AP Unable to Join WLC 9800 due to Country Code Misconfigured error

[abdulnoor mustafa]

We are experiencing an issue with our Cisco Access Points when attempting to join our 9800 series Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), in UAE environment.

The issue appears to be related to a country code misconfiguration, which is preventing the APs from successfully registering with the WLC. Specifically, the APs are Cisco Catalyst 9164I-ROW models , 
kindly be noted that the APs is in Iraq location. and the country of the AP has set to IQ 

Please let us know if any additional information or logs are needed to facilitate troubleshooting.

Thank you for your support.

---

Best regards,

[marce1000]

        - Note that the -ROW access point models need at least 17.6.x or higher
                        (actually for the 9164I you need at least 17.9.x)

        - Take notice of https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/217734-connect-and-join-a-row-domain-access-po.html#toc-hId--2068680011
          >...
          >(especially)  If the country is configured in the AP join profile and global country list, and it is a country part of the -ROW domain, the AP gets properly provisioned.

         - Validate the WLC 9800's configuration using the CLI command 
           show tech wireless and feed the output from that into Wireless Config Analyzer
                 (Use the full command show in green, do not use show tech-support for the above procedure)

  M.

[Rich R]

What version of software are you using @abdulnoor mustafa ?

According to https://cae-cnc-prd.cisco.com/pdtcnc/#/ CW9164I-ROW may not be approved for Iraq yet.

However you can also look at the channel and power level specifications for the APs at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/products-technical-reference-list.html where you'll see the most recent 9164 document is:

• Detailed Channels and Maximum Power Settings for Cisco Catalyst Wireless 9164I and 9166I Access Points, Releases 17.15.1 and 17.15.2 (XLSX - 25 MB)  03/Dec/2024

In there if you look at the Country to Tab Mapping tab you see Iraq is listed there which means it will be supported in 17.15.2 (and later) but only for 2.4 and 5 GHZ bands - 6 GHz will not be supported yet.
Looking at the Country to Tab Mapping tab in the 17.9.1 document you see Iraq is not listed there which means the 9164I will not be supported in 17.9.1 at all for Iraq.
This is why the software version is very important!