Android WifiManager.addNetwork() returns -1

Question

I am writing an android app which will connect to a specific WPA access point, when connected, it will issue a http call. It will not save the network config. I have read almost every post on stack overflow on connecting to wifi network but can't find the answer which works for me. Here is the code I am using to connect..

    WifiConfiguration wc = new WifiConfiguration();
    wc.allowedAuthAlgorithms.clear();
    wc.allowedGroupCiphers.clear();
    wc.allowedPairwiseCiphers.clear();
    wc.allowedProtocols.clear();
    wc.allowedKeyManagement.clear();
    wc.SSID = "\"".concat("<ssid>").concat("\"");
    wc.preSharedKey = "\"".concat("<password>").concat("\"");
    wc.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.TKIP);
    wc.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.CCMP);
    wc.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP40);
    wc.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP104);
    wc.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.WPA_PSK);
    wc.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.CCMP);
    wc.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.TKIP);
    wc.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.RSN); // For WPA2
    wc.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.WPA); // For WPA
    wc.priority = 0;
    //wc.hiddenSSID = true;
    wc.status = WifiConfiguration.Status.ENABLED;
    // connect to and enable the connection
    WifiManager wifiManager = (WifiManager) getSystemService(this.WIFI_SERVICE);
    int netId = wifiManager.addNetwork(wc);
    boolean wifiEnabled = wifiManager.enableNetwork(netId, true);
    wifiManager.setWifiEnabled(true);
    Log.d("opener", "addNetwork returned " + netId);
    if (netId > 0) {
        wifiId = netId;
    }

However netId is always -1. I have tried it on two different phones (ICS:HTC Rezound and GingerBread:Motorola DroidX). Both show exactly same results. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I tried same code with WPA2 access point and got very weird results. When this code was run, first time it would return -1, but if I call same method second time with a delay of 1 second, it would return valid netId. So the questions are

why does above code not connect to wpa ?
in wpa2, why do I need to call above method twice to get connected ? Edit: I observed that I had to connect multiple times to get connected. Sometimes it would take 3-4 times to connect. So for now I am looping until adding config returns >0 id.

Did you figure it out? I am having exactly the same problem... — Sebastian Breit, Oct 05 '12 at 14:41
I'm having similar issues. My addNetwork calls fail with -1. Did anyone solve this yet? — Aaron, Sep 17 '14 at 22:44

Mark OB · Answer 1 · 2013-06-01T16:00:37.247

Possibly a bit late but try this to connect to Open/WPA/WPA2/WEP secured networks

    WifiConfiguration wifiConfig = new WifiConfiguration();
    wifiConfig.SSID = selectedNetwork.SSID();
    wifiConfig.status = WifiConfiguration.Status.DISABLED;
    wifiConfig.priority = 40;

    // Dependent on the security type of the selected network
    // we set the security settings for the configuration
    if (/*Open network*/) {
        // No security
        wifiConfig.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE);
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.RSN);
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.WPA);
        wifiConfig.allowedAuthAlgorithms.clear();
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.CCMP);
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.TKIP);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP40);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP104);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.CCMP);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.TKIP);
    } else if (/*WPA*/ || /*WPA2*/) {
        //WPA/WPA2 Security
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.RSN);
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.WPA);
        wifiConfig.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.WPA_PSK);
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.CCMP);
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.TKIP);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP40);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP104);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.CCMP);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.TKIP);
        wifiConfig.preSharedKey = "\"".concat(password).concat("\"");
    } else if (/*WEP*/) {
        // WEP Security
        wifiConfig.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE);
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.RSN);
        wifiConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.WPA);
        wifiConfig.allowedAuthAlgorithms.set(WifiConfiguration.AuthAlgorithm.OPEN);
        wifiConfig.allowedAuthAlgorithms.set(WifiConfiguration.AuthAlgorithm.SHARED);
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.CCMP);
        wifiConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.TKIP);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP40);
        wifiConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP104);

        if (getHexKey(password)) wifiConfig.wepKeys[0] = password;
        else wifiConfig.wepKeys[0] = "\"".concat(password).concat("\"");
        wifiConfig.wepTxKeyIndex = 0;
    }

    // Finally we add the new configuration to the managed list of networks
    int networkID = wifiMan.addNetwork(wifiConfig);

Obviously set your own variables for the different security types as applicable. The key (pardon the pun) to connecting to a WEP secured network is the getHexKey method as below.

/**
 * WEP has two kinds of password, a hex value that specifies the key or
 * a character string used to generate the real hex. This checks what kind of
 * password has been supplied. The checks correspond to WEP40, WEP104 & WEP232
 * @param s
 * @return
 */
private static boolean getHexKey(String s) {
    if (s == null) {
        return false;
    }

    int len = s.length();
    if (len != 10 && len != 26 && len != 58) {
        return false;
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
        char c = s.charAt(i);
        if ((c >= '0' && c <= '9') || (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f') || (c >= 'A' && c <= 'F')) {
            continue;
        }
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}

In my tests, for open networks only the `wifiConfig.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE);` part needs to be called. — ThomasW, Jan 19 '16 at 10:14

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 21 '13 at 17:48

10

I have found that if the shared key is less than 8 characters, it will return -1.

answered Sep 21 '13 at 17:48

Eric Woodruff

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you are right I have also found this it depends on length so did you know the solution? – Ashish Jain Feb 12 '19 at 06:34

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 20 '19 at 07:25

The problem is that you're trying to add the network configuration that already exists. When you call:

int netId = wifiManager.addNetwork(wc);

it will fail (return -1) if the network configuration with the same SSID already exists. So, what you need to do is to check if netId is -1 and if it is, traverse through the configured networks searching for the network with same SSID and once it's found, return the networkId.

Kotlin:

var netId = wifiManager.addNetwork(conf)
if (netId == -1) netId = wifiManager.configuredNetworks?.let {
    it.firstOrNull { it.SSID.trim('"') == ssid.trim('"') }?.networkId ?: -1
}
wifiManager.enableNetwork(netId, true)

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 05 '14 at 05:56

5

I had the same problem. I found out that your wifi must be on while you are calling addNetwork.

answered Nov 05 '14 at 05:56

clovicek

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you could use this in comment – tod Nov 05 '14 at 06:02

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 27 '19 at 00:50

5

I just had this very same problem. Seemingly everything was okay, but then - it wasn't.

What I found is this:

Android WifiStateMachine will not allow you to add or modify networks unless supplicant is running and connected-to. This affects services running on start-up and services running even if WIFI is off.
Android WifiConfigStore tracks owners of the wifi network by UID. It means that you may not be able to modify network created by another process.

The proper way to add a network is:

Check if WIFI network is enabled. If not, call WifiManager.setWifiEnabled(true).
Wait until WifiManager.pingSupplicant() returns true.
Create and fill a new WifiConfiguration, then pass it to WifiManager.addNetwork(). Make sure the value returned is not (-1).
(optional) use value returned by addNetwork() as an argument to WifiConfiguration.enableNetwork() call (unless it's -1). Note, that the boolean parameter means disableOthers and should be false, unless you have right to modify all other networks: it may fail internally, if you set it to true.

This should allow you to add (and connect) programmatically to a new Wifi network.

edited Feb 27 '19 at 00:50

tir38

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answered Nov 08 '16 at 22:52

Tomasz W

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I can't find any mention of the `android.pemissions.OVERRIDE_WIFI_CONFIG`-permission anywhere in the docs or the entirety of the internet. Can you elaborate on where you got it from? – Lukas Knuth Apr 24 '18 at 14:32
there's no such thing as `android.permission.OVERRIDE_WIFI_CONFIG`. – ChumiestBucket Oct 01 '18 at 14:47
I updated the answer to remove the obviously-wrong line about the permission. – tir38 Feb 27 '19 at 00:50
Say, do you know how to add a network when targetting Android Q? It seems this whole API won't work, and I wonder if it's even possible now. See this: https://stackoverflow.com/q/56905956/878126 – android developer Jul 05 '19 at 21:48

Android WifiManager.addNetwork() returns -1

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