Getting Around the Netgear Setup Wizard

This information applies to the Netgear model WGR614 v6. It may also apply to other models, but I have only tested these steps with the WGR614 v6. If you discover this information applies to other Netgear models, I would appreciate it if you leave a comment about that model.

Update: Visitors have notified me that his solution also works with the following models:
WGR614 v7
DG834G v4

When you plug in and turn on the Netgear router for the first time, it is configured with an IP address of 192.168.1.1 and, as usual, DHCP is enabled. This allows you to plug in a computer and get an IP address from the router so you can connect to the web-based configuration interface.

When you open a web browser and visit http://192.168.1.1/ you are redirected to http://www.routerlogin.net/welcome.htm. A setup wizard is started. This wizard looks for an Internet Connection and if it doesn't find one, it will put you in an endless loop, bringing you back to the start of the wizard until you have an internet connection available. This is, to say the least, very annoying and very bad design.

To skip the setup wizard and go straight to the configuration interface, change the URL in your browser to http://192.168.1.1/basicsetting.htm. Now you will see the familiar setup page. There is however a catch. If you go ahead and make all your changes and close the browser, you'll be stuck! The changes you made wouldn't have taken effect and if you try to visit http://192.168.1.1/ to configure the router again, you will automatically be redirected to http://www.routerlogin.net/, which will fail to open. So how do you fix this?

Well, if you're already stuck in this endless loop, press the reset button to reset the router configuration to the defaults. Then follow the steps to get around the setup wizard and then follow these steps before anything else:

  1. Click Setup Wizard
  2. Choose "No, I want to configure the router myself."
  3. Click Next
  4. CLICK APPLY AT THE BOTTOM!

If you don't follow those steps, the router assumes it has never been configured. Even if you took the time to configure and enable your wireless settings, the wireless won't be enabled and you might go crazy trying to figure out why (like I did).

Hello, future.

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22 Comments

    • I was wondering if you can help me out resolving a problem a have. The problem is I bought router it’s the N300 wireless router WNR200v3 I was abel to install it and my internet was working fine. Untill one day I accidentally unplug the plugcord that my modem and router were connected to. So I plug in back in. My surprise was that when I try to use my wii it said there was no Internet connection. So I went to my wii settings and try to reinstall the Internet and I was not Abel to. Then when I used my iPhone wi-fi it said it wasn’t Abel to get Internet connection. So what I did was to run the hard disk the router came with cause I’ve though it had gotten dis program. However when I open the router page it said the router was working fine the problem was that it had lost Internet connection so my laptop diagnose the problem and it said the wired that cone ta the router to the modem was broken. So I follow the step to inwired the both things and how to rewire them using a different wired to connect them. And it still says the same. I don’t know what to do please help me

      Reply to Alma

      • Hi Alma,

        It sounds like the problem is with your Internet Service Provider, not with your router or modem. I suggest you call whoever provides your Internet connection.

        Reply to Raam

  5. Thank you very much from Michele, Italy!
    I bought it to use it as a wireless router only, it costed less than one without ADSL, and I taught I just would not use the modem and only use the wireless part… Instead, I was stuck with this very STUPID setup…
    So thanks again
    Michele

    Reply to Michele

  7. Thank you! It’s New Year’s Eve, and I had just killed the router by hard-resetting
    it. You just saved my bacon.

    Btw, if you have made any settings changes on a v6 before reading this, you don’t
    have to reset. Just go to the wizard, choose to set options yourself, and be sure to hit apply on the very next page that crops up. That then enables config mode, with whatever changes live made retained.

    Reply to Damian

  9. Works with all DG834 versions, however pleas eb advised that the reset process for some DG834 invoolves an agonising wait for over 4 minutes with the power button flashing green and red…. and so on and so forth!!!!

    Reply to Mags

  10. After spending close to four hours attempting to solve a problem with my modem by trying every piece of advice I could find on the web – ironically, much of it from the Netgear site itself – I met with no success. When I clicked on this page I found that both my problem and my modem were different than what was being discussed, but my problem was of a very similar nature, and your advice made sense so I decided to give it a try. I was connected to the internet about ten-seconds later. Thank you very much, and I am definitely saving this page in my “best advice” bookmark for future reference. Peace.

    Reply to DJ

    • I’m so happy you found this useful! 🙂 Thank you for letting me know.

      Could you tell me what modem you have and what the problem this fixed so that I can update this post and mention it here for others?

      Reply to Raam

  11. It’s not working for me. When I type that basic setting address it still keeps trying to check for internet connection and going back to IP address/genie_index.htm

    Reply to Josh

    • Hey Josh,

      I’m sorry this didn’t work for you. I wrote this 9 years ago and I’m no longer using a Netgear router (I’m using an Apple AirPort Express), so I don’t have any suggestions for you.

      Reply to Raam

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