Macbook Won’t Connect To Hotel WiFi? How To Get Back Online

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macbook wont connect to hotel wifi

Whether you’re staying at a hotel for work or leisure, there’s one thing for sure – you want your Macbook fully functioning.

Have you ever encountered the issue of being unable to connect your MacBook to a hotel WiFi network while traveling? This is a common problem that many MacBook users experience, and it can be caused by a variety of reasons.

In this article, we’ll explore the common causes behind this issue and provide practical solutions to help you get access to the internet wherever you are without compromising your computer’s security.

Macbook on the bed
Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels

It’s not just hotel WiFi, you could struggle in airports, cafes or on any other public WiFi

Remember that you are on a public Wi-Fi and to take appropriate security measures.

With all public WiFi, there is a bigger risk to your security online than in any other setting with so many different users connecting to the network

Macbooks are very good for your security as they require strong encryption for you to access the web via Safari which not all public WiFi can offer.

Three steps to help your Macbook connect to the hotel, airport or public WiFi

  1. Click on Apple Menu, System Preferences, Network, choose Advanced and navigate to the DNS tab.
  2. Delete any DNS addresses that you were using under the list of DNS servers, so that it now points only to the hotel server.
  3. Click OK and reload the page. The sign-in page of the public WiFi should appear. Fill out your details if required. Once you Sign-in, you should be OK to browse the internet.

What to do if you still can’t connect

If a login screen still doesn’t appear, open a new Safari session. Then type this web address captive.apple.com into the address bar. This shows a non-secure page.

Try again to connect to the public WiFi’s welcome and login page. This problem usually happens with hotel WiFi networks and other public WiFi networks as they want you to access their local DNS server to sign-in.

Some people may see error messages, such as “Safari says it can‘t establish a secure connection” or that the website is using weak encryption. Safari requires that the websites you visit meet Apple’s standards for strong encryption.

If you wish, you can work around this error by using an alternate browser, like Firefox, Dolphin, or Google Chrome.

1 COMMENT

  1. I have tried Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Brave and Opera with

    captive.apple.com

    http://neverssl.com

    I have deleted all the DNS links

    and nothing at 3 different hotels

    Ventura 13.2.1

    nothing works exc ept my Google Pixel 7 pro hotspot.

    My MacBook has 64 gigs of ram

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