Re: Have you ever disabled IPv6 for privacy (to prevent IP leaks)?

Maria Sophia wrote:
>  1. This was dangerous... 
>     pnputil /remove-device "PCI\VEN_168C&DEV_002A..."
>  2. But this was catastrophic... 
>     pnputil /delete-driver netathrx.inf /uninstall /force

When Wi-Fi networking failed, the one thing too simple to break didn't.
 *Ethernet*

I accidentally learned something from picking through the 0xFF IPv6 rubble.
I broke IPv6 so thoroughly that I accidentally resolved a privacy problem!
	.
Apparently my current setup (router as bridge) cannot leak IPv6.
Because the PC's Wi-Fi IPv6 stack is dead.

And because the bridge is acting as a firewall between the PC & IPv6.

The PC literally cannot form a usable IPv6 address on Wi-Fi anymore.
The PC is now using Ethernet where Ethernet IPv6 is simple.
 a. Ethernet has link-local only (fe80::)
 b. no global IPv6 and no SLAAC
 c. no DHCPv6 and no privacy extensions
 d. no tunnels and no fallback paths

When I destroyed IPv6 with 
 a. DisabledComponents = 0xFF 
 b. netsh int ipv6 reset 
and then when I removed the Wi-Fi driver with:
 c. pnputil /delete-driver netathrx.inf /uninstall /force

Windows lost:
 a. its IPv6 routing and IPv6 metadata
 b. its IPv6 fallback path and IPv6 NCSI logic
 c. its Wi-Fi IPv6 interface and its Wi-Fi IPv6 neighbor table
 d. its Wi-Fi IPv6 autoconfiguration and its Wi-Fi IPv6 DNS behavior
 e. its Wi-Fi IPv6 tunnels and its Wi-Fi IPv6 privacy extensions

But when I plugged in the router acting as a wireless repeater bridge, 
the router absorbs all the IPv6 complexity, and the router doesn't even
handle ipv6 being a circa 2007 wnr834bv2 ... running ddwrt as a bridge.

Ethernet survived because it depends on almost nothing.
Ethernet is essentially just a cable and a MAC address.

Two days ago, I had no idea I was walking into the maws of a lion when I
ran those innocent pnputil commands, but what's profoundly enlightening is
that Ethernet still works even when every Wi-Fi solution is now failing.

I had no idea I was stepping into the lion's den when I ran those two
innocent commands. However, what's strangely enlightening after I look at
the mess I made is that even after the wireless world completely collapsed,
the venerable old Ethernet whisked me to safety.

Plugging an old DDWRT router into the RJ45 worked, simply because
 a. Ehernet is primitive.
 b. Ethernet is simple.
 c. Ethernet is robust.
 d. Ethernet doesn't rely on NetworkUX

Ethernet is just a cable, a MAC address and a packet.
Funny thing, there are advantages to using the router as a Wi-Fi NIC.
 a. It offloads all wireless complexity and computation to the router  
 b. It doesn't need NetworkUX, Wi-Fi metadata, wireless autoconfiguration,
    radio drivers, routing tables, fallback paths, NCSI hooks,
    or any of the fragile components I accidentally broke	.
 c. Even an old router has better radios than any PC ever did
    i. lower latency
    ii.better signal handling
    iii. no driver issues

The PC doesn't have to think anymore.
It just sends and receives packets.

Sometimes the oldest path is the one that eventually carries us home when
everything modern collapses around us from the sheer complexity of it all.
-- 
When the modern Wi-Fi world collapsed, the simplicity of Ethernet survived.