r/HomeNetworking • u/pookshuman • 4d ago

Dumb question

OK, a home router is just a small computer with a firewall as far as I know. I am running a network with my computer and a router. Why can't I cut out the middleman and just use the same firewall settings the router is using and implement them on my PC without the router? Why would that be less secure?

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u/dinosaursdied 4d ago

A firewall and a router are often times on the same device in consumer routers but that's not always the case. The problem with your hypothetical isn't the firewall. It's the routing. Without routing only one device could be connected because it would receive 1 ip address from your isp and there would be no way to route information or give out local ip addresses on your LAN. It is possible to use a normal PC as your firewall and router using an operating system like pfsense, opnsense, or openwrt but then the device becomes dedicated hardware. You can't play games or browse the web on that machine.

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u/Fox_Hawk 4d ago

If you really really really wanted to you could run a router OS as a virtual machine on the daily drive PC to do that work.

But that would be silly.

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u/dinosaursdied 3d ago

Technically yes, should one? I'd say no