Admin password reset

Question

So I have had my nighthawk for two years. I never logged into the app before and have never touched the login information. My friend recently told me that we could manage our router systems preferences if I logged in. I set up a netgear account and was working through the app and then it asked me to login to my router. My username is still “admin”, it will not let me change that. I tried using password which is the default, then tried my routers given password, then tried all of my passwords that I would usually use. None have worked so I tried to reset my password. It gave me to security questions which I answered but it told me I was incorrect when I clearly answered them correctly( my brothers name and my dads middle name) can’t screw that up. Now I’m in a predicament since it will not let me get in and there is no phone support. These last two hours have got me rethinking staying with nighthawk since there is no call service support for this. They only thing I saw for support is if I buy a support package. Please, anyone, help me.

michaelkenward · Answer

Netgear makes life interesting by having all manner of passwords. There is the one into the router's controls, then there are those to get into the router's wifi, and then there any that you use to get into this Community and/or MyNetgear.
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Different passwords pop up at different times, depending on how you connect to the device and where you are trying to access from, your local network or somewhere else on the Internet. (That's Remote Access.)
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Zsk213&nbsp;wrote:I set up a netgear account and was working through the app and then it asked me to login to my router. 
If you are accessing the thing through a mobile app, you are using wifi, so you need to connect to that before you can get any further.
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The easiest way into a router is with a wired connection to:
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www.routerlogin.net
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Zsk213&nbsp;wrote:My username is still “admin”, it will not let me change that. I tried using password which is the default, then tried my routers given password, ....
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If "password" does not work, then at some time in the past you probably changed it. Netgear tries to force this on users when they set up their routers. That is its way of protecting us from wicked people who can easily exploit well known passwords. The system will not allow you to use "password" as the new password.
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There is a bug in Netgear's implementation of password recovery on some devices. You can get locked into a closed loop.
If password recovery is enabled, but you have not set the answers to the questions, it keeps sending you back to the beginning of the process. If you haven't already given the thing your personal answers, they are not in its memory and it has not way of knowing if they are correct.
If the standard factory password (password) does not work, then you will have to factory reset the thing to get back to that. Then either disable password recovery (check the manual for your device) or provide some answers to those questions.
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How do I perform a factory reset on my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support
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Zerrzio · Answer

Hello, Netgear should be ashamed of providing such an insecure (no TLS) and buggy interface.

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Admin password reset