Windows 2003 and WiFi?

[JoeyF]

Hey all!

I got a copy of Win2k3 through my university's MSDN:AA subscription, and I'm setting it up on an older computer as an IIS server as I'll be taking courses in the summer and fall dealing with topics such as ASP.Net and SQL. The computer has two network adapters - one wired and one wireless. The wireless adapter is an EDIMAX EW-7128g. DHCP gives the wired controller 192.168.1.110, and gives the wireless controller 192.168.1.102.

I can ping the IP address of the wired adapter, and I can RDP into the server using the IP of the wired adapter. However, I can not ping the server using the wireless IP address, nor can I RDP into it using the wireless IP address. I do know the wireless adapter is functioning properly, as I can disconnect my wired connection and still be able to ping other hosts, download windows updates, all that stuff.

The problem is, I don't really have room (or enough electricity on the circuit) in the two rooms where my wired network exists. So this server is gonna be permanently connected via WiFi only. Of course, I'll need to be able to connect to it via RDP or UNC to modify files on there, but it doesn't seem to want to receive connections over WiFi. Could anyone give me any tips on this?

[+BudMan MVC]

And did you configure its firewall to allow access on the wireless connection?

Another thing that happens more often then one would think -- you sure your on YOUR wireless network and not the one next door? ;) I see it quite often to be honest.

[sc302 Veteran]

I agree with budman. The first thing that comes to mind is your windows firewall. Being on another network would also be an issue.

[JoeyF]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the replies. Firewall definitely is not the problem, as I don't have the firewall enabled on the server (Windows Firewall/ICS service is disabled). The wrong network thing, I actually have done that before, but I have verified that I'm on the right network - both of my server's NICs appear in my router's DHCP client table.

Here's something I just discovered though, which is making me think it's more a problem with my network than with my server:

I have two wireless APs. The first one, my router, runs a network called "family" with WEP security (I have to have a WEP network as my mom's laptop is too old and I can't find WPA drivers for it). My second AP runs a network called "family_2" with WPA2 security. I connect most of my devices to family_2, as it has better security, and is located in the center of the house providing better coverage. I briefly switched my server from family_2 to family, and all of a sudden I was able to connect to the server from my PC. From the server, I was then able to ping my brothers computer (on the wired network), and my mom's laptop (on the WEP network), but not my computer (on the WPA2 network).

So it seems to me that my wireless AP may be at fault here, and I just never noticed it before because I never had connect to a host running on the WPA2 network before.

[sc302 Veteran]

make sure wireless isolation isn't enabled on your wireless. this can cause the issue that you are seeing as well.

http://superuser.com/questions/50382/how-to-turn-off-wireless-isolation-on-belkin-f5d7230-4-router

[+BudMan MVC]

So your sure these are running in Accesspoint mode -- and not doing NAT?? You mention 2 different wireless routers.. How exactly do you have them setup so they are just accesspoints?

If the second router is just an accesspoint -- you should not have any issues.. The isolation thing sc302 talks about is between wireless clients connected to the same wireless network.. You have 2 different wireless networks - but can not ping devices from one to the other.. Which should not be an AP isolation thing...

So you could have a nat issue going on if your actually using the 2nd router as a router and not an accesspoint??

Or you could just be having an issue finding the mac between the devices.. Give us the details of how you have this second router setup as just an accesspoint.. If in fact its just a true accesspoint -- then ping the device on the other routers wireless network.. if it does not respond -- quickly look at the arp table on the machine you tried to ping from -- what do you see for the mac on the IP you just tried to ping??

example..

Say you pinged 192.168.1.101

C:\>arp -a

Interface: 192.168.1.100 --- 0xb

Internet Address Physical Address Type

192.168.1.4 00-0d-56-f0-f0-09 dynamic

192.168.1.6 00-0c-29-af-0f-54 dynamic

192.168.1.50 00-15-99-21-1c-a0 dynamic

192.168.1.97 00-1c-c3-71-6f-d9 dynamic

192.168.1.98 00-1c-c3-71-72-61 dynamic

192.168.1.99 00-06-dc-43-ad-78 dynamic

192.168.1.101 00-13-20-14-b0-34 dynamic

192.168.1.201 00-1f-e1-52-cd-4e dynamic

192.168.1.252 00-13-10-fe-84-08 dynamic

192.168.1.253 00-50-04-d8-e8-be dynamic

192.168.1.255 ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static

224.0.0.22 01-00-5e-00-00-16 static

224.0.0.251 01-00-5e-00-00-fb static

224.0.0.252 01-00-5e-00-00-fc static

239.255.255.250 01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa static

255.255.255.255 ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static

What does it show for the MAC of the .101 device?? is it correct? or all zeros?

If for some reason it just could not find the mac -- you could try setting a static for that devices IP.. Look up the mac on the device your trying to ping with ipconfig /all on the device.. Then on the device your trying to ping from put in a static arp entry for it.

Example:

> arp -s 192.168.1.101 00-13-20-14-b0-34 .... Adds a static entry.