The setup hotspot: how it works

The setup hotspot is a temporary WiFi network the player creates itself so you can configure its real internet connection from a phone — no keyboard, monitor, cables or login to the box.

What you see on the screen

When the hotspot starts, the screen shows a QR code together with:

the hotspot's name — **ImpressBox-XXXX** (the last 4 characters are unique to that player), and
the hotspot's password (a short random code), and
the address of the setup page (http://10.42.0.1).

Scanning the QR code with a phone camera joins the hotspot and opens the setup page automatically. You can also join by hand: pick ImpressBox-XXXX in your phone's WiFi list and type the password shown on screen.

Why the password is on the screen. Each time the hotspot starts it makes a new, random password, and that password is shown only on the device's own screen. It cannot be guessed from the visible network name. In practice this means: whoever can see the screen can set the box up — which is exactly the person standing in front of it during an install. There is no default or shared password.

What happens after you connect

Once you choose a WiFi network in the setup page and tap Connect:

The player switches from "broadcasting the hotspot" to "joining your network".
The hotspot disappears and the QR code is removed from the screen.
The chosen network is saved and reported to manage, so it appears in the device's Network settings and survives reboots. See Network & IP addresses in manage.

If the password was wrong or the network is out of range, the player keeps trying that network; re-open the hotspot and try again.

How long the hotspot stays up

The hotspot is meant to be temporary, so a box is never left broadcasting an open-ended setup network:

It turns itself off after about 5 minutes with no phone connected.
While a phone is connected, the timer is held — it won't cut out mid-setup.
There is a hard cap of about 30 minutes, after which it turns off regardless.

You can always start it again (see Start WiFi setup with the power button or send start_hotspot from manage).

Fresh box vs. a box already showing content

A fresh, unconfigured box shows the QR code full-screen — there's nothing else to look at yet.
A box that is already paired and playing content but has lost its internet raises the hotspot silently — it stays reachable for reconfiguration, but the QR banner is not shown so it doesn't cover the content on the screen. In that case, start it with the power button or the start_hotspot command when you want the QR code to appear.

Players with more than one WiFi radio

Some players have two WiFi chips. In that case the setup hotspot runs on the spare radio, so the player can stay online on its main WiFi while you reconfigure it. On a player with a single WiFi radio, the hotspot temporarily takes over that radio and the player restores its previous connection when the hotspot ends.

Security summary

Random, single-use password shown only on the screen.
The setup page only accepts changes from a phone actually joined to the hotspot — it is not reachable from the building's normal network or the internet.
The hotspot turns itself off automatically.