NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Nighthawk Admin and password for Genie app?
Hi! I have an R8500 that I've been using for some time. I've changed the web admin username and password some time ago as well. Today I wanted to try out the more advanced parental controls which app...
Let's clarify a few things.
There's a router login & password used for telnet access to the device.
There's a web access login & password used when browsing to your router.
There's also applications that Netgear provides, such as Genie, that can be installed on mobile devices and Windows PCs that will configure the router for you and provide access to advanced features.
The last one, the Genie applications, have a hard coded username/login of "Admin". You cannot change it in the application (greyed out).
In my application, the web username has been changed. When I setup the router the first time using their official application, it prompted me to change the admin username for security purposes. It's a horribly long, complex, randomy mashup of letters and numbers.
My hope is that the login the app is using is *not* in fact the web-interfaces username (at which point the application doesn't work because you can't change what it uses!), and it instead uses the routers Admin account. If that's the case, then my next challenge is ... to determine either what the router's admin account password is, OR to change it through the Web Interface somehow since I *do* have access to that.
Does that make sense?
zonearc wrote:
In my application, the web username has been changed.
And which app is that?
zonearc wrote:
The last one, the Genie applications, have a hard coded username/login of "Admin". You cannot change it in the application (greyed out).
It is not the genie apps – even the browser interface also calls itself "genie" – that set the admin username. It is the device itself. The browser interface is also fixed on that username, much to the annoyance of those who would like greater security.
You may well have some other app that gets you into the device and demands a different username, but you don't say what that is, so it is hard to know what is going on.
zonearc wrote:
Does that make sense?
Not really. (See above.) From all the stuff I have read here, apart from your application, whatever that is, every other way of getting onto the router is stuck with Admin.
There is a setup CD that comes with the router. When I used that CD initially to setup the router, it had an application that would seek out the router via wireless and then configure it for first use (unnecessary of course, but I thought it was cool and would try it). It created a different username other than "Admin" for the webui. The username is $1$mXSmT1Ly$KKln/O06uKlgJO7iAJrud0
Since I have done that, I cannot use "Admin" to login using the web interface, I have to use the login name above.
Now, if I want to use the Genie app on my desktop to configure OpenDNS/Parental Controls, the "admin" name is hardcoded. I suspect thats why it doesn't work since my username is different? Or, maybe web usernames are different than router admin logon names? Is that possible? If not, how do I proceed?
And, maybe we can simplify this discussion, as I may be making assumptions.
If I install the Genie app on my Windows desktop and want to use it to change settings on the NetGear Nighthawk R8500 I have ... how do I determine what the login/password is I have to type in to the application? The only login/password combo I have is the logon/password that I use for the web interface which is $1$mXSmT1Ly$KKln/O06uKlgJO7iAJrud0 & a password I set. I cannot enter that in Genie since the logon field is greyed out. If I use my password it fails. If I use Admin/password (which is documented in the R8500 documentation as the default), it fails.
How should I proceed?
zonearc wrote:
Or, maybe web usernames are different than router admin logon names? Is that possible?I think you have hit it.
We see regular questions here about logins to different places. There was another one yesterday from someone who wanted to regain control of their remote access. They seem to have the view that it was the login to the Netgear website that was what mattered. In reality the picture is complicated.
Here are the Netgear logins that I can recall:
- Browser access to the modem/router (always username admin, default password is password).
- The wifi (defaults SSID and passwords on the back of the thing)
- Login to the My Netgear site where you register your hardware (you set that yourself)
- Login to My Netgear account to "manage remotely" from an Android app
- Login to Parental Controls (you have to set that up as described in the manual)
- Login to this forum to while away the hours (login details are also down to your choice)
I may have missed some!
Oh dear, I have just remembered another place to login. You earlier talked about accessing parental controls. You do not need the genie to get into that. You can start here:
https://netgear.opendns.com/sign_in.php
I'm not familiar with how the setup CD works. My stuff is either too old to have used it, or it is newer and I got it in a beta programme. Maybe this CD setup is what forced that eccentric username on you.
My guess is that the one that is causing you grief is the My Netgear account. You can access that by going to my.netgear.com in a browser, through the Android app (probably iThing too).
Only you will know if the password for Admin is the same as that for My Netgear. The setup process almost certainly left it untouched.
zonearc wrote:
Since I have done that, I cannot use "Admin" to login using the web interface, I have to use the login name above.I do not understand this. If you are using your browser for local access, then the username is admin. It may be that you have not actually changed the password that is associated with that. Have you tried password?
If that does not work, then your only option if you want to get into the browser interface is to reset the hardware to factory settings. Then you will be able to use the default access details.
Perhaps you set up password recovery for your R8500. Read about it on page 103 of the manual:
>>> R8500 | Product | Support | NETGEAR <<<
I feel that a fundamental breakdown in communication hereis that I say 'I changed the logon name to the webUI for the router' and you don't believe me, so you instead say that I must be talking about the Netgear website, or other places. So, I did a screen recording logging on to my router:
Please look at the IP, the browser, logon name, etc. I'm logging on to the ROUTER.
I then replace the logon name in the video with "Admin" keeping the same password since that obviously works ... and no go.
Now, look at the Netgear Genie app and how it has a hardcoded "Admin" logon name. I keep clicking and it won't let me edit that .. only the password can be changed:
This is the root of my problem.