Using Chromecast in a hotel

Ok, this is going to be a long post, but after going through this process recently and having to find the answer for each hurdle I hit along the way on various forums, I figured it might help to summarize my experience in one post.

How to get Chromecast to work in a hotel that has a Wifi login screen (AP or client isolation enabled)

Need:
- Laptop with wired connection to hotel
- Android phone, tablet, or second laptop


In a nutshell

Your casting device and Chromecast need to be on the same network with internet access to set the thing up. But, because of the hotel's security (you usually have to click a button on a homepage to accept a usage agreement), the Chromecast can't access the internet through the hotel's wireless connection. The way around this is to share your laptop's wired connection by setting up your laptop up as a wireless hotspot. But you need your wireless connection to be on the same network as the Chromecast. You can't use your laptop's wireless adapter as a hotspot and also connect it to that same hotspot, so that's why you need a third device.

With your laptop as a wireless hotspot, you can connect both Chromecast and your phone/tablet/other laptop to the hotspot. Then your phone and Chromecast can talk to each other on the same network and also access the internet for it's updating and initial settings. After that, you don't need the phone anymore and you can use your laptop (or your phone still if you wish) to cast videos. Your laptop always needs to be setup as a hotspot however and you need to remember to first use your phone to initialize Chromecast until it says it's ready to cast.


Setup Procedure

1) Windows Firewall
Turn off Firewall for Home/Work networks. Keep it on for Public networks. Set your wired connection as a Public network.

2) Install Virtual Router Manager 1.0
Make sure Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport is enabled in your Network Connections list ("Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapters settings")

3) Open Virtual Router Manager
Create a network name and password and share your Local Area Connection. Click "Start Virtual Router". This will create your new wireless hotspot on your laptop. After Virtual Router Manager is running, go to your WiFi Miniport settings and enter a fixed IP address as follows:

IP Address: 192.168.137.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

4) Change your hotspot to a Home network so that Windows Firewall is off for this connection ("Network and Sharing Center")
(Note: whitelisting Chromecast didn't work for me. I had to totally disable Firewall for this connection)

5) Connect to the new hotspot with your phone.
First, under the list of available wireless connections, long click on the hotspot and change to static IP with the following settings:

IP Address: 192.168.137.2
Gateway: 192.168.137.1
DNS 1: 8.8.8.8
DNS 2: 8.8.4.4

Now connect your phone to the hotspot.
(Note: my phone would connect without static IP, but when it connected to the Chromecast and then back to the hotspot, it would drop out and couldn't finish setting up the Chromecast. This method made it connect quick and solid everytime.)

6) Plug in your Chromecast and run the Chromecast App on your phone. Make the Chromecast connect to the hotspot and go through the setup and updating procedure. It should finish by displaying the time in the bottom right corner of the TV screen and your phone should now tell you that you're ready to Cast.

7) If everything went smoothly, you should now be able to disconnect your phone from the hotspot and, using your laptop (with the hotspot still active), cast videos to the Chromecast.


Error messages that may occur

Chromecast on tv:

Error - "Chromecast connected to <hotel WiFi>, but can't access the internet"
Fix - trying to connect to client isolated hotel WiFi but Chromecast isn't able to click the button on the login page. Run setup above

Error - "Chromecast connected to <Virtual Router hotspot>, but can't access the internet"
Fix - Need to turn off Windows Firewall for your Virtual Router hotspot (Home/Work networks)


Virtual Router manager:

Error - "The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation"
Fix - Wifi Miniport is disabled. Go to "Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings" and enable it


Android device:

Error - Android trying to connect to Virtual Router hotspot but stuck on "Obtaining IP Address"
Fix - Set fixed IP addresses for your phone and WiFi Miniport (see steps 3 and 5 above)


I hope this helps and works for other people. If anyone has anything to add to this, feel free. I went through a lot of headache getting this to work since the information I needed was all over the place, but now it works flawlessly every time. I love having the Chromecast now in my hotel so I don't have to watch movies on my laptop screen anymore. And with Songza supporting Chromecast now, I can use my TV speakers for tunes as well, which is an improvement over my laptop speakers!

thenoname said:

I plan to bring my Chromecast with me when I travel, but I imagine the Chromecast will have trouble connecting to the hotel Wifi since most hotels have that gateway page you have to go through before you are actually connected to the internet. Is there an easy way around this without bringing my own router with me?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I work for a WiFi company and we manage the WiFi for dozens of hotel chains throughout the nation. If you contact the technical support number provided by the hotel they can "Bypass" your Chromecast. All they would need is the IP address or MAC address of your Chromecast, we'll locate it in the DHCP pool and then whitelist it. This will cause it to bypass the login page.

I've used the Chromecast in hotels before but did it a little differently than some of the other options listed here, so I thought I'd share. I might try the virtual router option some have mentioned.

Method 1:
As some have mentioned, many hotels use a system of whitelisting a device MAC address. Once you are whitelisted, you are good to go. However, since you have no interface on the chromecast to accept the hotel terms, etc., you can look up the chromecast MAC address. This article is one example of how:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/google-chromecast-mac-address,news-18307.html
You can then change your android phone's mac address to the chromecast mac, using an app such as one of these:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wireless.macchanger&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=diewland.changemac

Accept the terms with your android device, then switch your mac back and login with the chromecast. Profit!
The downside to this method is that your chromecast is visible on the network and others could send content to it and it won't work if your hotel uses something other than a MAC address.

Method 2:
Some have mentioned using your mobile device as a wifi hotspot, but that will use your mobile data which may or may not be acceptable. There's a way to have your chromecast hidden from others on the network without bringing your own router and without using mobile data. You can use your android device as a wifi repeater that connects to the hotel wifi and then repeats that wifi connection to other devices (i.e. chromecast) that you connect to your android device. Just use the app fqrouter2:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fq.router2

tomcatoggo said:

Since last week I can also confirm that the Asus WL-330N N150 can deal with the splash Screens... I stayed in a Hotel last week and it really did a great Job. As it is a very small device that can additionally be powered via micro-USB, it is an almost perfect solution... not considering a chromecast being able to deal with that itself

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

If you're still active here, TC, and willing... I was able to successfully configure and use the WL-330N as a hotspot in a test with my home network, with the Asus product and setup disc connected to my PC. I'm assuming/hopeful that the disc drive isn't required of every remote (hotel) setup - or is it? Thanks.

thenoname said:

Thanks for the help! I have Pdanet installed on my gs3, but I haven't been able to set up the Chromecast without a third device in the mix. Using my work laptop is out of the question since I can't install the Chromecast app on it. I don't like to bring my personal laptop along with me on business trips since it's kind of bulky and heavy for a 2 night trip. I have an old Android tablet I can bring along with me to set everything up and control the Chromecast from but it would be awesome if I can get it working with ONLY the gs3 and Chromecast. Is there some way to make that happen? Or will I need a third device in the mix because the gs3 cant be a hotspot and controller at the same time?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

A computer with wifi (a computer just jacked into a router in wont work) is a necessary part of setting up chromecast to a new network.

edit: actually i might be wrong on that, testing something now

---------- Post added at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------

Okay, this is what I just did.

I turned Wireless Tether on my phone on. This means wifi can't be on at all and thus your phone can't be on the same network as the chromecast, and won't be able to control chomecast.

BUT

I downloaded the Chromecast app from the playstore to my Nook HD+. It found the Chromecast on my home network and I tapped on it, and saw my Chromecast on my home network (which the nook was also on). I was able to change it from my home network to my phone. This changed the network both my Nook and Chromecast were connected to from my home network to my phone network. I just chromecasted netflix from my Nook to my TV via chromecast fine. So basically I was able to set it up on a new network with no need for a computer.

So if you are traveling, I believe you are going to need to set up your Chromecast to know your phone's wifi network/password before you go. Why? Because my Nook (or your tablet) can't change the network of the Chromecast without already being on the same network. But at this point, I could now take the three devices anywhere now, plugging chromecast into a TV, setting up my phone to tether, and using my tablet to control it.

Annoyingly, once I turned off tethering, the chromecast borked and I had to re-run setup to get it back on my home wireless network. So, it doesn't seem to save multiple networks, unless I did something wrong.