How to: Accessing your router web page

Most customers I come across know an open unsecured network is an invitation for others to waltz and access your network at ease. And by saying that they realize how important it is to have a secured wifi network.

However there are some home networks I stumble across that are WIDE OPEN with no WPA security password AT ALL.

It's the electronic equivalent of leaving your front door open. 

More over may have the ability to access your documents on your laptop/desktop if file & print sharing is enabled. To prevent such an infiltration of unwanted hackers and visitors snooping around your network needs to be secure. This means setting up a password on your network via the router settings web page. 

Take a deep breath...it's fairly simple and takes about 10 minutes to do.


First determine what brand router you have. Likely it's one of the main brand one's such as Linksys, Cisco, Belkin, DLink, or Netgear. You may have to look under the router for the make/model.

Open your favorite web browser. Enter in the IP address of your router. This depends of what brand router you have, however it's very likely either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1. 

Answersthatwork has a great listing of IP addresses, default user names and passwords for most routers out on the market.

If you enter your router IP address and you're prompted for a Username and Password, that's great!! You're one step closer to accessing your router settings and securing your network.

Enter in the default Username and Password. This is where you may have to experiment. Some router manufactures make the default Username as Admin and Password as Admin. It may be the router manufacture name (like Belkin) and password of Admin.

Again Answersthatwork has this listing for the default usernames and passwords.

If you're still unable to login to the router web page, it’s possible that you may need to reset your router back to factory settings to regain access with one of the default IP address/username/password combinations above. 

That’s usually about as easy as finding a depressed button in the back of the router that’s labeled “Reset,” and pressing it with a pen for 30 seconds. try going back to step 2 above and try to log in again.

Once you've logged in successfully in the routers web page you can access several administrative settings concerning your home network. These settings include your network security and password, SSID Name (the name you give your home network), the list of current 'clients' or computers accessing your home network and other functions.

One of the first recommendations I give customers when setting up and configuring wireless networks is ensuring their network is secure with a password. That is typically found under the Security tab on the web page.

The web pages will differ slightly from one manufacture to the next. For more assistance I recommend referring to the support page of the router/modem manufacturer.

Here are a few links to popular router/modem manufactures.

Apple Airport
Belkin
D-Link
Linksys
Netgear
Western Digital

This article originally published 7/7/2012 - SL