RBR750

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Mike376 wrote:

I received an email indicating that a Security Firmware update was available for my system. I apparently did not write down the Administrative Password when I set my system up. How can I access my Administrative password or generate a new one?

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Netgear Orbi systems feature three sets of credentials:

• The WiFi name (SSID) & password.  These credentials are printed on the product label on the bottom of the case.  When shipped from the factory, the SSID is composed of the letters "O-R-B-I" plus a two digit number and the password is a combination of random words and a number, such as "sillymonkey23"
  Many users immediately change the WiFi SSID/password to match the system that is being replaced.  (I have kept the same WiFi credentials for 20 years through several WiFi replacements.)
• The web administration credentials are what is required to access the router and make changes, including loading new firmware.  When shipped from the factory, the admin credentials are user name: "admin" (which cannot be changed) and the password is "password".  During the initial setup, the user is badgered into changing the password to something more secure.   (The latest firmware releases require the password to be at least 8 characters long and include lower case, Upper case, and a number - maybe even a punctuation mark?)
  During this process, there is an opportunity to set up security questions that can be used to recover the password.  When the user enters an invalid password three times in a row, a Password Recovery screen pops up asking for the serial number of the router (from the product label) and answers to the security questions.  Alas, when the user does  not remember the password, there is a good chance that he cannot answer the security questions either.  (Maybe they were not even set up in the first place.)
• The Orbi 'app' login credentials are the the login for my.netgear.com (which is where products are registered), usually an email address plus a password.  These credentials will not access the web administration.

It the user cannot satisfy the Password Recovery process, there is only one method to reset the web administration password: the dreaded Factory Reset. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4 After doing this, the web credentials will be "admin" and "password". 

It is a mystery to me that some users receive these messages from Netgear informing them of new firmware, while I have had an Orbi since 2016 and have never received a single one.  There is one school of thought that if the security issue is really important, then Netgear will update the firmware for you automatically.  Otherwise, updating is sort of optional.