Change Linksys WRT54G admin password

Kewop Decam

How do I change it so the password isn't "admin"? I've been googling it, but only found how to change the password to connect to the router.

capnrico

I'm confused. What other password would you need to change?

Kewop Decam

Whoa, Ain't see you in a long bit Rico.

I want to change the password to access the router because at a condo I rent out one of the tenants keeps logging in and changing the setup to unsecured cause he's a jackass.

Trentus

When you're on the configuration page thingy, cick on Administration, and it should be under the first tab it displays, which is Management.

Zeon

You can also change the name of the router, and then change it so it doesnt broadcast an SSID, thatll keep him from even finding it. Youll still be able to connect to it if you manually enter the name of the network on all of your devices, or alternatively, turn SSID broadcast back on for a few minutes whenever you need to connect a new device, and then turn it back off once the device is connected. Thats what i do, because some worthless fuck in the neighborhood was crashing my router with join requests.

capnrico

Yeah lolbant. Anyway, just changing the password to access the router should really be all you'll need to do.

Another thing I did was change it so the IP to access the router was something other than the default. Of course if he's at all smart, he can bypass all of this by just holding in the reset button for a bit, but let's hope that doesn't happen

Trentus

Zeon wrote: »

You can also change the name of the router, and then change it so it doesnt broadcast an SSID, thatll keep him from even finding it. Youll still be able to connect to it if you manually enter the name of the network on all of your devices, or alternatively, turn SSID broadcast back on for a few minutes whenever you need to connect a new device, and then turn it back off once the device is connected. Thats what i do, because some worthless fuck in the neighborhood was crashing my router with join requests.

Actually, this isn't the best form of security. When a client connects to the wireless network, the SSID is transmitted in an unencrypted form. If you sniff the wireless traffic, you can capture it when a client connects. There are also ways to force the router to disconnect and reconnect a client, which would reveal the SSID if you were sniffing the traffic.

It's best to use another form of authentication in conjunction with hiding the SSID. Even WEP would be better than nothing at all. You can find the settings for these under Wireless>Wireless Security.

Kewop Decam

thanks.

LOCK

Zeon

Trentus wrote: »

Zeon wrote: »

You can also change the name of the router, and then change it so it doesnt broadcast an SSID, thatll keep him from even finding it. Youll still be able to connect to it if you manually enter the name of the network on all of your devices, or alternatively, turn SSID broadcast back on for a few minutes whenever you need to connect a new device, and then turn it back off once the device is connected. Thats what i do, because some worthless fuck in the neighborhood was crashing my router with join requests.

Actually, this isn't the best form of security. When a client connects to the wireless network, the SSID is transmitted in an unencrypted form. If you sniff the wireless traffic, you can capture it when a client connects. There are also ways to force the router to disconnect and reconnect a client, which would reveal the SSID if you were sniffing the traffic.

It's best to use another form of authentication in conjunction with hiding the SSID. Even WEP would be better than nothing at all. You can find the settings for these under Wireless>Wireless Security.

I use security, but by having my SSID out there, some idiot was flooding my router with join request without actually ever getting on the network. Im picturing some sort of program that just tries to connect forever with random passwords. Changing my SSID and then turning the broadcast off solved that problem, because the fucker cant see my network and he doesnt know the name to scan for.

I admit if hes really persistent then he could start it up again using the ways you mentioned, but thankfully he isnt, or hes just stupid. Either way it worked out pretty well and its going to be the way i have my network set up as long as i need to do it wirelessly.

thej3w

If your neighbor keeps logging onto your router and changing it back to unsecure. Then I would assume you are using WEP? If so change that to WPA or greater.

It sounds like he is cracking your WEP password, then logging into the router and making it unsecure so everyone else can use it. By changing the password to the router, he will still be able to connect and use your internet. Also, depending on what version of firmware that router is running, you can change the password without even logging into it. So I'd recommend upgrading the firmware either to the latest Linksys or a 3rd party such as dd-wrt.

Also, if you upgrade it to the dd-wrt, you can set it so that a reset doesn't work. Meaning the reset switch on the bottom no matter how long it is held, won't reset the router to it's defaults.