Wicd - Wired and Wireless Network manager for Ubuntu
Posted by admin on April 28th, 2008 
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Wicd’s features
- No Gnome dependencies (although it does require GTK), so it is easy to use in XFCE, Fluxbox, Openbox, Enlightenment, etc.
- Ability to connect to wired and wireless networks
- Profiles for each wireless network and wired network
- Many encryption schemes, some of which include WEP/WPA/WPA2
- Remains compatible with wireless-tools
- Tray icon showing network activity and signal strength
Installing Wicd in Ubuntu
First you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line for gutsy user
deb http://apt.wicd.net gutsy extras
Add the following line for hardy user
deb http://apt.wicd.net hardy extras
Save and exit the file
where gutsy is your version of Ubuntu in lowercase (dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy, hardy).
Now you need to update the source list using the following command
sudo aptitude update
Install wicd using the following command
sudo aptitude install wicd
Please note that this will remove network-manager, which is the default GNOME network manager and may cause loss of network connection temporarily.
In GNOME, to get the tray icon to automatically appear at boot, go to System > Preferences > Sessions. In the “Startup Programs” tab, click the “New” button. Give it a name (”Wicd” works fine). For the command, enter “/opt/wicd/tray.py”.
Using Wicd
To use wicd, launch it from the Application menu; for example, Applications -> Internet -> wicd in GNOME.
In the wicd program window you’ll see a list of the wireless networks that the software has detected. Wicd doesn’t always pick up all of the networks that are in range when it starts; click the Refresh icon on tool bar to get a full list.
From there, click the Connect link beneath the name of the network that you want to use. After a few seconds, you should be connected the network.
If the network is encrypted, you need to do a little more work. Wicd supports the following encryption schemes: WPA, WEP, LEAP, TTLS, EAP, and PEAP.
Click the arrow beside the name of the encrypted network to which you want to connect, then click Advanced Settings. From there, click the Use Encryption checkbox, select an encryption method from the dropdown list, and enter the required password in the Key field.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 am
Thanks for the tip. But as far as I can see, this has about exactly the same functionality as nm-applet. Is there any particular reason why I would want this, apart from “more choice” (which is always good, but not necessarily a good reason to switch)?
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
with me, wicd supports WPA better than default nm-applet
May 4th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hey! Cool introduction of this tool! I have a question concerning Wicd and static IP adresses.
I have an Asus X51R with a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC. In Windows I can use this card with the autonegotiation off, and a 10mbps speed. I set the same settings in Ubuntu but it doesn’t work. I doublechecked everything a million times. Do you know why it doesn’t work?
May 25th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I just saw your question, Chris - so I may be too late in replying. I’ve found no problem with wicd and static IP addresses. I open the wicd applet from the gnome panel - it shows a list of wireless access points. I click on the small triangle next to the name of the access point I want to connect to - then on Advanced Settings. I enter the static IP address, netmask and gateway, and a DNS server (usually the gateway). Then I click on connect and I’m online.
It seems to me that the wicd interface is better designed than the nm-applet.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
This program is great!! I have been struggling to get my wireless connection to work under ubuntu 8.04 but nothing seemed to work. I installed wicd and got it working in 5 minutes with no effort.
So to me the standard network manager under Gnome is useless.
Thanks for posting this.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Yes, same here, Dark. The gnome nm-applet has all the fields to fill in the right information, only I doubt it is written to disk in the proper way: it fails to work everytime. It just hangs for a minute, then leaving me with a wlan0 and a wlan0:avahi, the 1st unconfigured the second with a fantasy IP although I requested dhcp in nm-applet (just to give Steffen a bit more info why nm-applet is not an option).
I manually set up my wireless with iwconfig, but I must admit this tool makes it alot easier. Any reason this isnt standard? Closed?
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
thanks a lot, it really helped me (due to networkmanagers dial-in bugs).
why is it not in the standard repos yet ?
July 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I had trouble getting Wireless with nm also using Ubuntu 8.04 because the internet connection is dropped after five minutes and then I need to re-enter the WEP key (though the computer remembers it just fine when I first boot up), which the computer never accepts.
This is a great tutorial and I got wicd in just fine. However, though the wicd remembers the WEP key, but the connection is still getting dropped every two minutes. I can reconnect with no problem, but getting dropped every two minutes is still pretty annoying.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I had endless problems with Network Manager after upgrading from Gutsy to Hardy, until I took the plunge and replaced it with Wicd - now my wi-fi works beautifully.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I recently saw no reason to switch to wicd from the nm-applet, until the other day I connected a crossover cable to my machine, manually configured it, did what I needed to do, and attempted to reconnect to my wireless. Wasn’t able to connect. My system was like that for two days before it finally stopped detecting wireless networks at all. I installed wicd, and within 3 minutes of it being installed, I was able to get connected to my wireless network with better signal strength than I ever had with nm-applet. I love this tool, and will be forever installing it on my systems…at least until something better comes along!!
Thanks for the intro into wicd.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Ok, im kinda new to wirless, but I know our wireless network requires WPA Enterprise, PEAP and TKIP. I assume by selecting PEAP w/TKIP in the encryption options, it automatically assumes WPA Enterprise, but im not able to get connected. I have tried \ and just (I have also pointed to my personal/private certificate file that I exported from a Winblows box.)
Any tips?
August 10th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
My nm-applet continued to try to connect me to someone else’s wireless network. I run a personal WPA encryption, and i could not find any way to tell the nm-applet about my preferred networks. And the nm-applet also keeps asking me for my network encryption code.
Wicd seems not to have these deficiencies. ;o) Thanks!
How do I remove dublicate entries in my network list? (I have entered a dublicate by mistake).
Kind regards.
August 17th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
ipw no longer supported. I can’t get wicd to get my intel 3945 to work. have to go back to that lame nm-applet. /sigh
September 20th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Jon, that shouldn’t be a problem. Wicd is working quite well with my ipw 2200 using wext supplicant driver. I imagine it should work for you
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve been having so many problems with nm-applet, and Wicd solved everything.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I have followed the directions to install this program and I get the following message. Is this the normal message? I am afraid removed kubuntu-desktop will take a lot of other programs with it.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
network-manager-gnome: Depends: network-manager (>= 0.6.5) but it is not installable
network-manager-kde: Depends: network-manager (>= 0.6.2) but it is not installable
Resolving dependencies…
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
Remove the following packages:
knetworkmanager
kubuntu-desktop
network-manager-gnome
network-manager-kde
ubuntu-desktop
October 11th, 2008 at 3:27 am
I have been having issues with my wireless card not connecting every time I reboot the computer.
After installing wicd no more issue. This should be in the main repository.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Love Wicd, works great, the interface gives much better control than the flaky nm-appplet.
Kind regards