I’m using a Shadow to connect to longish distance (though line of sight) to other consumer level routers from different clients I visit. I need the devices connected to the Shadow to get their IP address from the clients router, not the shadow. I’ve disabled DCHP on the LAN, and bridged the LAN and WLAN so that when I use repeater mode in the GLI admin page, everything works as expected.
When I am NOT connected to a client, I have to give my device a static IP to connect to the shadow (because no DCHP), and then once it connects, change my device to DCHP. This is pretty cumbersome in my situation where I am going to multiple clients per day.
Is there a way to still use repeater mode/the bridge I have setup that’s working great, but when it’s not connected, have DCHP enabled?
I was briefly able to do something similar by using the WAN port and creating a separate “LAN” port that’s linked to a second SSID I created, but every time I restarted the router, NONE of the APs of the Shadow would be visible.
You may consider creating a script for Shadow that enables DHCP automatically when it detects that it is not connected to the main router.
Alternatively, if the main router’s DHCP pool has available space, you can enable DHCP on Shadow and assign it a non-overlapping address range.
Another option is to configure both a static IP and DHCP to coexist directly in Windows. For example:
# Enable static IP and DHCP coexistence
netsh int ipv4 set interface "Ethernet" dhcpstaticipcoexistence=enabled
netsh int ipv4 add address "Ethernet" 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
# Remove the static IP and revert to DHCP only
netsh int ipv4 del address "Ethernet" 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
netsh int ipv4 set interface "Ethernet" dhcpstaticipcoexistence=disable
netsh interface ip set address "Ethernet" source=dhcp
# Restart the network interface
netsh interface set interface "Ethernet" disable
netsh interface set interface "Ethernet" enable
Please ensure to replace "Ethernet" with the actual name of your network adapter.
Will that script be automatic, or something I’d have to run on every boot up? I’m fairly novice in regards to scripting, but sounds like the best solution.
I often don’t have access to the main router to configure DCHP, but if I do, would the shadow still give out its own IP addresses to my connected devices when I’m connected to the main network? How do the devices connected to the Shadow decide which DCHP server it gets its address from in that case?
If you are referring to the Windows commands mentioned earlier, those are administrative configuration commands rather than scripts.
Once applied, the settings will remain in effect permanently unless you modify them again.
Since the WLAN and LAN are bridged, they share the same broadcast domain.
Therefore, both the main router and the Shadow router should be configured to use the same subnet.
As long as DHCP is set up within that subnet and the correct gateway is specified, with each device using a non-overlapping address pool, the setup should function normally.
In this configuration, clients obtaining IP addresses from either the main router or the Shadow router should still have normal internet access.
However, if the main router relies on DHCP for specific management or control features, this method may not be appropriate.