How to Access Your Wi-Fi Router's Settings

Your router stores the settings for your home Wi-Fi network.

- Lance Whitney

So when you want to change something, you have to log into your router’s software, also known as firmware. From there, you can change the name of your network, the password, and the security level; create a guest network; and set up or change a variety of other options. But how do you get into your router to make those changes?

You can log into your router’s firmware through a browser—any browser will do. In the address field, type the IP address of your router. Most routers use an address of 192.168.1.1. But that’s not always the case, so first, confirm the address of your router.

Open up a command prompt from within Windows. In Windows 7, click on the Start button and type cmd in the search programs and files field. In Windows 8.1 and above, press the Windows + R buttons and type cmd. At the command prompt window, type ipconfig at the prompt itself and press Enter. Scroll to the top of the window until you see a setting for Default Gateway under Wi-Fi. That’s your router, and the number next to it is your router’s IP address.

Close the command-prompt window by typing