Configuring WIFI via Command Line

The RaspberryPi Wireless WiFi Dongle Configuration guide by Farnell is THE BEST i’ve found so far.

To check if your wifi dongle is recognized

ifconfig 

if you see wlan0, it confirms that raspberry pi has detected your wifi adaptor.

To scan for wifi networks

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

Edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Add the following with your network details at the end of the file, below update_config=1.

network={
     ssid=“Area 51"
     psk=“password"
     key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

To add another network, just add the same code with details specific to the network you want to add.