Tutorial [HOW-TO] Have a homemade Streetpass Relay

[amrum]

I would like to thank all the people that made this possible ! (A special "obrigado" to Dica !)
Finishing all the puzzles & the streetpass games are no longer an utopia !

Thanks to all the helpers too...

I can also confirm that the router TP-Link TL-WR740N (bought 17€) works flawlessly...

 

[malefactor]

I have a Sanoxy now... I have it working, but not perfectly; I can get it to connect and give me a streetpass, but as soon as I make the final changes to get it working, I lose all means of connecting to it again, and have to literally reset it and change all the settings by hand to the next relay number. I'm probably missing some sort of obvious setup step, but at least I'm up and running... if anyone else with a Sanoxy can help me out, it would be much apprecciated.

I had this problem. I don't know much about tcp-ip but I believe it is an IP address issue. I changed the repeater's ip address to 192.168.1.2 and it works fine now. So I'm going to go back to the batch file and see if I can get that working!

 

[keyra]

gonna retry v3.4 so even if v3.3 give me 10 pass in less than 15 min

ok now it works, the factory reset helped

Spoiler

root@DD-WRT:~# ifconfig $(nvram get wl0_ifname)
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4E:53:50:4F:4F:27
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:319 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:291 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:124269 (121.3 KiB) TX bytes:99157 (96.8 KiB)

root@DD-WRT:~# ifconfig $(nvram get wl0_ifname)
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4E:53:50:4F:4F:61
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:338 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:310 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:126355 (123.3 KiB) TX bytes:103145 (100.7 KiB)

root@DD-WRT:~# ifconfig $(nvram get wl0_ifname)
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4E:53:50:4F:4F:E1
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:441 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:441 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:142787 (139.4 KiB) TX bytes:132654 (129.5 KiB)

 

[The Mystical One]

Yes, I know that, and a lot of people are haveing the same issue, but instead of 1E the octect changes to 3E or 2E for them... still researching a method to solve this problem, but haven't figured how.

Seems to be either chipset or driver related.

 

[The Mystical One]

(I'm not sure what directions on page 62 you've been referring to this whole time. On page 62, there's a post that quotes directions you gave earlier on, but no actual posts from you.)


I can use a wire - and I was using one for the original instructions on page 1, but I haven't been using one for your directions. Should I be?


In any case, I'll try changing the MAC address on the virtual attwifi connection as you said and see where that gets me.

EDIT1: After entering the macshift command for the virtual attwifi connection and resetting the hosted network, nothing seems to have changed. I checked the IP config in the cmd window, and it says that the virtual wifi miniport has the same physical address as always.

EDIT2: I tried changing the MAC address on my physical NIC after trying it with the virtual wifi miniport with these results: After using the macshift command, the mac address was succesfully changed - but my physical NIC was disabled, the virtual wifi disappeared, and my entire internet connection was cut.
I know that my router (2Wire 3800hgv-b using AT&T U-Verse) requires that I register every new MAC address that tries to pass through it before it can actually be used, so could that be the problem? I didn't think registering the MAC address on the router was necessary since it is a spoofed address, but in hindsight that seems like an odd assumption on my part.

EDIT3: After approving the standard homepass MAC address through my router, I tried changing the MAC for the physical NIC once more. This time it stayed connected to the net, but the attwifi virtual miniport disappeared from the network connections list again.

EDIT4: After approving the standard homepass MAC address through my router, I've also tried changing the virtual miniport's MAC instead, which caused the miniport connection to disconnect - but not disappear (which was odd because the MAC didn't actually change). I then restarted the hosted network and it reconnected. But upon checking the ipconfig, its MAC was still shown as the default address. Ughh...

EDIT5: The driver for the virtual wifi miniport is pretty old. It's date is 6/21/2006. Not sure if this matters, and if it does - I don't know where I should be going to get a newer driver.

EDIT6: Going back to step 4 in your guide on page 63, I checked the IP for the virtual miniport, and it shows as 192.168.0.1 However, my 3DS has been able to connect to the internet with the attwifi connection regardless. Not sure if this is a problem.

I'm still lost on what's wrong here, so I'm going to backtrack to where I was before, with the shared network being set up - but without having run macshift yet. Hopefully the attempts above will help pinpoint the problem.

(Sorry for the double post, I always click on reply out of habit when I'm actually just trying to edit a post.)

You will macshift the connection that is your wireless card (not the virtual miniport).

At that point, you should go to a cmd prompt and type ipconfig /all

Scroll up and check the Physical Address (that is the MAC Address) for the connection that is your wireless connection and for the connection that is the virtual miniport. They should both be the MAC that you shifted to. For some cards/drivers, the miniport may be not exactly the same, or it might not change at all. Mostly you are out of luck if the latter is the case.

To recap: You macshfit the non-virtual wifi card. The miniport's MAC should follow the MAC of the wifi card automagically.


Now at this point, you go to the properties of whatever connection you use to connect to the internet (it may be a wired connection, or your wifi card--whichever) and you share it with the virtual connection.

Now you can netsh wlan start hostednetwork and you should be able to connect to the internet through the virtual hotspot using your 3DS. (Assuming you set up the ssid=attwifi password=whatever previously)

 

[Kervidgen]

You will macshift the connection that is your wireless card (not the virtual miniport).

At that point, you should go to a cmd prompt and type ipconfig /all

Scroll up and check the Physical Address (that is the MAC Address) for the connection that is your wireless connection and for the connection that is the virtual miniport. They should both be the MAC that you shifted to. For some cards/drivers, the miniport may be not exactly the same, or it might not change at all. Mostly you are out of luck if the latter is the case.

To recap: You macshfit the non-virtual wifi card. The miniport's MAC should follow the MAC of the wifi card automagically.


Now at this point, you go to the properties of whatever connection you use to connect to the internet (it may be a wired connection, or your wifi card--whichever) and you share it with the virtual connection.

Now you can netsh wlan start hostednetwork and you should be able to connect to the internet through the virtual hotspot using your 3DS. (Assuming you set up the ssid=attwifi password=whatever previously)

I've successfully changed the MAC for the physical card, but now the miniport does not show up in the ipconfig, nor does it show up in the Network Connections folder.

When I view the virtualwifi in the Device manager, it says: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)".

 

[Radz]

I've successfully changed the MAC for the physical card, but now the miniport does not show up in the ipconfig, nor does it show up in the Network Connections folder.

When I view the virtualwifi in the Device manager, it says: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)".

Had the same problem. You need new drivers. I replaced mine with a custom set and I've been doing good so far...other than being stuck with 2 as the first digit of my MAC all the time...

 

[Kervidgen]

Had the same problem. You need new drivers. I replaced mine with a custom set and I've been doing good so far...other than being stuck with 2 as the first digit of my MAC all the time...

Alright, but if that's the case, now we arrive at the same problem as earlier - which is I have no idea which driver is the correct driver. When I went to the site you linked as your download source, their list of drivers didn't look like it included an option for my model of NIC. If I'm mistaken, then that'd be great.

And I assume you mean a new driver for my NIC? Or the virtualwifi miniport?

My NIC is a TP-Link 300Mbs Wireless N PCI Express Adapter; Model Number: TL-WN881ND Ver 1.1

 

[Radz]

Alright, but if that's the case, now we arrive at the same problem as earlier - which is I have no idea which driver is the correct driver. When I went to the site you linked as your download source, their list of drivers didn't look like it included an option for my model of NIC. If I'm mistaken, then that'd be great.

And I assume you mean a new driver for my NIC? Or the virtualwifi miniport?

My NIC is a TP-Link 300Mbs Wireless N PCI Express Adapter; Model Number: TL-WN881ND Ver 1.1

The miniport is actually tied to your wireless card's drivers. The miniport does not seem to have its own independent drivers from what I've seen.

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from TP-Link? If so, execute this command from command line:

netsh wlan show drivers

Your output should look something like this:

Driver                    : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
Vendor                    : Intel Corporation
Provider                  : Intel
Date                      : 12/21/2010
Version                  : 14.0.1.2
INF file                  : C:\Windows\INF\oem22.inf
Files                    : 4 total
                            C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\NETwNs64.sys
                            C:\Windows\system32\NETwNc64.dll
                            C:\Windows\system32\NETwNr64.dll
                            C:\Windows\system32\drivers\vwifibus.sys
Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
Radio types supported    : 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g
FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes
Hosted network supported  : Yes

The two points of interest are the Type and Hosted Network Supported. If they are identical to the above, you are good, if not you'll need custom drivers.

Now, the drivers could still be the problem even if the above is correct, but this will tell us if it is even remotely supported.

 

[Kervidgen]

The miniport is actually tied to your wireless card's drivers. The miniport does not seem to have its own independent drivers from what I've seen.

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from TP-Link? If so, execute this command from command line:

netsh wlan show drivers

Your output should look something like this:

Driver                    : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
Vendor                    : Intel Corporation
Provider                  : Intel
Date                      : 12/21/2010
Version                  : 14.0.1.2
INF file                  : C:\Windows\INF\oem22.inf
Files                    : 4 total
                            C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\NETwNs64.sys
                            C:\Windows\system32\NETwNc64.dll
                            C:\Windows\system32\NETwNr64.dll
                            C:\Windows\system32\drivers\vwifibus.sys
Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
Radio types supported    : 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g
FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes
Hosted network supported  : Yes

The two points of interest are the Type and Hosted Network Supported. If they are identical to the above, you are good, if not you'll need custom drivers.

Now, the drivers could still be the problem even if the above is correct, but this will tell us if it is even remotely supported.

Good to know about the virtual wifi driver. One less thing to worry about...

According to the command, it is a Native Wi-Fi Driver and it is Hosted Network supported. Woo!

 

[Radz]

Good to know about the virtual wifi driver. One less thing to worry about...

According to the command, it is a Native Wi-Fi Driver and it is Hosted Network supported. Woo!

Is the driver current? You should be able to download the latest from the TP-Link website.

If it is current and everything matches up properly, their drivers are just not properly designed to use Windows 7 native SoftAP and you will need to find an alternative driver. I was lucky enough to find some custom ones for my Atheros, but I doubt that custom drivers are that easy to come by.

 

[Kervidgen]

Is the driver current? You should be able to download the latest from the TP-Link website.

If it is current and everything matches up properly, their drivers are just not properly designed to use Windows 7 native SoftAP and you will need to find an alternative driver. I was lucky enough to find some custom ones for my Atheros, but I doubt that custom drivers are that easy to come by.

I'd gone to TP-Link's website and downloaded the latest drivers when I first purchased the device. I also tried installing an Atheros set after you'd brought up the name. In the same wall of data as the cmd window prompt you had me do earlier, it listed under "Files" that there were 2 in total - athr.sys and vwifibus.sys

To try and make sure there wasn't any confusion between the TP-Link drivers and the atheros ones, I uninstalled and deleted them both, and reinstalled the latest TP-Link driver. I checked the drivers in the cmd window again to see if anything has changed, and it still says it's Native, and that Hosted Network is supported. Although it still lists athr.sys and vwifibus.sys as its two files. Not sure if I should be worried about that or not.

 

[Radz]

Well, installing Atheros drivers on a non-Atheros device could cause you more problems than just not being able to properly set up the virtual hotspot...

I am guessing that TP-Link does not properly support SoftAP (like my Atheros card). Only thing I can think of at this point is try and find custom drivers for your model number, but I would not know where to find them.

 

[Kervidgen]

Well, installing Atheros drivers on a non-Atheros device could cause you more problems than just not being able to properly set up the virtual hotspot...

I am guessing that TP-Link does not properly support SoftAP (like my Atheros card). Only thing I can think of at this point is try and find custom drivers for your model number, but I would not know where to find them.

Taking a look at the driver I downloaded directly from TP-Link, it shows the file athr.sys, so I guess that's actually the intended driver. It also says the driver file version is 8.0.0.376. If I remember correctly, the custom drivers (same ones you provided a link to) went up to that version number. I'll go check on that now. Let me know if you think anything of this observation.

 

[Radz]

Taking a look at the driver I downloaded directly from TP-Link, it shows the file athr.sys, so I guess that's actually the intended driver. It also says the driver file version is 8.0.0.376. If I remember correctly, the custom drivers (same ones you provided a link to) went up to that version number. I'll go check on that now. Let me know if you think anything of this observation.

What's the date on the driver?

 

[Kervidgen]

What's the date on the driver?

Date modified is 1/21/2013, it says.

EDIT: Just found this page, which lists some information about my specific NIC and its properties.

 

[Radz]

It is an Atheros chipset after all...the other driver should have worked...

Are you sure windows didn't overwrite the custom ones? I keep having to roll back when I restart me computer.

 

[Kervidgen]

It is an Atheros chipset after all...the other driver should have worked...

Are you sure windows didn't overwrite the custom ones? I keep having to roll back when I restart me computer.

It may well have done that. I'll reinstall the custom ones and see where that gets me. Is there a specific one I should be getting? The posting with the drivers says each one works with all chipset versions, but I just want to check if there's a recommended one or a more stable one.

 

[keyra]

i also have an atheros based usb key but his driver isn't in custom pack

 

[duke_srg]

gonna retry v3.4 so even if v3.3 give me 10 pass in less than 15 min
ok now it works, the factory reset helped

Are you speaking about 3.4 latest release working?