This is an interesting question that I wondered the answer to. Of course, connecting to your router settings/admin page is easy if you’re already connected to the router. But what about if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi extender/repeater/booster, which is in turn connected to your router? Can you still access your router settings indirectly, via a connection with a Wi-Fi extender?

I just tried this myself on my own home network as I was curious, and the answer is yes!

It is possible to connect to your router settings via a Wi-Fi extender connected to the router. Because the extender and router exist on the same local network (LAN) and are connected, you can access your router’s configuration via a connected extender.

In other words, you don’t need to be connected directly to your router to log in to it’s settings/admin interface. You can also do it when connected to an extender which is in turn connected to the router (incidentally, you can also sometimes access your router settings from outside the local network as well)

Let’s look at how you can do this.

Connecting To Your Router Settings via a Wi-Fi Extender

Once we realize that you can access your router settings via a connected extender, the process basically is exactly the same as if you were connected directly to your router’s network. Let’s list the steps.

Step #1 – Find Router Login Details – Check the label on the back of the router for an admin username/password. This is what you’ll need to access the router (the extender will have it’s own IP address, different to the router’s, but still assigned by the router, but you don’t need that here).

 

Step #2 – Access Router Settings – While still connected to your Wi-Fi extender’s network (as long as it’s connected to the router), open up any browser and type in the router login URL into the address bar (often 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254):

 

Then enter the admin username/password in the boxes (these are separate from the wireless username/password):

 

This step will still work perfectly fine when connected to the extender, as long as the extender it still connected to the router and hasn’t lost the signal.

The extender just forwards data to and from the router within the local network, and so accessing the router settings via the extender network works exactly the same as if you were connected directly to the router’s network. The extender just adds another “hop” or “step” to the network, but it works the same as long as the devices are connected.

You should now be inside the router settings, and can make any changes you want to the home network settings as normal.

If you forgot or don’t know the router login details, or can’t access the router label to check, we have a help guide coming out soon. Default router usernames are often “admin” or some close variant, and the password is often either also “admin” or “password” or some close variant.