Adding a wireless interface to VM as a wireless interface.

[Shammikit]

Hello, I'm in need of setting up my USB wireless interface for my pfsense running in Virtual box and so far I have tried the usual way of bridging the adapter to the VM. This however gets detected as a wired interface by pfsense and i dont want it that way. I need it as a wireless interface. So far I have tried adding the interface as a USB device, but it doesnt get detected by pfsense when i tried to assign it. What other options do I have to achieve my need? Im also open to trying out different VM software if it has the necessary features to do this. Thanks.

 

  

[Electronics Wizardy]

What are you trying to do? Is this the lan or wan for the pfsense system?

 

hthe pfsense picture shows it seeing the wifi card, is that card supported?

 

Whats the host os?

[Windows7ge]

Working under the assumption that you've verified pfSense works with that NIC at all I'd use a different hypervisor and either pass-though the device as a whole or pass-though a USB controller and connect the NIC that way.

 

What are you looking to set up here? If you plan on implementing this for any legitimate network management use I'd advise using pfSense on bare metal.

[Shammikit]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What are you trying to do? Is this the lan or wan for the pfsense system?

 

hthe pfsense picture shows it seeing the wifi card, is that card supported?

 

Whats the host os?

This is for the LAN interface. I want to setup an AP using the Wireless interface so that devices can connect to the pfsense using WIFI and access internet through it. And yes, i have verified that the USB interface is working with the pfsense as it worked as a wired interface when it was bridged to the VM. The host is a windows 10 machine.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

This is for the LAN interface. I want to setup an AP using the Wireless interface so that devices can connect to the pfsense using WIFI and access internet through it. And yes, i have verified that the USB interface is working with the pfsense as it worked as a wired interface when it was bridged to the VM. The host is a windows 10 machine.

 

SO does it work when its added with usb passthrough?

 

Id really suggest getting a wifi access point or router, there much better as a ap than a wifi card and really don't cost much.

[Shammikit]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

SO does it work when its added with usb passthrough?

U mean like this as shown in the screenshot. Well im not sure tbh, when i plug it in it says 802.11 WLAN at usb but it cannot be added as it says no link detected.

[sazrocks]

Are you sure that's something you really want to do? last I heard pfsense was terrible for WLAN.

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

U mean like this as shown in the screenshot. Well im not sure tbh, when i plug it in it says 802.11 WLAN at usb but it cannot be added as it says no link detected.

Well in your pfsense screenshot above, it saw the wifi card.

 

Can you show a screenshot of the error?

 

[Shammikit]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id really suggest getting a wifi access point or router

in this setup, u connect the LAN output from an Ethernet to an AP, yes? Sadly my Ethernet interface in the old laptop im setting this up doesnt work anymore.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

in this setup, u connect the LAN output from an Ethernet to an AP, yes? Sadly my Ethernet interface in the old laptop im setting this up doesnt work anymore.

add a usb ethernet adapter?

 

Or just get a router? Why do you want a laptop to be a router?

[Shammikit]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Can you show a screenshot of the error?

 

This is the only visible error: 

38 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

  

 

 In the web configurator, the interface doesnt show up at all. 

[sazrocks]

Does pfsense even have a driver for the card you are passing through?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

This is the only visible error: 

 In the web configurator, the interface doesnt show up at all. 

My guess is that it just isn't supported in freebsd well. Do you have nouther wifi card to test?

[Shammikit]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

add a usb ethernet adapter?

 

Or just get a router? Why do you want a laptop to be a router?

yes, usb ethernet adapter is my last option. first would like to give a shot to see if this works using what i have.

 

I want the laptop to be a firewall as i have used it to only setup some rules. i have another router which is the ISP router that connects to the WAN interface so the devices can get to the internet.

 

I drew this diagram which i have in my mind of the setup im trying:

[Shammikit]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

My guess is that it just isn't supported in freebsd well. Do you have nouther wifi card to test?

yes, i have 2.  A TP Link and a Prolink one. both of them didnt work, go the same message.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

 

I want the laptop to be a firewall as i have used it to only setup some rules. i have another router which is the ISP router that connects to the WAN interface so the devices can get to the internet.

You don't want dual nat, so make sure you don't do that.

 

What type of firewall rules do you need? A basic home rouer should be fine for this use. I don't think you need pfsense here.

[Shammikit]

5 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

Does pfsense even have a driver for the card you are passing through?

Im not sure about that, i thought they were plug & play. Is there a way to check this?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

Im not sure about that, i thought they were plug & play. Is there a way to check this?

look up the chipset the cards use and see if there supported on freebsd.

 

Or make your router wired only, and use another access point.

[Shammikit]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You don't want dual nat, so make sure you don't do that.

 

What type of firewall rules do you need? A basic home rouer should be fine for this use. I don't think you need pfsense here.

I have setup some QOS, bandwidth controls and data usage limiters. these settings are not available in the ISP router. And i have tried  putting that ISP SIM in a different router and thy dont work. There arent any APN settings shown in their router as thy r set to auto and the ISP doesnt disclose that info for some reason. So that SIM only works in that router thy give us. so theres no way of eliminating it. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

I have setup some QOS, bandwidth controls and data usage limiters. these settings are not available in the ISP router. And i have tried  putting that ISP SIM in a different router and thy dont work. There arent any APN settings shown in their router as thy r set to auto and the ISP doesnt disclose that info for some reason. So that SIM only works in that router thy give us. so theres no way of eliminating it. 

THen Id make the pfsense system wired only, and use your other router of computer do wireless.

[Shammikit]

40 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I'd use a different hypervisor

What other hypervisor do u recommend? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

What other hypervisor do u recommend? 

If your on windows hyper-v works best normally, but since its passing usb correctly, the hypervisor won't change anything here. 

 

Have you tried untangle or anouther linux based router/firewall distro?

[Shammikit]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Have you tried untangle or anouther linux based router/firewall distro?

no, still only pfsense. I'll do some research on those too

[Shammikit]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

THen Id make the pfsense system wired only, and use your other router of computer do wireless.

 

 

[Windows7ge]

9 hours ago, Shammikit said:

What other hypervisor do u recommend? 

I would test this configuration on bare metal before trying to do it in a VM. Right now the issue could be anything between the virtualization process or potentially pfSense's ability to use that NIC at all. Eliminate that it's virtualization problem then try to virtualize it. It'll tell you what the problem is.