hostapd_cli command not found

In this troubleshooting guide we learn how to fix hostapd_cli command not found error message

Introduction

When you run more command in linux terminal / console, you get the following error message

hostapd_cli: command not found

or when using sudo you get the following error message

sudo: hostapd_cli: command not found

Solutions to hostapd_cli: command not found

How To Fix hostapd_cli: command not found in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux / Raspbian

In Ubuntu hostapd_cli is provided by hostapd package.

hostapd is:

IEEE 802.11 AP and IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/WPA3/EAP Authenticator

Originally, hostapd was an optional user space component for Host AP driver. It adds more features to the basic IEEE 802.11 management included in the kernel driver: using external RADIUS authentication server for MAC address based access control, IEEE 802.1X Authenticator and dynamic WEP keying, RADIUS accounting, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 (IEEE 802.11i/RSN) Authenticator and dynamic TKIP/CCMP keying.

The current version includes support for other drivers, an integrated EAP authenticator (i.e., allow full authentication without requiring an external RADIUS authentication server), and RADIUS authentication server for EAP authentication.

hostapd works with the following drivers:

mac80211 based drivers with support for master mode [linux]
Host AP driver for Prism2/2.5/3 [linux]
Driver interface for FreeBSD net80211 layer [kfreebsd]
Any wired Ethernet driver for wired IEEE 802.1X authentication.

To fix this problem, we can install more using the command below.

sudo apt-get -y install hostapd

This command might take some time to finish depending on your machine internet connection.

You can also use apt command to install hostapd.

sudo apt -y install hostapd

Or if you have aptitude installed you can use the following command.

sudo aptitude install hostapd

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to fix hostapd_cli command not found error in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux or Raspbian distribution.