MikroTik

I would like to use a Basebox 5 with a 2 Ghz card added as a 2 Ghz station and 5 Ghz AP. If successful the Basebox 5 will be installed in a boat. The primary usage is as an AP to allow access to a Raspberry Pi from mobile devices. The secondary usage is to connect the 2 Ghz radio to any available WiFi signal to make that connection available to all connected devices via NAT.

Two years ago I purchased the Basebox 5, a Routerboard 2 Ghz card and four antennas. I started to implement this project at the time but decided it was too difficult (complex) to configure the 2 Ghz card to connect to frequently changing WiFi networks. I ended up putting the Basebox on a shelf and using a Ubiquiti Rocket for the station and 5Ghz USB dongle as the AP instead.

Last week I decided to restart this project. I updated to 6.39.1 and got started. I found that I could easily connect to unencrypted WiFi but despite trying various "Security Profiles" with the correct password was unable to connect to WPA2 networks. The closest I got was that it would connect for a few seconds before "searching for network" again.

I decided to try using the Quick Set menu to see if that would allow connection to the WPA2 WiFi however it defaults to configuring the 5 Ghz radio. I have not been able to find information on how change which radio Quick Set configures. Learning how to do so might resolve my issue of configuring the 2 Ghz radio to use a WPA2 connection. Currently all Quick Set accomplishes is unconfiguring my 5 Ghz AP.

I would really appreciate any tips on the best way to connect the 2 Ghz radio as a station to the multitude of WiFi connections that I expect to use. It would be awesome if doing so were quick and easy.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hello! Idk if i understand what u want to achieve but first WPA2 is not a connection but an authentication method for secured wireless.

My question is u want to connect to any unsecured 2.4ghz around or to a specific secured network using WPA2. If is the second option then i assume u have the key.

Vasilaos, What I want to do is to use a 2 Ghz radio I added to the Basebox 5 to quickly and easily connect to unsecured or protected 2.4 Ghz networks. I would like to be able to choose the network and enter the key as easily as I would on a phone, computer or Ubiquiti device. I would like it to be user friendly or at a minimum actually capable of connecting. So far my Basebox is capable of connecting to unsecured WiFi but every "Security Profile" that I have tested has failed to connect to a UniFi WPA2 protected connection.

Thanks

You should be able to connect to any WPA2 secured network by configuring the profile correctly otherwise the UniFi is using some proprietary protocol u cant connect to it. But if you can connect with other devices like smartphone or laptop then you should be able to connect with mikrotik too. First check your security profile configuration maybe there is something wrong there. second make sure you have selected the security profile on the wireless inteface settings. See if your wireless interface is part of a bridge also.

Another configuration i would sugest in your case is to configure your wireless interface to connect to any avalible network by choosing station, not select any ssid, wireless protocol any, security profile default (defaut profile mode set to none) then add some entry to the connect list with other security profiles and ssid's. Mikrotik will connect to the first network that satisfies the connec list then search for any other open network. This way you can add as many profiles as you want. can achieve this by going to the wireless section not by quick setup ofc but you need to add the profile only once per network then mikrotik will connect to it while near. Hope it helps

Vasilaos, thank you for your advice.

Is your screen capture from WinBox? I do not use any version of Windows, have not since 1999, so I have never seen WinBox.

I believe my answer is that Mikrotik simply does not offer any simple way to connect to protected WiFi networks.

lol. Simpler way would be to enter the key into the right field

Did you find an answer to this brucew? I'm sure there must be a way to do what you describe. I also don't use Winbox.

Vasilaos, thank you for your advice.

Is your screen capture from WinBox? I do not use any version of Windows, have not since 1999, so I have never seen WinBox.

I believe my answer is that Mikrotik simply does not offer any simple way to connect to protected WiFi networks.

Winbox and webfig have an identical interface almost. You can do the same thing he was showing in webfig in the same place.

Keep in mind that a roaming client is not a common use-case for a MikroTik, it works for it but the UI is not ideal. Most wireless clients (ex. a phone) ask for SSID and key on one screen. With MikroTik you need to create a security profile with the key (involves typing the key on one screen and naming the profile) and create a connection-list rule with the SSID and the security profile. It is therefore two steps/screens instead of one. Keep in mind that the MikroTik will 'remember' a previous network, so this is only needed for connecting to a network that you have never connected to before.

If you regularly connect to new networks all the time, you could use scripting to allow you to do both steps simultaneously. To do so, create the following script in system->scripts:

# --- start paste

# change the three settings below as needed
:local myssid "SOMESSID"
:local security 1
:local mykey "SECRETKEY"

# do not change this stuff
:local mysecprof $myssid
:if ($security=1) do={
/interface wireless security-profiles add authentication-types=wpa-psk,wpa2-psk eap-methods="" group-ciphers=tkip,aes-ccm management-protection=allowed mode=dynamic-keys name=$mysecprof supplicant-identity="" unicast-ciphers=tkip,aes-ccm wpa-pre-shared-key=$mykey wpa2-pre-shared-key=$mykey;
} else={
:set $mysecprof "open"
}
/interface wireless connect-list add interface=wlan1 ssid=$myssid security-profile=$mysecprof

# ---- end paste

Once you have created the above in system scripts, create a security profile with authentication-type=none named 'open', for use with networks with no security (security = 1 means secure, ex. wpa), and make sure ssid is blank in the interface settings (since you will be using the connect list for ssid)

To connect to these networks as you are moving around, leave the script window open, simply change the SOMESSID and SECRETKEY and security value, then click apply and run script. It will then add both the security profile and connection-list entry.