Accessing a Wifi Network for the first time without Ethernet on a headless Raspberry Pi

Question

I purchased the raspberry Pi 3 recently, impressed with its WiFi option, and now, everyone tells me that connecting it to any wireless network for the first time requires you to be on an Ethernet connection. Seriously? Can someone please suggest a work-around? There must be a way!

Answer 1

Okay, without a visual interface and the Ethernet, the only work-around I could think of could be a bit of a hassle.

It could be done by connecting a USB to the TTL serial cable on the UART0 connector. (You could refer to a pinout diagram of the Pi to know which is which.) 

And, then type in these commands or instructions in your command line to get your Pi's IP address and connect to a WiFi network:

am startservice -n com.google.wifisetup/.WifiSetupService \
    -a WifiSetupService.Connect \
    -e ssid '<NETWORK_SSID>' -e passphrase '<NETWORK PASSPHRASE>'
ifconfig

Hehe, told you it's a hassle. :p