[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] MarkStonton:
More Infrastructure thoughts

A few thoughts on the discussion regarding the DHCP allocator (trying to second guess Microsoft)

As far as I could imagine there is no reason that the DHCP allocator cannot be used for both ad-hoc and infrastructure networks, but as a default (my experience only) it is turned on for ad-hoc networks and not infrastructure (happy for someone who knows more to prove me wrong however!). This does in fact seem logical if you think it through

Presumably one device has to allocate addresses for an ad-hoc network and so all devices should be able to

(if both devices were Windows Mobile which couldn't then the network wouldn't work (I think))

(the Microsoft description of the allocator says the network will be checked for a DHCP server and only if one isn't found will the allocator then be enabled)

An ad-hoc network is more likely to be temporary and as such any unwanted behaviour won't upset anything too important

A device is less likely to be set up for multiple ad-hoc networks

A device is quite likely however to store settings for multiple infrastructure networks (home, work, hotels, hot spots, etc)

Enabling the DHCP allocator in the presence of one of these networks shouldn't be an issue in a fixed position due to the test described above to see if there is already a DHCP server. However with a portable device which could enable the allocator while out of range of the network and then be moved into range with the allocator enabled could be extremely destructive

My best guess would therefore be that the Allocator will work on both network types

It would be most useful (for WMWifiRouter users) to apply it to an infrastructure network

this gives benefits in the type of security which can be configured

this should allow operation of the more unusual devices such as gaming consoles, etc

But EXTREME care should be taken so that the right network is used and the device cannot pick any of the configured networks at random

Presumably the solution to this is

remove all the registry settings describing the networks which are not required when running WMWifiRouter

maybe "tick the box" which cancels notifications of other discovered networks (may be just an irritance)

return the settings on closing WMWifiRouter

I see the recent versions of the software allow creation of an ad-hoc network (I'm still using 0.80) but don't know if it has a way to force use of this (or does it have to be the only one?), maybe by doing the above or some more direct method!

I previously posted a description (post 408) of using an infrastructure network to get the security options in conjunction with a separate wireless router which turned out to be a near copy of another (post 197 sorry pflatlyne, but good to see 2 of us thinking alike) .... to "simply" turn on the allocator and force use of the right network, the phone could do the whole job which would be really cool. I have been using the setup as in post 408 for over a month now and about 2 weeks with a phone which doesn't get used elsewhere running WMWifiRouter CONTINUOUSLY enabled. I've had to reset the external router a couple of times but the phone/WMWIfiRouter operation has been absolutely flawless ..... I would just love to get this down from a 2 box solution to a 1 box solution!

Thanks again Chainfire, Mark