“INSERT CD FIRST”, screamed the sticker on the back of the Linksys wrt54g router.
A decade with Macintoshes has taught me the suggestions are normally for Windows machines. The router was persistent – and the sticker was blocking the power port – so, I thought I’d humor it. I was right. The CD shipping was filled with setup software for Windows. Nothing about how to setup from a Macintosh. Anywhere.
Everyone at Amazon said I’d be up and running in seconds. The Linksys site barely acknowledges Macintoshes exist.
Here’s the steps I took to setup a Linksys Router with Mac OS X
- Peel off the sticker on the back of the router.
- Plug in the router’s power cord.
- Connect the router to your modem via the supplied Ethernet cord and the port marked ‘Internet’.
- Connect the router to your Mac via Ethernet.
- Open up the ‘Network’ panel in the Mac’s System Preferences and plug-in the following specs:
IP Address: 192.168.1.5
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1 - After applying the settings, open a browser to
http://192.168.1.1using the password'admin'
Now you’re in the router’s control panel. Enter all your ISP’s settings and name your new wireless network something other than ‘linksys’.
Now you’ll finally be able to program from the gazebo in your backyard.
Where do I go in a macbook if I want to update the firmware for my linksys router? Step by step and where in the computer do I go? I’m new to macs so I don’t know anything about setting things up using it. Please help!
I had fight and i won the battle. after many hours of searching, this is what got me up and running:
my mac could see the netwok but no internet would come thru…
if you are using DSL for your internet service, log to the admin window in the modem (type 198.162.1.1 in your browser) just type “admin” as password leave user blank…
then change the isp number in the first page to 198.162.2.1, save settings…
now type again in your browser 198.162.2.1 and repeat password again, now go to the status tab and if you see number in the ip address you are ok to go… this should work in most cases
Garrick, you just made me feel like a techno-genius.
Garrick,
I was able to complete steps 1-6 but once I was in my router’s control panel, I didn’t know what info from my ISP I needed to enter or where to enter it. So what do I need to enter and where do I get this information?
Another problem, once I reset my router to gain access with the default password, I changed my password but every time I go to access the router it does not ask for a password. Why not and how do I get it to work?
Thank you in advance Garrick
Help – I followed your directions and have gotten to the part where I open my browser and enter the address using the password ‘admin’. The only problem is that it is not accpeting it. Either I am using the wrong name or password. Any solutions to this?
Okay, so, you are my last hope. I am trying to figure out how to get my Linksys wireless card working on my Mac OS X. I’ve searched all over the web. Help!
what name do you put in? with the password admin
I tried al of the steps 1000000 times, well maybey not that much, but it doesnt work!!!
Hi folks, great site and great information.
To anyone who hasn’t figured out how to set up a Linksys router yet, here’s the simple version:
1. Unless re-configured, the out of the box address for Linksys routers is 192.168.1.1
- Type that address into your browser’s address window to gain access
2. Again, unless re-configured, the default username is blank – that means nothing is typed here – for older models.
- You can also try typing in ‘admin’ without the quotes if recently purchased.
3. The password will always be admin… unless someone has already configured this unit to use a different password.
In a nutshell, the username/password by defaul is admin/admin or “nothing”/admin – “Nothing” means that nothing is typed.
4. If the device was reconfigured, the unit must be reset to factory default. That means that while therouter is powered up, stick a paperclip in the back (onto the reset button) and hold for 30 seconds. Release the paperclip and remove power for 10 seconds.
5. Power down the modem and power it back up. (this is the cable or DSL modem)
5. After the modem is up, power back up the router and attempt to connect to it with your computer (PC or MAC – doesn’t matter). It’s factory default address is 192.168.1.1
6. Go to the “Status” tab. This shows the connection status between the router and your ISP.
- Be prepared to wait up to 5 minutes before this device gets connected to the internet itself. The router has to receive it’s own DHCP-assigned IP addresses from the ISP before YOU or any one else in the house can connect to the internet.
7. Keep looking at that page until the addresses under the heading of “Internet Connection” receive actual numbers. Initially, they’ll all be zeroes.
8. Once the router receives it’s ISP addresses, everything else connected to the router should also be able to access the internet.
- Note that some PCs or MACs may need their internet connection re-initialized (or re-boot) the system in order to connect to the router and receive a clean connection.
I noticed a few posts on setting the MTU (message transmission unit). If modifying this is required (which I doubt), it can be set in the router at “Setup”, “WAN” tab. The default is “Auto” which could be a problem for some devices that are unable to negotiate for the correct size. There are utilities available that will query your system for IT’S optimal MTU setting. Run such a utility (RMAC for MACs)
Changing this setting “Manual” and then setting the manual size to whatever the utility reports should be optimal for most devices.
Hope this helps some of you out there.
- Drew
Haven’t seen this Q posted yet…. Need to download the driver and re-install to a MAC….
Have a brand new linksy’s that was initially installed on my roommate’s PC 2 months ago and I shared with my Mac OSX. I’ve moved out and lost the drivers in the process. I just tried downloading the driver from Linksys.com but it’s a .BIN file, how do I convert this to a ZIP file or something else a Mac can understand?
Why can’t MACS and PC’s just get along & make the world a better place for all of us??!!! thanks to anyone who can help : )
Excellent. Thanks!!!
I was having similar problems to what a lot of other people have mentioned previously. I have an iBook G4 10.3.9 and moved into an apartment where there was a wireless connection already set up. My room mate uses a powerbook and had set up the modem and linksys router before I got there. I was unable to sign into the network and was getting the message “the password you entered for the network _______ is incorrect”. Then, for some odd reason it would log onto the network anyway but not let me connect to the internet. My airport status was orange and said that I was connected to the network using a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to access the internet.
Confusing. I tried everything I could think of with the configuations – both my airport settings and the settings on the router. Nothing worked. Actually, the internet stopped working for my housemate too. Finally we just unplugged everything, reset the modem, reset the router, and created a new network. Everything worked perfectly when I followed the steps posted in the initial post.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Try this before you waste a bunch of time changing settings.
Hi.
After ugrading my Mac mini to Mac 10.5.8 I can not access my ADSL modem Linksys WAG200G (http://192.168.1.1) by Safari. Also when I try using NetShade program (Dev. site: http://www.raynersoftware.com/netshade/) I received the message:
NSInternalInconsistencyException
nvalid parameter not satisfying: aString != nil
But:
1) I still can access my ADSL modem Linksys WAG200G (http://192.168.1.1) by FireFox.
2) I had not any problem with access my ADSL modem Linksys WAG200G (http://192.168.1.1) by Safari under Mac 10.5.6 and Mac 10.5.7.
Solved!!!
I just have solved the problem with the ADSL modem Linksys WAG200G. Simpy I have opened the Keychein.app and then have deleted all strings starting with lynksys in the system folder. After doing so and restarting Safari I at last can access my ADSL modem Linksys WAG200G by Safari entering http://192.168.1.1. Very strange.
Hello! After 3 days of major frustration trying to setup my new MacBook Pro to my linksys router I came across this site. Kim’s advice on Dec 14 06 at 4:35pm was a real life saver! Linksys tech was is absolutely NO help, and I’ll be damned if I could find any firmware to download as the Apple support people suggested. Apple was much more helpful, but they were still unable to help remedy the issue. This worked though! Thank so much everyone!
We purchased a Mac OS 10.5.8 desktop and have been unsuccessful in using the Airport with our linksys WRT54G router (accessing the internet is excruciatingly slow and often times out). We have a cable modem through comcast. Linksys tech says we need an upgrade (with a warranty, etc.) for this to work. They were very pushy about it and I want a second opinion. Is that correct?
PLEASE!!! I BEG OF ANYONE!!! HELP ME!!!
Ok, I’m very very desperate! I have a Mac OS X 10.5 and a Linksys WRT54G V8. I’m stuck a step 6 because I’ve spent many many hours trying lots of different names and password (all in vain) because “admin” doesn’t work!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!! ANYONE!!!
Ok, so I’ve read through all of these comments and tried anything listed and still haven’t had any luck. I bought the Linksys WRT110 router a few weeks ago. I plugged it in and attempted to put a password on it, but I’m not sure it worked. For the first few nights it worked fine, but a few days later I noticed that around the same time every night the connection would slow down and at some points even go out completely. I’ve had problems with this before with a Windows/Linksys network. When too many people would access the router it would bog down and the modem would cycle itself. I am able to input the network information but when I get to step 6 and input the default password and user name, I get the message “The user name or password you entered for area “WRT110” on 192.168.1.1:80 was incorrect. Make sure you’re entering them correctly, and then try again.” I have never attempted to access this page before now so I don’t understand how the user ID and password can be incorrect if I’ve never changed it.
i love you, this has taken me forever and you solved it in minutes
Thanks so much! i manage to set up my new Streamyx wireless modem (Riger) on Mac os X! i manage to setup all the WEP pss as well!
Thanks so much!
Help …. my mac cant see modem – Sagem 800-840
One thing I found from digging through the linksys web site is to change the 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1 if you have a dsl connection. Also leave the username blank while using the admin login. I also have a Linksys travel router I picked up at a show and the login for that is different so check the device to see which login they tell you to use or google the device model and check for more information. If you are locked out press the reset button located on the device and reset to the factory defaults.
Hi,
I got a mac last christmas and it’s been fine running on the linksys wireless router since then, but last night I tried to password protect it and it worked ( I think) and my airport is saying I’ve connected to my wireless but my internet still isn’t working, and the ’send and recieve’ lights aren’t lighting up on my modem. I’ve called the provider and they said it should be working fine. So now I’m connecting to the internet using the cable that goes into my modem. It’s really frustrating. Does anyone have any suggestions, at all? Thanks for any help in advance.
Hey guys, sorry for any inconvience, I fixed it myself.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!! this page helped me setup my wireless in less than 5 minutes! Linksys should have a mac setup cd for their products..but in any case, im all set up! THANKS AGAIN!
Thanks for the help! Didn’t even bother to crack the Linksys manual
i have a router for first computer and the second one getting hook up by linksys but lost cd that can with it any way to hook it up
I have a very old Linksys router, model BEFW11S4, which has been stalwartly providing me with a wireless network for many years. I initially used it with WEP security for my work-provided PC; then I ran my MacBook Pro on that same WEP network. I recently changed my network to use WAP security (on the advice of Linksys support); but it seems now that my wireless network drops a lot more frequently than it used to. I can usually re-establish the network by unplugging the router, resetting the cable modem, and then plugging the router back in — but why does the network keep dropping? Is there something I can change in the router configuration to keep my network from vanishing so often?
OK GUYS: The username is the router name (for me WRT54GS). The username will be whatever the window says when it says “You need to connect to ******* using a password”
And the password is not necessarily “admin”. I had my router already set up but with no password on the WiFi (but a password on the router), and I had to use the router password.
BTW, I couldn’t find anywhere on there how to change or create a password, so I removed the password and made it a closed network so you have to type in the name of the network; you can’t see it on the list of available networks.
We just bought an iMac. Had it connected directly to our DSL modem and work perfectly. I am know trying to set up a wireless Internet connection. I have done everything everyone has suggested ( probably something wrong) but still no internet. I can access the router (linksys WRT110) but I can not figure out from there. I have tried to clone my Mac address, etc. Please help out a first time Mac owner.
Thank you so much! Easy enough instructions and worked like a charm for me.
Garrick: Your advice was helpful. I was setting up a printer, and the printer recognized my Linksys, but I hadn’t configured the Mac to recognize Linksys (hence my looking at your page). The IP address listed in the settings for the printer didn’t match what you listed in your article, so I did the same things, but with the IP address. I was able to set up my printer and computer on Linksys, thanks in large part to you. Thanks!!! David
hi, i think i did something really bad. i mistakenly didn’t change the username and password, now i need the username and password to do changes. what can i do?
I apologize is, in many respects, this is a retread of questions that others have posed.
If possible, I would appreciate assistance with the following:
For years, without incident, we have had a wireless network at home using a Linksys WRT54G router, which seems to be a very common router.
Now, however, for the first time, I am having wireless problems that preclude me from working wirelessly.
The router seems to work fine. I have followed online advice and reset it using an iMac (10.3.9) and a WEP password (as it was set up previously). It sends the wireless signal to the iMac, shows excellent signal strength, and connects wirelessly. No problems there.
The problem is that I can do work from the iMac, but the iMac isn’t always available to me, especially at night, and in any event I prefer (and have become accustomed to) working wirelessly.
We have several laptops, two Macbooks and one Dell, all of which previously connected to the wireless without problem.
Now, however, none of them will allow me to get to the Internet—even through each of them show the network as an available network, show that the network has excellent signal strength, and (after entering the WEP password) say they are connected to the network.
I have reset (using the reset button on the Linksys) and re-established (renaming, etc.) the network several times, using the iMac. Again, the network exists and works, as evidenced by the fact that I can get it, and use it to access the Internet, on the iMac. I just can’t get it to work on any laptops.
Do I need to get some sort of router ID into each of the laptops, or, in the Linksys set-up, do I somehow need to enter some sort of info from the laptops? Sorry, but most of the suggestions here are over my head. I really need it to be dumbed down, and step-by-step as I can handle the most basic stuff, but beyond that I’m rather clueless here.
Thanks so much!!
I’m trying to connect the Linksys WRT54G Router to a Verizon DSL account in order to make a WiFi network for internet access without being hardwired into the DSL line. The trouble is, when I send the browser to http://192.168.1.1 I am sent to the Verizon account page, instead of a control panel for the router. I am also confused about how to create a new wireless network. Please advise. Thank you!
Thanks for posting these instructions. I followed them to get my WRT54GL set up. One problem: The port marked “Internet” didn’t work for me. I had to use one of the other ports.
The biggest problem I had configuring my WRT54G was that I initially tried to use Safari. FireFox worked Great!!! I could access the router using Safari, but when I went to save a setting it would say “page not available” or something similar.
Long story short: Don’t use Safari when setting up your Router.
Use FireFox!
Here’s what worked for me in setting up a WRT54GL with a Netopia DSL Modem (AT & T) and Mac OS X Leopard:
Use Firefox (Not Safari) to access 192.168.1.1. On the first page, change the IP Address to 192.168.2.1. (From the tips above) Apply Changes and wait…it took a while for the modem to respond.
After many hours of troubleshooting, now have wired and wireless access.
I hope this saves some of you some time.
I am unable to access my WRT54GX4 set up page. I keep receiving the error message ‘Safari can’t open the page “http://192.168.1.1/” because Safari can’t connect to the server “192.168.1.1”.
Here’s what happened, after changing my wireless settings from WPA/WPA2 to WEP, I clicked the Client Table tab, which came up blank and somewhat garbled. I reloaded and was immediately kicked out of the router set-up page. I attempted to sign back on numerous times, uninstalled and re-installed Firefox and installed Google Chrome with no success. I’ve used every suggestion that Linksys has to offer (at least the ones I felt comfortable doing because let’s face it, I’m no computer geek) to no avail. Can someone help me out? I’m open to all advice.
I recently purchased a MacBook and have been unable to set up a secure network with the Linksys (Cisco, Model WRT54GS2) router.. I had hoped to replace my old Windows PC entirely and just use my MacBook. The PC is one second away from dying a timely death (have had it for over seven years). When I used the CD and minimalist instruction manual, I was able to set up a wireless network, but it was not secure. Now someone else is using my connection, and I keep getting messages on my Mac that my ISP address is being used by someone else and to try connecting later. Sure wish I had done my research before buying!
So, when I tried the main suggestion/post, I was unable to complete step five “Open up the ‘Network’ panel in the Mac’s System Preferences and plug-in the following specs:
IP Address: 192.168.1.5
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1″
All of that information was grayed out and I could not find any way to change the info that was already there.
So, here I am with my spanking new MacBook, a PC that will not connect to the internet at all (PC problem, not the router or modem) no security and someone else using my connection and somehow blocking me from using it most of the time.
Help please!!!!
P.S. I get a similar message as Deedee:
“http://192.168.1.1/” because the server where this page is located isn’t responding.
SUCCESS by just changing the ethernet cable from the “internet” port to one of the four numbered ports! I had tried everything else suggested above and this is the one thing that worked to get internet through the WiFi! Thank you ALEX MENDEZ DA COSTA from Jan 23 210!!!! Just changed the ethernet cable from the “internet” port on the linksys WRT54GS device to one of the 4 numbered ethernet ports. Reset the Linksys device….I then disconnected the power to all devices. Starting with the internet box, I plugged it back in and let it set for 3 minutes and then plugged in the linksys, the computer recognized it!!!!! This is after changing all the IP addresses and doing all the suggestions above and they never worked to get me on the internet even though the computer recognized the WiFi.
Hello, I am having a problem with my mac connecting to internet. It says that I am connecting on my wireless network, but when I try to get on internet, it just keeps loading the homepage. I have tried the method described in the previous posting on setting the router, but still no hope. My operating system is Mac OS?version 10.6.1. Thanks so much for any help!
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Hopefully I can offer something helpful here – this’ll be just barely discernible from the other posts. Though after spending 4 days trying to get my router working, this was this difference that got me up and running. (I eventually broke down and spent the 30 bucks for Linksys to walk me through the setup process.)
All my problems began when I decided to hit the reset button to try and resolve some issues that turned out to not be router related – good stuff, live and learn. On to the fixing:
(I should mention, my router is WRT54G v4, though not sure how much that matters.)
Step 1 – with everything plugged in (power plus ethernet) and turned on – modem, router and computer – the tech had me hold down reset for 30 secs.
Step 2 – he had me unplug the router and wait another 30 seconds.
Step 3 – plug the router back in and wait a minute or two (never hurts to wait a little longer I feel, sometimes it takes a bit to fully cycle up).
Step 4 – go to your network prefs
“configure: using DHCP”
my IP address was coming up as: 192.168.1.101
(this apparently varies depending on your ISP)
The tech said that info looked good. I was getting the green light on “Ethernet 1″, all seemed good (though I was skeptical, I had been here many times over the past few days). I clicked “apply”.
Step 5 – Browser Basic Setup – I did the go to 192.168.1.1 routine (typing this into the address bar), logging on using only “admin” as the password
Step 6 – now I clicked on “Status”, my IP address was showing 192.168.1.47. I was told that’s good.
Step 7 – Next he had me go to “Setup/Basic Setup” and change my IP address to 192.168.5.1 then click “Save Settings”.
Step 8 – After clicking “Save Settings” and getting the “settings saved” page, it wasn’t able to return to the setup page, so he had me power cycle the router again (unplug it, wait 30 secs or so, plug it back it, then wait another minute or two for it to cycle up).
That’s it! I opened a new browser window and there it was, there was the internet. A minor miracle this man achieved. Now when I log into to the setup page, I have to log into 192.168.5.1 instead of the orig 192.168.1.1, and I use the same “admin” only password.
Hope this helps some of you, I know I was at my wits end, pulling my hair out. So hopefully this’ll save some of you that grief.
Good luck!
I should mention, my posting above was only to fix the hardwire connection between my router and my desktop, you’ll still want to change the wireless network to something other than “linksys” and probably setup some sort of security for yourself, WPA or WEP, etc.