RaspAP, a free, open source, inexpensive way to create a wireless access point or repeater!

[@abzbrk490]

Half way through the tutorial and have given it a like best raspberry pi AP detailed explanation on KZbin

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thanks!

[@AlainLafond]

It's the first video that looks simple. I'm a newcomer in Raspberry Pi world. And today, I'm gonna try my teeth on this one. And, as I found my VPN credentials, I'll do it also. Hope everything will go as planned... Thanks for that calm and precise video...

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Hope it makes it easy for you, and if you run into issues let meknow.

[@AlainLafond]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Thanks for that nice video... I just finished the setup. And it works.... I even manage to make 5g works. Now, to openvpn. When I performed the script it refused to install openvpn. And, even if I have file and auth credentials. This refuse to work... Now, for a coffee and walk... Maybe I'll find after... Again thank you for your informative video.

[@limseehong]

FYI, I managed to connect USB Hotspot tethering from my phone to the RaspAP and it works like a charm without any other configuration.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

That is excellent. The project has really come along since I first did this video.

[@goobiie]

What a great video! Thanks for sharing

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@eniggma9353]

i love the ali g style intro

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Never seen Ali G, but glad you like it.

[@drwhowhogrub3908]

Ctrl shift v!!! Thank you 👍🏼 Great video too, thanks

[@yuginoty65]

Thanks man! Your video, and a little thought has how this all works, has proven invaluable. I even copied it to my RPi folder for reference if needed. All other internet, including the latest from RaspAP, fail. Many thanks! Peace...Guy

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

My pleasure.

[@johannesklein1308]

The "Can I use wlan0 and wlan1 rather than eth0 for my AP?" has been updated to a much simplier install version. Excellent video.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If you're following some other documentation, you might want to undo my method before trying another...helps make it easier to troubleshoot should anything come up later.

[@cjlowe1650]

I can't get 5GHZ to work on Pi4 or Pi 3b+. When I make the changes and hit save it just keeps spining. I eventually reboot and it looks like it is running on the 5GHZ band but I can't get into the webpage to make any changes. I have to reinstall the app and start all over again. Any Ideas?

[@cjlowe1650]

I found the issue of the non working 5Ghz. I was using raspbian OS full. When I changed to the lite version all my issues went away.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Glad you solved it, and good to know.

[@erichertsens]

thanks, up and running, supercool. I use tcpdump and wireshark to monitor traffic, see if our phones are not calling home to much

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sounds great!

[@arletpaz8010]

cheers from elmwood park!

[@jeffreychow8853]

Great video! I really enjoy the pacing of your video. I have this idea of using a Raspberry Pi as the hub in a van/tiny house assistant. Wifi AP/repeater, NAS/photo backup, solar/battery/environmental sensor data display, Home Assistant with touchscreen/voice control, lighting/fan/music control, Kodi and Retropi emulator... lots of things. Still experimenting, including with RaspAP. Realized that the issues I was having with getting the AP going was because I was using Raspberry Pi OS Desktop, and it only runs on Lite. Do you know why? Do you think it's possible to install on Lite and then add Desktop afterwards? I've tried other AP methods, but they don't seem to work well. RaspAP seems like the most up to date method, but I'm not sure I know enough Linux to run without a Desktop GUI. I'd love your thoughts on how feasible you think my project is - I've seen how each individually can work on a Pi, but not sure if it can all work together.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Jeffrey Chow your plan sounds cool. I’d say if you ran it on a Pi 4 with 4 or 8 GB Ram, then it’s possible. But with a pi 3 and only 512 GB ram it won’t likely work very well. Just too much stuff fighting for processing power and memory. But I’m just guessing.

[@jeffreychow8853]

Awesome Open Source I have a Pi 4 4GB, which should be enough. My question is whether it can all run together simultaneously. Guess I won’t know until I try. Do you have any ideas of what part of the Desktop OS would interfere with RaspAP?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Jeffrey Chow no, not sure. The DE is just on top of the CLI. RaspAP runs in the browser. So not sure.

[@jeffreychow8853]

Awesome Open Source Apparently the desktop is more than just a GUI on top of CLI. Messaged with Bill, and he very much encouraged using Lite, though also to give Desktop a shot. OpenMediaVault, RaspAP, they both seem to need Lite only. They don’t install correctly on Desktop. Now I’m left wondering, do I use Desktop for this project and give up a few things that need Lite, or the other way around and give up Kodi and Retropie and a browser for touchscreen. 🤔 I never really thought about what a desktop GUI is for till now.

[@janrhebergen5783]

I have RaspAP running on an original 2012 model Raspberry Pi Model B. It seems to run OK but dnsmasq won't start. It complain " start-pre operation timed out. Terminating" Anyone any ideas where to look for ?

[@janrhebergen5783]

oh I found it in case others run into the same issue. Looking at the syslog it seems it needed some file to be present. So it touched them: touch /var/log/dnsmasq.log touch /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases Now it works yeah!

[@janrhebergen5783]

Alas this seems to have been some kind of fluke or conincidence,.. this is NOT the cause it seems

[@janrhebergen5783]

OK, seems switching off addblocking helps,... (for what it's worth)

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Nice info to have, thank you so much for sharing!

[@singletona082]

I just got this installed on my pi zero and the option below ap bridge allows it to act as a way to extend the range. Just connect to it instead

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Thanks for the tip. How is a Pi Zero W as a repeater?

[@512mb4]

I guest your setup is zero + hub + 2 WiFi adapter ? Because zero w wifi range is weak

[@singletona082]

@@AwesomeOpenSource honestly? It works, but goigj off just the internal antenna you won't have that good of a time. It did what I needed it to when I needed, but you really do need an external antenna to get any distance from the primary wifi source.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@512mb4 yes, you’d definitely want a separate usb device. I used a pi 3B+ for mine but still use a separate usb wifi dongle because the wifi on 3B+ is so slow.

[@EmanueleVR]

Use dd command on linux to write img file

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I've done it, but balena etcher seems to be much simpler to me.

[@imanmoghimi8634]

Thanks for your awesome video. I just have question. could I use it in coffee shop to limit my customer data usage? for example, 500 MB in each day?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

In theory, and presuming the coffee house isn't using a captive portal to get through first.

[@mustangeek]

@@AwesomeOpenSource unless they know how to change there mac address to get more data..

[@gtagasguy1036]

Installing it on a fresh Raspbian install with both update and upgrade done. Nothing else installed. Getting this error, currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500, any ideas??? Thank You

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm sorry you're getting an error. My video is pretty old at this point, so I need to do an update on it, but I would check the RaspAP documentation. It might help you figure out what's not working.

[@AB-fu6py]

Is it possible to set this up with just wlan0? I have no Ethernet or external WiFi, just the onboard raspberry pi 4 WiFi chip

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I think you can, but you're essentially setting it up as a wireless repeater, so expect about half the normal wireless speeds.

[@jameslindbloom2615]

I appreciate the tutorial but the screen at 480P ??? A lot of the text and numbers are pretty blurry .... and I have a 27" Ben Q

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not sure why you're getting such low resolution, but I record everything at 1920x1080. Sorry you're having trouble. RaspAP has really been updated a lot since I made that, so I need to do a follow up anyway. i'll try to make sure it's better quality.

[@jameslindbloom2615]

@@AwesomeOpenSource My display is normally set to 2560 x 1440 so I tried setting it to 1920 x 1080 but it didn't change anything. But no problem, good video anyway even at 480p. :^))

[@fresh2k2004]

Yea 480p resolution kinda sucked. Its the highest quality option for this video. Good information though.

[@RAJCHAUHAN1801]

Can i use wifi and access point at same time because i want to extend my wifi range with raspberry pi 3

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Yes, I believe you can with the built in card, but that's why I used two separate wifi cards, the build in, and a USB wifi adapter.

[@donvukovic]

Very interesting video !! Can I connect to a NodeRed app on the same Pi useing RaspAP ? What would I need to configure to get both working on a single Pi0W ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm not sure if you can run them both on one PiZeroW, it's asking a lot IMO of that tiny board. If you can do it, then I would run NodeRed in Docker (if such a docker exists).

[@fademeyer]

The default password for the wifi seems to be "secret" which is only 6 chars. upgraded versions of an IOS client or ubuntu 22.04 don't allow such password and requires 8 chars. So you end up in a catch 22 in order to change the wifi, you have to login to the wifi. Is it possible to install a longer password, etc "secretsecret" ? I suppose that via an eth login, we can manually change some configuration file ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Definitely use a cable if you can. Additionally, perhaps drop an issue to the project so they can change that.

[@fademeyer]

@@AwesomeOpenSource In fact it is simpler. I made a mistake. The "secret" password is for the administration, the ssid password (default after install) is "ChangeMe" and that correspons to the minimum length. Has not even got to do with upgraded version or not; it is part of the standard. Thanks for the reply anyway, but it is my mistake.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@fademeyer Great! It's been so long since I made this video, I've forgotten some of the details. Glad you got it figured out.

[@davidverheyen6635]

Thanks, this video is a great help. Would it be possible to let raspap get the wifi-password from a remote website on boot? I want to change it every day. The idea was to let a chronjob on a website generate a password at night and store that in a database... Then let the hotspot-pi set it as password and another pi display it on a screen.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

This is definitely a question for the Rasp-AP team. Not something I can answer.

[@tahmidamit5578]

I did everything accordingly....But it freaking stuck on the Obtaining ip address on my phone.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sorry to hear that. Did you have any other device to test out to see if it's just the phone, or possibly every device, which would indicate it's teh AP?

[@tahmidamit5578]

@@AwesomeOpenSource It happened after I changed the WiFi country on the raspap to my country.... Anyway I tried connecting from my phone with a static IP it connects but still not receiving any internet. Do I have to turn the Bridged ap mode after sudo systemctl hostapd restart on the last step..?

[@tahmidamit5578]

@@AwesomeOpenSource And for the second WiFi adapter I am using Tplink w722n v1. Which has an atheros chipset. It workes with raspberry pi out of the box. Or do I need the edimax specifically..?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Tahmid Amit yes, if you aren’t connecting a wired connection for internet into the AP, you-lol want to turn on the bridge mode.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Tahmid Amit no, you can use any adapter that you know works. I just used the Weimar because it was cheap.

[@cjlowe1650]

Great video. But I have a few questions. 1) Does the Access point work better depending on the pi model? 3B+ vs Pi4? 2.) Does the amount of memory really make the access point work better? Like on a Pi4 does a 2 gig model work better than a 4 or 8 gig Model? Regardless of the OS (32bit vs 64bit). Also can I create a captive portal for use with the RaspAp or do I need to create the Access Portal the manual way and not use RaspAP? This is considering the fact that nothing but the Access point is running. In other words there are no other software processes running on the Pi except for the occasional updates.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Based on other router hardware, I doubt the memory will have much affect, as most routers have low memory 128 or 256 MB, and run great. As for the model vs bandwidth, I would guess the Pi4 would be better as I believe it can do Wireless AC vs the Wireless "n" of the Pi3 B, which for whatever reason has never been able to get anywhere near N speeds for me. I think I read it's because the Wifi card is tied to some other slower component on the board.

[@cjlowe1650]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Hey thanks for the quick reply. Actually for any reply. Most tubers (even ones with low views and low subscribers reply at all). Also if I install this on a Pi4 1gb or 2gb (The price of the 1 gb is now lower than the pic3B+ at least at Micro Center) the 2GB is about the same price as the 3B+ now. Anyway I've been unemployed but do small side gigs like setup security systems , PBX etc. I haven't read their terms but do I violate any terms of use if I install and charge for say a small coffee shop or laundry facility? Also can I use a captive portal signon page with this RaspAP ?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@cjlowe1650 I can't say about whether the captive portal portion would work, but for the charging portion, I don't believe you'd be in violation, I'd have to go back and see what license it falls under, but generally, you're charging for your services of setting up and maintaining the hardware, not for the softwre itself. In other words the cafe is free to get and install and configure the software themselves if they don't want to pay for your services.

[@daninwy2681]

Apparently, you can become a sponsor for a minimum of $10/mo. and get exclusive access to a private github page for extra features. Is this necessary?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not that I know of, but this video is a bit old. Just depends on your needs.

[@daninwy2681]

@@AwesomeOpenSource after rebooting after the installation of raspap, I get "failed to start access pi@server for wifi and ehternet" and several other failed msg's.

[@chucklowe584]

I know I should not be lazy but you've been testing it. First does 32-bit or 64-bit OS make a difference? 2nd, Has it (or doe you think) it has been tested on the Bullseye 32 or 64 version? Also , I noticed it can' (at least on the original version) transmit the 2.4Gz and 5GZ version at the same time like in a regular router! I this still the case and is it a deficiency of the Pi4 (and other versions) or the Pi OS versions? Would a different OS like Ubuntu work better to transmit on both bands? Thanks for any answers or anyone else who answers!

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I haven't run RaspAP in over a year, so I can't really answer these questions accurately anymore. It's easy to install, so give it a try and just see what you think.

[@koryk9354]

@Awesome Open Source Any chance of getting this and PiHole on the same Raspberry Pi and working together? A quick forum scan shows this might be a little harder then I expected? Right now I'm going to try it using PiHole in a VM and pray.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Not sure, but let me know how how it goes.

[@koryk9354]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Wasn't able to run it from the same Pi. Running RaspAP on the Pi3b+ with PiHole in a Proxmox VM everything works perfectly!

[@robertcercel4078]

This video helped me a lot. Too bad I didn't find it earlier/easier...

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Robert Cercel wish you had too. Glad it was helpful though.

[@czyyyy]

Is it possible to have 2 hotspot networks going out through the same pppoe? One would be dedicated to torrent (vpn) and the other would be the home network. Different subnets and ssids of course. Tks for the video.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't think so with RaspAP. For that you might want to try OpenWRT on your Raspberry PI with multiple adapters for Wifi. Then you can create multiple SSIDs (networks) that have different purposes.

[@czyyyy]

@@AwesomeOpenSource thanks!! I will check it out.

[@cjlowe1650]

If you do use it in a coffee shop or small business are you violating any terms of the free software? I didn't read them so sorry and I don't want to violate any terms or have any issues.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

This would be similar to the other answer, If the business provides the access free of charge, then no violation, and even if they charge a buck for it, then they are charging to pay for the service they provide, not the software itself. Most Open Source licenses have rules against taking their free software, and turning around and charging someone for a copy of that software. But, again, it depends on the license. MIT basically says do what you want with it, GPL generally says if you make modifications, you must contribute those back to the project, and so on.

[@thecactilord5606]

So I've ran into the same issue twice, first time I reboot after the installation and my pi would not connect back to the internet via wlan, so I reinstalled raspbian and did the whole process over and didn't restart was able to go into the gateway and I edited the setting and turned on hotspot and initialized a reboot and it did the same thing again, any ideas?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don't have any ideas, sorry, but sounds like it's worth asking over at github.com/billz/raspap-webgui/issues or on the forums at www.raspberrypi.or/forum to see if anyone else can provide some insight.

[@cjlowe1650]

If I am only running RaspAp on a Pi does it matter if I use a Pi3b+ or a version of the Pi4?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

If you want to use the internal wifi card on the Pi, I suggest the 4 as it has much better speed. The 3b+ is quite slow on wifi.

[@cjlowe1650]

@@AwesomeOpenSource is the wifi on the 4 that much better? And if so does the memory size matter? Remember it's the only thing I'll be running. Plus will it help if I put the gpu usage at it's lowest configuration?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@cjlowe1650 You're asking a lot of questions I can guess at. Memory probably won't make much difference, so go with the 1 GB. I do believe the speed is that much faster, yes. Don't know about the gpu part.

[@cjlowe1650]

Would over clocking a Pi4 make the Access Point run faster (faster upload/download) or does that all depend on the actual ISP speed? Also would over clocking help depending on how many people are accessing the access point! Thanks !

[@chucklowe584]

#all No answers ?

[@cjlowe1650]

Another question ! Would over clocking a Pi4 make the Access Point run faster (faster upload/download) or does that all depend on the actual ISP speed? Also would over clocking help depending on how many people are accessing the access point! Thanks !

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I'm not sure overclocking would really deal with the traffic any better. I'm sure different CPU power can have some effect, but I would think it would be more generational. The traffic will likely be more limited on throughput capability of the PI 4. I think it has a Gig connection built in, but the Wifi may be limited, so the more people you have connected, the more they have a chance of a limited bandwidth situation.

[@AcidiFy574]

I wonder if one could make an automated Cofee machine with FOSS?? worth a try? 😅🤣👍

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

Sure, why not?

[@jonathanmadera5557]

Can you manage ports with this?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I don’t think there was any port forwarding or routing specially.

[@jonathanmadera5557]

@@AwesomeOpenSource Ok thank you. I'm trying to setup a server and I need to manage ports, but my router doesn't have an online dashboard or any way to manage that.

[@SamF135]

Finally got everything to work but now i cant get dns to work so i can connect but no internet tried bunch of different methods to fix it but nothing works. Anyone have the same experiwnce?

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

What is your source device? Is RaspAP acting as a repeater, or is it connected directly to the modem?

[@SamF135]

@@AwesomeOpenSource its connected to the modem directly via ethernet but acting as a wifi router not a repeter

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

@@SamF135 hmmm. But no actual internet access. Odd. Not sure why.

[@SamF135]

@@AwesomeOpenSource the resolve.conf file show 127.0.0.1 or something

[@SamF135]

@@AwesomeOpenSource In raspap under networking i only see my wlan0 as connections shouldnt eth0 be there aswell

[@croxed2791]

Do we need 2 wifi adapters or you can do it with just 1? I want to use my Raspi as a wireless repeater .

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

I believe you can just do it with one. I just used the USB adapter because the built in adapter is so slow on the PI 3.

[@altongary]

no you dont unless youre on a pizero. i run this on a pizero w that is connected to a computer as a usb gadget (ethernet mode) and it works great. if you run the rasap beta you get working adblock on your ap too.

[@johnosullivan675]

Your desktop background is pretty but not really what we want to see in an educational video. The important stuff is the file manager and the content of the files you are showing us. 90% of the screen is wasted space and we have to squint to try to see what you're doing. Hopefully you can do better in the future.

[@AwesomeOpenSource]

john osullivan absolutely, I also received feedback about the color of my terminal text vs background and have made adjustments since I made this video. I appreciate the feedback.