Tenda Default Router Passwords

Tenda is a Shenzhen manufacturer of low-cost routers and range extenders.

The admin page on most Tenda units answers at http://192.168.0.1, or at tendawifi.com 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.

admin is the username on 2 of the 3 entries. One entry asks for no username at all. Where one is set, admin comes up most often, on 2 entries.

2 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.

There is a recessed reset button on the back or underneath that needs a straightened paperclip. Hold it in for thirty seconds with the unit powered on. Let go when the lights change pattern, and give it a couple of minutes to come back up.

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.