Captive Portal in local WiFi problem

Nickds

First of all I'm really a beginner with networking so forgive me if my questions seem "dumb".
I want to create a free wifi network where you can only connect to an apache server.
So far so good but I need to use pfsense' s voucher codes in order to have controlled access and maybe a price tag over the server's usage in the future (like a hotel scenario but internet connection won't be provided).

So before I go and buy a new pc or compatible router to install pfsense I'm testing this in my home network. What I did is:
-Old netbook with Ethernet interface assigned to LAN (wifi interface to WAN but I don't really need WAN)
-Router connected with Ethernet cable from LAN 1 to laptop
-Clients connected to router's WiFi

I have disabled routers dhcp server changed its ip to 192.168.1.2 (mask is 255.255.255.0), pfsense is running on 192.168.1.1 (same mask) enabled captive portal and DNS forward in pfsense but I don't get redirected in my captive portal as a client. Chrome is saying DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET. So dns forwarder is not even working I guess.

My laptop only has 2 interfaces (ale0- Ethernet port ath0- wifi antenna) is this maybe causing a problem?

NFN_NLN

Which direction are you going?

List network of users and sample user IP. (LAN, WAN?)
List network on apache server and apache server IP. (LAN, WAN?)

You should be able to replicate up to 4m19s in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lbbx20NYHU

Nickds

I'm not quite sure I understand the question, I'm guessing the apache server will be connected after the pfsense.
Like:
client->wifi(router)->pfsense->apache server
For now I can't test this setup since I don't have a second ethernet interface.
Is there a way of using the internal wireless interface of the laptop to connect to the server? (Just for testing purposes)
I tried a server under the same wifi like:
client,apache server->wifi(router)->pfsense
with no success and I believe I can see why. (The router is managing the traffic with no intervention of pfsense?)
Essentially what I'm trying to do right now is turn the router into an access point and connect it to the pfsense laptop but I think I didn't quite manage that.

For some odd reason the portal works with 192.168.1.4 but there is no machine using that ip. (btw vouchers are working perfectly)
Shouldn't the firewall redirect me to the captive portal even if it didn't have internet access after I enter a www.example.com url in the browser?
The ip's that I see from the logs are:
Pfsense: 192.168.1.1
Router: 192.168.1.2
Client1: 192.168.1.21
Client2: 192.168.1.103 (or server if I try to enable apache as in the above scenario)

I had seen the video and that's exactly my configuration in webconfigurator +dhcp server and DNS resolver enabled.

Btw I had no success by connecting a client directly to the pfsense through a cable.