HOWTO: Use Linksys WRT54G as a wireless ethernet bridge

[leslie0629]

I just tried the command, using MDOS Command Prompt.

I pasted: # echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

However, nothing happened. Is there supposed to be something saying a successful command or something of the sort?

I tried removing the #
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp
However, it then gave me -sh: cannot create /proc/sys/net/ipv4/config//proxy_arp Directory Nonexistant

I am using DDWRT v23 Final.

 

[Gillbot]

Well I give up....

I've bricked and recovered it twice and I still can't get it to work. If I try to save any settings with the upgraded firmware the power light just blinks and blinks. I have to fight with it to get it back and now I can't get it to take the factory firmware back.

Edit: I got it back to HyperWRT 2.0 and blinky went away. Guess FreemanBasic 1.0.4 and my router will not play nice with each other and I can't get Alchemy to load. Just keeps giving me errors when I try to flash it.

Is there another GUI based firmware that will let me use this as a bridge? I don't want to mess with linux commands and other stuff I don't understand.

Edit2: I got it to take the Alchemy from the HyperWRT 2.0 but as soon as I start changing settings, the light goes back to blinky blinky. If I just keep going it lets me go through until it stops responding BUT if I reset it to defaults, the blinky goes away.

Edit3: FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After flashing back and forth from HyperWRT, stock Linksys and Alchemy it finally let me make changes without blinking!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: gmc8757
I'm sorry for adding to this nice DIY but i'm stuck. I've tried for a while to get it going and i'm so close yet so far. Here's the scoop.

Main router is a WRT54GC with IP of 192.168.1.1 mask of 255.255.255.0
Client Router is a V3 WRT54G with IP of 192.168.1.129 mask of 255.255.255.128

My client router picks up the main router, i'm able to ping from a computer hooked into the main router to the bridge, so the connection between main router and bridge are ok. But when I try to ping from a computer hardwired into the bridge, I can not. The computer does get an IP (192.168.1.177) ok through DHCP with a 255.255.255.128 mask. When I try to ping anything from 192.168.1.177 i don't get any reply's. Did I miss something? Here is the commands ifconfig and route from when i telneted into the wrt54g(brdige)



Freeman 1.0.4 ----I'm using this firmware because it's a V3


wrt54g:~#ifconfig
br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:EB:4E:9F
inet addr:192.168.1.129 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.128
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:247 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:281 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:22733 (22.2 KiB) TX bytes:105720 (103.2 KiB)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:EB:4E:9F
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:250 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:775 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:29217 (28.5 KiB) TX bytes:138460 (135.2 KiB)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0x2000

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:EB:4E:A0
inet addr:192.168.1.104 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:544 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:6517
TX packets:366 errors:1 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:40563 (39.6 KiB) TX bytes:70144 (68.5 KiB)
Interrupt:4 Base address:0x1000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:EB:4E:9F
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:249 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:775 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:24661 (24.0 KiB) TX bytes:138460 (135.2 KiB)

vlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:EB:4E:9F
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wrt54g:~#route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.128 * 255.255.255.128 U 0 0 0 br0
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
127.0.0.0 * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth1
wrt54g:~#





Please give me a hand, and definately nicely done user12345, I appreciate your work here.
Thanks,
Joe

your setup looks OK. Can you ping the main router from the client router ? can you ping an internet address (e.g. 144.92.104.243) from the client router ? could you pinf www.wisc.edu from the client router ?

Now from a computer attached to the client router, can you ping the client router itself (192.168.1.129) ? also do the same pings as above from this attached PC and report the results.

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: leslie0629
I just tried the command, using MDOS Command Prompt.

I pasted: # echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

However, nothing happened. Is there supposed to be something saying a successful command or something of the sort?

I tried removing the #
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp
However, it then gave me -sh: cannot create /proc/sys/net/ipv4/config//proxy_arp Directory Nonexistant

I am using DDWRT v23 Final.

the command to activate proxy ARP is:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

Yop check that it worked you can do

cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

and you should see "1" printed

But is sounds like this is not compatible with your firmware. Your firmware might have another way to turn on the proxy ARP, but I'm not familiar with it. In any case, the proxy ARP is only required for communication between PCs attached to the main router and PCs attached to the client router. You should be able to access the internet even without it.

 

[gmc8757]

Hey DidlySquat. Thanks for the reply. The client router is the bridge right? So from the bridge, there's a pc hardwired, and i can only ping the pc's gateway, which is 192.168.1.129. I can't get past the bridge at all, can't ping google.com, can't ping my main router or anything. Now from the pc attached to the main router, i can ping the main router, and can also ping the bridge, and can obviously ping google.com. So i can communicate to the bridge wirelessly through my main router. It's just like the bridge won't let any traffic through it, just to it. Any idea?

 

[Bradleylicious]

Hey So I have a question... I went to flash my v4 wrt54g, and everything went cool...but when i tried to flash it with hyperwrt... It craped out... I don't know if there was a surge or not, but the power is blinking non stop... I can't ping the router either...

Is there a fix... ? ;(

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Well I give up....

I've bricked and recovered it twice and I still can't get it to work. If I try to save any settings with the upgraded firmware the power light just blinks and blinks. I have to fight with it to get it back and now I can't get it to take the factory firmware back.

Edit: I got it back to HyperWRT 2.0 and blinky went away. Guess FreemanBasic 1.0.4 and my router will not play nice with each other and I can't get Alchemy to load. Just keeps giving me errors when I try to flash it.

Is there another GUI based firmware that will let me use this as a bridge? I don't want to mess with linux commands and other stuff I don't understand.

Edit2: I got it to take the Alchemy from the HyperWRT 2.0 but as soon as I start changing settings, the light goes back to blinky blinky. If I just keep going it lets me go through until it stops responding BUT if I reset it to defaults, the blinky goes away.

Edit3: FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After flashing back and forth from HyperWRT, stock Linksys and Alchemy it finally let me make changes without blinking!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!

Ok, rant over...

I got it back again but when I get it to connect I can't access the web console via either side. How di I get this back?

Edit: Static IP's DO NOT work on the client side at all. They just cease to function. Also, I cannot access the PC's on the client side even by typing in their IP. All firewall settings have been turned off also. I can access PC's on the router side from the Client side though, any ideas?

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: gmc8757
Hey DidlySquat. Thanks for the reply. The client router is the bridge right? So from the bridge, there's a pc hardwired, and i can only ping the pc's gateway, which is 192.168.1.129. I can't get past the bridge at all, can't ping google.com, can't ping my main router or anything. Now from the pc attached to the main router, i can ping the main router, and can also ping the bridge, and can obviously ping google.com. So i can communicate to the bridge wirelessly through my main router. It's just like the bridge won't let any traffic through it, just to it. Any idea?

Please answer the question if you can PING stuff from the client router (the WRT54G serving as a b ridge). after you telnet to the WRT54G, do these pings and give the results.

 

[gmc8757]

Hey Didlysquat, from the bridge, i could ping out.

However, since posting here, I upgraded to a different firmware, and the wrt54g instantly became a wireless bridge. Not on configuration was needed, it automatically became a transparent bridge. It no long gets an IP address, just passes all the traffic on, allowing any device to hardwire into the bridge and connect wirelessly to the main router. Following the instructions on this thread, didn't work for me, the bridge connected and everything, but didn't pass traffic.

 

[Gillbot]

Is there a firmware that will allow WDS so I can connect to my other WRT54G without updating it's firmware?

 

[pikachu656]

user1234 great info, it's been really helpful. Cudo's to everyone that has posted their success and also everyone else that has helped. This might have been mentioned in previous post but after going their 18 pages on this one topic alone my eyes can't seem to see it. I've got 2 WRT54G routers and both firmware's have been loaded with Alchemy Final version. I've done everything in the first post and am able to get on the internet thru the client router. However I'm not able to use a pc on the client side of the router to see a pc on the access point.

Here's the setup:

Main Network: WRT54G_AP (192.168.1.1) <=wired=> PC1 (192.168.1.100)
Client Network: WRT54G_C (192.168.1.200) <=wired=> PC2 (192.168.1.201)

I can ping the WRT54G_AP from the client side and vice versa.

I maybe entering in something wrong in the routing table or I maybe doing it wrong as this is the first time I'm using telnet or ssh, and also the first time I've ever modified the firmware on the router.

Ideally I would like to get my ReplayTV hooked up on the client side to get it's TV updates and use PC1 on the access point side to connect to the Replay and download any show's that I want to.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I've been struggling with this for the past 3 day's trying to figure this out on my own.

 

[Gillbot]

as listed in the OP:

Originally posted by: user1234
10. To enable PCs attached to the main router to be able connect to PCs attached to the wrt54g: Login into the wrt54g using telnel or ssh by running the command "telnet 192.168.0.129" and use same root/passwd as for the web interface. Then type this command (copy it exactly):

# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

Now you should be able to ping/telnet to any PC attached to the wrt54g from any PC attached to the main router. Btw, this assumes that the subnet mask of the main router is the default 255.255.255.0.

Important note about the last step : The last step (which is an optional step) allows PCs attached to the main router to be able to connect to PCs attached to the client router, by specyfing the IP of the destination PC, for example "telnet 192.168.0.150". But they are still on two different subnets which do not share their broadcast messages, therefore when browsing PCs on the local network you will not automatically see the PCs attached to the other router. But you can always connect to them by explicitly specyfing the IP. Btw, this step was added after the initial posting of this HOWTO and solves a lot of the issues people discussed later in this thread, so don't worry if you read posts in this thread about problems with communicating between PCs attached to different routers. Also note that this proxy_arp setting is not saved in the WRT54G non-volatile memory like all the other settings, so when the router is rebooted (like after a power outage), it will be cleared and you will need to repeat step 10 to set the proxy_arp back on.

That fixed my issues but it doesn't work the way I wanted it to. Otherwise I don't know why you can't see them.

 

[pikachu656]

Ok this is probably a stupid question, since I don't know I'm going to ask anyway. I've telnet into the router and I've copied and pasted the commaned line in and pressed enter. It just gives me a blank command line after that. Is that normal? Or should I not copy and paste and type it in manually?

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: pikachu656
Ok this is probably a stupid question, since I don't know I'm going to ask anyway. I've telnet into the router and I've copied and pasted the commaned line in and pressed enter. It just gives me a blank command line after that. Is that normal? Or should I not copy and paste and type it in manually?

you need to enter the command shown in step 10 without the leading # (this is just the prompt). To check that it worked you can enter this command:

cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/`route | grep default | awk '{print $NF}'`/proxy_arp

And you should see "1" printed.

Now everything should work with regard to PCs attached to different routers being able to communicate. Just remember that you may not see them in the LAN, but you can always enter the IP of the PC or device you want to connect to and it will work, for example you should be able to do: ping 192.168.1.100 from 192.168.1.200 and vice versa.

 

[pikachu656]

Thanks DidlySquat that really helped! I was putting in # in front of the command also. That's where I was messing up on. I got everything working now. Just one question, if I have a printer on the client side would a computer on the main router side be able to print to it? If not is there a way to?

 

[DidlySquat]

yeah you should be able to print to a network printer from any PC. If it's a printer attached to a PC (not directly to the lan) than you need to set up printer sharing, which again should be possible just like it's done on a regualr lan without the bridge. Only difference is you may need to enter specific address of the PC or printer.

 

[Sandman5e]

Hi, I don't think this has been asked yet, but if it has please point me in the right direction, and thanks in advance.

What I'm trying to do is create a very basic wireless bridge between two locations with as much security as possible. I don't want to use any routing functions, or DHCP. I want this to be nothing more than basically a wireless ethernet cable. Basically, I want the computers (5 or 6) at the end of the link to act just as if they were plugged into the main switch at the office. We have servers that will take care of all the routing and dhcp and what not and I don't want the linksys routers to block any of that access for the computers at the end of the link. From what I'm reading this seems like it will work but #10 in the first post worries me a bit. I'm not sure if that is only because some of the routing functions are enabled in the op's example or if this is always necessary. This needs to be as seamless as possible so that the users on the end of the link don't notice a differance from when they were connected with a cable. These users access mapped network directories, printers and the internet, all of which is handled by our servers already.


As I said, from what I've read, it seems that this will work but security is the key here. Preferably, I would like it so that nothing other than the two routers could connect wirelessly. For example, I don't want anyone with a laptop and a wireless nic or their own wireless bridge, to be able to connect to this network at all. I think that I've read that in wireless bridge mode wireless clients can't connect anyways? If thats the case, then is the wireless network secure? If not, whats the most security I can get? Empahsis on someone else trying to connect with another similarily configured wireless bridge. What's there to stop them?

Also, I have two locations I'd like to set up in this way. Can I use one router connected to the main network to broadcast to a router at each location, (3 total routers) or do I need a router for each end of the wireless link (4 total routers)? Or can one of the two routers at the remote location act as a repeater to the other one?

Lastly, are there any differances between the wrt54g and the wrt54gs (speed boost) other than the extra speed, that would make one more desireable than the other in this senario? Or do I need entirely differant equipment all together here?

Thanks again and sorry this is so long winded

 

[pikachu656]

Originally posted by: DidlySquat
yeah you should be able to print to a network printer from any PC. If it's a printer attached to a PC (not directly to the lan) than you need to set up printer sharing, which again should be possible just like it's done on a regualr lan without the bridge. Only difference is you may need to enter specific address of the PC or printer.

Ok I've installed a printer on the client side of the router and gave it a static IP of 192.168.1.230, and able to print to it with computers that are plugged into the client side of the router. I've tried to install the printer onto a computer that's plugged into the main router and can't see the printer on the client side.

I'm trying to install it using the dell software that it came with or should I just install the drivers and then go into the printer group and manuallly add the printer in?

 

[shalomii]

I'm very sorry and I'm sure this has been discussed already but will this How-to work with v4 of the WRT54G?

I really appreciate your help. Im dying to get on Xbox Live already for my 360.

Thanks

 

[chomp]

 

[chomp]

I just bought this router from amazon.com (G model, not the GS). I looked on the bottom and it's version 5. I would like to use this as a bridge soley for my xbox360. However, I cannot upgrade the firmware to the alchemy one specified. When I try, it gets about 5% and then says "upgrade are failed" or something like that. Is there anything I can do?

 

[chomp]

I just bought this router from amazon.com (G model, not the GS). I looked on the bottom and it's version 5. I would like to use this as a bridge soley for my xbox360. However, I cannot upgrade the firmware to the alchemy one specified. When I try, it gets about 5% and then says "upgrade are failed" or something like that. Is there anything I can do?

 

[Henrythewound]

I hope someone is still reading this thread to give some advice. I only have one router, the Linksys WRT54G. I have my xbox connected to the router and a PCI wireless card in my PC in the other room. All I want to do is to be able to set up FTP from my PC to the xbox. Currently my PC can see the WRT54G and ping it but not the attached xbox (using the static IP I have setup on the xbox). I'm honestly not sure if I need to follow all the steps listed in this tutorial as I do not have a "main" router to begin with unless my PCI card qualifies. If there is any advice/ a pertion of this guide that will get me up and running that would be awesome.

Joe aka Henry

 

[Henrythewound]

got it working, I didn't use ony of the steps in THIS tutorial, but I changed a few options (turned firewalls and other security settings off, changed from AP to Ad-Hoc mode) and now I can FTP to my xbox at over 1.5 M/sec! Not sure if this is a good speed but coming from dialup I am happy.

Henry

 

[kjeerji]

Chomp,

I have same issue, V5 hardware. I've been told public firmware cannot be loaded. I'm still trying to figure out if/where to get something that'll work. Let me know if you find something.