Today's post is one recurring issue I fixed in my first company. During my Computer Science and Engineering graduation, one ISP hired me as a support engineer during my internship.
They trained me in network devices in the SOHO sector. For those who don't know SOHO, it is the short form of Small Office Home Office.
SOHO = Small Office Home Office
After the training, they assigned me to the ISP technical support division.
Most of the time in SOHO customer care service, I received calls regarding issues with lost router passwords.
The complaints were like the customer forgot his router password, she could not log in to her wireless router, or the password she set for the router was no longer working, etc.
Most calls have a similar pattern. The customer set a different password for their wireless routers by changing the default password.
Later, they failed to recall the password from memory. They need a way to recover their lost router password.
Can I Recover a Lost Router Password?
I regularly receive support requests with this question. If you read the comment section, you can read support requests from Kesav Verma and Ashwini Vaishnaw with the same question.
Unfortunately, routers in the standard Small Office Home Office devices category have no password recovery procedure like on high-end routers.
So, practically, we cannot recover the lost password and save the current router settings. However, we have a process to follow in case of a lost modem/router password.
To learn the router and modem password recovery process, follow the guide below.
Home Router Password Recovery Procedure
Heera Vasudev asked in the comment section whether CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions offers a home wireless router password recovery tool. Our company does not have such a tool for home WiFi devices, but the following procedure will assist her. Ashwini Vaishnaw also asked a similar question. The following procedure will answer Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Check for the Old Router Password
In this step, we should try to pick the old router password from either memory or written documents.
For an average user, there is a chance that he may write down the router password in his diary or other papers. Another workaround is to ask the customer to use word combinations (words with significant importance in his life).
I understand that it is a frustrating step for many people. However, we should not avoid this step. You can read a comment from Sudhin Vivek about how this method saved him from resetting the router. He found the password from his diary after reading this post.
Try the Default Username and Password to log in to the router
Sometimes, the user may never change his default router username and password. You might feel strange, but about 50 percent of the customers I assisted didn't bother changing the default router password.
The default username and password is a combination of admin.
So, try the default username and password to log in. Team CoreNetworkZ created the default router password combination for you. Have a look at the possible combinations below.
Username Password admin admin admin admin
Allow me to explain the default router and model password combination.
Try both username and password as admin.
The username is admin. The password field is blank.
The username is blank, and the password is admin.
Technicians may leave the default login credentials during the configuration. So, I strongly recommend you try the above combination. One comment from Divya Mary John confirmed it.
Reset Router Settings
Let us learn the final procedure to recover the forgotten modem and router password. If the above two options won't work, the last one is to reset and reconfigure your router.
It is the last step, and this process will erase all custom router settings. To know the steps to reset your router, click the link below.
Reference
Today, you learned to recover or reset the forgotten modem and router password. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. To learn more, visit the following links.
- How to Change Verizon WiFi Name & Password Manually?
- https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/content/en-us15930388/
- https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1550/
- https://kb.netgear.com/24220/How-do-I-recover-my-NETGEAR-admin-password-using-the-password-recovery-feature
hats off man, I was beginning to think i lost my Airtel router forever. Airtel guy installed a modem on my house and left once he connected internet. I was looking for a way to change wireless but i could not login the airtel modem. It says i need authentication to sign in. Airtel guy told me some passwords but none worked so far. So he said just be happy with the current settings for this week and he will come home next Monday. Thanks to you I sign in and changed wireless on my airtel modem.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex, for this post. I thought I lost my Internet router password. After reading this guide, I remembered writing the password in my diary. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteHello Sudhin,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
I am glad to say that your tip worked. I followed your second tip and checked the router manual. Now, I can open the router management page. Thank you, Alex George, for this helpful guide.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear it, Divya.
DeleteHello Alex George,
ReplyDeleteIt is a helpful tutorial, but the first two solutions did not work for me. I had to reset the modem and reconfigure a new password.
Hello Kerem,
DeleteI understand your situation. Sometimes, the third solution is the only option left.
Hello Alex George,
ReplyDeleteMy brother shifted to Canada for higher studies, and I used the WiFi modem he left. I want to change the WiFi key, but cannot open the WiFi management page. It keeps asking for the modem password, which I do not know. How do I bypass the password authentication? Please answer me quickly.
Hello Ashwini,
DeleteYou should follow the router password recovery procedure I explained in this tutorial.
Hello Alex,
ReplyDeleteDoes your company offer any WiFi router password recovery tools?
Hello Heera,
DeleteCoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions offers a router password recovery tool for only enterprise routers. For home routers, I suggest you follow my router password recovery procedure in this guide.