The Wi-Fi router frequently has a fairly poorly-regressed firmware. Therefore, using the router in the long term without any reset can make it slow. However, “How to reset a router” may be a hard question.
It’s the reason why we are here. This article is a complete guide to help you discriminate between the reboot and reset, then give the easiest way to reset your router. Let’s begin.
How to Reset a Router
First, you must know that the resetting will change all of your information to the factory settings. So, ensure you certainly need to do that.
The following setting will be changed when resetting:
- Firstly, The Administration account.
- Second, a Wi-Fi account.
- ISP username and password.
- All of the port forwards you have set up.
- Any firewall settings, when you reset success, you need to update it again.
- Of course, any configuration changes will be back to the defaults.
This is a serious business, do it with caution. However, don’t worry too much; just follow the guide below to make it easier.
Related: How To Reset Linksys Router?
Method 1: Physical access
This is the easiest method if you don’t want to use any software on your computer, or you simply can not log in to the router’s reset page. It will take a few seconds.
Find the reset button
Most of the Wi-Fi router has the small reset button in the back. Don’t confuse the reboot button. It is also at the back of the device, which is the small recessed pinhole and has a RESET word.
Generally, you will wait until the lights change on the front of your router. Depending on the model or the brand, the lights may start blinking or change from blinking to solid. Pay attention to it; when you see the change of the light, the reset is successful.
In case your router is an old model that doesn’t have the reset button, you can reset it by the router’s reset page on your browser.
Method 2: Reset your device on the router’s reset page
This method is used when your device doesn’t have any reset button, or it was broken. Don’t worry if you don’t have any knowledge about it. Just follow step by step in the guide. Let’s check it.
Find the router’s internal IP address
When resetting your device, it can only be done on the router’s reset page. Typically, the router’s internal IP address is provided by the technicians or is backed up in your browser.
Nevertheless, If you don’t remember it and can’t find it on the browser, you can get the IP in the Run dialogue.
You can not get the IP of your router if you don’t have any connection with it, right?
So, ensure your computer is connected with the Wi-Fi router. Of course, turn it on.
Now, open the Run dialogue by pressing the key combination Window+R. When it appears, type cmd on the space then ENTER to open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type IPconfig into this window and press Enter to see more detail about the network.
Now, it will give you a lot of information. Scroll down and find the Default Gateway line.
The router’s internal IP address is located here, after the colon. This step is really important, each router brand has a different IP address, ensure you copy it carefully to log in to the router’s reset page.
Read more: How To Find Your IP Address?
Access to the router’s reset page.
Open your browser( google chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc.) and paste (Ctrl + V) the IP address you have found in the search bar. Press Enter to open the router’s reset page.
In this step, you will need the Administration password and username.
In case you have to change it before, using this account to login to this page. On the contrary, you have no idea about the Administration account, never fear. Follow these methods to get it.
Read the router’s manual: The different models may provide different account information. So, find the router’s manual and look for it. In case you lost the manual, you can search your model and” manual” or just your Wi-Fi mode and” defaults account” on the internet.
Find the box or the stick on your router: With some model, you only receive a unique password, username on the box, or printed in the sticker. So, read it carefully to find your account.
Try the defaults username and password: With most of the brands, they generally use “admin” for both username and password. Try to type admin username and a blank password, or use “admin” for both of them. I bet it can work for most of the Wi-Fi models.
Check it in RouterPasswords.com page:: Don’t worry if you can’t find it in any way above. Click on the http://www.routerpasswords.com/, when it is completed loading, select your router manufacturer. Then scroll down to look for your model.
See Also: How To Recover Your Router Username And Password?
Use the third software to find the Admin Login Password
This method is used in case you have to change the admin login password but forget them. Using RouterPassView software is an idea.
Most of the router will back up the admin information after the first login and save them in a particular file. Consequently, the RouterPassView is a splendid tool that can decrypt the encrypted password and give you the right information.
First, you must download the RouterPassView here.
This software doesn’t require any setup process. To start using, just double click on the RouterPassView.exe file.
When the software window appears, you can access the configuration file by the ‘Open Router Config File’ option (Using the key combination Ctrl+O to open tab). Or just drop the config file to the RouterPassView main window.
Then, wait for a few seconds to decrypt the file. If it completely finds the username a password, you will receive all of the admin accounts in the RouterPassView main window.
On the contrary, if it can identify any information, it’s going to stay empty.
In addition, you can’t find your admin accounts in the list, locate it by pressing F3 to switch to Ascii Text Mode or F4 to change to Hex Dump Text Mode
*Serious note: This method only is used when you have the config file. If you don’t know about it, try another way.
In my experience, you should back up the config file as soon as you can to avoid any account problems.
Open to the router’s access page by typing the IP in the address. At the Administration tab, click on backup to file to save all of the settings in the individual file. This file is the config file used for the RouterPassView.
Login to the router’s reset page
When you open the IP address, the account window appears that requires your information.
Next, fill the username and password you have found in the right fields and click on ‘’log-in’’ or press ENTER.
Reset the router
It’s the final step to reset your device. Follow these steps carefully.
Click on the System or System Tools tag -> Factory Defaults or Restore Defaults (in some models). Select Restore Factory Defaults the Restore to finish your process.
Finally, click OK or YES in case your router notice reset process will back all settings to the factory defaults, including all customizations.
The difference between reset and reboot
Before answering the ‘’How to reset a router’’ question, you need to clearly understand the difference between two processes.
Rebooting the wifi means you just cycle the router power to it. It is a simple process when you need to update the firmware or simply reset the connection.
Besides, the resetting is not only cycling the power, but it is also more complicated than the rebooting process. It means you will change all of the settings back to default. In my experience, it virtually needs to be reset every few months.
Without further ado, let’s begin to reset your router!
Read more: Default Router Username and Password List
Conclusion
Now, you have known all of the things about ‘’how to reset a router’’ question and the difference between rebooting and resetting.
In my experience, you should reset your device every few months to guarantee it works smoothly and doesn’t forget to regularly update the firmware.
If you have any questions during the reset process, leave them in the comment so I can answer as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading.
