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Forum Discussion
Disable Netgear cloud management on R6230
I bought a Netgear AC1200 WiFi Router (Model no. R6230) for use in my employer's lab, and I need to figure out how to prevent it from "phoning home" to Netgear. Whenever I login to the web interface, it goes through some process of trying to connect to a Netgear server, and if it can reach it, it demands that I set up an account with Netgear so it can be remotely managed. I have to disconnect its WAN interface and make sure that my web browser has no other usable path the the Internet in order to do anything with the web interface (check connection status, change an IP address, modify port forwarding rules. It is a major pain in the neck, and I cannot find a way to disable this behavior. I am running the most recent version of firmware (1.1.0.110). Does anyone have a solution that doesn't involve selling it on EBay or destroying it with a hammer?
9 Replies
ichabod wrote:
I bought a Netgear AC1200 WiFi Router (Model no. R6230) for use in my employer's lab, and I need to figure out how to prevent it from "phoning home" to Netgear.
A router does not "phone home" unless you are using a future that needs it. Anywhere Access, for example, does that as nmeeded. (See below.)
ichabod wrote:
Whenever I login to the web interface, it goes through some process of trying to connect to a Netgear server, and if it can reach it, it demands that I set up an account with Netgear so it can be remotely managed.
What is the address of the page you land on when you see this message? And what are you doing when it happens? There are various ways of launching the "web interface". (That is actually an internal browser graphical user interface (GUI) rather than a place in the outside world.)
While Netgear tries to force everyone to use an app on a mobile device to setup and manage a device, experienced users avoid that approach. They use a browser and a wired connection . Is that what you are doing?
If you have enabled Remote Management, now known as Anywhere Access, then you need to set up an account on the Netgear Cloud. But that is a one-off move.
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 Set Up Remote Management.
If you don't want to use that, and it is enabled, turn it off. If you are trying to get in through that route, then complete the process as directed.(Sorry
Michael, thank you for your suggestion. It looks like the Remote Management option documented in the user manual doesn't exist in firmware version v1.1.0.110_1.0.1, which seems to be the latest available. (Screen shot attached.)
Perhaps the router does not phone home, but the web page's JavaScript has the browser trying to reach assets on a Netgear server, and when it can, the web interface redirects the browser to the Netgear site, insisting on a login. The only way I can get to the web interface on the browser is if I disconnect the router's WAN interface. I am connecting to the router through its Wi-Fi. I can't think of any engineering reason to present a different set of menus to LAN users on Wi-Fi than on Ethernet.
Network trace showing accesses to Netgear servers.
