XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist 
 From: charlescurley@charlescurley.com 
  
 Package: debian-installer 
 Version: 20250809 
 Severity: wishlist 
 Tags: d-i 
 X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org, charlescurley@charlescurley. 
 com, 
 debian-boot@lists.debian.org 
 User: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org 
 Usertags: amd64 
 User: debian-boot@lists.debian.org 
 Usertags: amd64 
  
 Dear Maintainer, 
  
 The new automated install option is great; thank you. I believe there is a 
 defect which should be repaired. 
  
 The target hardware here is a Lenovo T-520, manufactured in 2011 or so. The 
 WiFi is: 
  
 root@jhegaala:~# lspci -vs 3:0 
 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 
 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01) 
  Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8195 
  Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17, IOMMU group 12 
  I/O ports at 5000 [size=256] 
  Memory at f2500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] 
  Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 
  Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ 
  Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, IntMsgNum 0 
  Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting 
  Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel 
  Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-91-81-fe-ff-4c-e0-00 
  Kernel driver in use: rtl8192ce 
  Kernel modules: rtl8192ce 
  
 root@jhegaala:~# 
  
  
 After booting d-i, and going to the Automated installation (Advanced -> 
 Automated) and launching that, the system proceeds as usual through a number 
 of steps, one of which is to get a network link. I get a prompt for the two 
 network interfaces, Ethernet 
 and WiFi. I select the WiFi. I then get "Invalid passphrase: The WPA/WPA2 
 PSK 
 passphrase was either too long (more than 64 characters) or too short (less 
 than 8 characters).". 
  
 I hit Continue and get the same screen several times. 
  
 I hit "go Back", and get the main menu. I hit "Configure the Network", and I 
 go through the same song and dance as above. 
  
 At no time do I get the opportunity to configure the WiFi interface 
 manually, 
 all of which is in my preseed file. 
  
 I can start d-i for a manual expert installation, and successfully set up 
 the 
 WiFi interface. However, since that offers no option to use the preseed 
 file, 
 that doesn't really help. 
  
 Possible solutions: 
  
 Option 1: Allow the user to manually set up the WiFi interface: SSID, 
 passphrase, et cetera, during the network setup. 
  
 Option 2: Allow the user to specify and "download" a local preseed file 
 which 
 presumably includes WiFi setup, e.g. "file://". 
  
 Option 3: Allow the user to provide the WiFi setup as a command line option 
 prior to booting d-i. 
  
 Obviously I can (and did) use the Ethernet interface. But not all users will 
 have that option. 
  
  
 -- System Information: 
 Debian Release: 13.0 
   APT prefers stable-updates 
   APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 
 'stable') 
 Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) 
  
 Kernel: Linux 6.12.41+deb13-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT) 
 Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not 
 set 
 Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash 
 Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) 
 LSM: AppArmor: enabled 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)