Captive Portal Stops Working pfsense 2.8.0. Hitting 'save' resolves the issue

neuf_16

The experience from an end device is that it will have an IP via dhcp but the captive portal page will not appear. Device then has no internet and cannot ping the gateway.

There was one device that had been connected earlier and still had an IP but did not show up as an active user under Status > Captive Portal. The gateway could not ping the device nor vice versa. The device wasn't showing in ARP. After going to Services > Captive Portal and hitting save, all issues were gone. Gateway could ping device and vise versa. Captive portal page came up etc.

I tried setting a hard timout (couple of minutes past the voucher expiry) but this did not resolve the issue.

neuf_16

The issue vanished on it's own

neuf_16

Issue is back.
Hitting 'save' resolves temporarily.
Pfsense captive portal is absolute and total garbage and should be scrapped altogether at this point.

Gertjan

@neuf_16

Scrapped ?
About about not using it ?
I won't disable it , as it is working pretty well for me for the last 15 years or so.
I'm using it for a hotel, and no instructions or guide lines are shown no where. People, more often then not, are total computer-illustrate but can still connect to the hotel Wifi, login (room number and password interpreted on their room key).

That said, not all devices can work with a captive portal.
More often because the owner made some 'DNS' related decisions, and/or installed so called 'security' software (apps) that totally make the device 'portal' incompatible. Not just the pfSense portal, but any portal, as they all work the same. In that case it isn't your portal's (or your) fault. It's their choice. As a firewall/router admin, part of your live will be : explaining people that they can mess up their DNS, but they will have bear the consequences.
Example : July and August just came by, so I saw a lot of tourists. A guy had issues connecting with it's phone, while his laptop was doing fine.
DHCP lease, etc, all was well, but no login browser screen would show up.
After some inspection (Packet capturing on my = pfSense) side, I saw his device wanted to speak to "8.8.8.8" only. I didn't even asked if this was his own doing, or if it was the phone OS enforcing this behavior.
So, yeah, so be it. I already learned I can't make everybody happy.

Let's get into it :

@neuf_16 said in Captive Portal Stops Working pfsense 2.8.0. Hitting 'save' resolves the issue:

The experience from an end device is that it will have an IP via dhcp but the captive portal page will not appear.

Try this.
Have a look at them all first.
I know, these video's are a bit old but still very valid.

@neuf_16 said in Captive Portal Stops Working pfsense 2.8.0. Hitting 'save' resolves the issue:

Device then has no internet and cannot ping the gateway

As soon as the device connects to the portal network, using wire or wifi, it should (has to !) ask for a DHCP lease.
On the captive portal interface you should have a DHCP up and running.
DHCP isn't blocked by the 'captive portal' firewall rules.
So : captive portal or not, DHCP should work as usual.
If you use a Microsoft Windows device, type :

ipconfig /all

the result should tell you an lease IP was obtained, and the gateway and DNS should (must be !) the pfSense captive portal's interface IPv4.
On a phone you can see the wifi details/status screen where the same info is shown.

@neuf_16 said in Captive Portal Stops Working pfsense 2.8.0. Hitting 'save' resolves the issue:

The gateway could not ping the device nor vice versa

The device should be logged in.
You have to pass (allow) ICMP on the portal's firewall GUI interface.
Be ware that not all device reply to 'ping' when they are connected to 'unknown' networks. A Microsoft PC won't, for example.

@neuf_16 said in Captive Portal Stops Working pfsense 2.8.0. Hitting 'save' resolves the issue:

pfsense 2.8.0

Upgrade to 2.8.1.
If the forum was littered with messages saying "don't install 2.8.1, stay with 2.8.0" you shouldn't stay with a version that contains 'old bugs'. Get the version with the new bugs, as these are all discussed right now, and workarounds have been found.
Afaik, there are no 'real' portal issues right now.

This said, I'm using 25.7.10, but the portal part of pfSense is identical to 2.8.1.