service enabled in case I want to use network-attached file shares at home or in one of the various office locations where I work.
Networking works fine on my laptop with the many wired and wireless networks I have used except for one particular public wireless network (it is in an airport, has multiple Access Points, and its Access Points only support 802.11a/b/g, which may or may not be relevant) for which the following message would usually appear in a pop-up window when I tried to connect to the network from the KDE network management GUI after start-up:
Failed to activate
The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files
Error message displayed by KDE when trying to connect to one specific network
This occurred with both
networkmanager-1.0.2-r1 and networkmanager-1.0.6, the two Stable Branch releases of NetworkManager currently available in Gentoo Linux.
The wireless network is not the only network at that particular location, and the ‘Failed to activate’ message occurred whichever network (wireless or wired) I tried to access at that location. When this problem occurred, it transpired that the NetworkManager service was not running (it had crashed):
$ nmcli d
Error: NetworkManager is not running.
$ rc-status
Runlevel: default
dbus [ started ]
NetworkManager [ crashed ]
netmount [ started ]
syslog-ng [ started ]
cupsd [ started ]
samba [ crashed ]
consolekit [ started ]
cronie [ started ]
bluetooth [ started ]
xdm [ started ]
cups-browsed [ started ]
sshd [ started ]
local [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: hotplugged
Dynamic Runlevel: needed
xdm-setup [ started ]
avahi-daemon [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: manual
(I am not bothered that Samba crashes in that particular location. It crashes even if a connection is established, because the public wireless network does not provide network file systems. Samba works fine when I connect the laptop to an office network or to my home network.)
Even if the ‘Failed to activate’ message occurred, sometimes (but not always) the laptop could still connect to networks after I restarted the NetworkManager service (albeit sometimes it was necessary to restart it more than once):
# /etc/init.d/NetworkManager restart
When it is possible to connect to networks, the NetworkManager service is of course running:
$ nmcli d
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
sit0 sit connected sit0
wlp3s0 wifi connected Free_Airport_Internet
enp4s0f1 ethernet unavailable --
lo loopback unmanaged --
$ rc-status
Runlevel: default
dbus [ started ]
NetworkManager [ started ]
netmount [ started ]
syslog-ng [ started ]
cupsd [ started ]
samba [ crashed ]
consolekit [ started ]
cronie [ started ]
bluetooth [ started ]
xdm [ started ]
cups-browsed [ started ]
sshd [ started ]
local [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: hotplugged
Dynamic Runlevel: needed
xdm-setup [ started ]
avahi-daemon [ started ]
Dynamic Runlevel: manual
I searched the Web for the error message and, based on a recommendation on the Web page ‘nm-applet gives errors‘ claiming the problem is due to the iwlwifi driver when used with an Intel 7260 controller, I created a file /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf containing the following line, and rebooted:
options iwlwifi power_save=0
However, the error message still occurred. So I changed the iwlwifi module options line to the following, as also recommended on that page, and rebooted:
options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1 power_save=0
However, the error message still occurred.
The default value for OpenRC’s rc_depend_strict variable is YES if rc_depend_strict is not declared in the file /etc/rc.conf, but I do not think that is the cause of the problem:
# Do we allow any started service in the runlevel to satisfy the dependency # or do we want all of them regardless of state? For example, if net.eth0 # and net.eth1 are in the default runlevel then with rc_depend_strict="NO" # both will be started, but services that depend on 'net' will work if either # one comes up. With rc_depend_strict="YES" we would require them both to # come up. #rc_depend_strict="YES"
As already mentioned, sometimes just restarting the NetworkManager service once or more did enable the laptop to connect to the network. This made me wonder whether the problem had something to do either with the timing of the launch of the NetworkManager service or with the timing of the service establishing a connection. As netmount is the only other network-related service enabled at start-up, I checked the netmount service’s configuration file /etc/conf.d/netmount to see what it contained (it’s the same in both the latest stable openrc-0.17 and the latest testing openrc-0.18.2):
# You will need to set the dependencies in the netmount script to match # the network configuration tools you are using. This should be done in # this file by following the examples below, and not by changing the # service script itself. # # Each of these examples is meant to be used separately. So, for # example, do not set rc_need to something like "net.eth0 dhcpcd". # # If you are using newnet and configuring your interfaces with static # addresses with the network script, you should use this setting. # #rc_need="network" # # If you are using oldnet, you must list the specific net.* services you # need. # # This example assumes all of your netmounts can be reached on # eth0. # #rc_need="net.eth0" # # This example assumes some of your netmounts are on eth1 and some # are on eth2. # #rc_need="net.eth1 net.eth2" # # If you are using a dynamic network management tool like # networkmanager, dhcpcd in standalone mode, wicd, badvpn-ncd, etc, to # manage the network interfaces with the routes to your netmounts, you # should list that tool. # #rc_need="networkmanager" #rc_need="dhcpcd" #rc_need="wicd" # # The default setting is designed to be backward compatible with our # current setup, but you are highly discouraged from using this. In # other words, please change it to be more suited to your system. # rc_need="net"
As I am using NetworkManager rather than netifrc, I followed the instructions in the file’s comments and changed the file’s contents from:
rc_need="net"
to:
rc_need="networkmanager"
After making the above change, the console messages at boot-up included a new message:
* ERROR: netmount needs service(s) networkmanager
That message made sense: rc_need had been set to "networkmanager" and, obviously, netmount can only do its job if NetworkManager is running (AND a network connection has been established). However, notice that the name of the NetworkManager service initscript is /etc/init.d/NetworkManager, not /etc/init.d/networkmanager. In other words, the instructions in /etc/conf.d/netmount are wrong: the name of the service is actually ‘NetworkManager‘, not ‘networkmanager‘. So I changed /etc/conf.d/netmount to contain rc_need="NetworkManager" instead of rc_need="networkmanager" and, unsurprisingly, the above-mentioned error message no longer occurs. I have filed Gentoo Bugzilla Bug Report No. 564846 requesting that the comment in the configuration file be changed.
Nevertheless, the ‘Failed to activate’ message still occurred when I tried to connect to any network at that location by using the DE’s network management GUI, and therefore I still needed to restart the NetworkManager service manually in order to be able to connect to any network there. Although I am not yet sure of the root cause and solution, I have found a work-around which avoids me having to manually restart the NetworkManager service, as explained below.
Although OpenRC correctly launches the NetworkManager service, that service remains inactive until it actually establishes a network connection. This is not a bug, it is the way OpenRC and NetworkManager work (see the explanation in the Gentoo Forums thread NetworkManager has started, but is inactive). This is why the following console message appears during boot-up:
* WARNING: NetworkManager has already started, but is inactive
If you did not configure NetworkManager to connect automatically to a network, after logging-in to the DE you will need to use the DE’s network management GUI (plasma-nm in the case if KDE, nm-applet in the case of e.g. Xfce) to tell NetworkManager to connect to the desired network. However, I found that waiting that long before trying to connect is too late to avoid the ‘Failed to activate’ problem, i.e. NetworkManager crashes after a while. I do not know why this happens, but it usually happens only when I am at the location covered by one specific wireless network (which is why I wonder if the problem is a result of that network only supporting 802.11a/b/g). By configuring NetworkManager to connect automatically to the wireless network which seemed to trigger the problem, the NetworkManager service tries to connect earlier. It is possible to configure NetworkManager to do this either by using the DE network GUI and ticking ‘Automatically connect to this network when it is available’ for the relevant network connection, or by directly editing the relevant connection’s file in the directory /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/.
Of the various wired and wireless connections I had configured on the laptop, I had named the problematic wireless network’s connection ‘Free_Airport_Internet’. So I edited the file /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Free_Airport_Internet and deleted the line ‘autoconnect=false‘ in the [connections] section of the file (the default value of the autoconnect variable is TRUE – see man nm-settings). I could instead have done this by using the DE’s network manager GUI and ticking ‘Automatically connect to this network when it is available’ for that network connection. Now, when the laptop boots, NetworkManager tries to connect to that network and the ‘Failed to activate’ problem is avoided. This works with or without the iwlwifi driver options I mentioned above, so, despite the claim on the Web page I referenced above, the root cause of the problem does not appear to be the iwlwifi driver. What I don’t understand is why the problem only seems to occur with one particular network (a public wireless network which happens to only support 802.11a/b/g), i.e. even if none of the NetworkManager connection files in my installation have been configured to try to establish a connection automatically, with all the other wireless networks I have used in other locations (I believe those all support at least 802.11a/b/g/n) I have been able to establish a connection manually by using the DE’s network management GUI.
The bottom line
If your installation uses NetworkManager and you experience the ‘Failed to activate’ message when trying to connect to networks from the DE’s network management GUI, check if the NetworkManager service is running. You can check by using the command ‘nmcli d‘ in a console. If it is not running, try to restart the NetworkManager service from the command line. If the connection is not already configured to start automatically, configure it to start automatically in order to try to make NetworkManager become active at an early stage.
POSTSCRIPT (November 6, 2015)
The two links below are to old bug reports regarding earlier versions of NetworkManager having trouble using wireless networks with multiple Access Points. I wonder if the problem I saw with NetworkManager crashing when not configured to connect automatically to the specific network I mentioned above is somehow related to those problems:
network-manager roams to (none) ((none)) – background scanning
Roaming to BSSID “(none)” certainly happens with this particular network too, as shown by the messages in the laptop’s system log from yesterday when I was using the laptop with that network (the laptop was stationary the whole time):
# cat /var/log/messages | grep "Nov 5 11" | grep NetworkManager | grep \(none\)
Nov 5 11:01:22 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID 04:C5:A4:C3:F9:EE (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:01:22 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet)
Nov 5 11:13:23 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:13:23 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to 04:C5:A4:C3:F9:EE (Free_Airport_Internet)
Nov 5 11:15:23 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID 04:C5:A4:C3:F9:EE (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:15:23 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet)
Nov 5 11:19:22 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:19:23 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet)
Nov 5 11:49:50 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:49:50 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to 68:BC:0C:A1:3C:DE (Free_Airport_Internet)
Nov 5 11:51:51 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID 68:BC:0C:A1:3C:DE (Free_Airport_Internet) to (none) ((none))
Nov 5 11:51:51 clevow230ss NetworkManager[2459]: (wlp3s0): roamed from BSSID (none) ((none)) to B8:BE:BF:69:89:6E (Free_Airport_Internet)
Today I’m using a hotel network in my hotel room, and that does not roam to BSSID “(none)”, but I don’t know if my room is within range of more than one Access Point:
# cat /var/log/messages | grep "Nov 6" | grep NetworkManager | grep \(none\)
#
Anyway, with the work-around described in this post I have not had any further trouble accessing the particular network, but it would be interesting to know the root cause.
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