Three Steps to Find Out Your Router’s IP Address

Before you can update your router and improve – for example – its security settings (see How to Set Your Wireless Router to Use WPA Encryption), you need to know it’s local IP address which allows you to access the configuration menu.

The router’s IP address is permenant and never changes. It allows your router to serve as the connection between you and the Internet, which is why it is also called Gateway address.

If you want to access your router’s configuration but don’t know it’s address, there is a very easy way to determine it, following these three easy steps.

First, click on “Start” and select the “Run…” command. You will see a little window popping up, please enter “cmd” into the text field and click OK.

A window will open, looking just like computers used to look like in the old days when they were still running on DOS. This window is called a command prompt and allows us to easily execute some very simple commands.

In the command prompt, type “ipconfig” and hit enter. You will see an output similar to this one:

Now, look for  a line that says “Default Gateway”. In our case the IP address behind it reads “192.168.1.1″. Yours should be similar but don’t worry if it looks different. It varies from router to router.

Now that you’ve determined your router’s IP address, you can open your favorite web browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer) and enter the IP address to access your router.

Note: If you are asked for a login and don’t know it, have a look at our post Default Router Passwords for Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Comcast …