Products · Product
NetworkManager
Raised as a usability problem by 29 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2010–2023), in 27 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Generic 'connection failed' errors make VPN problems hard to diagnoseUnreviewed
20102026- Generic 'connection failed' errors make VPN problems hard to diagnose2017-03-31
- Administration is asinine and VPN behavior is broken, making it unsuitable beyond basic connections2014-06-21
- VPN connection failures are hard to debug because there is no documentation2014-06-21
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 33 complaints
- Keeps assigning a zero MTU to interfaces with IPv6, breaking networking2023-02-11
- Boot fails because NM's D-Bus state flags are opaque and hard to debug2022-06-16
- GUI takes too many development hours to make discoverable, so features are hard to find2021-04-06
- Can't find a GUI switch for the DHCP DNS option, and the CLI tool was hard to locate2021-02-26
- Interface renames and automatic DHCP setup silently break bonding and make failures hard to diagnose2020-10-25
- Wifi connection only works after switching to X window manager and back2019-11-25
- Can't debug NetworkManager crashes or failures without huge effort; tools are inadequate2019-03-20
- Gnome GUI breaks network settings too easily; interfaces are bad and documentation impenetrable2019-01-10
- Takes several seconds to connect to wifi, feeling sluggish2017-07-26
- Commenter finds Network Manager and WICD have horrible user experience2017-07-16
- Nmcli is not straightforward to use, even for automation2017-05-22
- Generic 'connection failed' errors make VPN problems hard to diagnose2017-03-31
- Network drops after sleep and needs a manual service restart every wake2017-03-31
- Exposes too many configuration options, overwhelming non-expert users2017-02-22
- A Network Manager update stopped internet connectivity, forcing a downgrade and blocking updates2017-01-09
- Connection stops working after reboot unless deleted and re-added every time2016-12-06
- Wireless setup on Linux needs NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant, which the commenter finds far harder than a single ifconfig command2015-06-15
- Simplified interface hides complexity; NM breaks, leaves slightly wrong configs, user must debug it2015-06-15
- Hard to set up complex network configs; GUI-first, fights manual setup2015-06-05
- Forgets the wireless interface until the GNOME session is restarted2014-12-14
- Administration is asinine and VPN behavior is broken, making it unsuitable beyond basic connections2014-06-21
- VPN connection failures are hard to debug because there is no documentation2014-06-21
- Overrides wireless network settings as soon as Ethernet cable is plugged in2014-01-16
- Getting a working SSTP VPN configuration requires manual fixes and wrestling with broken interfaces2012-11-12
- When it fails, the program is uncommunicative so fixing problems is very hard2012-08-08
- Wireless connection configured in NetworkManager stops working after switching desktop environments2012-05-03
- Setting up an NFS server took hours due to network configuration problems2012-02-15
- GUI accepts static IP settings but they don't take effect, forcing workaround scripts2012-02-15
- Static IP setup in NetworkManager is broken, forcing a shell-script workaround with ifconfig2012-02-15
- Ignores /etc/network/interfaces, making bonding, bridging and VPNs nearly impossible2012-02-15
- Wifi sharing is advertised in Network Manager but no longer works2011-06-12
- Fails to pick the strongest access point when many routers share one ESSID2011-05-26
- Constantly changing, so it keeps being annoying to use2010-08-20