Netgear Default Router Passwords

NETGEAR sells home and small-business networking equipment, and has done since it was spun out of Bay Networks in 1996. The NETGEAR records here run across the MR-, ReadyNAS, DG-, FR- and GSM- lines.

The admin page on most NETGEAR units answers at http://192.168.0.1, or at routerlogin.net if the router is handling your DNS. If that address does not load, the router is whatever your computer lists as its default gateway — ipconfig on Windows or ipconfig getoption en0 router on a Mac will tell you.

Older NETGEAR units answer on 192.168.0.1; some DSL models in the DG and DM lines use 192.168.1.1 instead.

admin is the username on 32 of the 42 entries. 6 of them ask for no username at all. 3 of them shipped with no password at all.

Where one is set, password comes up most often, on 24 entries. There are 8 different passwords across the NETGEAR set, so check your exact model rather than assuming. 31 of them are reached over a protocol that puts the password on the wire in clear text, so work from a machine on the same wired network rather than across the internet, and change the password once you are in.

Press and hold the Reset button on the back or side with a straightened paperclip for about 15 seconds (NETGEAR support). Try NETGEAR password recovery first: enter a wrong login three times, then the serial number and your security answers.

A reset clears more than the password. The Wi-Fi name and key go back to what is printed on the label, port forwards and firewall rules are discarded, and any static addressing is lost. Photograph the settings pages first — it takes two minutes and saves an evening.