Connman: transfer saved wifi passwords to a new system

[blur13Member]

Hi!

I have a lot of saved wifi passwords on laptop 1 (antiX 19) that I would like to transfer to laptop 2 (antiX 21). I’ve used the default Connman to enter passwords and connect to wifi networks. Couldn’t find much info online. Connman doesnt seem to be used very frequently by the linnux community. I’m guessing the passwords are stored in /var/lib/connman. Would simply copying that directory work?

[ahoppinMember]

“If you aren’t sure whether you can do this, just try it. The worst thing that can happen is that your computer could explode.” — GIMP Documentation

[RobinMember]

This is a really interesting question. Honestly, I have no idea, whether this simple c&p approach of all the connection-specific subfolders in this folder will be enough already to make them available on another system. Please let us know the result, once you tried it.

My guess is: This will work probably. Since when looking into one of the settings files in the network specific subfolders with root privileges (sudo) in a simple texteditor like leafpad you’ll see the password and information for this specific network like Name and SSID in plain text. So it is highly probable you’ve identified the correct place where these informations are stored. I didn’t see any connman settings stored in users home direcory or its .config subdirectory. So just give it a try.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[ModdItMember]

Sirs,
how dare you point out that wifi setup and passwords are stored in plain text in the conmann configuration.

Plug in a live stick on any non encrypted or non bios password protected box you can get your fingers on, you can
quickly move settings to another computer.

Common issue: Only recently (last year) Mozilla changed browser password storage from plain text, same goes for claws,not
sure how secure now.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by ModdIt.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by ModdIt.

[blur13Member]

I tried it, no dice.

The folders are of the form wifi_”mac address with no colons”_SSID and the settings file in each folder also have the mac address, in square brackets, in the first line. So renaming the folders and amending the settings files with the new MAC might work. There is also a “data” file in each folder that I’m not really sure what the purpose is, and it doesnt open cleanly in an editor. I envisage a bash script could rename everything in one go, but thats above my paygrade. I settled on extracting the passwords from the setting files and storing them in a simple text file for easy copy paste action, when needed.

[Brian MasinickModerator]

@blur13: Your workaround seems reasonable; a simple data (text) file is a practical work around to copy and paste values as needed.

Unless this is a very frequent task, it’s debatable whether using this approach or writing a script is more “efficient”. Like you said, unless you or someone else could write a script that actually works in a brief amount of time, sometimes a “scratch-pad approach” like the one you chose is a very reasonable solution.

Congratulations on your practical way of making something work for your own purpose.

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Brian Masinick
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[Anonymous]

blur13 wrote:

Hi!

I have a lot of saved wifi passwords on laptop 1 (antiX 19) that I would like to transfer to laptop 2 (antiX 21). I’ve used the default Connman to enter passwords and connect to wifi networks. Couldn’t find much info online. Connman doesnt seem to be used very frequently by the linnux community. I’m guessing the passwords are stored in /var/lib/connman. Would simply copying that directory work?

Sorry that this is an old thread.

But recently I was searching for a way to copy/transfer all my saved wifi from my different computers and I came across this thread started by @blur13.

I was actually able to copy all the saved wifi passwords /var/lib/connman folders from my various computers.

This is what I found out using rox filer, which is my default file manager.
If the destination folder is in a rox-filer window that is NOT root, then copying the contents of the /var/lib/connman folder does NOT transfer the data and settings files within the various wifi folders.

If the destination folder is in a rox-filer window that IS root, then copying the data and settings files within the wifi folders works.

So, the take-home finding is that the destination folder must be in a rox-filer window that is root for copying the wifi information to work.

I also found another interesting finding related to this wifi copying.

If you are using a live USB and setting up wifi password on a new machine, that wifi information is stored withing the state folder inside the antix folder of the live usb.
In other words, the wifi passwords are stored in the /antiX/state/ folder.

Within this state folder, there is a machine folder. Within this machine folder is a var folder and then a lib folder and then a connman folder.
The wifi information is in this connman folder.

I went through and used this live usb on every one of my machines and stored the wifi information in this state folder.

And then I copied this state folder.

Now, when I update the live usb with an updated iso snapshot, then I copy this state folder to the new live usb. Then I can use this live usb on any one of my machines without having to type in the wifi passwords.

I hope this useful.

[Brian MasinickModerator]

@calciumsodium
That is a very creative solution and a nice convenience for those who create many live USBs.

I’m saving this information on one of my systems; thanks!

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