grencez.dev

Setting up FreshTomato on a router to act as a wireless adapter

Date: 2020-10-25

Motivation

I had DD-WRT on a Linksys E1200 v2 router acting as a wireless adapter (for my desktop connected by ethernet), but its admin console became inaccessible. This was basically okay until I wanted it to connect to a different access point.

Since I was going to hard reset, I figured it might be time for a new firmware. But wow, DD-WRT hasn’t been updated in a while, is there some new hotness? OpenWRT doesn’t fit in the Linksys E1200 memory, so that’s not an option. Is there a fresh version of Tomato? Turns out, yes. FreshTomato.

Steps

Install. I followed https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/tomato.html#ID3 pretty closely.

  1. https://wiki.freshtomato.org/doku.php/hardware_compatibility says that the K26RT-N version of FreshTomato supports Linksys E1200 v2.
  2. Grab the latest iteration of that from https://freshtomato.org/downloads.
    1. I used: https://freshtomato.org/downloads/freshtomato-mips/2020/2020.6/K26RT-N/Linksys%20E-series/freshtomato-E1200v2-NVRAM64K_RT-N5x-MIPSR2-2020.6-Max.zip
    2. Then unzip it. We’ll use the .bin file.
  3. Hard reset (hold down the recessed reset button until lights flash. Then power cycle.
  4. DD-WRT shows up at http://192.168.1.1 now.
  5. Administration -> Firmware Upgrade tab.
    1. Don't reset after finishing. We’ll hard reset to wipe settings.
    2. Select the FreshTomato file ending in .bin.
    3. Upgrade.
  6. Wait for FreshTomato to serve http://192.168.1.1. Or at least be sure it’s finished installing.
  7. Hard reset to clear memory. May need to power cycle too.
  8. Login as username root with password admin.

Change local IP to avoid conflicts. Before we get access to the rest of the local network, we should make sure that the router uses a different subnet than others.

  1. Basic -> Network tab.
    1. Set LAN -> IP Address on a unique subnet. I used 192.168.5.1 (with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0) since nothing else on the network starts with 192.168.5..
    2. Set LAN -> IP Range on the same unique subnet. I used 192.168.5.2 to 192.168.5.50 even though I only really need 1 address.
    3. Save.
  2. Change the browser URL accordingly (e.g., to http://192.168.5.1).
  3. Refresh your IP.
    1. sudo ifconfig eth0 down followed by sudo ifconfig eth0 up is the quick and dirty way.
    2. (eth0 is the network device reported by ifconfig. Actually, mine is enp9s0.)

Configure Wireless Client mode. I followed https://learntomato.flashrouters.com/setup-wireless-client-bridge-tomato-router/ pretty closely.

  1. Basic -> Network tab.
    1. Set Wireless Client Mode as 2.4 GHz / eth1 (not disabled).
      1. This automatically changes Wireless Mode to Wireless Client.
    2. Set SSID as the primary router’s SSID.
    3. Set Security as the primary router’s security mode (WPA2 Personal).
    4. Set Shared Key as the primary router’s password.
    5. Save.

Other

Lock down access. Might as well handle the security steps now.

  1. Login as username root with password admin.
  2. Administration -> Admin Access
    1. Set username and password to something better than the defaults.
    2. Save.
    3. Sign in with new password.
    4. Set Allow Wireless Access as not checked.
    5. Save. Don’t let the browser update a saved password here, it’s trying to set the wrong one.

TODO: Enable IPv6? I did have IPv6 working with DD-WRT configured as a Client Bridge (when it became inaccessible…). That method involved setting the primary access point’s IP (v4, nothing v6) as a default gateway, and I don’t think the client router was running its own DHCP server.

So far, I have tried the settings described at https://home.wieringafamily.com/projects/ipv6-home/, even though the instructions don’t pertain to Wireless Client mode:

  1. Basic -> IPv6 tab.
    1. IPv6 Service Type as DHCPv6 with Prefix Delegation.
    2. Save.
  2. Reboot.
  3. Cry and give up.
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