Fix UniFi Access Points Not Connecting to Controller Despite Network Visibility

draft · network unificontroller

Generated by docuprocessor (prompt article/v3) · 2026-04-22 12:19

Source thread

thread_id: spaces/AAAA05BdS6s/threads/yet-CxLLnmM · 25 msgs · first 2024-11-07 · participants: Tech ATech BTech C

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:37

@all Hey Guys, I have a network issue with the Shine Dental Group Office, they wifi was completely down and the units were not lighting up, so I asked them to power cycle all of them, they said there are 3 APs, and I see now the wifi showing up in the network lists, Jessica is able to connect to the guest wifi through her phone but the password for the internal wifi is not working and I am not able to connect to any network from FD2, only to a hotspot. It seems like the APs are still offline from the console, I can see there are other 6 ubiquiti devices on a netscan but the ones reflecting in the unifi console are not showing up in the netscan filtering by the ip or mac, I am still concerning about how this is working, I dont see another console, I am on localhost:8443, so any ideas about this situation would be greatly appreciated.

image/png image.png

**UniFi Network Controller — Device List View** Accessed via `https://localhost:8443/manage/default/devices`, the interface shows **2 total devices** (both WiFi, 0 Wired). Both devices — **BACK** (192.168.20.26) and **FRONT** (192.168.20.32) — are listed under Application: **Network** with Status: **Offline** and no Uplink assigned. The browser tab also indicates an active **Fireware Web UI (T25-SHINE_...)** session in a separate tab.

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:40

are the Unifi APs lit up blue now?

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:40

also, you have mentioned 3 APs but the controller only has 2 listed

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:40

they are after unplugged them and plugged them back in

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:41

right, 3 of them are lighting up and one is completely dead based on Jessica

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:41

so, is it total of 4 then?

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:42

is there a FW policy on the server to allow Unifi ports?

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:42

I mean, the 2 that you can see offline in the screenshot + 1 that is dead

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:42

maybe they cannot reach the controller

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:43

not sure why I See then 6 devices here:

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:43

(no text)

image/png image.png

The image shows a network device/ARP table list displaying IP addresses in the 192.168.20.x subnet, associated MAC addresses, and device manufacturers including **Samsung Electronics**, **Ubiquiti Networks Inc.**, and **WatchGuard Technolo...**. One entry is highlighted/selected: **IP 192.168.20.24**, MAC **70:A7:41:A3:68:01**, identified as **Ubiquiti Networks Inc.** Multiple Ubiquiti devices are listed with MACs in the **60:22:xx** and **74:AC:xx** ranges. The final entry shows **192.168.20.254** assigned to **WatchGuard Technolo...** with MAC **00:01:21:66:D5:72**.

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:43

let me check

Tech C 2024-11-07 17:44

ports that should be on fw just in case: 2 tcp 8080, 8443 and 2 udp 3478, 10001

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:45

https://wiki.dentalht.com/en/network/unifi-connection-issues

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:51

there is no policy named for UNIFI and I can reach the console also via http://127.0.0.1:8080/ I see in the firewall policy ports opened 80, 8080, 443, 9443 but not 8443

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:52

are we talking about the Windows firewall?

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:53

also, i am not sure about 8443, 443. Only 2 ports need to be opened

Tech B 2024-11-07 17:54

As a test, you can temporarily turn off the FW on the server and see if you get APs to show up

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:57

on windows firewall I see 2 policies on inbound rules, unifi1 and unifi2, which allows ports 8080/tcp and 3478/udp

Tech A 2024-11-07 17:57

let me try that, one sec

Tech A 2024-11-07 18:27

right so I disable the firewall, and also tried to update the network app and controller doesnt have any firmware update pending, and unfortunately it is still not working, :(

Tech B 2024-11-07 18:40

@Albert Khaydatov any ideas?

Tech B 2024-11-07 18:41

because I can only think of resetting the APs and reconfiguring them

Tech B 2024-11-07 19:30

@Kevin Lopez please call Boris, ext 128 and tell him what you have done and see what he can suggest doing.

Tech A 2024-11-07 19:42

Boris told that will have to be handled on-site

---
title: "Fix UniFi Access Points Not Connecting to Controller Despite Network Visibility"
category: network
tags: ["unifi", "controller"]
source_thread_id: "spaces/AAAA05BdS6s/threads/yet-CxLLnmM"
source_space: "spaces/AAAA05BdS6s"
generated_at: "2026-04-22T12:19:56"
participants: ["Tech A", "Tech B", "Tech C"]
---

# Fix UniFi Access Points Not Connecting to Controller Despite Network Visibility

## Problem

UniFi access points at a client office were completely down after a power issue. After power cycling, the APs showed blue lights and WiFi networks became visible, but the access points remained offline in the UniFi controller console. The controller at `localhost:8443` showed 2 devices (BACK at 192.168.20.26 and FRONT at 192.168.20.32) with status "Offline" and no uplink assigned. Network scanning revealed 6 Ubiquiti devices on the 192.168.20.x subnet, but the specific IPs and MACs from the controller were not found in the network scan. Guest WiFi was accessible, but internal WiFi password authentication failed.

## Resolution

1. Verify Windows Firewall has proper UniFi port exceptions:
   - TCP port 8080
   - UDP port 3478
   - Optionally TCP port 8443 and UDP port 10001

2. As a diagnostic test, temporarily disable Windows Firewall on the server to rule out port blocking issues

3. Check for UniFi Network application and controller firmware updates in the console

4. If access points remain offline after firewall and update checks, the issue likely requires on-site intervention to reset and reconfigure the access points

Note: In this case, disabling the firewall and checking for updates did not resolve the connectivity issue, requiring on-site support.

## References
- Source discussion: `spaces/AAAA05BdS6s/threads/yet-CxLLnmM`
- Attachments:
  - ![image.png](../attachments/yet-CxLLnmM.Eep03XBxDVk/image.png) — The image shows a network device/ARP table list displaying IP addresses in the 192.168.20.x subnet, associated MAC addresses, and device manufacturers including **Samsung Electronics**, **Ubiquiti Networks Inc.**, and **WatchGuard Technolo...**. One entry is highlighted/selected: **IP 192.168.20.24**, MAC **70:A7:41:A3:68:01**, identified as **Ubiquiti Networks Inc.** Multiple Ubiquiti devices are listed with MACs in the **60:22:xx** and **74:AC:xx** ranges. The final entry shows **192.168.20.254** assigned to **WatchGuard Technolo...** with MAC **00:01:21:66:D5:72**.
  - ![image.png](../attachments/yet-CxLLnmM.yet-CxLLnmM/image.png) — **UniFi Network Controller — Device List View** Accessed via `https://localhost:8443/manage/default/devices`, the interface shows **2 total devices** (both WiFi, 0 Wired). Both devices — **BACK** (192.168.20.26) and **FRONT** (192.168.20.32) — are listed under Application: **Network** with Status: **Offline** and no Uplink assigned. The browser tab also indicates an active **Fireware Web UI (T25-SHINE_...)** session in a separate tab.

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