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Forum Discussion
Access Control on Nighthawk Mesh WIFI system (AX1800/MK62)
I just upgraded to a Nighthawk Mesh WIFI system (AX1800/MK62) this past weekend. With my old Netgear router (an R6300v2) I configured an extra layer of security by enabling a wireless card access ...
Have you found Access Control?
- Basic
- Attached Devices
- Access Control
Manuals are always a good place to start.
Visit the support pages:
Support | NETGEAR
Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.
Check the section in the manual Enable access control to allow or block
access to the Internet
You may have done that already. I can't tell from your message.
I mention it because Netgear gave up on supplying paper manuals and CD versions some years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I can confirm that I absolutely read the manuals before posting to the community. When I follow the manual's instructions to navigate to the screen in the web browser based Admin interface where I supposed would be able to define the access control list, said screen flashes briefly on my Laptop, then is overlaid with a screen that says "Use the Nighthawk App to configure access controls."
I've been through every blasted screen in the mobile app, and came to the conclusion that the only way I could have some semblance (sp?) of MAC access control would be to use the Parental Controls, for which I opted into, if only out of curiousity, the 30 day trial. I was able to "hack" MAC access control by setting the default network access to Paused", then adding all known devices to the "always on list". Not ideal as I do not want to be forced to buy a Parental control subscription for a feature I had for free in my old Netgear outer.
I did also send email to Netgear tech support, as I am still in the 90 day free support window. Last reply from them stated that they saw where I had the Parental Control trial enabled, and hence I'd have to set up control through it. Which was the conclusion I was already reaching on my own.
I have just replied back to tech support to inquire as to whether I would be able to set up the MAC access control via the Web browser interface *if* I disabled Parental Controls. Whilst I'm waiting on their response, I've gone ahead and disabled the Parental Controls features, but am still seeing the same screen behavior I noted above, .e.g the Access Control config screen is overlaid with a message directing me to use the Nighthawk app. I've tried clearing the browser cache, but the issue still persists. Sigh, I'll try again later today or tomorrow to see if it takes time for the system to register the status change.
Along the way I learnt that the newer releases of the Samsung phones are by default randomizing MAC addresses for each new network connection, and figured out how to disable the randomization on my home network. It's been years since I had to set up a new home WIFI, so technology has progressed.
NG seems to be moving away from the browser based Access Controls and moving to the Mobile app.
If you have SPC enabled then that is one method for using Access Controls.
You might look under Devices on the mobile app and select on a device. They may have a pause or stop button seen here for simple use to control access for each device.
Hi,
The pause buttons integrated in the Devices section of the mobile app must have been a function of Parental Controls as they are no longer there now that I've disable the Parental Controls trial... or maybe that's what you meant by saying "if you have SPC enabled"?
Tech support has replied once more and have informed me that, in order to configure an MAC Access Control list from the Web browser admin, I'll have to push the reset button on my router and reinstall/set up my WIFI. Per Tech support, once I opted into the Parental control trial license there's no other way to remove all traces of it. Even disabling it from the Nighthawk app isn't enough. This is not ideal, as I expect it will take me hours again to reconnect all of the household devices to the network. Per my experience from when I first set up the AX1800 mesh this past weekend - I'd thought theoretically that if I gave the new network the same name and password as I had on the previous router that device reconnections would be seamless, but it was not the case. I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday and Sunday manually reconnecting all of the Smart Home devices, streaming devices, smart tv's, etc. đ Maybe I'm wrong and it will all seamlessly reconnect this time, but I'll have to postpone that project for a couple of weeks....
