Despite their importance, routers rarely get even a small fraction of the attention they deserve. In fact, most people don’t even know how to access router settings.
The reasons are numerous:
To access your router as an administrator, you need to follow these simple steps:
As you can see, learning how to access your router as an administrator is pretty easy. The only problem is that most people don’t know the right admin login information, so they get stuck at the last step. Fortunately, there are several ways how you can get around this problem, and we describe them in detail in the next chapter of this article.
If you can’t access your router because you don’t know the right admin username and password combination, we recommend you try a few common router username and password combinations to see if one them works:
For a more comprehensive list of router usernames and password, we recommend you visit Default Router Password List. The site maintains a comprehensive database of routers along with corresponding login information.
Let’s say you don’t know how to access Netgear router. All you have to do is select Netgear as your router manufacturer, choose the correct model, and use the provided login information to access your router. If you can’t find your exact model on the site, don’t worry. Most router manufacturers use the same login information across all models.
Alternatively, you could reset your router to its default settings:
If you can't reach the login screen no matter which router IP address you try, you should first find out what your router IP is. In most cases, a simple Google search will give you the right answer. If it doesn’t, we recommend you contact either your internet service provider (ISP) or your router manufacturer.
Next, open Control Panel and search for “network.” Under Network and Sharing Center, click on View Network Connections. Right-click on your internet adapter and choose Properties. Scroll down the list to find Internet Protocol Version 4. Select it and click the Properties button again. Make sure the “Obtain an IP address automatically” option is selected.
Now go back to the first section of this article and repeat the steps to access your router as an administrator. If you still can’t access your router, there’s a chance that you’re dealing with a hardware issue. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell for sure without access to professional diagnostics equipment, so your best bet is to leave more involved repairs to trained professionals.
You should learn how to access your router settings because you never know when you encounter a problem that won’t be possible to solve just by turning the router off and on again. Even though there are countless different routers on the market, you can access most of them by following the same series of steps, which we’ve described in detail in this article.
