BE88U Hidden Network (AiMesh, WDS?)

[Smedley]

My BE88U is set as an wired Access Point to a non-Asus router.

Using a network monitor, I see that the BE88U is periodically broadcasting a "Hidden" network with my SSID. From reading other posts, I believe this is related to the access point trying to establish an AiMesh connection.

I have set the Ethernet Backhaul on, but the Hidden network still shows periodically.

Is there a way to completely turn off (disable) AiMesh on the access point? I cannot see a way to do so in the GUI (version 3.0.0.6.102_39112). Is there a command that can be issues via SSH/CLI that would stop the access point from broadcasting this Hidden network?

If I'm off-base here and the Hidden network is not associated with AiMesh, please educate me.

**Update** Although WDS was not active, I changed the band assigned. Watching to see if the issue is resolved...
**Update** The Hidden network has reappeared. It appears that this behavior has been around for a year:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/be88u-remove-hidden-wireless-networks.93875/



Thanks!

 

[Ripshod]

Is there a way to completely turn off (disable) AiMesh on the access point?

As far as I'm aware, even if you disable aimesh the network would still be there. I'm currently connected to that hidden network (for a few weeks now) and aimesh is not used on my single router.

 

[Justinh]

I'm currently connected to that hidden network

How did you connect to it? How did you find the SSID and password?

 

[Ripshod]

In my case

nvram get apm1_ssid

give me the SSID

nvram get apm1_security

Gives the encryption and password. It's repeated 4 times withing the string, which also includes the encryption.

Bonus: Once connected your device won't appear in the wireless log.

 

[Smedley]

Using a network monitor (InSSIDer), the hidden network appears to appear/disappear with a degree of regularity. Does anyone know the periodicity of this polling?

@Ripshod If you attach to this hidden network, does it stay active/broadcasting?

Is there any way to disable this hidden network via the GUI/SSH CLI?

 

[Ripshod]

If it's being used it stays up solid, or it seems to as I'm not constantly at the pc.

Is there any way to disable this hidden network via the GUI/SSH CLI?

I haven't tried yet. I'll have a poke around later to see if nulling those nvram entries (and other associated entries) would kill it. I'm hesitant as this seems to be a natural function within asuswrt and killing it may cause instability, but I'll give it a go.

*edit*
I've found several entries for different networks in nvram but one stands out

apm1_enable=1

whereas the others are all set to "0". I'll try myself later, but if anyone with the RT-BE88U wants to give it a try

nvram set apm1_enable=0
nvram commit

followed by a reboot.
There appears to be something else within the firmware that's overriding this. After a reboot the value is still "0" but the network is still there. I'll investigate further later.
I don't advise anyone should play with these nvram settings - you could kill your router.

 

[Ripshod]

BE88U: Remove hidden wireless networks?

Just bought a new BE88U and running merlin 3006.102.3 in Router mode. When scanning I found it is broadcasting 2 hidden networks in addition to what I configured, and I can't find a way to get rid of them. They might be related to interfaces wl0.4 and wl1.4, and I tried removing related entries...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Smedley]

BE88U: Remove hidden wireless networks?

Just bought a new BE88U and running merlin 3006.102.3 in Router mode. When scanning I found it is broadcasting 2 hidden networks in addition to what I configured, and I can't find a way to get rid of them. They might be related to interfaces wl0.4 and wl1.4, and I tried removing related entries...

www.snbforums.com

"They might be related to interfaces wl0.4 and wl1.4, and I tried removing related entries in nvram, but upon reboot they're all back."

After reading many prior threads, there seems to be continued speculation as to whether these Hidden networks are due to AiMesh, WPA3, WiFi7, WPS, WDS, or something else.

 

[Ripshod]

They might be related to interfaces wl0.4 and wl1.4

The mac on my 5GHz connection does match wl1.4.

but upon reboot they're all back.

I believe I disagreed with that statement originally. The changes I've made in nvram have made no difference and have not been changed back.

AiMesh, WPA3, WiFi7, WPS, WDS

Been there, tried that

or something else

Exactly.

 

[Smedley]

Strange empirical observation:
If the computer running the network monitor connects to the BE88U WiFi, the Hidden network disappears in 2 minutes.
If the computer running the network monitor connects to a different WiFi (different network/AP/SSID), the BE88U Hidden network stays active.

Any thoughts as to why this is happening?