Linksys WRT54G Installation and Configuration
Linksys WRT54G Installation and Configuration
1. Configuration
Using the “Quick Installation Guide”, follow the instructions in step 1 to set up your new wireless router. You may also need to restart your computer in order to see the router.
Note: If you normally use a static IP address, you will have to reconfigure your internet connection to use DHCP. Go into the control panel and open your network connections. Edit the properties of your current network connection, and make sure that “Obtain an IP address automatically” is enabled.
2. Connect to the router using your web browser by typing “http://192.168.1.1″ into the URL address box.
3. Leave the Username field blank, and enter the password “admin” to access your router when the login prompt appears.
Note: You will notice immediately a list of menu options (Setup, Wireless, Security, etc.), and as you click on each of these submenus appear. This document will refer to a menu-submenu combination as Menu -> Submenu.
4. Setup -> Basic Setup. In the “Internet Setup” section, choose “Static IP” from the drop down menu. Fill in the appropriate values that describe your network. (You don’t need to change anything in the optional section just below that.)
5. In the “Network Setup” section, you should at least set your timezone to Eastern Time, although you may make changes to the DHCP server as well if you anticipate more than 50 users connecting to your network at once.
6. Wireless -> Basic Wireless Settings. Set the Wireless network mode to “Mixed” if you would like both B and G clients to be able to connect to your network. Otherwise you can just select “B-only”. The “Wireless Network Name” will be provided by CNS. Make sure that you disable “Wireless SSID Broadcast” to give a little extra security.
7. Wireless -> Wireless Security. CNS recommends that you use at least WEP based security to protect your network. Choose WEP from the drop down menu and then select “128 bits 26 hex digits” for the “WEP Encryption”. Enter a passphrase into the “Passphrase” field and click “Generate” to generate the corresponding HEX keys. Distribute key 1 to your users as the WEP key for your network.
8. Wireless -> Wireless MAC Filter. CNS also recommends that you use a MAC address list to filter access to your network. Click the “Edit MAC Filter List” and add all the MAC addresses that are going to be accessing your network. Any time a new user requires access, you will have to add them to this list.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that you add the MAC address of the computer you are using to set up your router first, before enabling this filter. Otherwise you will be unable to access the router and will have to reset the router. If you do have to reset the router because you have locked yourself out, there is a small reset button on the back of the router that will reset the router.
Once the appropriate MAC addresses have been added, “Enable” the filter, and choose the option “Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network”.
9. Administration -> Management. You should make sure you change your password on this screen. “admin” is not a secure password! Also, you should disable “Remote Router access” so that your router cannot be configured from outside your network. UPnP is a protocol that opens ports in your firewall on the fly, and can post a security threat. We recommend that you disable this, but if you are running applications like MSN video chat, you may have to have this enabled.
10. Administration -> Log. If you would like to keep a log of connections to your network, enable the logging here.
11. That’s it! You should be on the air!
http://register.wireless.utoronto.ca/?page=linksys
LINKSYS WIRELESS CONFIGURATION UTILITY
LINKSYS WIRELESS CONFIGURATION UTILITY
1) Double-click on the icon near the time that looks like a green, gray or bluish-gray square with tiny curved lines in it. This is the Linksys Wireless Configuration Utility.
2) Click on the Profile tab.
3) Click on the Edit button.
4) Click to put a black dot next to ¤ Obtain an IP address automatically (DHCP).
5) Click on Next.
6) Click to put a black dot next to ¤ Infrastructure mode. (This obscure term means that you have a Wireless Router or Wireless Access Point in your wireless network and are not trying to connect to another wireless network card in some other laptop or desktop computer.)
7) Enter the SSID for your network: linksys or mynetwork or wirelessnet or whatever you want. This is the name of your Wireless Network. The name should be all lower-case and have no spaces or weird characters, such as # $ % ^ & in it. (It is a good idea to change the default SSID from linksys to something else, because your neighbors may have the same SSID, especially if they don’t know how to change it.)
8) Click on Next.
9) Set the channel to Channel 1. (Try other channels if your neighbors have wireless networks, too, on the same channel, and you are not able to connect to the Internet on your laptop or desktop.)
Note: Try other channels especially if you have a microwave oven or cordless phone nearby, which may be using the same frequency. This can sometimes cause an interruption in your wireless network connection.
10) Set the Network Mode to ¤ Mixed Mode. (This means that the older “B” wireless equipment and the newer “G” wireless equipment will both work on your wireless network.)
11) Click on Next.
12) Click on the Down Arrow next to whatever is in the Security box, then click on WPA–Personal or WPA2-Personal. (Do not use WEP unless your wireless equipment doesn’t have WPA. WEP is the older, less secure and more complicated way to encrypt your data on a wireless network.)
13) Select TKIP for the Encryption type.
14) Type in your Passphrase. (This must be at least 8 characters long and should be all lowercase with no spaces or weird characters.)
15) Click on Next.
16) Click on Save.
17) Click on Connect to Network, then close the Wireless Configuration Utility window.
18) If you see “No association with access point” (or words to that effect), then you have made a mistake somewhere, or you need to go to the Wireless Router and check its settings. (Click here.)
19) Otherwise, you can open Internet Explorer or your e-mail program to see if they are working.
