Chromebooks + 802.1x

[Paid_Peanuts]

Does anyone here use Chromebooks with WPA/WPA2 Enterprise 802.1X ?

 

We are currently investigating using 802.1x with the Chromebooks - it works nicely, even though you have to enter your password to authenticate to the 802.1x wireless as Google don't support passing through the password, only the username.

 

That aside, we set the managed Wi-Fi through the Google Admin console.

We set the device Wi-Fi to a standard WPA2 SSID, the users Wi-Fi is set to the 802.1x network.

The problem is the Chromebooks are not automatically connecting to the 802.1x user Wi-Fi. If you set the user Wi-Fi to a standard WEP/WPA SSID then the Chromebook automatically connects when the user signs in. Does anyone else experience this issue using Chromebook and 802.1x?

 

Currently it means when the user has signed in to the Chromebook, they have to go to the settings and choose the 802.1x Wi-Fi and then enter their password - another step, admittedly not a big one, however it will be enough to cause disruption. We currently lock down the device Wi-Fi to only the necessary Google sites, therefore if a user doesn't change the Wi-Fi to the 802.1x Wi-Fi they are unable to browse the web and other sites except Googles sites.

 

Anyone with similar issues I'd be very grateful to hear from you.

 

Seriously trying to make Chromebooks work....

[DavidYoung]

I looked at this and it looks like they are working on it: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=386606#c100.

 

We currently just have a generic user account dedicated for Chrome devices in AD and the username and password for that is put into the Admin Console.

[mjk]

We use 802.1x with Chromebooks, but with 1:1 chromebooks.

With 1:1 you can allow the users to login to the wifi as a device and then pass that through when they log into their account.

This works reasonably well but without 1:1 it's easier to set a single user/password to sign in.

[Paid_Peanuts]

I looked at this and it looks like they are working on it: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=386606#c100.

 

We currently just have a generic user account dedicated for Chrome devices in AD and the username and password for that is put into the Admin Console.

 

That Google forum is regarding not being able to pass through the password - not an issue with 802.1x user managed wifi not auto connecting after the user has logged in.

[mjk]

That Google forum is regarding not being able to pass through the password - not an issue with 802.1x user managed wifi not auto connecting after the user has logged in.

 

Isn't it the same problem ?

[Duke5A]

We dabbled with it, but in the end I made a wireless network specifically for Chromebooks (and iOS too I guess) set with WPA2 and created a 255 character password for it. Never type it, just dropped it in the Admin console. To setup new Chromebooks I have a service network that is only available in the office with a simpler password.