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Setup a wireless access point on Raspberry Pi 4 OS Lite

This will setup an access point on an Raspberry Pi 4 OS Lite. Ethernet port is connected to the internet, wireless will become an wireless access point and share the internet to any device connected to it.

This tutorial starts from a fresh installed OS lite.

Set Static IP Address

Configure static ip using Dhcpcd method.

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

At the bottom, paste this:

interface wlan0
static ip_address=192.168.4.1/24
nohook wpa_supplicant

Save and exit

Install Hostapd

sudo apt-get install hostapd

Stop the hostapd service

sudo service hostapd stop

Open Hostapd configuration file

sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

Paste this configuration:

interface=wlan0
ssid=RPI4
wpa_passphrase=12345678901
hw_mode=g
ieee80211n=1
channel=6
wmm_enabled=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

Save and exit

To apply the configuration we made:

sudo nano /etc/default/hostapd

Find #DAEMON_CONF, below this line, paste this:

DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

Enable the wireless access point

sudo systemctl unmask hostapd
sudo systemctl enable hostapd

Activate IPv4 forwarding

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Un-comment #net.ipv4.ip_foward=1

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Save and exit

Run this code:

sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"

Install Dnsmasq

We will install DHCP server

sudo apt install dnsmasq

Stop Dnsmasq service

systemctl stop dnsmasq

Backup the default configuration

sudo mv /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig

Create your own configuration:

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

Paste this:

interface=wlan0
dhcp-range=192.168.4.2,192.168.4.50,255.255.255.0,24h
domain=wlan
address=/gw.wlan/192.168.4.1

Exit and save.

Setting up the Firewall

Change the firewall rules

sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o wlan0 -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -o eth0 -j ACCEPT

Check the iptables to see the changes made

sudo iptables -L -n -v

Save the rules

sudo sh -c "iptables-save > /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat"

Making this rule to load automatically every system reboot.

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Paste this code before “exit 0”

iptables-restore < /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat

Enable the service and start

systemctl enable dnsmasq
systemctl start dnsmasq
systemctl status dnsmasq

Optional:

sudo reboot

You can now see a Hotspot named RPI4. Please connect a device to the hostpot. If you can browse a website, then congratulation, you just installed a Hostpot on a Raspberry Pi 4.