On Thu, 2024-05-23 at 17:32 -0500, Ranjan Maitra via users wrote:
I have a strange issue after upgrading a laptop (Dell XPS 13, 2013 edition). That is that I am connected (whether through WiFi or ethernet cable) to a university network which claims after the upgrade that the laptop is no longer registered. I went through the registration process again through the browser (and was told: why are you registering this machine again, it is registered, simply restart the network/reboot) but the problem does not go away. I upgraded a desktop on the same ethernet switch and this problem did not go show up there (I am using that to write this email).
I suppose we need to know what "registration" entails.
For some networks, it's simply going to be the DHCP server assigning you an IP to a MAC address it knows about (hardware details about your network). This will get messed up if your hardware supplies random MAC addresses each time it makes a connection.
For some networks, you login via a browser, and it does some kind of token exchange with their network that authorises you and they remember some network details about you. Again it could be the MAC or they may simply associate the token with your current IP address. This could get upset by things like your web browser not storing cookies, script blocking, or something stuck in its cache. Going through web browser settings might be a good thing (checking what's allowed) and perhaps clearing your cache (you can do that without losing stored passwords, etc). The cache just stores what you can see as web pages, so you can go back and forth through a site without redownloading each page.