Troubleshooting Captive Portal

This article can help you resolve some common Captive Portal problems. If these troubleshooting steps do not resolve your issue, contact Linewize Support.

Common Captive Portal Issues

How can I limit Captive Portal sign-ins to specific users, groups, or classrooms?

You can turn on Captive Portal for specific networks but not for individual users or groups. In steps 4 and 5 of Configuring a Captive Portal, you can designate specific networks, like those in classrooms, offices, or public spaces, that will prompt users to sign in to the Captive Portal.

Why can't I connect my server to the Internet or perform updates?

As you turn on the Captive Portal feature, it's crucial to have exemptions in place for your school's networking devices; otherwise, they may not connect to the internet and will not perform updates.

Why are all school devices Permanently Associated?

Permanent Association works by remembering the MAC address of the user’s device. If your school VLANs terminate on the core switch, each user device will share the same MAC address as the core switch. If one user has already permanently associated a device in this environment, all devices will be permanently associated.

To fix this, you must ensure your VLANs don’t terminate on the core switch. Once you’ve done this, you should reset all Permanent Associations by navigating to Configuration > Users and Groups > Associations > Purge Associations.

Why can I access some sites and traffic even though we have a Captive Portal?

Some sites and traffic will not be gated behind your Captive Portal, and unauthenticated users may be able to access them. These sites and traffic can bypass the Captive Portal exclusively to ensure that you don’t experience network or service disruption, including disruption of your Linewize services, Google Workspace, or Microsoft Entra ID user authentication.

Google services like Google Drive or Google Search may be accessible to unauthenticated users. Still, once an unauthenticated user attempts to access a website or filtering signature that is not on the Captive Portal Exception list, they will be directed to a Captive Portal sign-in page.

How can I remove Permanent Associations from shared devices?

If you find too many usernames saved on shared devices using Captive Portal, you can use School Manager to remove old user names associated with the devices.

You can also add these shared devices to the Associations Exceptions list so they can’t be saved.

Why doesn’t the Captive Portal show even though it is turned on?

If you have configured the Captive Portal and it doesn’t appear, try navigating to an unsecured site (HTTP) to see if it triggers Captive Portal.