Password Protect Your Wireless / Wi-Fi Router
Here’s a crude guide to help you put a password to your Wireless or Wi-Fi router to prevent unauthorized access to your Internet connection.
I have a wireless router at home so that everybody can use the internet wherever they are in the house. I can still remember when I still didn’t have one and my desktop PC was the only one who had access to the Internet. All of them used my PC whenever they needed to get something done using the Internet. It was really difficult as one of us had to put off his/her work for the other one.
Once I had a wireless or Wi-Fi router, everybody now can use the internet. My brothers, sister, parents, and neighbors…
Yes… even our neighbors.
If you setup your wireless router for the Internet to be accessed by the computers or laptops of your family members, it’s more than likely that you just thought of your family members. You could’ve overlooked the possibility that your neighbors could easily access your router and your Internet connection as well.
Why is it Important to Password Protect your Wireless or Wi-Fi router?
Why? Because as you are paying for your Internet connection, and if a few of your neighbors decide to surf the net as well, the bandwidth or speed of your Internet is split or slows down. You however, notice the significant decrease of speed of your Internet connection, and blame your service provider. And the story goes on…
How to Password Protect your Wireless or Wi-Fi router in Three Steps?
Now because of the different kinds of wireless routers, what I will be showing to you are more like general instructions. No doubt that you can use these steps. It’s just that the screenshots I can show you are only for one kind of router. You can use the guide below in almost any kind of wireless router, as password protection of wireless or Wi-Fi routers of any kind are basically the same.
The screenshots I am using in this guide was taken from a Linksys WRT54G.
1. Access the Administration Panel of your Router
This can be done by opening your internet browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.) and typing in the address bar 192.168.1.1.
Once you hit enter, an authentication panel would pop-up requiring you to enter a username and password.
Note: If entering 192.168.1.1 does not bring up anything, your default gateway may not be that. For Windows, just go to Run command (Windows Start button, then click Run), and then type “CMD”. A DOS prompt would pop-out and you would just need to type, “IPCONFIG”. Look for the words “Default Gateway”, the numbers beside it are the ones you need to enter into your browser
Usually, its 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 so most likely you wouldn’t have to do that.
Another Note: The usual username and password is “admin” (without the quotes). For some routers, the username is admin, and the password is blank. If you haven’t changed this, the username and password is the default. If you don’t know the default username and password, you could check it at www.routerpasswords.com
2. Set the SSID or Username
When you’re inside the Administration panel, just go to Basic Wireless Settings and find the setting for Wireless Network Name or SSID.
You should key in your desired username on the field of Wireless Network Name or SSID.
Don’t forget to Save the Changes you made.
Note: Notice that I’ve enabled Wireless SSID Broadcast? If it’s enabled, once a computer detects connects to your router, the computer would just need to key-in the password. If it’s disabled, you would have to key-in the username and password before you could connect.
Although it is more secure to set Wireless SSID broadcast set to disable, some of my devices (especially mobile phones) can’t connect when it is disabled. So, I had to enable SSID Broadcast.
3. Set the Password.
You should now go to Wireless Security. There you would see the Security Mode. To make things simple, just choose WPA Personal.
You should now set a password by entering one under WPA Shared Key.
After that, save the changes you made again.
And there you have it. It’s very easy to set a username and password for your Wireless Router or Wi-Fi router. Once you set one, only those who you have informed of the password would be able to connect and use your Internet connection through your Wireless router – so keep your password safe.
If you have any questions, please do ask at the comments section below. If it has helped you, please let me know as well –your thanks are greatly appreciated.
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Hi, I am writing to thank you for your great help! I am a beginner in this field, and your clear instructions helped me set up a user name and a password successfully on my wireless router. Thank you so much.
Best Wishes,
David
Wow. Your thanks is greatly appreciated.
I feel great when I know I’ve helped somebody. I feel even better when I get a thank you like this.
Hi, i was wondering if there is exsisting people on your wireless network, would they get automaticly kicked off, or would they still be able to connect with out having the password or anything else they need?
I haven’t tested that but I guess they would still be connected since they are already IN the network. What you should do is turn off the router and then turn it on again. This way, all computers connected to your router are disconnected and would have to enter the password to be able to get back in.
Thanks so much! Very helpful, your instructions worked perfectly.
Glad I helped Molly!
Good evening,
i just read your post on passwords on routers etc etc. i have another question, i recenly got myself a Nokia E66 and it has WLAN function on it. i have managed to connect my cell to the wifi router, but i cant seem to find the place where one would enter the username and password (supplied by my internet service provider) onto my phone. how can i connect my phone to the wifi router so that i can access the internet via the router instead of 3G etc.
would appreciate your assistance. could you email me the answer?
thank you
Conrad
Hi Conrad,
Assuming that what you have purchased from your internet service provider (ISP) is a wired broadband service or DSL, the password most likely provided to you is for your broadband router which is different from your Wireless / Wi-Fi router username and password. Your Wireless / Wi-Fi router should be connected to your broadband router. Thus, the Wi-Fi router should be the one that is setup to automatically enter your username and password (which is provided by your ISP), and then your Wi-Fi Router should have a different username and password (which I have taught how to setup in this post). You then need not enter the username and password provided by your ISP but the username and password you have input in the Wireless router yourself.
I would be of more help if I knew how your internet is exactly setup…
Hope I helped!
Hey,
I just wanted to say thanks for the great help. Ive been finding neighbors on my internet for a while now and can finally keep them off thanks to this great help!
Glad I was able to help!
Ige,
I found the correct user name and password, but when I enter it, my response is “401 unauthorized authorization required”
I’m trying to make this change from my desktop; however, the wireless connection was originally set up without a password a few years ago from a laptop computer. How can I get the authorization to set up a password?
A 401 error usually implies that you entered the wrong username or password. You need to know the username and password of your router before you can access it. If it hasn’t been changed, check the link above for the default username and password for your router. If it has been changed, you need to know what username and password was used.
This was exactly what I needed to help me. Thank you + all the best!
Hello Ige,
I have the same issue you mention about connecting an iphone when the SSID broadcast is disabled, any solutions for this problem? (I was able to connect to my old netgear but not to the new linksys).
Thanks in advance.
I suggest you just broadcast the SSID and then just put in a secure password. Try putting special characters and numbers.
Good day! Thanks for the guide back there.. I just want to ask if there is a way to know who are connected in the router?? Thanks..
I’ll have to check that out but I’m pretty sure there are third party softwares which are able to do that.
Hi Ige..the information you provided is of great help to all. I have a problem connecting my wifi to my cell Nokia e71. While my cell phone finds the connection but accidently i entered the wrong password. Now when I try to connect to some site via wifi it says “unable to connect invalid WPA shared key”. The option of entering correct pass word is not appearing on the cell phone. Can you be kind enough to tell me as to how i can enter the correct pass word again when the option is not appearing. Thanks.
Even if this is a bit off topic here’s how to solve your problem: I suggest you go to the Wireless connection settings of your E71 and delete the saved connection. The next time you connect to that router, your E71 would now ask you for your password.
If you can’t find the settings where the wireless connection is saved, just rename your router’s SSID so that the phone would think it’s a different router. That way, it would ask for the password again.
Hi, Thanks for your help.
Thanks, it was very useful and easy to use.
Hi.. we just had our router configured and the technician actually tried to set up the password on both laptops (like password protect it twice) and now it seems there is a conflict.. How do we correct it? Thanks!
no one knows the password because nobody set it but there is one.we have a belkin and it doesnt work when i put in admin
Try making a master reset on your router. Here’s a general guide on how to do it – http://www.dslreports.com/faq/13631
Hope that helps.