How to Login to a router and Access the Settings page
The router's web interface is where all the settings are configured. To access it you will need to know the following things:
- Access to the network of the router or modem. (Wifi or Ethernet cable are both fine)
- Your router's IP address
-
Your router's default username and password
(usually a combination of
admin,user&password)
If any of the following is your router/modem brand, press the link to get better instructions that are related to your specific brand:
ASUS AT&T Arris BT Belkin CenturyLink Cisco D-Link EE Hitron Huawei Linksys Motorola Netgear Plusnet Sagemcom TP-LINK Technicolor Tenda Ubee Verizon Virgin Media Xfinity Xiaomi
Step 1: Figure out your router's IP address
To be able to access the web interface you'll need the router IP, also known as the Default gateway address.
It can be aqcuired in several ways, and depending on what device you are using the instructions might differ.
a) Use an automatic tool
This is the most recommended way, as it will require least know-how and give you the IP address in a short time.
Head over to whatsmyrouterip.com and take note of the Router Private IP that gets listed.
You can also click the Open link next to the IP, and see if any page loads. Otherwise click the orange button saying No, continue probing.
b) Manually with commands
Depending on your operating system there is specific instructions.
Read our guide on How to Find Your Router’s IP Address on Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone and Linux to get the needed commands.
Step 2: Figure out your router's credentials
If you already know your router's username and password you can skip this step.
I haven't changed the username/password
If the default credentials haven't been changed they can be easily found from the router manual, or by checking the default credentials for your model.
Go to the router password lookup page to search for your model's default credentials.
The username/password is changed, but I don't know what it is
Unless you can figure out what the password has been changed to, the only way to get it reset to the defaults is to reset your router to the default settings. Once this is done you can use the default as described to the left
Before you go ahead and reset your router there are some things you can try
- See if the username/password is written on the sticket on the bottom/backside of your device
- If the modem/router is provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), contact them and ask if they have the devices locked.
Step 3: Open the router web interface
With the IP address figured out from step 1, you can now open your favorite web browser and point it to http://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd (insert your own IP) and press enter.
(If you omit the http://-part, many browsers nowadays might try to search the web instead.)
Step 4: Login
Once loaded, you should be presented with a page asking for username and password. In some cases it might only ask for username and in some cases only a password, this all depends on the make and model you have.
Fill in the credentials you aqcuired in step 2 and press login.
That's it! If everything is correct, you will now be presented with your router's configuration page where you can do changes.
Conclusion
You now know how to login to your router and can easily change settings like firewall rules and port forwarding.
When making changes in the admin interface, it is wise to write down the previous values so that you can revert them in case something stops working.
