Link a MikroTik Device to Your Hotspot

Summary Linking a MikroTik connects a physical router to your WiFi Monetization voucher so it can serve the captive portal. The guided deploy wizard picks the interface, sets an IP subnet, and configures the hotspot, RADIUS, DHCP, and walled garden for you — no RouterOS scripting. Extra access points are supported as long as they run in bridge mode.

A voucher is your Wi-Fi campaign; a linked device is the MikroTik that actually broadcasts it. When you link a MikroTik, MKController deploys everything the hotspot needs to the router over the encrypted tunnel: the hotspot interface, the RADIUS presence-gate that validates access, DHCP for guest IP addresses, and the walled garden that lets the login page load before a guest authenticates.

You can link more than one MikroTik to the same voucher — useful when one campaign covers several routers — and you can unlink or transfer a device later.

• The MikroTik must already be adopted into MKController. If it is not, adopt it first: Add Your First MikroTik Device.
• Decide which interface guests will connect through (for example, a wireless interface or a bridge that groups your access points).
• The device should be online in MKController so the wizard can push the configuration.

Inside your voucher, open the Devices section. It lists the MikroTiks already linked to this voucher with their online or offline status. Choose the device you want to link and start the deploy wizard.

The wizard auto-detects the interfaces on the router and suggests the one guests should use. If your setup is unusual, switch to manual selection and pick the interface yourself.

Keep the suggested subnet — the default 10.31.42.1/24 works for most deployments and gives you 254 guest addresses — or enter your own if it conflicts with an existing network on the router.

Start the deployment. The wizard works through staged steps and shows progress for each:

1. Backup the current router configuration (so nothing is lost).
2. Configure the interface.
3. Set up RADIUS.
4. Configure DHCP.
5. Apply the walled garden.
6. Upload everything to the device.

Wait for the wizard to reach Done. Your MikroTik is now serving the captive portal.

In practice: group your access points into a bridge on the MikroTik, and link the hotspot to that bridge interface in Step 2. One voucher then covers the whole coverage area.

From the Devices section you can:

• Link another MikroTik to the same voucher.
• Transfer a device between vouchers.
• Unlink a device when you no longer want it to serve this hotspot.

Unlike the older interface, the wizard surfaces real failures instead of showing a false “done.” The two common ones:

• Filesystem error — the router could not write the required files (often low free storage). Free space on the MikroTik and retry.
• Script error — a configuration step failed to apply (for example, an interface or address conflict). Check the interface choice and subnet, then retry.

Retrying re-pushes the configuration; the device only finishes as linked once it confirms success.

Can one voucher use several MikroTiks? Yes. Link as many as you need to the same voucher. Each appears in the Devices section with its own online status.

Can I use extra access points? Yes — configure them as bridges, not routers, and link the hotspot to the bridge interface. One voucher then works across all of them.

Does linking change my router’s other settings? The wizard adds the hotspot, RADIUS, DHCP, and walled-garden configuration and backs up the router first. Your existing configuration stays in place.

What happens when I unlink a device? The hotspot and RADIUS configuration deployed by MKController is removed. The router continues to function; it simply stops serving this captive portal.

---

Explore next: Design Your Captive Portal · Create & Print Voucher Codes · WiFi Monetization Onboarding · WiFi Monetization FAQ

Need a hand linking a device? Talk to our team on WhatsApp or start your free MKController account.