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. (UPDATE: For bettery security, you can choose WPA2 Personal – the next steps would still be the same)
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.
Subscribe to our 
TechieChips' RSS Feed or via Email or Newsletter. We'll only update you if there are new posts/articles. (No Spam!). Why do you want to subscribe to TechieChips?
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Email This Post
Print This Post
No related posts.
Thank you so much, worked like a charm. Brilliant!
These instructions were awesome and the clearest that I found in my search. Thank you so much.
Fantastic, exactly the help I was looking for – thank you
I have the Linksys system, but when I access the administrator panel the page is not loading properly…and I don’t have the CD used to install the router…any ideas
Thank you very much,, it was perfect
Thanks so much. The screen shots were in fact different as I have a D-Link. Despite that, just as you promised, the instructions were still easy enough to follow. Sorry neighbours, I’m keeping my bandwidth to myself. Something I would not have been brave enough to do without this post. I had gotten to the right place to log in to the D-Link on my own but I was afraid to change anything once I got there in case I did it wrong and locked myself out – which would have been a major fail LOL.
I’m so proud of myself for being able to do this. Your instructions made it possible. Thanks a ton!
Worked great. thanks for the instructions.
Although I had a different type of router, I was still able to follow these directions. Thank you so very much!
Awesome, so if we have two laptops on this network and I set this new password up using one of the laptops, where will I go on the second one to log into the new network after it is changed. Currently the laptops find the network automatically and connect and then you just launch a browser. Thanks
Hi budy
Can u tell me the exact configuration on tp-link router so that only known person access the wifi?
Under wireless security, do you put in Manual or WiFi?
This is great! I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for 2 years. I’m happy I came across your website. My only issue now is I can’t get my wireless printer to print. Is there a way to get around this? Thanks!
Have the same problem, anyone got an answer to this?
i can’t open this http://192.168.1.1./
You have to connect your internet cable to the router. And you need another internet cable connect one end to the router in port 1, the other end connect it to your pc or lab top.
thnk u…
my neighbours will directly access to wifi now i can protect my wifi…….
Thanks for this info., it was very helpful. However, my wireless printer won’t work now. I don’t know what I need to do to get the communication from my computer to the printer. Can you help with that?
Big thanks – simple – straight forward with great screen shots – thanks!
I feel pretty dumb. After setting the password, when I try to log on with my laptop it asks for username and password. I dont know what the username is supposed to be or where to set it. Any help at all would be welcome even if it makes me feel even more stupid.
Don’t worry dave just try to reset your router. Once it’s reset, it would revert back to the default settings – which is without a password. If it’s a linksys router try this guide – http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-a-Linksys-Router
If you don’t have a linksys router. the reset instructions are almost the same for other routers. You can also check your router’s user manual. Hope that helps.
Try a common default username: admin.
Or, google “default passwords” and look for your device.
Thanks a ton…..worked brilliantly…
Hi, I’m trying to follow your instructions but the admin tab appearing on my screen seemed to be different, i hope to send you its screen shot but there’s no attached button in here, at what e-mail ad can i ssend it to you? Please help, i really to password protect our router. Hope to hear from you soon.
Hi Baby you can send it to my email address at ige@techiechips.com, I’ll try to help you out.
Hi there… I reset my router, got in, and changed the username and password like instructed but it locked me out of the internet and said that the settings are not compatible with the internet protection settings (I could not use the internet to enter any username/password) and had to reset it again ….
Any advice??
Could you give me an idea what router you have and what device was trying to connect and use the internet?
Your instructions are awesome!!! I love you! lol!!!
You Rock… That was so easy. Thank-you very much… Seriously. You are a very cool person to just help out for free.
Hi. I’m having a prob about this. Currently I’m using Billion’s Bipac5112S and I can’t seem to find the way to set the password to limit the access to outsiders.
Help?
dmuffie2@yahoo.com
I just changed a setting and finally the password is on
thx
This was SO easy. Thank you!
Great article. Easy to follow instruction and now im goodbye freeloader neighbors.
Excellant instruction! Thank you very much.
Thanks for all your tips.
one question – I have all the password set up – but still experience a high upload.
When I check with my provider I see (e.g. 0.31 gb) upload between midnight and 4am even so no one in my family does any upload, specially not during this time. I disconnected the wireless for 2 days and after I had 0.03gb etc. now three days later I’m up to 0.24gb
any explanation or anything I can do to prevent this.
Thanks for your answers
Martin
Make sure that you don’t have any applications running that may contribute to this. Applications that run in the background which automatically update or send info can also contribute to this.
Once the password is all setup – as long as you don’t give it to others, they won’t be able to use your internet.
thanks a lot it help me so much… <3 <3 <3
thank you! this worked perfectly!<333333333
Thanks so much!! Any other site I tried for help was a bunch of jibberish…this was dummy-friendly… just what I needed!
Thanks
Thanks a bunch for this. My downloads and uploads have gone up a great deal lately, and my family swears they have done nothing to cause this. Then the other day, my son was at a neighbor’s house when they showed him they could access our internet. He is the computer “genius” in our house, so I asked him if he could password protect our router. He tried, but couldn’t figure it out. I am not the most computer literate person here by far, but I decided to do a search. I am certainly glad I found your site. It was very simple to do, even for me, and it works great. I tried accessing the internet with my wife’s laptop, and I couldn’t until I entered the password. Now I can tell my son that “I” figured out how to do what he could not. HA! HA! Thanks so very much.
Great I helped you in a lot of ways! Congratulations for being the computer genius!
I’m sure your neighbors are now sad as they don’t have free internet anymore. Just make sure that no one in your house gives away the password.
thanks a million….it helped me a lot….precisely wat i was looking for…:)
Thank you so much! This was very clear, easy and solved my problem!
thanks so much..
This was very helpful, but after I set it up, the signal to my ipod touch and my husband’s ipad have become intermittent, so they lose connection to the internet. Is there something I can do?
Try either WPA or WPA2 Personal. If signal is still intermittent try putting your router in a different location.
Putting a password should not mess your signal – it’s most likely the location of the router, the router itself, or the gadgets which are connecting to it.
these are easy to follow but every time I add a password and save my router goes offline! Well I can no longer connect and then it just disappears fro available networks so I am forced to use it unsecured.
pls tell me the same for Beetal 450tc1 adsl2+ router, i mean put a password to your Wireless or Wi-Fi router to prevent unauthorized access to your Internet connection.
Hi, are there ways for people to decode passwords. I have setup password and all but it feels like my neighbours are still using my wifi.
Make sure your password is not easy to guess. I’ve had friends who just use their first or last names as their passwords. Make sure your password is not something that is known to your neighbors – like the name of your dog, cat, mother, etc.
Once you’ve set a password make sure its not given away to your neighbors as well. I had a friend who set a password in their wi-fi router but his little brother who also knew the password was telling it to his neighbors!
please tell me the same for Beetal 450tc1 adsl2+ router, i mean put a password to Wireless or Wi-Fi router to prevent unauthorized access to your Internet connection.
Hi friends am still having problem protecting my wireless. I can’t find any SSID on my System Information. Help me please
My friend gave me her internet when she moved out and I spent hours….days….months….trying to figure how to secure it!
Thank you so much. I am dancing
This is all great and my WLAN line is secured using a Netgear router. I have a question on how to secure my Linksys router in my laptop though. Since I use the Netgear WLAN connection I don’t want the linksys router accessible to outsiders, as my connection speed is through DSL and is only 54Mbps. I have in my network connections an additional connection called “Internet Gateway” that appeared when the Xbox360 connected. I disabled that, as the Xbox is connected to the router via DSL cable. I do use the Linksys while at friends houses, but I can’t quite figure out how to make it password protected at my house. Please help.
Thank you, thank you!!! Your instructions were fantastic!
I followed the instructions .but when I double clicked on the Google icon it is not asking me any password or username .still wondering whether I am protected or not?!
I always wanted to know how to do this and I had no idea it was this easy. Thanks for the directions it was very easy to follow. You should teach a tech class!
Thanks Valerie, that is very flattering.
I’m very glad that I was able to help you.
I have a wireless router that I got from a friend and don’t know the password how would I go about resetting it
Thank you so much! Could not figure this out until your instructions. Thank you thank you!
Thank you for your concise instructions! I’d put this off for a long time because I thought it would be complicated. Your directions made it easy.
Hi, I have the same Linksys WRT54G router you use in this great tutorial “With” screenshots- a great help. My issue is with the terminology at “Wireless Security”
I am all set from changing the login to the router
changed the admin /admin. my issue is password protecting the wireless. When I go to “Wireless” and then “Wireless Security” I have a different drop down menu than you show. It has WEP (which allows me to enter a “passphrase” in the box “WPA Shared Key. But, I want a WEP setting. My choices are WEP, DISABLE, WEP Pre-shared key (which has numbers and letters in the box) WEP RADIUS which has a place for “shared key”, Then the same as above but ends in a “2″ (WEP2 Shared Key) Then, WEP2 Shared Key Mixed, WEP2 Shared Key Mixed Radius” which allows me to enter a “shared key”, There is no WPA Personal, etc. Can I use “WEP Preshared Key” and just enter my own created password? Just not sure which choice to make! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. In addition, we have a second wireless router – exactly the same – that I want to secure, Currently, it is unsecured – will their be an issue if I follow the same directions for it? Thank you so much for any information you can provide.