How do you change the password on a router? WiFi password, management password, and broadband password—three options—all the effort to fix the wrong place is wasted

Last Wednesday at 10 PM, my cousin's husband messaged me on WeChat asking, "Bro, how do I change the router password?" I replied, "Which password do you want to change?" He replied with three question marks half a minute later. That one question has left most people stuck—there are at least three passwords in the router: WiFi, admin, and broadband, each managing its own door. You want to change your internet password, but you end up in the backend and change the management password, and the internet users still do it; You might think your broadband password is broken, but after all that effort, you realize the WiFi with the strongest signal at home is actually issued by the optical modem. This article explains three paths in the order of "first recognize the door, then take action."

first identify the door: what each of the three passwords handles, and one table matches the numbers

three passwords look similar, but their responsibilities are completely different. First, look at this chart to see which one you want to move:

re-check the symptoms: if you want people connected to WiFi to enter a new password (for example, suspecting internet access), the password is changed; Can't access the backend, or want to change the password left by the installer and change the management password; If the router reports 691 authentication failure and you can't get online, that's because the broadband password is faulty—not 'change' it, it's 'checking'.

cousin's husband is the first type. He lives on the second floor and always suspects the shops downstairs are connected to his network, so he wants to change the password. But he opened a browser and went to the backend, changed the management password in system settings—after changing the network, he still got hacked, because the person who freed the internet didn't need to access your backend; he only needed the WiFi password. If you go in the wrong direction, your effort is wasted.

first option: Change your WiFi password, with one for both the website and the mobile phone

the web path: go to 192.168.1.1 in your browser, log in, and find "Wireless Settings" or "WiFi Settings." Make sure to fill in the password box—name it 'wireless password', 'WPA pre-shared key', or 'PSK'. Don't change the WiFi name on it unless you plan to change it together. After making changes, click Save. Some machines require a restart before they take effect. Background checks that won't open or enter. I previously wrote a six-step guide. If you're stuck before the login page, check first.

phone is much easier, and most brand apps support modification. You can find WiFi settings in commonly used apps like Mijia, Mercury WiFi, and TP-LINK. It's the same setup as the web version, but you don't need to turn on a computer. I wrote about the complete process of changing phone passwords and three pitfalls my phone WiFi password change, so here I'll only mention the three most common mistakes.

pitfall 1: Dual-frequency has two frames. 2. 4G and 5G each have a password box. both boxes must be filled in with the same ; otherwise, if the device switches from the living room to the bedroom and switches to a band, the phone will disconnect and pop up the password box, making you think the router is broken. Pitfall 2: After modifications, smart devices collectively lose contact. Devices like cameras, vacuum cleaners, and speakers that don't enter new passwords themselves all need to be reconnected one by one, each taking 5 to 15 minutes. I have 62 devices at home. Last time I changed my password, about 20 needed to be reconnected, and I was fussing from after dinner until bedtime. So I picked a weekend during the day to get started, first connecting my phone and computer, and saving troublesome things like cameras for last. Pitfall 3: After changing the new password, someone still tries to get it back. Check if your family member's phone has a WiFi master key and auto-sharing enabled—the new password is connected once and the next day it's back in the shared library.

By the way, the rules for changing WiFi names (name clashes, naming costs, reconnect) are fully explained in the of the name change article. Changing the password and name together can save you a round of reconnections, so it's recommended to save them all at once.

second option: change the management password and open it separately from the WiFi password

changing the password management method itself is not complicated: go to the backend and find the password change option in "System Settings" or "System Management." I listed the menu paths for the seven brands in the post about managing passwords, so I won't repeat them here. What I want to say more is that the matter of splitting the system is more important than the reform itself.

my mom's Mercury was set by the installer, and the management password and WiFi password are exactly the same—both are the last digits of the technician's phone. It's like the key to your home and the safe are the same one—anyone who freeloads the internet can easily access your backend, change your password, turn off the firewall, and you can't get into your own home. When I changed it for her, I specifically opened it: the WiFi password is for family and guests to connect to the internet; Only insiders know the management password, starting at 16 digits. The mechanic leaves behind the password scheme after installing the machine (phone last digit, installation date, etc.). I've counted common default password in this article, and quite a few fall for it.

After changing the management password, there are four chain reactions—be sure to keep track of this: First, the old password remembered in the browser is invalid. If you can't log in, don't panic—try entering the new password in the incognito window; Second, the phones stored in family members should also be updated; Third, in the configuration backup files you exported before, the management password from the day you exported is stored—load the old backup, and the password will return to that day. Remember this feature: configuration backup is always new and easy to use. After changing the password, you can easily import a new copy; Fourth, sell the device second-hand: change the password first, then restore the factory order—don't reverse the order.

there's a reverse pitfall: forget to manage passwords, don't try blindly. Some machines lock for several minutes after a few wrong connections, and the more urgent you are, the more locked they get. First, I took the to find the way back without resetting. If it really didn't work, I would only restore the factory setup—after resetting, I had to redo the entire broadband account and WiFi setup. I wrote the complete order of that reset in the of the reset redial post. Following it would save me at least half an hour of detours.

the third way: broadband passwords are not 'changed'—they are retrieved and re-entered

many people have never seen what their own broadband password looks like. It is a string of accounts (email format starting with area codes or pure numbers) and a password provided by the operator, stored in the router's WAN port settings. Every time the router turns on, it is used for dial-up authentication.

you can't "change" this password in the router—it's in the operator's data center. The password box in the backend WAN port settings is just "Fill"; if you enter it incorrectly, you won't be able to dial the number, and the whole house will be disconnected. So there are only two real needs for broadband passwords: how to check what you forgot, and how to enter it back after searching.

five ways to check (checking accounts in the backend, checking work orders, searching SMS, business hall app, calling customer service). I found that article on my broadband account wrote the full one. The location to return is in the WAN port settings or internet settings. Select PPPoE broadband dial-up, enter your account and password to save it, and check the connection status from "Authentication Failed" back to "Connected." For connection mode parameters, just set "Auto connection." I've covered the key points in the article Auto-Dial. A special reminder: two pairs of characters—lowercase l and 1, uppercase O and 0—are hotspots for dialing failures. I've seen people try to dial the correct password four times but still can't dial, only to find out they typed l into 1 and then placed one character and one character core on the slip.

changed for a long time and still no effect? First, let's see if you've come to the wrong door

three 'changes with no response' situation, the root cause is the wrong one.

the first option: the WiFi with the strongest signal at home is not from the router. The telecom optical modem comes with built-in WiFi, usually starting with ChinaNet, and the signal is often very full. Changing the router's WiFi password has nothing to do with it. How to tell whose door you enter? I wrote about it in the article about fighting IPs ; The method to change the IP password for the optical modem is the article on changing the password for the optical modem. If you find it troublesome, you can just turn off the optical modem WiFi and end it all.

the second option: you have two machines at home, and you don't modify the one that sends the signal. Mesh networking switches to master routes are fully synchronized, so no more worries; But if the old router is changed to AP mode and two routers each send their own WiFi, then both routers have to go in and switch to different ones. If you only change one device and the other corner still has the old password, you might think changing the password doesn't work.

the third type: after modification, you didn't save or restart. Different brands vary; some save takes effect immediately, while others require a restart. The verification method is rustic but reliable: on your phone, click 'Forget this network' on your phone, reconnect, and the password box popping up will show you entering the new password, which means it's actually valid.

Ending: Sequence of Actions with Reference Table

Here's a

order to do it smoothly: first, use the chart above to identify symptoms, don't just randomly click in the backend; Change WiFi passwords to choose daytime when someone is home, giving smart devices time to reconnect; The management password and WiFi password must be split into two separate ones; Broadband passwords are only touched when dialing is problematic; Once you've done everything, write down the three passwords and stick them under the router, or save them in a password manager—next time someone asks you 'how to change the router password,' at least ask back: Which password?