GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 679275
NetworkManager repeatedly attempts to connect to wifi even when a wired connection is active
Last modified: 2012-07-27 01:01:42 UTC
After upgrading from Ubuntu Oneiric to Ubuntu Precise, NetworkManager started trying to connect to the wifi even when I'm plugged in to a wired Ethernet connection. This is very annoying because the wifi password prompt appears every few minutes and steals focus, and it doesn't stop unless I uncheck "Enable wireless" in the knetworkmanager widget or turn off my wifi card. It seems pretty clear to me that NetworkManager should prefer wired connections over wireless ones, and should not try to initiate wireless connections if there is already an active wired connection.
You can always disable wireless networking.
That's a workaround, yes, but that doesn't mean this is not a bug. If I disable wireless to suppress this behavior, I have to disable it every time I plug in and re-enable it every time I detach the Ethernet cable. I work in an office where I have wired Ethernet at my desk but use the wifi in meeting rooms, so this occurs relatively frequently. Pre-Precise versions of NetworkManager supported this workflow: while I was connected via Ethernet, it would not attempt to connect to the wifi and wouldn't prompt me for the password; it would do this as soon as I disconnected the Ethernet cable. The Precise version of NM, however, prompts for my wifi password even when I have an active wired connection. It's very annoying, and given that this didn't happen in Oneiric or previous versions, it's clearly fixable.
> That's a workaround, yes, but that doesn't mean this is not a bug. A change in behavior doesn't necessarily constitute a bug. You can have multiple valid connections in NetworkManager.
(In reply to comment #3) > A change in behavior doesn't necessarily constitute a bug. You can have > multiple valid connections in NetworkManager. Is this a new feature? I can see how trying to autoconnect to wifi even when eth is already up would be consistent with supporting multiple connections, so if those two things were introduced at the same time, that makes sense. It would still be nice to have a config option to limit autoconnect to 1 interface though (with eth preferred over wifi, as in previous versions of NM).
Good idea. Marking duplicate with another instance of this request, surprisingly much older. Please move further discussion there. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 513488 ***