Hotspot is an awesome service in MikroTik Router. MikroTik Hotspot is popularly used in ISP, Hotel, Airport, Coffee Shop, Enterprise office and many other organizations. By default MikroTik Hotspot uses HTTP CHAP login method where user must provide username and password to get internet service. Sometimes we may face that some users are not eager to provide username and password to get internet service or we cannot ask some users to put username and password to get internet due to his respect. In this case sometimes we need to allow some users to get internet without Hotspot login page. To overcome this situation MikroTik introduces automatic Hotspot login using MAC address. In my previous article I discussed on MikroTik Hotspot basic configuration using Winbox. In this article I will discuss how to enable Hotspot login by MAC method so that we can allow some users auto login in Hotspot Service.

Configuring MikroTik Hotspot Auto Login with MAC Address

Login by MAC method in MikroTik Hotspot allows user to get internet access without login page. So, if we allow any user login by MAC address, he/she will get internet access automatically without authenticating from Hotspot login page. To allow auto login by MAC in MikroTik Hotspot, we have to do the following steps in Hotspot configuration.

• Enabling Login by MAC in MikroTik Hotspot
• Creating Hotspot User with Device MAC Address

Enabling Login by MAC in MikroTik Hotspot

Login by MAC method is disabled by default in MikroTik Hotspot. So, if we wish to allow MAC authentication in MikroTik Hotspot, we have to enable login by MAC method in Hotspot Server profile. The following steps will show how to enable login by MAC method in MikroTik Hotspot profile.

• Login MikroTik Router with Winbox using full permission user login credentials.
• Go to IP > Hotspot menu item. Hotspot window will appear.
• Click on Server Profiles tab and then click on active server profile.
• From active server profile windows, click on Login tab and then click on MAC checkbox.
• From MAC authentication mode we can choose either MAC as username or MAC as username and password. MikroTik Hotspot authentication engine and MikroTik Userman RADIUS Server authentication allow MAC authentication without password but many RADIUS Servers don’t allow authentication without password. So, it will be safe to choose MAC authentication mode both username and password and I will also prefer this method. If you wish to keep MAC as both username and password, choose MAC as username and password from MAC Auth. Mode drop down menu.
• It is also possible to use MAC as username and a common password for all users so that any RADIUS Server does not deny authentication. If you wish to keep this option, choose MAC as username from MAC Auth. Mode drop down menu and put your common password in MAC Auth. Password input field. In this case MikroTik will send MAC as username and the common password to any user authentication engine.
• Click Apply and OK button.

Login by MAC address is now enabled in Hotspot Service. Now 1we need to create user with authenticated device MAC address either in MikroTik Hotspot local user database or RADIUS Server user database. In this article we will see how to create user in MikroTik Hotspot local user database for authenticating device by MAC address.

Creating Hotspot User with Device MAC Address

After enabling auto login by MAC address, we will now configure user in MikroTik Hotspot with device MAC address. The following steps will show how to create user with MAC address in MikroTik Hotspot local user database.

• From Hotspot window click on Users tab and then click on PLUS SIGN (+). New Hotspot User window will appear.
• Choose Hotspot active server from Server drop down menu.
• Collect allowed device MAC address and put in Name input field.
• As we have decided to put MAC as username and password, put the MAC address in Password input field also.
• Choose created profile that you want to apply on this MAC address from Profile drop down menu.
• Click Apply and OK button.

We can create as many as users as we need following the above steps. Now browse any site from the allowed device. If everything is OK, you will find that the device can get internet without authenticating from Hotspot login page. So, auto login by MAC address in MikroTik Hotspot is now working and bypassing Hotspot login page for the allowed device.

If you face any confusion to follow the above steps, watch the following video on Hotspot auto login by MAC address configuration. I hope it will reduce your any confusion.