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Last active November 13, 2024 20:15
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Setting up a Dacota AC1200 router as a WiFi-to-Ethernet bridge
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dacota_ac1200_wifi_bridge.md

Setting up Dacota AC1200 as a WiFi-to-Ethernet bridge

The Dacota AC1200 is a stupid, cheap and weak WiFi router. I've had it for a while, and had nothing to do use it for. Then I realized that I could screw it to the underside of my desk, configure it to pull the connection down from WiFi and send it out on its ethernet ports, and connect a short ethernet cable to my desktop computer and printer -- et voila, a connection without pulling any long cables across my walls.

This is primarily notes on how to do that so I can remember the setup myself ;)

Configuring the source network

Find a way to access the DHCP server of your source network. Usually this means accessing your source router's web interface and accessing the "DHCP" tab. Configure it to have at least one IP that can't be assigned (e.g. set it to start at 192.168.1.10). You'll need an IP that the Dacota AC1200 router can use without a DHCP lease.

Configuring the router

Reset the router using the physical button for it (hold it down for 10 seconds). Either connect to the new "Dacota AC1200 Router-2.4G"/"Dacota AC1200 Router-5G" WiFi networks, or slap an ethernet cable from the router into your computer. The latter is preferred.

Navigate to http://192.168.2.1 (or check your OS' network settings to see what the router's IP is) and log in using "admin:admin". Go to "General Setup". The following settings should be changed:

  • LAN - change "DHCP Server" to "Disable"
  • Wireless - disable the module that you won't be using. If you're going to connect to your source network over 5GHz then disable the 2.4GHz module, and vice versa. This'll avoid polluting the frequency space with a stupid useless Dacota network.
  • Wireless > {2.4GHz,5GHz} Wireless > Security Settings - change to the same settings as your source network. These must match exactly. Usually that means "Encryption" being "WPA pre-shared key", "WPA Unicast Cipher Suite" being "WPA2(AES)", "Pre-shared Key Format" being "Passphrase", and the "Pre-shared Key" being your WiFi password. If in doubt, connect a device to your source network and check its network settings: if it says the security uses WPA2, that means the above settings.
  • Wireless > {2.4GHz,5GHz} Wireless > Basic settings - swap "Mode" to "Station (Infrastructure)". Click "Site Survey" and pick your source network. If it doesn't show up, make sure the source network isn't using a protocol more complicated than what Dacota AC1200 can handle: "5 GHz (A+N+AC)". Settings must exactly match your source network.
  • NAT - disable the "NAT module"
  • LAN - change the "IP Address" to the IP you made sure was outside your source network's DHCP range in the first step (e.g. 192.168.1.2).

Once everything is finished, and you've applied your changes and restarted the router, you should be able to access the internet on the desktop connected to the Dacota AC1200. You should also be able to access its web interface on the IP you configured (e.g. 192.168.1.2).

Based on https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged

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