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.

Routers are the true workhorses of our digital era. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to easily connect multiple devices to a single network and enjoy the internet from anywhere.

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:

Troubleshoot problems: Not all router problems can be solved by turning the router on and off. Sometimes it’s necessary to dig deeper into the router’s settings and solve the problem there.

Change settings Modern routers have a whole host of settings that you can change and tweak to get better speeds and improved security.

Study usage statistics: If your internet connection is metered, you should learn how to access your router so you can check how much of your data allowance you have left and see who the most active internet users on your network are.

Upgrade to a newer firmware: Routers may not be as complex as your Windows or Mac computer, but they still require regular updates to offer protection against the latest security threats.

To access your router as an administrator, you need to follow these simple steps:

1. Connect your computer to the router via an Ethernet cable.

Wireless connection may work as well, but many routers don’t expose their admin interface over Wi-Fi for security reasons.

2. Find out what the IP address of your router is and type it in the address bar of your favorite web browser.

Most common router IP addresses include 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.2.1

If they don’t work, you need to discover the address manually.

On Windows: Click on Start → type CMD in the search box → select Command Prompt → a new window opens → type “ipconfig” and hit enter. You will see your router IP address next to Default Gateway.

On Mac: Go to Utilities → select Terminal → type “netstat -nr | grep default” and hit enter. You will see the IP address next to “default.”

3. Enter the admin login information to access your router as an administrator.

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:

Common router usernames: admin, root, administrator, user

Common router passwords: admin, password, 1234, 12345, unknown, router, cisco, default, cable, root, telekom

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:

Locate the Reset button. It should be somewhere on the back of your router.

Use the pointed end of a paperclip or similar object to press and hold the Reset button for at least 10 seconds. Do this with the router powered on.

Wait for the router to fully reset and power back on.

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.

WiFi analyzer app runs on a MacBook (macOS 11+) or any laptop (Windows 7/8/10/11) with a standard 802.11be/ax/ac/n/g/a/b wireless network adapter. Read more about the 802.11be support here.

If you want to get more information about Wi-Fi, check out the following articles about Wi-Fi routers, the best apps for wireless networking, WiFi signal, etc.