Does the saved settings file come from one of these three modem/routers? Yes
Are they all the V2 hardware versions? V1 settings will not work on V2 firmware Yes, all three are V2 hardware. And I know they are old hardware, but they have been rock solid thus far and work great for my application.
Do these devices work as expected when they are reset. Yes, when reset to factory, and have gone through the initial config they work as expected. I'm trying to clone 2 of them to match the one currently in operation, as I have a number of special settings in the Port Forwarding section for my specific application to support remote access of devices behind the router.
It is a bit puzzling that you talk about this. Browsers have next to nothing to do with the process. If it works with one browser it will work with all browsers. The browser is just your way into the router's graphical user interface (GUI). Just trying to be complete in my description, in case the Genie .html code implementation on these routers might be sensitive in some way to later browsers in terms on .html language advancements over the years. And also to reduce the opportunity to get cautioned for not providing enough detail. I figured if I didn't provide it, someone would likely ask.
Does that work? Can you get to the appropriate Restore Configuration Settings page? Yes. Accessing the function works just fine. It's how I made the .cfg file to start with. In fact, I created .cfg files from all 3 routers, and no matter which one I use, none of the two devices I'm making as clones will restore the settings and thus produce the same error. Basically, I have one running, from which I took the initial backup, the remaining two were firmware upgraded to the latest firmware available to match that of the "master" router, and then I attempted to restore from the "master" .cfg file.
Note that there hasn't been a firmware update since 2016. (This is an old model that dates back to 2011.) There can be firmware updates that change the underlying firmware in ways that are not compatible with what went before. I doubt if that is the case here, but it has happened. You might be able to restore to older firmware, but not to this one. The firmware I installed was downloaded directly from the Netgear site. I have an expectation that firmware they provide on their own site should have been tested and any "incompatibilities" noted. It's been a seamless process in the past. And if the condition did indeed exist and you noted, I would expect the restoration process to have noted something like "Bad parameter found,,, aborting" rather than just saying "Restore failure!". Simply punting is not a sane option, IMHO.
Finally, it just might be that the saved settings file is broke. Really? All three seem to match in format. I plan to take them to one of my Linux systems shortly to run a diff on them to see if anything stands out. From a cursory viewing, they all seem to be identical. The diff program, however, will ultimately tell the true story. And if the device running the most recent firmware can't generate a setting file it can read back correctly, well that would seem to be a serious product issue. That said, I have downloaded the GPL code sources for this firmware version to see if I can look at that specific function to see how it actually works and what the "restore" function is actually looking at when it throws up its hands and declares "Restore failure!". It will be an interesting journey indeed.
Thanks for your time to respond. If you have any ideas, I'd appreciate you sharing them. Have a great day!
