NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
dc2018
Jul 02, 2018Tutor
How do I disable WPS on XR500 router?
Just like the title says, how do I disable WPS via the Duma OS on this Nighthawk XR500 wifi router?
dc2018
Jul 02, 2018Tutor
You know I browsed through that manual you linked to, and there's nowhere that I can disable WPS. Am I missing it in plain sight?
Your mentioned smart connect has only this to say about WPS:
Router’s WPS PIN | Disabled while Smart Connect is enabled
Well, it doesn't necessarily disable WPS.
Where shall I ask about it? Maybe Duma OS forums. As it seems like a security flaw. Even my old dinky router had an option to disable WPS.
antinode
Jul 02, 2018Guru
> [...] Where shall I ask about it? Maybe Duma OS forums. [...]
One Netgear possibility:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/bd-p/en-home-nighthawk-pro-gaming-routers
- antinodeJul 02, 2018Guru
> See page 99.
See _what_ on page 99? What's the date/version on your User Manual?
> [...] I browsed through that manual you linked to, and there's nowhere
> that I can disable WPS. Am I missing it in plain sight? [...]
My search for "wps" found a section, "Specify WPS Settings", which
included:
5. (Optional) Select or clear the Enable Router's PIN check box.
Does that not do what you want?- dc2018Jul 03, 2018Tutor
Yeah, his manual reference is off. The one I can download from the link in the 2nd post above is page 97. For "Specify WPS Settings". Unfortunately it doesn't really match to what I see in my Duma OS screen:
The good thing is that it says there, "WPS Settings (disabled when Smart Connect is enabled)" just like michaelkenward suggested.
The thing is that "smart connect" is enabled by default. What bothers me is that when I press WPS button on the router itself it starts blinking like if it is expecting connections. My point was that I don't want someone to just come to the router press that button and connect to it from their device w/o knowing my WiFi password.
The PIN part is something else. I saw it on some other page. What it wants, is for me to enter the PIN to connect to something. It wasn't quite clear to me how that would apply. In other words, if I provided some random PIN it would not take it.
- michaelkenwardJul 03, 2018Guru - Experienced User
dc2018 wrote:
I have now compared the WPS settings on the R7800 with and without "smart connect" active. As I said at the outset, "smart connect" disables WPS.
Turn off "smart connect" and you will see the device's "PIN" and the other controls for WPS.
Have you actually tried using WPS with smart connect active? Can you get things to connect? I can't.
I know that the XR500 is not the R7800, but from my beta experience it has the core same settings as the R7800, albeit with an eye straining design and layout, but without all that fancy stuff for gaming priority.
My guess is that the designers didn't think about the WPS button and how to stop it from flashing when WPS is disabled.
If you want to beef up your wifi security you can always turn on Access Control and set it to reject "Block all new devices from connecting".