Installing a wifi stick on the PR2100 with Ubuntu Server

in western-digital, pr2100, nas, digital-freedom, right-to-repair, linux, ubuntu, wifi

DO THIS WHILE YOUR MACHINE IS STILL CONNECTED TO THE NETWORK VIA CABLE

To enable your PR2100 to connect to wifi, you'll need a wifi stick that works with linux. Once you have one, follow these steps:

1. ssh into your PR2100
2. run sudo apt install wpasupplicant
3. plug in your wifi stick
4. run lshw -C network and look for a *-network-entry with the description Wireless interface
5. copy the logical name of the entry, e.g. wlan0 or something more cryptic like wlx801f02cd1234
6. run sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-network-config.yaml and add the following lines:

  wifis:
    YOUR_LOGICAL_NAME_HERE:
      dhcp4: true
      access-points:
        "YOUR_WIFI_SSID":
          password: "YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"

Replace YOUR_LOGICAL_NAME_HERE with logical name you acquired in step 5, YOUR_WIFI_SSID with your wifi's SSID and YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD with your wifi's password.

Keep in mind that the indentation is important, so make sure to copy the spaces correctly. Also make sure that the indentation of the wifis-line is the same as the ethernets-line above it.

If you're using a 5GHz wifi, make sure that your wifi stick supports it. If it doesn't, you'll have to use a 2.4GHz wifi.

7. run sudo netplan apply -debug to apply the changes
8. now run ip address and look for an entry with your stick's logical name, e.g. wlan0 or wlx801f02cd1234. It should include state up and inet with an IP address.
9. power down your PR2100, remove the network cable and boot it up again

You should now be able to ssh into your PR2100 via wifi.

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