What is WICD?

WICD (pronounced like wicked) is an open source wired and wireless network manager for Linux which aims to provide a simple interface to connect to networks with a wide variety of settings. It provides support only for wired and wireless networks (no fancy VPNs, DSL routing and such), but it's a good alternative if NetworkManager gives you problems.

Installing WICD

For Gnome / Unity

Ubuntu 18.04.1 and later

For versions of Ubuntu 18.04.1 and later, it's not possible to uninstall network-manager without uninstalling ubuntu-desktop. Following the instructions from AskUbuntu, we can disable network-manager like so:

sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager.service
sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager.service

sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager-wait-online.service
sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service

sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-dispatcher.service

sudo systemctl stop network-manager.service
sudo systemctl disable network-manager.service

See also the community page on NetworkManager.

Older versions

Open up a Terminal and execute the following commands:

For KDE (Kubuntu)

Open up a Terminal and execute the following commands:

Configuring WICD

You can access WICD either through Applications / Internet / WICD, or by clicking on the tray icon --in KDE, you may have to add it by hand by right-clicking the triangle that shows the hidden icons in the System Tray (far right on the Task Bar), selecting System Tray Preferences and marking "Wicd client" on the Extra elements list.

Once you click on the Systray widget, you should see a list of available networks. Click on "Properties" (the wrench icon, or an arrow for older versions) next to the network you want to connect to to specify your network address or Access Point's password, if required:

Also select Automatically connect to this network if you want to do so. Once you're done configuring it, go to the connection list again and click on it's name this time to connect to it.

Reverting to NetworkManager

For Gnome / Unity

Open up a Terminal and execute the following commands:

For KDE (Kubuntu)

Open up a Terminal and execute the following commands:

See also

External links


CategoryNetworking CategoryNetworking CategoryNetworking

WICD (last edited 2020-05-05 14:01:20 by thedoctar)