College wifi works easily on Linux, but not on Windows

Question

In Linux:

After connecting to the college wifi, going to the network login page logging in, the internet works perfectly as it should.

In Windows:

After connecting to the college wifi, going to the network login page, logging in, Windows shows "Internet access" and the wireless icon turns white. But still after that, regardless of the browser being used, attempting to accessing any page just shows "Sending request". It does work though after a lot of tries, but only in intervals.

But when running Ubuntu 11.10 in VirtualBox, it works properly just like booting in Ubuntu, even if it isn't working on Windows.

The college wifi service is really crappy and has been unable to solve this problem. I'm pretty sure there should be a solution for this, but what? What is it that Ubuntu is doing right and Windows isn't?

Windows settings set to "Automatically detect settings" and no proxy server used.

tracert in Windows shows(when not working)

 Unable to resolve target system name google.com.

tracert in Windows shows(when working):

 Tracing route to google.com [74.125.236.70]
 over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 2     1 ms     1 ms     4 ms  10.49.0.9
 3     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  1.186.23.17.dvois.com [1.186.23.17]
 4    13 ms    12 ms    12 ms  Static-5.155.93.111.tataidc.co.in [111.93.155.5]
 5    37 ms    36 ms    34 ms  192.168.237.201
 6    33 ms    34 ms    34 ms  72.14.222.166
 7    33 ms    48 ms    60 ms  72.14.232.202
 8    39 ms    39 ms    39 ms  72.14.232.93
 9    39 ms    40 ms    50 ms  209.85.249.235
10    41 ms    39 ms    40 ms  maa03s05-in-f6.1e100.net [74.125.236.70]

Trace complete.

traceroute in Ubuntu:

  traceroute to google.com (74.125.236.36), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
  1  * * *
  2  * * *
  3  * * *
  4  * * *
  5  * * *
  6  * * *
  7  * * *
  8  * * *
  9  * * *
 10  * * *
 11  * * *
 12  * * *
 13  * * *
 14  * * *
 15  * * *
 16  * * *
 17  * * *
 18  * * *
 19  * * *
 20  * * *
 21  * * *
 22  * * *
 23  * * *
 24  * * *
 25  * * *
 26  * * *
 27  * * *
 28  * * *
 29  * * *
 30  * * *

the output of traceroute is varying, sometimes there's some server name on the last line.

Answer 1

This kind of redirect is usually from the network forcing all users through their proxy servers. It's possible you don't have proxy auto discovery working properly on Windows, see WPAD on Wikipedia. I've had issues with Firefox and WPAD before, finding the correct proxy address and manually setting it worked. Perhaps you can ask your college's IT department for that information (the proxy address)?

Also, make sure this is checked:

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(Especially if using Internet Explorer, though it also effects other programs that use Windows' proxy settings. Firefox is not affected by this.)

---

Your Ubuntu traceroute shows a whole lot of timing out.. your 'not working' Windows traceroute shows it could not access the DNS server.

Check your DNS server in Ubuntu (cat /etc/resolv.conf)

Check your Windows one (ipconfig /all)

Are they the same? If not, does it help to make them the same? To set the DNS server(s) in Windows:

1. Type network connections in the start menu search. Go to View Network Connections.

2. Right click the appropriate adaptor, select Properties

3. Select TCP/IP (probably IPv4), click Properties

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Answer 2

Have you tried disabling IPv6 in connection properties? I see you have several link-local IPv6 addresses listed as your default gateway and this is a known bug of Internet Connection Sharing. If you disable IPv6, everything should work.