Anywhere Accees "Something went wrong" after Factory Reset

[Tyler818]

I just finished a factory reset of my R9000 Router and I'm trying to enable Anywhere Access from the Nighthawk app.

This was previously working before the Factory Reset but now when I slide to enable "Enable Anywhere Access" I get an error:

"Something Went Wrong

There was a problem enabling Anywhere Access, please try again or enable later.

Note: If you factory reset your router, you must re-enable Anywhere Access."

I did in fact Factory Reset my Router and am trying to re-enable Anywhere Access as the error says. I have also tried this several times after waiting until "later".

Edit:

Router Firmware: V1.0.5.42 

Nighthawk App Version: 2.19.0.2392

[michaelkenward · Accepted solution]

Remind me, did you roll back to earlier firmware to see if that helps?

[michaelkenward]

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@Tyler818 wrote:

I just finished a factory reset of my R9000 Router and I'm trying to enable Anywhere Access from the Nighthawk app.

You did have a local connection with the app?

You must be locally connected to your router to enable or disable Anywhere Access.

Have you tried using the browser graphical user interface (GUI)?

Remote Management is now Anywhere Access in the Nighthawk and Orbi apps | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Recent firmware has moved Remote Management:

>> Advanced

>> Advanced setup

>> Web Services Management

This might unclog your system.

[Tyler818]

Yes I have a local connection within the app and I am able to do things like reboot the R9000 while connected. There is a green connected icon next to my router. 

As far as this link: Remote Management is now Anywhere Access in the Nighthawk and Orbi apps | Answer | NETGEAR Support

That page states:

"...the Remote Management feature in the router or gateway web user interface functions differently from the [Anywhere Access] feature in the Nighthawk and Orbi apps.

The Remote Management feature on your router or gateway web user interface opens an external port. The Anywhere Access feature in the Nighthawk and Orbi apps uses a secure, authenticated connection through the NETGEAR Cloud and does not open any ports."

Remote Management is not enabled on my R9000 but that link indicates it is a different feature set entirely and is disabled. Also previously I had Anywhere Access working with Remote Management disabled. 

[michaelkenward]

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@Tyler818 wrote:

Remote Management is not enabled on my R9000 but that link indicates it is a different feature set entirely and is disabled. Also previously I had Anywhere Access working with Remote Management disabled. 

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Your call.

I have it enabled here and it seems to be a part of the process.

[Tyler818]

For testing I thought I would try enabling Remote Management but It appears as part of my testing yesterday I turned on Remote Management and forgot so its actually been on for the last day:

My Anywhere Access issue persists with that feature enabled so I'm included to believe the Netgear page that Anywhere Access feature is a different feature from Remote Management feature.

[michaelkenward · Accepted solution]

Remind me, did you roll back to earlier firmware to see if that helps?

[Tyler818]

Hmm I was told to upgrade to the latest firmware to resolve an issue where the wifi SSIDs for my main and guest networks will "disappear" and disconnect all the devices.......

Is there a suggested Firmware version to use for Anywhere Access???

[michaelkenward]

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@Tyler818 wrote:
Hmm I was told to upgrade to the latest firmware to resolve an issue where the wifi SSIDs for my main and guest networks will "disappear" and disconnect all the devices.......

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Did you see that on your router?

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Is there a suggested Firmware version to use for Anywhere Access???

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Try the one that worked for you.

[Tyler818]

Bingo that worked. Going back to Firmware 1.0.5.40 allows me to enable Anywhere Access; Remote Management is still disabled as well.

1.0.5.42 seems to break that feature.....now I'm worried the "Security Fix" in 1.0.5.42 is Anywhere Access related......

[michaelkenward]

Excellent result, of a bit disappointing.

One other thing we may not have talked about is the factory reset. Did you do that when you applied he newest software?

That is sometimes a way of digging yourself out of a hole.

[Tyler818]

I upgraded to version 1.0.5.42 on August 24th, 2022 and am unaware if Anywhere Access was working or not as I didn't use the feature for several days.

I did the Factory Reset while on version 1.0.5.42 on August 28th 2022. At this point I've spent too much time on this so I'm just going to avoid 1.0.5.42 as Anywhere Access is critical to me (because I often need to reboot my R9000 while remote to resolve a Wifi "brown-out" issue I mentioned in a previous post).