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How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

devblogs.microsoft.com

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Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#21

Post by iudqnolq »

silisili wrote: post #20
YPPH wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason for that is explained well in a comment on the article. Note that as with the Windows version, the protocol is HTTP, not HTTPS – because captive portals completely break TLS, but plaintext HTTP will result in a clean redirect to the portal, allowing the network service to detect the presence of the portal and to bring up a browser window to let the user authenticate. ( https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnew…

Why not just fire off a DNS request ? Not blocked by captive portals, and you get free caching.

> and you get free caching

Mayeb that's the problem?

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#22

Post by sokoloff »

silisili wrote: post #20
YPPH wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason for that is explained well in a comment on the article. Note that as with the Windows version, the protocol is HTTP, not HTTPS – because captive portals completely break TLS, but plaintext HTTP will result in a clean redirect to the portal, allowing the network service to detect the presence of the portal and to bring up a browser window to let the user authenticate. ( https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnew…

Why not just fire off a DNS request ? Not blocked by captive portals, and you get free caching.

Unless you know what the DNS request is "supposed to return", you can't know that just getting any DNS response indicates that you have full Internet connectivity.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#23

Post by silisili »

iudqnolq wrote: post #21
silisili wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just fire off a DNS request ? Not blocked by captive portals, and you get free caching.

> and you get free caching Mayeb that's the problem?

Howso? You still need internet access to hit the recursive.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#24

Post by gerdesj »

zinekeller wrote: post #18
gerdesj wrote: post #11

This really gets on my nerves! Some twit of a programmer (probably via a committee) "knows" whether a system has connectivity. For some people Facebook is the internet and for others it is Outlook. Somehow a twiddler at MS has decided that a file on a web server at some wanky location is the internet and that's the final answer. "I cn haz a file" is fine lovely internets! No it bloody well isn't. You should be constr…

> Define "internet" and then have a crack at defining "internet accessibility". Those things are quite specific to individuals. orgs and so on. Connectivity is way too complicated for a simple, naive check. This is asking for the true Scotsman. This is designed for the 99% of users where internet access is a ternary "yes, no, needs credentials". The "naive" check is enough for them. Also, as far as I know only Window…

"This is asking for the true Scotsman."

wot?

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#25

Post by silisili »

sokoloff wrote: post #22
silisili wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just fire off a DNS request ? Not blocked by captive portals, and you get free caching.

Unless you know what the DNS request is "supposed to return", you can't know that just getting any DNS response indicates that you have full Internet connectivity.

They control the record contents just as they would some text in a file on some server, and could be checked in a similar manner.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#26

Post by zinekeller »

silisili wrote: post #23
iudqnolq wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and you get free caching Mayeb that's the problem?

Howso? You still need internet access to hit the recursive.

Mindless routers (which are frighteningly many) that cache the results and won't show the true state of upstream connection, which is an important thing. There are a lot less transparent HTTP proxies that wouldn't respect no-store than mindless routers trying their best to cache results.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#27

Post by eightysixfour »

jasonzemos wrote: post #7

Is it a problem that the URL is not HTTPS or is it the blessing required to defeat it?

I realized a while back that msftconnecttest.com is the domain it uses to check online status, and is the domain it checks in the background that gets redirected to wifi captive portals and pulls up. Any time I have an issue with a captive portal, I use that domain and the redirect works, because I know any other URL with end up with a certificate issue and I won’t be able to get to the portal.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#28

Post by Mogzol »

silisili wrote: post #20
YPPH wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason for that is explained well in a comment on the article. Note that as with the Windows version, the protocol is HTTP, not HTTPS – because captive portals completely break TLS, but plaintext HTTP will result in a clean redirect to the portal, allowing the network service to detect the presence of the portal and to bring up a browser window to let the user authenticate. ( https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnew…

Why not just fire off a DNS request ? Not blocked by captive portals, and you get free caching.

The whole point is to determine if you have full internet access, so you want to make sure that an HTTP request returns the data you're expecting. You may be able to get DNS responses but not have full internet access, like when on a public wifi that redirects all requests to a login page.

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#29

Post by m-murphy »

gerdesj wrote: post #24
zinekeller wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Define "internet" and then have a crack at defining "internet accessibility". Those things are quite specific to individuals. orgs and so on. Connectivity is way too complicated for a simple, naive check. This is asking for the true Scotsman. This is designed for the 99% of users where internet access is a ternary "yes, no, needs credentials". The "naive" check is enough for them. Also, as far as I know only Window…

"This is asking for the true Scotsman." wot?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Re: How does Windows decide whether your computer has full Internet access?

#30

Post by throwaway0x7E6 »

photoGrant wrote: post #2

Doing this during a Windows 11 install will result in a road block until you fix said connection issues. You literally can't proceed without finding a hidden terminal and disabling the process and restarting. Insane.

even with the cable unplugged and no wifi module?
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