Chromebook alleged captive portal Wi-Fi bug keeps asking users to visit login page, but there are workarounds

Google Chromebooks offer a viable alternative if you want to use a portable device for productivity purposes. All Chromebooks run on Google’s in-house developed operating system, Chrome OS.

They are usually cheaper compared to their counterparts because Google works directly with manufacturers to keep the devices affordable.

Since the devices are based on Chrome OS, which is based on Chromium, users can easily download thousands of apps from the Chrome Web Store.

But like Windows and macOS-based devices, even Chrome OS is often susceptible to bugs and issues. Last month, we reported a bug with Chrome OS 91 that caused many devices to get stuck on the login screen or boot loop.

That being said, the latest issue affecting Chromebook users is the Captive Portal Wi-Fi login bug. The bug was first reported few months ago and has affected many users ever since.

According to reports, Chromebook users can no longer connect to their Wi-Fi and shows a message that asks them to log in to the Captive Portal or presents them with a DHCP error.

Have always connected successfully to a private Wifi network at one of our sites but now, all of a sudden, it connects but then tells me that “the network you are using may require you to visit its login page.” No browsing is possible as, whilst it is connected to the Wifi, there’s no internet connectivity for this device.

This is incorrect, there are no login pages or requirements to sign in anywhere. All our android phones connect to the Wifi fine as usual, just this one particular Chromebook Go has this issue. Any pointers on how to fix this please, thanks.

(Source)

I am on version 92 and have this problem. My chromebook worked fine until i took it to my dialysis which does use a captive portal. When i brought it home, it was asking me for the captive portal over and over, driiving me nuts! Powerwashing did not help. *Forgetting* my home networks and resetting them with google dns servers made it work again. (until a couple of days later, the thing was doing it again.) The is becoming more than annoying.
(Source)

The message shown is ‘the network you are using may require you to visit its login page.’ When they try to click on the link, Chromebook says that the website is unreachable because www.gstatic.com DNS is not found.

Many people thought that it is an issue with their internet provider or router settings. Chromebook users say that the bug appeared after they updated to Chrome OS 88.

Reports suggest that the bug is not affecting users who are still on Chrome OS 86. Since many companies buy Chromebooks in bulk for productivity purposes, it is not really feasible to roll back every device to an older version of the OS.

With Google yet to acknowledge the issue, users are getting frustrated since they are unable to access internet on their devices.

In the meantime, here are some workarounds that might fix the Chromebook Captive Portal bug.

Instead of letting the machine go to sleep, users should sign out of the Chromebook and turn it off. This seems to be working for some.

If you are on Chrome OS 92, head over to the Wi-Fi settings and scroll down and click on expand network. Then, change ‘Name servers’ to ‘Google name servers’ and you might be able to access the internet again.

We hope Google acknowledges the issue and works on fixing the same so Chromebook users can normally use their device without their internet connection being ‘captive’ to some login portal page.

Did the workarounds help you get rid of the Captive Portal bug on your Chromebook? Let us know in the comments below!

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Google Section so be sure to follow them as well.

Featured image source: Google

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