Captive Network login, redo: Detectportal?
I must log in to the WiFi network I use. When I start FireFox the first time, it brings up my login page, I click [Accept], and I'm online. After a while on, I get kicked off, and must log in again. (The non-internet, WiFi connection remains active; but I'm neither logged in nor online.) How do I re-initialize the automatic login function ("detectportal"?)?
Closing, and re-starting FireFox again doesn't work; it initially tries to go to my homepage instead... *but it can't*, because I'm not online. I can't go to the login page's displayed URL, for the same reason. I have to actually restart the computer, loosing whatever I'm doing, then start FireFox. Then, and only then, can I get it to go to the network login page so I can login and continue.
Is there a button, "about:thingie", or setting I can use to reinitialize the automatic login page search & display mechanism? Rebooting the whole computer is a xxxx.
الحل المُختار
That address doesn't cause a redirect to the login page, nor does a call to my "home page", but that doesn't seem to be the real problem. When I'm forced off the WiFi system, I've been using the Windows networking "Currently connected to" icon (and dialog page behind it) to disconnect from the WiFi; then using it to reconnect, with resulting failures as above.
It seems that, even if I've logically "disconnected", there's still a "physical" connection. When I try to get back on (by restarting FireFox, and expecting the login page), the Router(?) does not see this as a new connection and redirect me to the login page; but rather as a continuation of the previous session I'd been forced out of, and so, no redirect. But, if I physically switch off my laptop's WiFi transceiver, then switch it on again, the Router accepts this as a new connection and will redirect me to the login page! I can login normally from that.
I suspect that this is a bug in the Router, Windows's handling of their Networking/"Currently connected to" software, or my laptop's WiFi device (software, maybe hardware). It doesn't seem to be the fault of FireFox itself. Thank you for helping me puzzle this out. As I've said before, the most challenging game on your computer... is the Operating System itself!
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Can you go to a non-secure address like http://example.com to try to grab a redirect from the router.
No. I can't go to any internet address at all, because I'm not on the internet at all. I have to log in first; to do that I must get to the login page. I can't go to the login page's displayed URL, for the same reason: because I'm not connected to the internet. That page is only accessible to me when FireFox starts for the first time, as described earlier. I'm looking for a way to re-initialize FireFox's mechanism to find and display that login page, so that I can log in and get back on the internet.
What Firefox does is request an HTTP address starting with
http://detectportal.firefox.com/success.txt
and the router usually redirects to the sign-in page. Does that address get you the redirect?
(HTTPS address redirects can't work because the router can't present a valid certificate for the site)
الحل المُختار
That address doesn't cause a redirect to the login page, nor does a call to my "home page", but that doesn't seem to be the real problem. When I'm forced off the WiFi system, I've been using the Windows networking "Currently connected to" icon (and dialog page behind it) to disconnect from the WiFi; then using it to reconnect, with resulting failures as above.
It seems that, even if I've logically "disconnected", there's still a "physical" connection. When I try to get back on (by restarting FireFox, and expecting the login page), the Router(?) does not see this as a new connection and redirect me to the login page; but rather as a continuation of the previous session I'd been forced out of, and so, no redirect. But, if I physically switch off my laptop's WiFi transceiver, then switch it on again, the Router accepts this as a new connection and will redirect me to the login page! I can login normally from that.
I suspect that this is a bug in the Router, Windows's handling of their Networking/"Currently connected to" software, or my laptop's WiFi device (software, maybe hardware). It doesn't seem to be the fault of FireFox itself. Thank you for helping me puzzle this out. As I've said before, the most challenging game on your computer... is the Operating System itself!