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So I'm trying to connect two routers wirelessly. My main router (Archer D7) connects directly to the Internet, whereas my secondary router (MR-3420) needs to connect to main router through WDS. I've already spent a day trying everything I could find online. Here's the current scenario:

Main Router

  1. IP Address: 192.168.1.1
  2. Running DHCP in the range 192.168.1.4 - 192.168.1.200.
  3. MainPC running Windows 10 with Automatic LAN setting is wire-connected to this router..

Secondary Router

  1. IP Address: 192.168.1.2
  2. Not running DHCP.
  3. WDS configured and successfully connected to Main router.
  4. KidPC running Windows 7 with the following LAN setting is wire-connected to this router: IP: 192.168.1.41 Gateway: 192.168.1.2

(Setting IP to automatic on KidPC doesn't work. Setting Gateway to Main router's IP also doesn't work.)

What works:

  1. MainPC can ping MainRouter and access the Internet.
  2. MainPC can ping Secondary router.
  3. KidPC can ping secondary router.
  4. I can see KidPC in the list of connected clients in main router's home page.

What doesn't:

  1. MainPC cannot ping KidPC either by name or IP address.
  2. KidPC cannot ping MainPC or Main Router.

What am I doing wrong?

dotNET
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  • Also make sure you disable DHCP on the second access point... use the "_main router_" as the only DHCP server. – Attie Apr 09 '18 at 11:55
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    @Attie - You are entirely correct. It's too late to correct my comment, so I'll delete and resubmit. – AFH Apr 09 '18 at 12:04
  • The **KidPC** gateway is wrong: it should be 192.168.1.1, since the secondary router is acting as an access point. DHCP should have made this setting. – AFH Apr 09 '18 at 12:04
  • I had [fun and games](https://superuser.com/questions/1309812/wifi-range-extenders-and-failing-arp-requests) the other day with Wireless extenders... for peace of mind, I'd recommend just turning it all off and back on again, and see if that helps...... – Attie Apr 09 '18 at 12:20
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    How did you cable-connect the secondary router to the main one? See [this answer](https://superuser.com/a/936639/8672) to understand why it's important. – harrymc Apr 09 '18 at 13:30
  • @harrymc: My second router is NOT cable-connected to the first one. This is the entire purpose of this scheme. I want to get rid of the cable running between two routers and therefore using wireless WDS. – dotNET Apr 09 '18 at 13:50
  • @Attie: DHCP is disabled on second router. – dotNET Apr 09 '18 at 13:51
  • @AFH: Setting KidPPC's gateway to 192.168.1.1 makes it unable to connect to network (Windows network icon show yellow mark). It also makes router's home page inaccessible. Same thing happens if I set it to "Automatically get..." option. – dotNET Apr 09 '18 at 13:52
  • Try to disable all firewalls, starting with the secondary router if it has one. – harrymc Apr 09 '18 at 14:05
  • Which port are you using for **KidPC**, LAN or WAN? It may work if you use one of the LAN ports with the 192.168.1.1 gateway. For this configuration, though, you would normally need an Access Point, but the MR-3420 appears not to support this mode, according to the [manual](https://static.tp-link.com/2018/201803/20180327/1910012177_TL-MR3420(EU)%205.0_UG.pdf). Why are you using this? A WiFi dongle would be much easier. Alternatively, a suitable AP device is the TP-Link TL-WA850RE, which is available for $17 from Amazon.pk, or you could consider a power-line Ethernet extender. – AFH Apr 09 '18 at 15:58
  • @Everyone: I finally got it to work. Here is the key: Unlike what most of the websites are saying, I had to enable WDS on **both** routers. Secondly, if your router's IP address is not `192.168.1.1`, windows Automatic configuration will not pick it, so I had to manually set IP, Subnet and Gateway on secondary router (gateway set to main router). I'll post a full answer once I have full configured it. – dotNET Apr 10 '18 at 03:48
  • I feel like someone should point you to an answer that describes why you DONT want to use WDS on 2.4ghz. It's bad practice in today's wireless environment's to be using repeater-modes & WDS. I would feel guilty not saying something, it will deffinately make co-channel interference worse, in some devices half's the available wireless bandwidth on that channel. – Tim_Stewart Apr 10 '18 at 18:41
  • WiFi is half-duplex, only one WiFi device can transmit on a channel at a time. The more WiFi devices we add to a channel, the more we reduce opportunities for each device to talk. This is known as co-channel interference. If you would like a more detailed explanation, check this out . I'll see if I can find more questions related to this. https://superuser.com/questions/1307203/sluggish-smart-home-wireless-devices/1307289?noredirect=1#comment1944286_1307289 – Tim_Stewart Apr 10 '18 at 18:51

1 Answers1

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Apparently your secondary router is not acting as a router. It's just a wireless bridge.

So your KidPC should obtain address from Primary router and have both gateway & DNS of 192.168.1.1 to work.

If the secondary router is just a cable or dsl router you take advantage of, disabe any other function of it. If it is indeed a wireless router you must either use in bridge mode (Wireless & LAN) or setup a secondary LAN of another range, say 192.168.2.x on its LAN ports and enable DHCP, so KidPC can connect.

MTG
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