Hi,
I refer to the mikrotik manual on hotspot configuration and i quote..

''First of all, a client must get an IP address. It may be set on the client statically, or leased from a DHCP server. The DHCP server may provide ways of binding lent IP addresses to clients MAC addresses, if required. The HotSpot system does not care how did a client get an address before he/she gets to the HotSpot login page.''

""Moreover, HotSpot server may automatically and transparently change any IP address (yes, meaning really any IP address) of a client to a valid unused address from the selected IP pool. This feature gives a possibility to provide a network access (for example, Internet access) to mobile clients that are not willing (or are disallowed, not qualified enough or otherwise unable) to change their networking settings. The users will not notice the translation (i.e., there will not be any changes in the users' config), but the router itself will see completely different (from what is actually set on each client) source IP addresses on packets sent from the clients (even firewall mangle table will 'see' the translated addresses). This technique is called one-to-one NAT, but is also known as "Universal Client" as that is how it was called in the RouterOS version 2.8.''

I have a hotspot deployed on my network, my clients can only get an IP assigned to them by Mikrotik when they choose ''obtain an ip addres automaatically'' on their lan cards.. If an IP exists on their lan card previously, it does not get redirected to our hotspot log in page....

Please let somebody tell me what am doing wrong or what i need to do to achive the universal client feature.

Efosa

The Universal Client is a 1:1 NAT installed by default on the Hotspot. The most likely problem is your clients with manual setup dont have a default gateway specified in Windows. This means the client PC will never try to find a route out, which means the MT Hotspot never gets the request.

Thanks David,
Does this mean that for clients with manual setup, i have to input the MT hotspot IP as gateway for the client and leave his IP address intact----together with his DNS ?

It really does not matter what you input as the gateway address - as long as there is an entry. Using the MT's IP address will work fine.