Thanks man, you're very helpful. So the problem lies in the manufacturer for ISP issued routers, the firmware is not developed with security in mind and often are left not having any update or being stuck on a very old one.
Thanks for watching @satoshiborishi6898! It’s definitely a great little piece of of cheap hardware to play around with for hardware and firmware hacking. Definitely not the fastest hardware with 100mb NIvCs, so it’s better suited as a learning tool. I use mine for a playing around with newer versions of OpenWrt, but I do have another one that would be great to take apart and learn more about router SBCs and interacting with them using things like uboot or UART. Raspberry Pis make for good companions for the same reasons too.
thanks so much best tutorial ever very well done i want miss your future videos and im going to watch your previous ones thanks again with this u saved alot of stress and anxiety did i do it right things like that
What is the need to flash the sysupgrade image when you have already flashed the *full* factory image? I flash the router with a full factory image (OpenWrt) when I am switching the device from Netgear's firmware to an OpenWrt firmware. Thanks for the "jffs2reset" hint.
Thanks for watching @arunkhan4951! There shouldn't be a need to perform a sysupgrade immediately after you have flashed the full factory image. This was just to show you how to perform an upgrade to a newer version of OpenWrt once you are already on OpenWrt, and particularly a lower version.
Thanks for the video with the help of this video and another on youtube, I was able to make sense of this and flash a bricked DM200 modem. It would have been useful for you to mention that on a pc for all this to work you need to install "ncap" first. I didn't get the last part of the video going online and installing LuCi? My GUI for the DM200 came already with the open WRT img file. I take it for your router only a command line came with open WRT and therefore LuCi was required? However once you had the GUI installed why couldn't you just up grade with a bin file without using LuCi again? hope this makes sense.
You're welcome, thanks for watching Peter! Glad you could save a bricked modem, thats definitely worst case scenario, except for when I found nmrp flash that apparently can fix any bricked netgear router. My apologies on not mentioning it. It does say to install ncap in the link on github, but I know I didn't explicitly mention it as it wasn't a requirement for me using macOS. So for the last part, you are correct. My image of LuCi for Netgear R6080 does not include LuCi, likely due to minimal available storage on Netgear R6080. So by default its not included, and I had to download it using opkg. Sounds like your image for DM200 had LuCi already on there. You are correct there too. Technically, I could've performed the upgrade via the command line, and save myself an extra step of install LuCi twice. I just did so the first time for the sake of showing how to perform an upgrade using LuCi versus command line. However for a first time install, you don't have to upgrade it like I did, since in this case both of those images were up to date. Rather, when new snapshots of OpenWrt come out, this is how you would perform the upgrade in LuCi, and of course, back up any important packages / configurations before doing the upgrade. Great questions, and hop this answers your question!
Hey man , I am really needing help with someone experienced . I have an asus ac3100 . The openwrt firmware doesn’t specifically have that but they do have a ac88u which apparently is the exact same hardware? I’m wanting to know is it possible to use this ? I’m really wanting to use SQM for gaming . Please help
Thanks for watching Daily does of Roasts! Thats a very good question. Doing a little research myself, I can see what you are saying. It does seem like the AC3100 uses the same internals as a RT-AC88U. Or, it maybe that those are one in the same. It's difficult for me to tell honestly, as I don't have experience flashing ASUS routers with OpenWrt. But given what I'm seeing, in my opinion, I think it should be possible, and that the AC3100 can run the snapshot for RT-AC88U. It’s worth a try. If you want a second opinion as well, you can ask your question in the OpenWrt forum. forum.openwrt.org
So all was fine until you advised to move files: mv /etc/config/luci /etc/config/luci.old and mv /etc/config/uhttpd /etc/config/uhttpd.old at 16:15. Doing so broke Luci, and the GUI web interface. The files I assumed are moved per the instructions. Now I would like to get luci operational and not spend frustrating hours attempting to correct. Please advise.
@@arcadiaseventeen2296 thanks for watching! So it’s been awhile since I made this video, but doing a review of it, renaming the file shouldn’t have broken LuCI and uhttpd service, only because reinstalling the packages (luci and uhttpd) should regenerate the base config files for you. If any renaming was done after the install, then that would definitely break it. Technically, you didn’t need to rename it, as doing an install would’ve kept those files there already, and so long as the configs were correct, it should work. Sorry to hear you had that hiccup because of the file rename. Glad you were able to resolve it with those commands. Just to note, you shouldn’t have to do that rename of those files every time you update OpenWrt. However, you will have to reinstall LuCI if your update file does not contain luci. This is where using the firmware selector can be helpful where you make your own update file and include the packages you want, like LuCi. firmware-selector.openwrt.org
Thanks for watching KC! I appreciate your continued viewership 😊 That is something I'm looking to explore as well! I know a little bit about traffic shaping and QoS in general, at least conceptually, but I haven't played around with it yet, though I intend to. Once I get more experience, a video on it will certainly be on my radar to help prioritize and shape traffic, like video traffic.
@@user-zr7kz4vs7c You're welcome! I hope to get to it soon, I have a lot of videos to get to. Traffic shaping is definitely helpful but thats really good speeds! Honestly I'm not sure how much traffic shaping will help you, but from a hardware perspective, it seems like it should, since likely in this case the limiting factor is not your internet speeds, but the router hardware itself. You might be running into bufferbloat issues as well if you are seeing problems. Thats more likely to be a problem than internet speeds.
Sub earned! Thank you for this tutorial. I just purchased 2 Netgear R6700v3 wifi routers to use for a simple home mesh (kind of) and would love to release myself from the Netgear Software! I went to Openwrt and it looks like they have an image for the R6700v2, do you think that would work form my R6700v3? I suppose I could just try and see and revert if needed. Thanks again and any response would be helpful!
Hi @Zerowing, Thanks for your kind words and watching, I really do appreciate it 😊. I can relate to that, releasing yourself from the Netgear software really opens up what the router is capable of, rather than the limitations and difficult user interface from Netgear. Yes, they do have an image for R6700v2, however, I don't think it will work for the R6700v3. forum.openwrt.org/t/netgear-r6700v3/51201/2 This is likely due to the versions using different hardware specs, some with proprietary software that has no open source equivalent. However, looks like you can use DD-WRT, as noted in the link (I made a video on DD-WRT as well except with Linksys ruclips.net/video/4zsf0jBzc-U/видео.html). Might not look as nice of provide as much customization, but it is an improvement on the Netgear software. If you really want OpenWrt, then I'd recommend returning that router and buying one thats supported. In making this video, I tried to use different routers that were only one version off, but when flashing with OpenWrt, it would fail on me. So take it from my experience. Hope this helps, and thanks for the sub!
@@DevOdyssey @Dev Odyssey Well, thank you for the reply! I ended up flashing it with FreshTomato as they had a direct path for the router. There are a few gotchas in the install but they are able to be worked around with patience and doing a hard reboot rather than the soft reboot that the router firmware tries. Trust me it was kind of scary for a bit while I figured that out. Now I just have to flash the other 2 routers I got and install. Returning them was not an option as I got an eBay deal on all 3 for an insane price, new in the box. Thanks again for the response and keep up the great work, I am sure you will blow up someday! I will help spread the word.
@Zerowing You're welcome! Thanks for letting me know how it worked out for you. How do you like FreshTomato? I was thinking about making a video for flashing FreshTomato, but haven't gotten to it yet. Much nicer they have a direct path than with OpenWrt. It's scary for sure when you have to wait, and. not sure if it's bricked, or if it's working. I had a few of those moments with this video. Thought I bricked the router but had to do a firmware reset after putting Netgear back on it, I corrupted something in the flash memory, that thankfully I resolved. Thats awesome, the selection and deals on electronics on eBay is insane. I like to go to them for enterprise hardware thats old, but still works enough for home use. Thanks for the praise. Your kindness and promoting my channel mean a lot, especially hearing that my videos are helping people 🙂
@@DevOdyssey I really like FT so far, once it was up and running I was able to get it setup and configured easily. But it is not for the IT novice. None of this is really. If you don't know what you are doing with networking and configuration you can lock yourself out of your router easily. Bricking a device is the risk you take with flashing custom firmware. As for eBay and old enterprise hardware, you should see my home lab...lol and I'm just getting started. I picked up a couple of HP N40L MicroServers for $150 and upgraded the ram for an additional $50 and bam, FreeNAS 11.3 Servers with replication. Totally silent operation.
@Zerowing Great to hear. Sounds like it would be fun for me to try out and make a video on. Oh yea this isn't for the novice or the faint of heart, but anyone who's willing to give it a shot and take the risk. It's why I usually recommend this with older routers, so if it doesn't work, it's not much of a loss. Also these firmwares only mostly work with previous generation networking gear, as it takes time to develop the new firmwares, if possible. Thats cool! I hear you on that. Those HP MicroServers will serve you well. I'd be interested in how your FreeNAS performs. I've been eyeing that up as a data storage solution, as my situation now is somewhat a hassle to keep everything backed up. This would make things much easier. I've heard the performance for FreeNAS is great. I have a Dell PowereEdge R720 with two virtual firewalls so I can set up a DMZ if I decide to. All of my networking is virtualized on a hypervisor, have some VLANs for network segregation, a VPN server, etc. I actually use OpenWrt as a means of out of band network access in case I'm locked out haha, and it uses WPA2 Enterprise authentication. I've locked myself out too many times 😂. All this becomes a deep rabbit hole.
I'm thinking of doing two for someone if it can solve an issue there. Everything there has to be in the same subnet so the two routers have dhcp off and are put in the subnet of the modem. Problem is the wan-port can't be used that way so there is lac of. Would openwrt make the wan-port useable as a lan-port (so there would be 5 lan-ports instead of the 4 that are useable now)? In that case I'd like to see a video of the configuration indeed.
Hi @David Verheyen, Thanks for watching 😊. Sounds like an interesting deployment. I assume this modem is a router as well, given that its the DHCP server too. As for the routers once they have openwrt, you can make them act as access points and network switches, so is can expand on the existing network. As for making them into "dumb access points" (sometimes referred to that), you can follow this guide I found here. openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap This will provide wired and wireless access for your devices. However, would you be able to explain more why the WAN port can't be used? I am not sure what you mean by "lac off". As for making openwrt make the wan port usable, yes it can, however the above guide doesn't go about it that way, and just uses a LAN port. I was playing around with openwrt just now, and you can probably get it to work by bridging the WAN interface with the LAN interface, and wlan interface. (See step 6 above). I believe this should achieve your desired result, though, I havent actually tried it out yet, but explored the options to see if it's theoretically possible. Let me know if you try it out, and I'll put this on my video list!
@@DevOdyssey Thanks for tthe reaction.The routers are now used bridged mode ( www.tp-link.com/nl-be/support/faq/417/ ) so the modem (with build in router) is connected to them on a lan port. So that lan-port is not useable for something else and the wan-port is unused. If openwrt can make the wan-port useable for that that lan-port would be available for something else. With 'lac off' I mean not enough (Now I see that is 'lack of', I'm from Belgium :-)). These are not my routers so I don't decide if they buy an extra swich or take the risk to ruin the routers, for sure if I'm not sure it would add the extra lan-port. Update: I see now openwrt won't make a difference. It's probably hardware related,. openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap
You’re Welcome @David Verheyen. The link you provided was helpful and confirms my understanding of what you’re trying to do. Thanks for clarifying as well, I’d hope to visit Belgium one day! 😊 I understand exactly what you’re concern is. With Openwrt you should be able to make use of that WAN port for bridging your routers together. However in that article I showed you from Openwrt, they don’t go about it that way, they use the LAN port as you see. Using the steps I mentioned in the prior comment should allow you to use the WAN port to bridge the routers together, but I didn’t try it myself. Since the WAN port has the same options as the LAN port during the configuration in their article, it should be possible to free up the LAN port for use. It’s also good to note that since there aren’t your routers you’ll take a risk flashing them with Openwrt. If you get the permission of the owners then it’s worth a try. Even if you don’t like it, then you can revert it back. Also you’ll have to check if these routers are compatible with Openwrt. Let me know if this all makes sense or if you decide to try it out.
Yes to both... Great job btw... It would be great if you could you also find an exact, fully open wrt capable router we can buy today? Old Enterprise or new. New I've searched for are either not fully open like Asus or only newer, bad versions are for sale in Amazon, new egg etc
I have a netgear r7800 with DDWRT currently installed, and my pc laptop does not have an ethernet port. What do I do? Am I going to need to purchase an adapter?
Thanks for watching JD! While the nmrpflash tool uses Netgear’s NRMP protocol for flashing OpenWrt, and while it’s possible to use it with the R7800, it doesn’t look like it’s been tested with OpenWrt, so I’d avoid the process used in this video. Instead, I’d recommend following the install instructions they provide on their page for the R7800, using TFTP, linked below. openwrt.org/toh/netgear/r7800#prerequisites_for_tftp_flashing With that, you’ll definitely need to use a LAN port on the router, and therefore will need an adapter. That’s because the flash happens right at the beginning when the router is booting up, and you can only connect to WiFi after the boot sequence, which is why it’s not possible with WiFi.There are plenty of affordable options you can find on that should work for your computer, windows, Mac or Linux. If you are using windows make sure you have a TFTP client. Now this process doesn’t explicitly say if you’re coming from DDWRT, but I imagine it shouldn’t be a problem given the TFTP part of the router should still exist. Best of luck and enjoy OpenWrt!
Sir I can't install openwrt firmware on my Dlink Dir-853 A3 version router. 😥 I'm using padavan custom firmware. Please help me, How do i Install openwrt firmware my device.
Thanks for watching @mehedimac! It looks like your router is supported by OpenWrt with the latest version, so that’s good. I couldn’t find specific instructions on how to flash the firmware from stock firmware, but I imagine it’s as simple as uploading the firmware image in your upgrade menu. As for upgrading from custom pads an firmware, I don’t know how you’d do that as I haven’t used it before. I’d recommend going back to stock firmware and then installing OpenWrt from there. Refer to the links below as they may be useful for figuring this out. openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/d-link/d-link_dir-853_a3 forum.openwrt.org/search?q=DIR-853
Thanks for watching Nathan! Good question. So to get specific, if you receive fibre from your ISP, your ISP will provide a fibre modem, thats also referred to as an Optical Network Terminal (ONT). That is generally not supported by OpenWrt, it won't be able to act as your fibre modem / ONT. However, it does support SFP / Fiber, in your local network (aka ethernet protocol), so you should be able to run fibre within your house no problem. You can refer to this video from Van Tech Corner as an example. ruclips.net/video/oqz5NnQAlsc/видео.html
Thanks for watching @john.anderson922! Technically, yes this installation of OpenWrt is specific to Netgear hardware, using a specific network protocol, but not just the R6080 I’m using. This phrasing was to also draw attention to OpenWrt itself, and how your router can use different, custom firmware, that’s much more powerful than the stock firmware you normally receive on the consumer routers. However if you’re looking to upgrade your router to OpenWrt. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction, and look at their table of hardware to see if your router is supported. openwrt.org/toh/start
@@DevOdyssey Thanks for making yourself available, I appreciate it. Again, be careful about the terminology you use: _”that’s much more powerful than the stock firmware you normally receive”._ I fully agree with your philosophy and the spread of open source software but the word “powerful” is quite abstract: - stock firmware may restrict some functionalities but it complies with the applicable law of your country; - if your firmware is being updated by the company you bought it from you shouldn’t touch it; - the availability and good performance of new functionalities are, once again, hardware specific; - like all software ever produced, vulnerabilities in OpenWrt software are constantly discovered, timely patched with the goodwill of wonderful and charitable souls. For all the reasons above, because OpenWrt comes with no warranty, you should evaluate carefully the risk of bricking your device. If you weren’t able to evaluate that risk it means that probably you won’t get your device back. Some of us can’t update their firmware with OpenWrt because the flash memory isn’t big enough (I doubt there are alternatives methods to upgrade). So, the choice between using an old and vulnerable firmware version or losing some/many functionalities to fit the new one inside the memory. Hence, you can understand that the meaning of the word “powerful” changes case-by-case.
Thanks for watching @hindustan91! I haven't really measured how long it takes to cold boot into OpenWrt, but it's usually a matter of seconds. It definitely will depend on your hardware, but it still be a matter of seconds since OpenWrt has been designed to be lightweight to run on consumer grade network hardware.
kinda made some progress somehow. Anyways @ 7:45 when ur flashing the firmware. I get an Error. "Error accessing file 'openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img'
Great! glad you were able to get to this point. I'm not certain why you are seeing that error, but I assume its because you're not referencing the file correctly in your command. In the video, I'm already in the folder that has the file. So make sure you are running the command from the folder where the file exists, or reference the full path of the file, such as C:\Username\Folder\openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img. If this still doesn't work, it could be a permissions issue, so make sure you have the correct permissions for the folder you have the file in. You want to be sure you have read permissions I believe. Or, you can move the file to another folder where you have the appropriate permissions. Chances are, the file is in your Downloads folder, so try this file path: "C:\Username\Downloads\openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img".
It's almost definitely too late of me to post this comment to help you, but hopefully this comment can help someone else with this issue. I had experienced the same issue and I figured out that the error comes from npcap on windows. after installing it the system needs to be rebooted in order for it to work.
@@oakenthrower Thanks for sharing. This will be very helpful for many users who aren't using MacOS and Linux like me, and why I was unfamiliar with this error. npcap is a must to use the utility on Windows. Nice find.
@Milktoast Weeb Thanks for wathcing! I'll reply here regarding the help you need for flashing OpenWrt on your router, and the error that you seeing. So are you using a router that supports nrmpflash? It will have to be a netgear router, as other routers do not support nrmpflash. If thats the case, then you may be able to flash OpenWrt by just uploading a firmware file on the admin web page of your router. I'd also make sure that your router supports OpenWrt. You can find a searchable list of supported devices here: openwrt.org/toh/start Whats the name and model of your router?
@@DevOdyssey when i try opening nmrpflash on my computer it wont open and it gives me this error cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/848286588529803288/868919994937917500/unknown.png
@@DevOdyssey when i try starting the program on my pc it gives me an error saying the code execution cannot proceed because wpcap.dll was not found reinstalling the program may fix this problem
@Milktoast Weeb Thanks for the screenshot, that helps so much, including a description of the error. I searched the github page for nrmpflash ( github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash ) and found this in the README: "The program can't start because wpcap.dll is missing" (Windows) Install Npcap. For nmrpflash versions prior to 0.9.14, install Npcap with "WinPcap Compatibility" enabled. Version 0.9.13 was the last version to support Windows XP. Looks like if you install Npcap with WinPcap Compatibility, that it should resolve your issue. Let me know if this works!
@Milktoast Weeb I would advise not to do that, as doing so will make your router inoperable. As you saw, you cant get into the router login in anymore and basically the software will fail to work, though the low level workings will still operate. Luckily, because of this, you can still use nrmpflash to repair your router with the stock firmware from Netgear, or OpenWrt. Thankfully nrmpflash makes it easier to "unbrick" your Netgear router.
@Milktoast Weeb Great! glad you were able to figure it out, through all your testing, and get OpenWrt on Netgear router. Now time to enjoy all the benefits of OpenWrt! 😊
@Milktoast Weeb Those are great uses for OpenWrt. I'm certain there are some adblocking packages you can install on OpenWrt (though I'm not familiar with any at the moment). For VPN, as you already know and saw my video on setting up a VPN on your router, you can set up your router as VPN client using Wireguard, which I prefer, or using OpenVPN. Best of luck!
@Milktoast Weeb Thats great! I'm glad you were able to figure it out. Sorry for the confusion. Using a Mac, the commands (or application you use for the commands) are slightly different, although effectively, it should be 99% same. For Windows you'd have to use command line, and Mac you use the terminal. Then to do the initial login into the router from Windows, you have to use an application like PuTTY. As for the commands themselves to perform the flash, on a Mac I have to use the "sudo" command to elevate my privileges, and on Windows, I don't think you need "sudo" and it should be the same command minus the extra sudo in the beginning. Not sure what level of permissions you'd need, but most home users should be "Administrators" on their computers and should need any extra elevation of privileges.
Thanks for watching @ShadeamusPrime! Sounds like an interesting place to get a router to tinker with. I really wouldn't have thought of going to goodwill to get a router, but it seems like a decent place to get old tech cheap that you can use for experimenting and testing, like with flashing OpenWrt, using its interface and getting to know it better from hands on experience. Thanks for sharing!
@ShadeamusPrime 😂 I’m definitely not surprised. Not something I’d run on my main home network, it must be super old. I something around the time of WRT54G I’d assume
@@ShadeamusPrime While this really depends on what you mean by good. To me I'd assume it means modern specs and standards, so I'd say something that supports WiFi 6 and has 2.5 gb ethernet interfaces, but you're more likely to find 1 GB ones. On a cost to functionality basis, I've found GL.iNet to be a good mix. However, it's going to be difficult to find something within the $50 dollar range with WiFi 6. Given that, you can probably squeeze out WiFi 5 and 1 GB ethernet ports with just around $50 bucks for a new one. At this point, you're probably better of going to the second hand market for used routers. Like a used GL.iNet Flint should be closer to the $50 dollar range, and thats a WiFi 6 router too. If you need new, and are fine with a small router, look at GL.iNet's travel routers. I did a video on their Beryl AX, which is more than $50 dollars but less than $100 ruclips.net/video/CKpKuHt8BaE/видео.html Going for their older models, you can definitely get closer to the $50 dollar mark. ruclips.net/video/CKpKuHt8BaE/видео.html If you check out their Opal travel router, you can get that new for $39. This wouldn't be bad if you had a small apartment with a few wireless devices.
Thanks for watching Sandeep! So that last part there is just in regards to reverting your router back to stock firmware. Say you don't like OpenWrt and you want to go back to using Netgear firmware. This portion of the video shows you how you can do that, by using the LuCI user interface, where you can upload the stock firmware to flash, or by using the nmrp command, which I like for its reliability, just in case the router gets bricked, you could always try again with this command.
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Thanks man, you're very helpful. So the problem lies in the manufacturer for ISP issued routers, the firmware is not developed with security in mind and often are left not having any update or being stuck on a very old one.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching
Great tutorial. I recently bought this model to install Openwrt and also learn hardware hacking
Thanks for watching @satoshiborishi6898!
It’s definitely a great little piece of of cheap hardware to play around with for hardware and firmware hacking. Definitely not the fastest hardware with 100mb NIvCs, so it’s better suited as a learning tool. I use mine for a playing around with newer versions of OpenWrt, but I do have another one that would be great to take apart and learn more about router SBCs and interacting with them using things like uboot or UART. Raspberry Pis make for good companions for the same reasons too.
thanks so much best tutorial ever very well done i want miss your future videos and im going to watch your previous ones thanks again with this u saved alot of stress and anxiety did i do it right things like that
Thank you! @Sookie Baker
What is the need to flash the sysupgrade image when you have already flashed the *full* factory image? I flash the router with a full factory image (OpenWrt) when I am switching the device from Netgear's firmware to an OpenWrt firmware. Thanks for the "jffs2reset" hint.
Thanks for watching @arunkhan4951!
There shouldn't be a need to perform a sysupgrade immediately after you have flashed the full factory image. This was just to show you how to perform an upgrade to a newer version of OpenWrt once you are already on OpenWrt, and particularly a lower version.
Thanks for the video with the help of this video and another on youtube, I was able to make sense of this and flash a bricked DM200 modem. It would have been useful for you to mention that on a pc for all this to work you need to install "ncap" first.
I didn't get the last part of the video going online and installing LuCi? My GUI for the DM200 came already with the open WRT img file. I take it for your router only a command line came with open WRT and therefore LuCi was required? However once you had the GUI installed why couldn't you just up grade with a bin file without using LuCi again? hope this makes sense.
You're welcome, thanks for watching Peter!
Glad you could save a bricked modem, thats definitely worst case scenario, except for when I found nmrp flash that apparently can fix any bricked netgear router.
My apologies on not mentioning it. It does say to install ncap in the link on github, but I know I didn't explicitly mention it as it wasn't a requirement for me using macOS.
So for the last part, you are correct. My image of LuCi for Netgear R6080 does not include LuCi, likely due to minimal available storage on Netgear R6080. So by default its not included, and I had to download it using opkg. Sounds like your image for DM200 had LuCi already on there.
You are correct there too. Technically, I could've performed the upgrade via the command line, and save myself an extra step of install LuCi twice. I just did so the first time for the sake of showing how to perform an upgrade using LuCi versus command line. However for a first time install, you don't have to upgrade it like I did, since in this case both of those images were up to date. Rather, when new snapshots of OpenWrt come out, this is how you would perform the upgrade in LuCi, and of course, back up any important packages / configurations before doing the upgrade.
Great questions, and hop this answers your question!
Hey man , I am really needing help with someone experienced . I have an asus ac3100 . The openwrt firmware doesn’t specifically have that but they do have a ac88u which apparently is the exact same hardware? I’m wanting to know is it possible to use this ? I’m really wanting to use SQM for gaming . Please help
Thanks for watching Daily does of Roasts!
Thats a very good question. Doing a little research myself, I can see what you are saying. It does seem like the AC3100 uses the same internals as a RT-AC88U. Or, it maybe that those are one in the same. It's difficult for me to tell honestly, as I don't have experience flashing ASUS routers with OpenWrt.
But given what I'm seeing, in my opinion, I think it should be possible, and that the AC3100 can run the snapshot for RT-AC88U. It’s worth a try.
If you want a second opinion as well, you can ask your question in the OpenWrt forum.
forum.openwrt.org
So all was fine until you advised to move files: mv /etc/config/luci /etc/config/luci.old and mv /etc/config/uhttpd /etc/config/uhttpd.old at 16:15. Doing so broke Luci, and the GUI web interface. The files I assumed are moved per the instructions. Now I would like to get luci operational and not spend frustrating hours attempting to correct. Please advise.
Issue resolved by removing luci, running jffs2reset, then rebooting, and reinstalling luci.
@@arcadiaseventeen2296 thanks for watching!
So it’s been awhile since I made this video, but doing a review of it, renaming the file shouldn’t have broken LuCI and uhttpd service, only because reinstalling the packages (luci and uhttpd) should regenerate the base config files for you. If any renaming was done after the install, then that would definitely break it.
Technically, you didn’t need to rename it, as doing an install would’ve kept those files there already, and so long as the configs were correct, it should work.
Sorry to hear you had that hiccup because of the file rename. Glad you were able to resolve it with those commands. Just to note, you shouldn’t have to do that rename of those files every time you update OpenWrt. However, you will have to reinstall LuCI if your update file does not contain luci. This is where using the firmware selector can be helpful where you make your own update file and include the packages you want, like LuCi.
firmware-selector.openwrt.org
Fantastic video, thanks a lot! Would you mind making a video on OpenWRT traffic shaping? Like prioritize video conference connections? Thank you!
Thanks for watching KC! I appreciate your continued viewership 😊
That is something I'm looking to explore as well! I know a little bit about traffic shaping and QoS in general, at least conceptually, but I haven't played around with it yet, though I intend to. Once I get more experience, a video on it will certainly be on my radar to help prioritize and shape traffic, like video traffic.
@@DevOdyssey Thanks a lot! I can’t wait for that! I wonder if traffic shaping is helpful for my home network (getting around 800mbps from ISP).
@@user-zr7kz4vs7c You're welcome! I hope to get to it soon, I have a lot of videos to get to. Traffic shaping is definitely helpful but thats really good speeds! Honestly I'm not sure how much traffic shaping will help you, but from a hardware perspective, it seems like it should, since likely in this case the limiting factor is not your internet speeds, but the router hardware itself. You might be running into bufferbloat issues as well if you are seeing problems. Thats more likely to be a problem than internet speeds.
@@DevOdyssey Thanks a lot
Aha, I found you again! 42nd LIKE!
i need some help flashing openwrt onto my router again
Sub earned! Thank you for this tutorial. I just purchased 2 Netgear R6700v3 wifi routers to use for a simple home mesh (kind of) and would love to release myself from the Netgear Software! I went to Openwrt and it looks like they have an image for the R6700v2, do you think that would work form my R6700v3? I suppose I could just try and see and revert if needed. Thanks again and any response would be helpful!
Hi @Zerowing,
Thanks for your kind words and watching, I really do appreciate it 😊. I can relate to that, releasing yourself from the Netgear software really opens up what the router is capable of, rather than the limitations and difficult user interface from Netgear.
Yes, they do have an image for R6700v2, however, I don't think it will work for the R6700v3. forum.openwrt.org/t/netgear-r6700v3/51201/2
This is likely due to the versions using different hardware specs, some with proprietary software that has no open source equivalent. However, looks like you can use DD-WRT, as noted in the link (I made a video on DD-WRT as well except with Linksys ruclips.net/video/4zsf0jBzc-U/видео.html). Might not look as nice of provide as much customization, but it is an improvement on the Netgear software. If you really want OpenWrt, then I'd recommend returning that router and buying one thats supported.
In making this video, I tried to use different routers that were only one version off, but when flashing with OpenWrt, it would fail on me. So take it from my experience. Hope this helps, and thanks for the sub!
@@DevOdyssey @Dev Odyssey Well, thank you for the reply! I ended up flashing it with FreshTomato as they had a direct path for the router. There are a few gotchas in the install but they are able to be worked around with patience and doing a hard reboot rather than the soft reboot that the router firmware tries. Trust me it was kind of scary for a bit while I figured that out. Now I just have to flash the other 2 routers I got and install. Returning them was not an option as I got an eBay deal on all 3 for an insane price, new in the box. Thanks again for the response and keep up the great work, I am sure you will blow up someday! I will help spread the word.
@Zerowing You're welcome! Thanks for letting me know how it worked out for you. How do you like FreshTomato? I was thinking about making a video for flashing FreshTomato, but haven't gotten to it yet. Much nicer they have a direct path than with OpenWrt. It's scary for sure when you have to wait, and. not sure if it's bricked, or if it's working. I had a few of those moments with this video. Thought I bricked the router but had to do a firmware reset after putting Netgear back on it, I corrupted something in the flash memory, that thankfully I resolved. Thats awesome, the selection and deals on electronics on eBay is insane. I like to go to them for enterprise hardware thats old, but still works enough for home use.
Thanks for the praise. Your kindness and promoting my channel mean a lot, especially hearing that my videos are helping people 🙂
@@DevOdyssey I really like FT so far, once it was up and running I was able to get it setup and configured easily. But it is not for the IT novice. None of this is really. If you don't know what you are doing with networking and configuration you can lock yourself out of your router easily. Bricking a device is the risk you take with flashing custom firmware. As for eBay and old enterprise hardware, you should see my home lab...lol and I'm just getting started. I picked up a couple of HP N40L MicroServers for $150 and upgraded the ram for an additional $50 and bam, FreeNAS 11.3 Servers with replication. Totally silent operation.
@Zerowing Great to hear. Sounds like it would be fun for me to try out and make a video on. Oh yea this isn't for the novice or the faint of heart, but anyone who's willing to give it a shot and take the risk. It's why I usually recommend this with older routers, so if it doesn't work, it's not much of a loss. Also these firmwares only mostly work with previous generation networking gear, as it takes time to develop the new firmwares, if possible.
Thats cool! I hear you on that. Those HP MicroServers will serve you well. I'd be interested in how your FreeNAS performs. I've been eyeing that up as a data storage solution, as my situation now is somewhat a hassle to keep everything backed up. This would make things much easier. I've heard the performance for FreeNAS is great.
I have a Dell PowereEdge R720 with two virtual firewalls so I can set up a DMZ if I decide to. All of my networking is virtualized on a hypervisor, have some VLANs for network segregation, a VPN server, etc. I actually use OpenWrt as a means of out of band network access in case I'm locked out haha, and it uses WPA2 Enterprise authentication. I've locked myself out too many times 😂. All this becomes a deep rabbit hole.
Would you install OpenWrt on your router, and use its generous network feature set? Do you want to see a video on how to configure OpenWrt?
I'm thinking of doing two for someone if it can solve an issue there. Everything there has to be in the same subnet so the two routers have dhcp off and are put in the subnet of the modem. Problem is the wan-port can't be used that way so there is lac of. Would openwrt make the wan-port useable as a lan-port (so there would be 5 lan-ports instead of the 4 that are useable now)? In that case I'd like to see a video of the configuration indeed.
Hi @David Verheyen,
Thanks for watching 😊. Sounds like an interesting deployment. I assume this modem is a router as well, given that its the DHCP server too. As for the routers once they have openwrt, you can make them act as access points and network switches, so is can expand on the existing network. As for making them into "dumb access points" (sometimes referred to that), you can follow this guide I found here.
openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap
This will provide wired and wireless access for your devices. However, would you be able to explain more why the WAN port can't be used? I am not sure what you mean by "lac off".
As for making openwrt make the wan port usable, yes it can, however the above guide doesn't go about it that way, and just uses a LAN port. I was playing around with openwrt just now, and you can probably get it to work by bridging the WAN interface with the LAN interface, and wlan interface. (See step 6 above). I believe this should achieve your desired result, though, I havent actually tried it out yet, but explored the options to see if it's theoretically possible.
Let me know if you try it out, and I'll put this on my video list!
@@DevOdyssey Thanks for tthe reaction.The routers are now used bridged mode ( www.tp-link.com/nl-be/support/faq/417/ ) so the modem (with build in router) is connected to them on a lan port. So that lan-port is not useable for something else and the wan-port is unused. If openwrt can make the wan-port useable for that that lan-port would be available for something else. With 'lac off' I mean not enough (Now I see that is 'lack of', I'm from Belgium :-)). These are not my routers so I don't decide if they buy an extra swich or take the risk to ruin the routers, for sure if I'm not sure it would add the extra lan-port.
Update: I see now openwrt won't make a difference. It's probably hardware related,. openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap
You’re Welcome @David Verheyen. The link you provided was helpful and confirms my understanding of what you’re trying to do. Thanks for clarifying as well, I’d hope to visit Belgium one day! 😊 I understand exactly what you’re concern is. With Openwrt you should be able to make use of that WAN port for bridging your routers together. However in that article I showed you from Openwrt, they don’t go about it that way, they use the LAN port as you see. Using the steps I mentioned in the prior comment should allow you to use the WAN port to bridge the routers together, but I didn’t try it myself. Since the WAN port has the same options as the LAN port during the configuration in their article, it should be possible to free up the LAN port for use.
It’s also good to note that since there aren’t your routers you’ll take a risk flashing them with Openwrt. If you get the permission of the owners then it’s worth a try. Even if you don’t like it, then you can revert it back. Also you’ll have to check if these routers are compatible with Openwrt.
Let me know if this all makes sense or if you decide to try it out.
Yes to both... Great job btw... It would be great if you could you also find an exact, fully open wrt capable router we can buy today? Old Enterprise or new.
New I've searched for are either not fully open like Asus or only newer, bad versions are for sale in Amazon, new egg etc
I have a netgear r7800 with DDWRT currently installed, and my pc laptop does not have an ethernet port. What do I do? Am I going to need to purchase an adapter?
Thanks for watching JD!
While the nmrpflash tool uses Netgear’s NRMP protocol for flashing OpenWrt, and while it’s possible to use it with the R7800, it doesn’t look like it’s been tested with OpenWrt, so I’d avoid the process used in this video.
Instead, I’d recommend following the install instructions they provide on their page for the R7800, using TFTP, linked below.
openwrt.org/toh/netgear/r7800#prerequisites_for_tftp_flashing
With that, you’ll definitely need to use a LAN port on the router, and therefore will need an adapter. That’s because the flash happens right at the beginning when the router is booting up, and you can only connect to WiFi after the boot sequence, which is why it’s not possible with WiFi.There are plenty of affordable options you can find on that should work for your computer, windows, Mac or Linux. If you are using windows make sure you have a TFTP client.
Now this process doesn’t explicitly say if you’re coming from DDWRT, but I imagine it shouldn’t be a problem given the TFTP part of the router should still exist.
Best of luck and enjoy OpenWrt!
Sir I can't install openwrt firmware on my Dlink Dir-853 A3 version router. 😥 I'm using padavan custom firmware. Please help me, How do i Install openwrt firmware my device.
Thanks for watching @mehedimac! It looks like your router is supported by OpenWrt with the latest version, so that’s good. I couldn’t find specific instructions on how to flash the firmware from stock firmware, but I imagine it’s as simple as uploading the firmware image in your upgrade menu.
As for upgrading from custom pads an firmware, I don’t know how you’d do that as I haven’t used it before. I’d recommend going back to stock firmware and then installing OpenWrt from there. Refer to the links below as they may be useful for figuring this out.
openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/d-link/d-link_dir-853_a3
forum.openwrt.org/search?q=DIR-853
does it work with optic fibres??
Thanks for watching Nathan! Good question. So to get specific, if you receive fibre from your ISP, your ISP will provide a fibre modem, thats also referred to as an Optical Network Terminal (ONT). That is generally not supported by OpenWrt, it won't be able to act as your fibre modem / ONT. However, it does support SFP / Fiber, in your local network (aka ethernet protocol), so you should be able to run fibre within your house no problem. You can refer to this video from Van Tech Corner as an example.
ruclips.net/video/oqz5NnQAlsc/видео.html
@@DevOdyssey tysm 🙏
@@randomguy15865 you’re welcome!
Maybe you wanted to say: *_How to Upgrade "my" Router._* Isn't the installation process hardware specific?
Thanks for watching @john.anderson922!
Technically, yes this installation of OpenWrt is specific to Netgear hardware, using a specific network protocol, but not just the R6080 I’m using.
This phrasing was to also draw attention to OpenWrt itself, and how your router can use different, custom firmware, that’s much more powerful than the stock firmware you normally receive on the consumer routers.
However if you’re looking to upgrade your router to OpenWrt. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction, and look at their table of hardware to see if your router is supported.
openwrt.org/toh/start
@@DevOdyssey Thanks for making yourself available, I appreciate it. Again, be careful about the terminology you use: _”that’s much more powerful than the stock firmware you normally receive”._ I fully agree with your philosophy and the spread of open source software but the word “powerful” is quite abstract:
- stock firmware may restrict some functionalities but it complies with the applicable law of your country;
- if your firmware is being updated by the company you bought it from you shouldn’t touch it;
- the availability and good performance of new functionalities are, once again, hardware specific;
- like all software ever produced, vulnerabilities in OpenWrt software are constantly discovered, timely patched with the goodwill of wonderful and charitable souls.
For all the reasons above, because OpenWrt comes with no warranty, you should evaluate carefully the risk of bricking your device. If you weren’t able to evaluate that risk it means that probably you won’t get your device back.
Some of us can’t update their firmware with OpenWrt because the flash memory isn’t big enough (I doubt there are alternatives methods to upgrade). So, the choice between using an old and vulnerable firmware version or losing some/many functionalities to fit the new one inside the memory. Hence, you can understand that the meaning of the word “powerful” changes case-by-case.
booting time in openwrt?
Thanks for watching @hindustan91!
I haven't really measured how long it takes to cold boot into OpenWrt, but it's usually a matter of seconds. It definitely will depend on your hardware, but it still be a matter of seconds since OpenWrt has been designed to be lightweight to run on consumer grade network hardware.
okay thank you
You're welcome @@hindustan91!
kinda made some progress somehow. Anyways @ 7:45 when ur flashing the firmware. I get an Error. "Error accessing file 'openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img'
Great! glad you were able to get to this point.
I'm not certain why you are seeing that error, but I assume its because you're not referencing the file correctly in your command. In the video, I'm already in the folder that has the file. So make sure you are running the command from the folder where the file exists, or reference the full path of the file, such as C:\Username\Folder\openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img.
If this still doesn't work, it could be a permissions issue, so make sure you have the correct permissions for the folder you have the file in. You want to be sure you have read permissions I believe. Or, you can move the file to another folder where you have the appropriate permissions.
Chances are, the file is in your Downloads folder, so try this file path: "C:\Username\Downloads\openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-netgear_r6080-squashfs-factory.img".
It's almost definitely too late of me to post this comment to help you, but hopefully this comment can help someone else with this issue. I had experienced the same issue and I figured out that the error comes from npcap on windows. after installing it the system needs to be rebooted in order for it to work.
@@oakenthrower Thanks for sharing. This will be very helpful for many users who aren't using MacOS and Linux like me, and why I was unfamiliar with this error. npcap is a must to use the utility on Windows. Nice find.
nmrpflash wont start it says system error
@Milktoast Weeb Thanks for wathcing!
I'll reply here regarding the help you need for flashing OpenWrt on your router, and the error that you seeing.
So are you using a router that supports nrmpflash? It will have to be a netgear router, as other routers do not support nrmpflash. If thats the case, then you may be able to flash OpenWrt by just uploading a firmware file on the admin web page of your router. I'd also make sure that your router supports OpenWrt. You can find a searchable list of supported devices here:
openwrt.org/toh/start
Whats the name and model of your router?
@@DevOdyssey when i try opening nmrpflash on my computer it wont open and it gives me this error cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/848286588529803288/868919994937917500/unknown.png
@@DevOdyssey when i try starting the program on my pc it gives me an error saying the code execution cannot proceed because wpcap.dll was not found reinstalling the program may fix this problem
@@DevOdyssey i cant make the nrmp program work on my computer it keeps giving me an error
@Milktoast Weeb Thanks for the screenshot, that helps so much, including a description of the error. I searched the github page for nrmpflash ( github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash ) and found this in the README:
"The program can't start because wpcap.dll is missing" (Windows)
Install Npcap. For nmrpflash versions prior to 0.9.14, install Npcap with "WinPcap Compatibility" enabled.
Version 0.9.13 was the last version to support Windows XP.
Looks like if you install Npcap with WinPcap Compatibility, that it should resolve your issue.
Let me know if this works!
im having a problem i went to routerlogin and flashed openwrt thru it cause i could not understand but for some reason i cant login to my router
@Milktoast Weeb I would advise not to do that, as doing so will make your router inoperable. As you saw, you cant get into the router login in anymore and basically the software will fail to work, though the low level workings will still operate. Luckily, because of this, you can still use nrmpflash to repair your router with the stock firmware from Netgear, or OpenWrt. Thankfully nrmpflash makes it easier to "unbrick" your Netgear router.
@@DevOdyssey ok its done i managed to do it
@Milktoast Weeb Great! glad you were able to figure it out, through all your testing, and get OpenWrt on Netgear router. Now time to enjoy all the benefits of OpenWrt! 😊
@@DevOdyssey i want to install an adblocker and VPN onto my router
@Milktoast Weeb Those are great uses for OpenWrt. I'm certain there are some adblocking packages you can install on OpenWrt (though I'm not familiar with any at the moment). For VPN, as you already know and saw my video on setting up a VPN on your router, you can set up your router as VPN client using Wireguard, which I prefer, or using OpenVPN.
Best of luck!
ok i figured out the problem im on windows so the things you do confused me a little
@Milktoast Weeb Thats great! I'm glad you were able to figure it out. Sorry for the confusion. Using a Mac, the commands (or application you use for the commands) are slightly different, although effectively, it should be 99% same.
For Windows you'd have to use command line, and Mac you use the terminal. Then to do the initial login into the router from Windows, you have to use an application like PuTTY.
As for the commands themselves to perform the flash, on a Mac I have to use the "sudo" command to elevate my privileges, and on Windows, I don't think you need "sudo" and it should be the same command minus the extra sudo in the beginning. Not sure what level of permissions you'd need, but most home users should be "Administrators" on their computers and should need any extra elevation of privileges.
got router from goodwill to tinker with so it doesnt matter
Thanks for watching @ShadeamusPrime!
Sounds like an interesting place to get a router to tinker with. I really wouldn't have thought of going to goodwill to get a router, but it seems like a decent place to get old tech cheap that you can use for experimenting and testing, like with flashing OpenWrt, using its interface and getting to know it better from hands on experience. Thanks for sharing!
@@DevOdyssey it was crap
@ShadeamusPrime 😂 I’m definitely not surprised. Not something I’d run on my main home network, it must be super old. I something around the time of WRT54G I’d assume
@@DevOdyssey do you know a good router that cost like 50$?
@@ShadeamusPrime While this really depends on what you mean by good. To me I'd assume it means modern specs and standards, so I'd say something that supports WiFi 6 and has 2.5 gb ethernet interfaces, but you're more likely to find 1 GB ones. On a cost to functionality basis, I've found GL.iNet to be a good mix. However, it's going to be difficult to find something within the $50 dollar range with WiFi 6.
Given that, you can probably squeeze out WiFi 5 and 1 GB ethernet ports with just around $50 bucks for a new one. At this point, you're probably better of going to the second hand market for used routers. Like a used GL.iNet Flint should be closer to the $50 dollar range, and thats a WiFi 6 router too.
If you need new, and are fine with a small router, look at GL.iNet's travel routers. I did a video on their Beryl AX, which is more than $50 dollars but less than $100
ruclips.net/video/CKpKuHt8BaE/видео.html
Going for their older models, you can definitely get closer to the $50 dollar mark.
ruclips.net/video/CKpKuHt8BaE/видео.html
If you check out their Opal travel router, you can get that new for $39. This wouldn't be bad if you had a small apartment with a few wireless devices.
Thanks for your effort. Found this part unclear - ruclips.net/video/1IgwDwoa9yY/видео.html.
Thanks for watching Sandeep!
So that last part there is just in regards to reverting your router back to stock firmware. Say you don't like OpenWrt and you want to go back to using Netgear firmware. This portion of the video shows you how you can do that, by using the LuCI user interface, where you can upload the stock firmware to flash, or by using the nmrp command, which I like for its reliability, just in case the router gets bricked, you could always try again with this command.