Windows 11 unable to find DHCP server through "dumb" ap

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello all,

I'm currently trying to setup a unifi 6+ wifi access point running OpenWrt on a network routed by a Netgate 6100 runining pfSense+.

I followed these instructions for installing OpenWrt on the unifi 6+: https://openwrt.org/toh/ubiquiti/unifi_6_plus.

I then proceeded to follow the instructions linked there for setting it up as a "dumb" access point: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/wifiextenders/bridgedap

Specifically, I gave the unifi 6+ a static DHCP lease on the LAN of the Netgate 6100 of 192.168.1.2. I then set the following settings for openwrt on the Unifi 6+ as follows:

/etc/config/network:


config interface 'loopback'
        option device 'lo'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
        option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config globals 'globals'
        option ula_prefix 'fd09:7e76:2062::/48'

config device
        option name 'br-lan'
        option type 'bridge'
        list ports 'eth0'

config interface 'lan'
        option device 'br-lan'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '192.168.1.2'
        option netmask '255.255.255.0'
        option gateway '192.168.1.1'
        option dns '192.168.1.1'

config interface 'lan6'
        option proto 'dhcpv6'
        option device '@lan'
        option reqaddress 'try'
        option reqprefix 'auto'

/etc/config/wireless:


config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'platform/soc/18000000.wifi'
        option band '2g'
        option channel '1'
        option htmode 'HE20'
        option disabled '0'
        option cell_density '0'
        option country 'US'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'redacted'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'redacted'
        option disabled '1'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'platform/soc/18000000.wifi+1'
        option band '5g'
        option channel '36'
        option htmode 'HE80'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'redacted'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'redacted'

/etc/config/dhcp:

config dnsmasq
        option domainneeded '1'
        option boguspriv '1'
        option filterwin2k '0'
        option localise_queries '1'
        option rebind_protection '1'
        option rebind_localhost '1'
        option local '/lan/'
        option domain 'lan'
        option expandhosts '1'
        option nonegcache '0'
        option cachesize '1000'
        option authoritative '1'
        option readethers '1'
        option leasefile '/tmp/dhcp.leases'
        option resolvfile '/tmp/resolv.conf.d/resolv.conf.auto'
        option nonwildcard '1'
        option localservice '1'
        option ednspacket_max '1232'
        option filter_aaaa '0'
        option filter_a '0'

config dhcp 'lan'
        option interface 'lan'
        option start '100'
        option limit '150'
        option leasetime '12h'
        option dhcpv4 'server'
        option ignore '1'

config dhcp 'wan'
        option interface 'wan'
        option ignore '1'

config odhcpd 'odhcpd'
        option maindhcp '0'
        option leasefile '/tmp/hosts/odhcpd'
        option leasetrigger '/usr/sbin/odhcpd-update'
        option loglevel '4'
        option piofolder '/tmp/odhcpd-piofolder'

I then rebooted the device.

I can confirm that the wifi network is up and running, and that I am able to connect to it using android, ios, and Linux with internet access. However, when I attempt to connect to the network using Windows 11, it claims it is able to connect to the wifi, but without internet access.

Running the network and internet troubleshooter on Windows 11 reports that it is unable to connect to the DHCP server for the network, and I am unable to find a corresponding DHCP lease for it in the admin interface of the Netgate 6100.

Any ideas on why this might be the case?

2

If you did this, you should probably be using DHCP client on the lan interface rather than static. It would look like this:

config interface 'lan'
        option device 'br-lan'
        option proto 'dhcp'

Otherwise, everything looks fine. I would recommend that you unplug your U6+ and connect devices via ethernet into the router/upstream to see if that connection is working properly.

3

I'll try this, thanks!

4

So, an update: changing lan to dhcp did not fix the issue, and the Windows computer is able to manually connect using the same ethernet cable that the openwrt access point uses.

I'm going to try a few other encryption types to see if that's what is causing the issue, but I am starting to run out of other ideas. Especially since the computer is successfully able to access other access points running the default unifi firmware on the same network (with a different SSID).

5

What's the wifi hw in the win11 box ?

1 Like
6

I am unable to check the exact hardware at the moment, but I was able to get it working by swapping to WPA3 with SAE encryption.

1 Like
7

So it was a client side driver issue...

8

I believe so.

9

windows 11 dhcp client , do command:

ipconfig -renew

and, openwrt command line, do:

tcpdump -i any port 67 or port 68 -vv

check log information

11

The client can see the wireless network and connect to the access point, it just isn't able to obtain a DHCP lease from the router, and thus can't connect to the internet.

12

I don't have the device on me at the moment for testing, but I can try this later once I do to see if we can figure out what the exact issue is.

13

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