Can a browser use a different DNS than the rest of the PC?

[taltamir]

I travel a lot for work and I noticed that almost every hotspot I go to uses DNS spoofing attack to redirect me to a login page. even the ones that are free and require merely a click of "I accept the terms and conditions" button. This login typically remembers your connection for about 24 hours (presumably via mac address, but that is a guess)

If I set openDNS as my choice of DNS server (instead of acquiring it automatically from router) I can get significantly faster and more reliable browsing experience. But I am unable to reach the login page and as such cannot have an internet connection.

I am wondering if anyone knows of a program that can resolve this issue somehow. Such as by making a browser use a different DNS server than the network connection

 

[code65536]

That doesn't make sense: the click-to-accept in the captive portal page is handled by the browser, so having the browser set to your own DNS server won't solve anything.

What you want is a way to switch from dhcp DNS to static DNS quickly, which you can do with batch files and netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers.

(Also, Google Public DNS is much better than OpenDNS, as the latter pulls their own shenanigans and do some really naughty things like not handle NXDOMAIN properly whereas the former is actually complaint with the way DNS is supposed to work.)

 

[taltamir]

That doesn't make sense: the click-to-accept in the captive portal page is handled by the browser, so having the browser set to your own DNS server won't solve anything.

It didn't even occur to me that some people might use only one browser.
I use chrome, iron, waterfox, palemoon, and IE.

Obviously I would have to leave one of them (eg, IE) to use the default DNS to reach said captive login page. In fact I already HAVE to do this because I use "reopen tabs" option. so if I was to open chrome 20 tabs will all get redirected to that captive login page. worse, because its done via dns spoofing I could not use the back button to return to the proper page. So I always use IE (set to open just one home page, google) to trigger those captive pages

Even if you use only one browser. such a browser fix should be easy to toggle on/off

What you want is a way to switch from dhcp DNS to static DNS quickly, which you can do with batch files and netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers.

thank you for this suggestion. I will give it a try

 

[Fardringle]

You are referring to a Captive Portal. It doesn't have anything to do with DNS. It is built in to the network you are connecting to, and if you don't accept the connection agreement, then you will not be able to do anything on the network, no matter what DNS server you try to use.

You can always set your computer to use the OpenDNS server addresses for your web browsing (no, you can't do this for just one browser since it is a Windows setting, not a browser setting), but you'll still have to accept that captive portal agreement before you can do anything else on the Internet.

 

[taltamir]

You are referring to a Captive Portal. It doesn't have anything to do with DNS. It is built in to the network you are connecting to, and

It has everything to do with DNS. captive portal works via DNS spoofing.

if you don't accept the connection agreement, then you will not be able to do anything on the network, no matter what DNS server you try to use.

I am aware, this has nothing to do with anything being discussed in this thread.
I didn't think that using my own custom DNS will allow me to connect to the internet.
I want to switch to a custom DNS for the massive speedup that comes from using a quality DNS. I want to make that switch AFTER I have willfully allowed my DNS to be spoofed to lead me to the captive portal and AFTER I have willingly clicked through whatever was needed to grant me full network access. Only then do I want to switch DNS providers from the one supplied by the router to one of my choice

 

[John Connor]

It should be a matter of accepting the captive portal and then changing your Windows DNS. Wouldn't?

 

[taltamir]

It should be a matter of accepting the captive portal and then changing your Windows DNS. Wouldn't?

That is the plan, but it is a PITA to do manually. Hence looking for a program that can streamline the process

 

[John Connor]

I knew of a program years ago that did this. Lets me see if I can find it. I think it was on Snapfiles.com

Edit- Here's a few. http://www.snapfiles.com/downloadfind.php?st=dns&action=s&ref=2&search=Find+it&lc=1

 

[code65536]

Or a couple of batch files on the desktop. Double-click on one before the portal, the other after. Keep it simple.

 

[debian0001]

If you're using Windows 8.1.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj590768.aspx

Set-DnsClientServerAddress

 

[Fardringle]

It has everything to do with DNS. captive portal works via DNS spoofing.


I am aware, this has nothing to do with anything being discussed in this thread.
I didn't think that using my own custom DNS will allow me to connect to the internet.
I want to switch to a custom DNS for the massive speedup that comes from using a quality DNS. I want to make that switch AFTER I have willfully allowed my DNS to be spoofed to lead me to the captive portal and AFTER I have willingly clicked through whatever was needed to grant me full network access. Only then do I want to switch DNS providers from the one supplied by the router to one of my choice

OK, that clarifies the question a bit. Your DNS is NOT being spoofed in any way. Set your connection to use the OpenDNS servers. You'll still be redirected to the captive portal screen when you first connect to the network since that is a function of the portal itself and has absolutely nothing to do with the DNS settings. (assuming that the portal is set up correctly)

 

[code65536]

OK, that clarifies the question a bit. Your DNS is NOT being spoofed in any way. Set your connection to use the OpenDNS servers. You'll still be redirected to the captive portal screen when you first connect to the network since that is a function of the portal itself and has absolutely nothing to do with the DNS settings. (assuming that the portal is set up correctly)

It depends on how the portal works. Some are better implemented than others. A smart one will just intercept an inbound HTTP response and replace it with a HTTP 302 pointing to the portal. A dumb one will rely on you connecting to their DNS server.

 

[taltamir]

OK, that clarifies the question a bit. Your DNS is NOT being spoofed in any way. Set your connection to use the OpenDNS servers. You'll still be redirected to the captive portal screen when you first connect to the network since that is a function of the portal itself and has absolutely nothing to do with the DNS settings. (assuming that the portal is set up correctly)

all the portals I have encountered worked via DNS spoofing.
Setting your DNS to any alternative DNS prevents it from reaching the captive portal. This is why I asked the question to begin with, if I do not willingly fall into the dns spoof I cannot reach the portal and cannot authenticate it.

Furthermore, there are actually tricks, for example, certain hotspot provider who i will not name lets all images through (for their advertising), meaning you can surf the internet just fine by using a greasemonkey script that modifies the url to trick it into thinking its a jpg file.

We are talking about really shoddy programming here