Lock your router's settings page and turn on automatic updates

Replace your router's factory admin login, switch on automatic firmware updates, turn off remote access and check nothing was changed.

This guide walks you through replacing the factory login on your home router's settings page with a strong password of your own. It also covers switching on automatic firmware updates, turning off remote access from the internet, and checking that nobody has already changed your settings.

Why bother

Your Wi-Fi password and your router's admin password are two different things. The Wi-Fi password only lets devices join the network. The admin password guards the settings page that controls everything else. Anyone on your network who can open that page, whether a guest or a malware-infected laptop, can change things like these:

The DNS servers, which can quietly send you to fake banking or login sites. Malwarebytes documented malware that tried default router logins from an infected PC and then did exactly this.
Port forwarding and remote management, which can open your network to the internet.
The Wi-Fi password, which can lock you out.
The firmware itself.

Default logins are often published online. Firmware updates fix known holes in the router's software.

Before you start

Time: 20 to 40 minutes.

What you need:

A phone, tablet or computer connected to your home network (a cable is best for firmware updates)
The sticker on the router, or its manual
A password manager, or paper you will keep somewhere safe at home

Checked on 15 October 2026 against the makers' own support pages listed under Sources. Menu names vary by model and firmware version. If yours differ, search your exact model number on the maker's support site.

If your internet provider supplied the router, some settings may be locked. Follow the provider's help pages instead.

Steps

1 Find your router's login page

Look at the sticker on the router first. It usually shows the web address and the factory login. Common addresses:

NETGEAR: https://www.routerlogin.net
TP-Link: http://tplinkwifi.net (DSL modem routers: tplinkmodem.net), or your router's address, printed on its label
ASUS: http://www.asusrouter.com
FRITZ!Box: http://fritz.box

If there's no sticker, find the router's address (the "default gateway") on a device that's on your network:

Windows: open Command Prompt, type the command below and look for Default Gateway.

ipconfig

Mac: open Terminal, type the command below and read the gateway line.

route -n get default

iPhone: Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the ⓘ next to your network, and look for Router.
Android: open your Wi-Fi network's details and look for Gateway or Router (labels vary by phone).

Type that address into your browser. You should see a login page with your router's brand on it. A "not secure" warning is normal for many routers' local pages.

Mesh systems run from an app (eero, Google Nest Wifi, TP-Link Deco) often have no web page. Your "admin login" is the account you use in the app. Give that account a strong, unique password and turn on two-step verification if the service offers it. Then continue at Step 4.

2 Log in and check whether the factory login still works

Log in with the details on the sticker or in the manual. For example, NETGEAR's factory login is user name admin and password password, both case-sensitive.

If the factory login works, anyone on your network can do what you're about to do. If it doesn't and nobody in the household changed it, treat that as a warning sign and do Step 6 carefully.

Many newer routers ship with a unique random password. Anyone who sees the sticker can read it, so replace it anyway.