Setting a router for the office, you may always say “call to John and let him setup the router”!
John is a network engineer, so that you know he can do this.
But, how about setting a router for your home?
John will not go to your home to setup it. You may not want to pay for this case, just a router setting.
This moment, you must do yourself.
So, how to install your router? How to connect to your router? We are going to give you the steps of wired and wireless router settings.
1. Wired Router Setting
Step 1: How to Connect a Router to PC?
Now we prepare a router, a PC and a RJ-45 cable.
First, power the router by any home power supply. Then, you will find the router’s indicators shining. It means the router can work now.
Secondly, Connect the PC and router’s LAN port by the RJ-45 cable. You’d better not connect the WAN now. The router must be configured.
Thirdly, you need to configure your PC’s network card. Configure the PC to obtain IP address and DNS automatically.
Step 2: How to Configure a Router?
Finish connecting the physical cable, now you need to configure the router.
(1) Navigate to your router.
Open a new browser window. In the address bar, type the IP address of your router. This depends on your browser’s configuration, but it is usually one of the following:
192.168.0.1
192.168.1.1
10.0.0.1
10.0.1.1
The address of different manufacturers’ routers may be different. You can find the IP address from the router’s label.
This picture is a ZyXEL router’s back panel. The label is on it.
(2) Log in to the web interface.
If you successfully navigate to your router, you will see a login prompt, which will look different depending on your model of router and which browser you’re using. It may look as simple as the example below.
At this prompt, you should enter your router’s administrator username and password. The name and password of different manufacturers’ routers may be different. You can find these information from the router’s label.
(3) Access to all the configurable options on your router.
If you access the interface, you can configure your router now.
Pay attention that you must be careful when changing the configuration because your network will be damaged if you change something you don’t understand. You can find a piece of paper to write down your changes.
This image is a ASUS router’s web interface.
How to configure?
There are some setup sections. You may find these:
WAN (or Internet):
Most of the time you should use the Auto setting for this section. However, some ISPs might require special settings; in those cases you can enter them here.
LAN (or Network settings):
This is where you can change the local network settings, including the default IP address of the router itself. (Note that if you change the router’s default IP address, which is recommended for security reason, you’ll then need to use the new address to access the router’s web interface.) Here you can also change the range of IP addresses used for local clients, and add clients to the DHCP Reservation list. Once on this list, the clients’ IP addresses will remain the same, which is required for some internet applications. Most of the time, you don’t need to change anything in this section at all.
Tools (or Administration) section
Admin password (or Password): Change the router’s password. This is the password required when you log in the router’s web interface.
System:
Where you can back up the current settings of the router to a file, or restore settings from a file; update the router’s firmware; and so on. It’s always helpful to back up the router’s settings before you make changes.
You may firstly configure the WAN configuration according to your WAN services supplier. What account and password that supplier supports you, type them to connect the WAN services. Then choose the automatically connecting selection.
Now you can try to connect your router to the WAN modem by network cable. Before that, you may need to restart your router because of your change.
Tips:
If you make a mistake configuring your router, or if you can’t log in with your router’s default username and password, you can reset your router to its factory default settings. Find the reset button and hold in this button for a certain number of seconds will reset the router to its original settings. Ten seconds is usually enough.
Here, we find a Video from the Internet to help: How to Set Up a Router
htps://www.youtube.com/embed/r7FxORx05Ns?ecver=1
2. Wireless Router Setting
You need to prepare a wireless router and a PC with wireless network card.
Step 1: Confirm your PC’s wireless network card are on.
Different computers has different hot keys to control the network card. You can hit the hot keys or configure on the control panel.
Step 2: Configure your wireless network card.
Find your wireless network card setting. Configure the PC to obtain IP address and DNS automatically.
Step 3: Connect your wireless router
Power your wireless router.
Turn on your WiFi of the PC.
Then click the connect button on your WiFi interface of your PC. There will be a prompt to let you type the PIN code.
Step 4: Configure your wireless router
Like configuring your wired router, you need to log in to the web interface. Change the configuration. Change the WAN configuration or other necessary things. Be careful when you change.
Step 5: Secure your wireless network.
Most modern routers support multiple kinds of wireless encryption. Use WPA or WPA2 to ensure that your network key will remain uncrackable. Pick a combination of letters and numbers to make the password strong. Users will need to enter this password on their devices or computers when connecting wirelessly to the network.
We also find a Video from the Internet to help: How to Set Up a Wireless Router
https://www.youtube.com/embed/8OPLiH_y3Rc?ecver=1
Finally, you can setup your router at home by yourself. Is it easy?
If there are any mistakes, please leave your comments to let me know.
Various topics of router are all here: Router Series Blog.
