This tutorial will walk you every step of the way through flashing your Linksys WRT54G (version 8) router to use the DD-WRT firmware.
According to Wikipedia, the Linksys WRT54G v8.0 is “currently one of the most commonly available (routers) at US retail establishments, such as Best Buy and Target”. Due to hardware limitations, the 8.x versions (8.0, 8.1 and 8.2) are only able to run the “micro” version of the DD-WRT firmware (you can find a firmware version feature comparison chart here). Even so, the micro version of the DD-WRT firmware provides dozens of features, many of which are not available with the default Linksys firmware.
This walkthrough is based on the WRT54G v8.x tutorial on the DD-WRT wiki. The biggest difference between this one and the one on the DD-WRT wiki is that I’ve elaborated a bit, and provided screenshots for each step.
Please make sure you understand each step before you complete this tutorial. If you’re unsure of anything, please leave a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. It is possible to brick (render the router unusable) your device if done incorrectly.
- You’ll need to use a wired (not wireless) computer to flash your WRT54G with the DD-WRT firmware. Make sure that computer (doesn’t matter if it’s a Mac or PC running Windows or Linux) is plugged in to Port 1 of your router. Unplug all other devices from the router - you can leave the WAN port plugged in to your cable/DSL modem.
- Download the files vxworkskillerGv8-v3.bin and dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin to the computer you’re going to use to flash your WRT54G (the one plugged in to Port 1 of your router).
- You’ll need to set your computer to use the following static IP settings:
IP Address: 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1 - Unplug the power cord from the WRT54G. Push the Reset button (see image below) while plugging the power cord back in, and hold down the button for about 20 seconds. Use a pencil or ball-point pen to push and hold the Reset button - it’s a bit recessed and very difficult to push and hold with your finger or fingernail.
- Open your browser and enter the address http://192.168.1.1. Use a browser other than Firefox, as issues have been reported with Firefox not being able to flash the device properly. I’ve used Safari and Internet Explorer and both had no problems.
You’ll be presented with a Management Mode Firmware Upgrade page. Click the Choose File button.
- Navigate to the vxworkskillerGv8-v3.bin file, select it, and close Choose (or Open if you’re using IE).
- Make sure that vxworkskillerGv8-v3.bin is listed on the Management Mode Firmware Upgrade page, and click the Apply button.
- Wait for at least two minutes before you go any further. After the 2 minutes is up, if you notice a dialog asking you to reboot the router, do so by unplugging the power cord and plugging it back in again. If you don’t get a message telling you to reboot the router, wait another 3-4 minutes and then reboot the router.
- You should be able to ping 192.168.1.1 (in Linux or OS X open a Terminal and type ping 192.168.1.1. In Windows open a Command Prompt by clicking Start, selecting Run enter cmd and then type ping 192.168.1.1). If the router doesn’t reply you probably haven’t set your network settings correctly (step #3 above).
- Now it’s time to flash the WRT54G with the DD-WRT firmware. To do so, enter the appropriate command for your Operating System:
Windows: (note: Vista users will need to install tftp first) enter tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin from the Command Prompt. Make sure that the dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin file is in the same folder that you’re using the Command Prompt from. For example, if you downloaded dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin to your Desktop, make sure the Command Prompt reads C:\Documents and Settings\your-user-name\Desktop> - where your-user-name is your Windows user name.
Linux: enter tftp -m octet 192.168.1.1 -c put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin at your shell/terminal. Note: if you get the the message error code 3 while trying to flash it, try atftp. The aftp command is: atftp –option “mode octet” –verbose -p -l dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin 192.168.1.1
OS X: enter tftp -e 192.168.1.1 From the tftp> prompt enter put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin
Make sure that the dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin file is in the same folder that you’re using the Terminal from. For example, if you downloaded dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin to your Downloads folder, make sure you’re using the Terminal prompt from /Users/your-user-name/Downloads - where your-user-name is your Mac user name.
- The file will be transferred and automatically installed. Once this is done, DD-WRT will automatically boot. After about a minute, you can browse DD-WRT on your router at http://192.168.1.1.
- If you browse away from the main page, you’ll be prompted for a user name and password. The default user name is: root and the default password is: admin. To change the user name and/or password (a very good idea!!) - select the Administration tab and then the Management tab. Enter your new user name and/or password in the spaces provided, and click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
- When you navigate away from the Management tab, you’ll be prompted to enter your user name and password again. Enter your new user name and/or password to continue.
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Excellent. Worked great. Thanks for the clear tutorial.
AWESOME tutorial. This worked flawlessly! I appreciate your work.
Welldone! Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
It took me about ten (10) minutes and I did not have one problem.
Thanks for your help
Hi,
Thanks for the tutorial. But while executing the step #10, I get the error “Error on server : Access violation”. Do you have any clue how to overcome this? Should give my username/password for the router anywhere ??
– Santhosh
Santhosh -
You have the exact router used in this tutorial? By the time you hit step #10 the router will be set back to factory defaults, and using tftp should not prompt you for any kind of user/pass. Which OS are you using TFTP from?
Hi Ross,
I have the Linksys WRT54G model as you have mentioned in this post. I was using Windows XP for the tftp. Any hopes ?
–Santhohs
you did a very good job, very apreciated
congratulations, thanks to you, and your guide, now i’m running DD-WRT v24 on mi Linksys WRT54G v8.2
Thanks master !!
Oye muchas gracias, estuvo perfecto, aunque… Creo que los comandos que tienes en Linux estan malos! Ahora voy a probar de nuevo y te envio la correccion.
Muchas gracias!
Hey thank you very much, it worked perfect. Although… i believe there’s a mistake on the Linux command lines on TFTP. I’ll make some proves later on and will send you the correction
Thanks a lot again
awesome…worked great! thanks! i was able to hook up my new samsung ln46a650 to the network!
Hi thnx for infos, but I got a problem when I started to flash my Linksys WRT54G v.8 with vxworkskillerGv8-v3.bin I had power fail after ca. 30 sek. flashing from linksys web interface , after I checked wen power come I get Online led blinking fast all time ,dmz and wlan of all time and lan 1,2,3,4 all time on.No lan connection,no ping ,no dhcp…. PC ip is set manual to 192.168.1.100 but in windows network shows A network cable is unplugged. I traed hard reset with different method which I reade in the internet but no luck. can you plz tel me is any metod to get ping/lan up or I need Jtag.???? Thnx (Sory in my english.)
hi when flashing it said it didnt work
now cisco system botten doesnt power up
i cant login to router
that was fantastic the best stuff in the world i will recomend your site for now on thanks
Everything is fine until Step 10. When I enter the tftp commmand at the Command Prompt, I get the following error message - “Error on Server : Access Violation”. Using Window XP-Home. Any help on this?
Thanks
Can you please help me, I have a wrt54g v3.1 with a blinking power I was able to short it the router and now its replying and i already flash firmware on it via tftp but still power is blinking and cannot access the router page , already reset and power cycle router still no luck…
i do not understand step 10
in XP, does that step mean that i run cmd.exe and type in what is in bold? because when i do that, nothing happens, it just gives me a generic response. please just define that step as idiot proof as possible. thanks man!
jake -
Yes, click Start > Run, enter cmd and then click ok/hit enter. That will bring up the Windows command prompt. Then you need to change directories so that when you issue the command “dir” (without the “”) you see dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin listed as one of the files. So if dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin is on your desktop, type “cd Desktop”, then “dir” and make sure you see dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin. THEN type tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin
I know this is off the topic, but I need some help. My linksys router has v8.2 and I always wanted to downgrade it to v3.0. I’ts new, so it doesn’t have dd-wrt. Is there a way to do this and if there is could someone explain to me how to do it?
when i type put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin it gives me this message
“dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin: No such file or directory ” Can some one help?
everything seemed to be working fine and after i flashed the dd-wrt firmware it said “transfer successful” but dd-wrt did not boot. anybody know what the problem could be?
ok sorry for the comment it ended up working
Nice tutorial Ross….
I have been having unexplained issues for well over a year - maybe 2. I have a WRT54G v.3. It was suggested to me that it might not be just Comcast issues, but might also be the router.
Does this firmware work with a v.3, or is it only for the newer models?
Also, though the tutorial does not explicitly say it, do you undo the static IP address after the flash is complete?
Hi,
Is this firmware version compatible with WRT54G v5?
If not, do you know a website to find the appropriate version at?
Would the same flashing procedure work for v5?
Best,
St.
OK, I have a WRT54G and this is by far the most clear explanation I’ve seen yet (screen caps included) but my main problem is that I can’t get to the MANAMENT MODE for the router. Yes, before you ask, I’ve tried the whole “push the reset, plug in cord, wait [for however long] then try to connect via the browser. Over and ove and over again with times from 5 seconds to 2 minutes. It just keeps going back to the usual login box. Did they disable the managment mode or something?
I even went so far as to try to tftp to put the vxworkskiller on their directly first. Seemed to proceed but no change and still no management mode screen.
At this point I’d rather have a brick. At least that might FORCE it to get to that screen so I can proceed.
Any ideas?
[P.S. - for the sake of others searching as much as I did with no hope I'm going to ad this so they'll maybe find the answer. Sort of an old fashioned meta tag thing: can't get to management mode, no management mode, can't see management mode]
Thanks
Easy as 1,2,3. Thanks!
I don’t have a lot of experience with terminal…How do you prompt terminal from a folder?
I should probably mention that I am stuck on step 10. Terminal is telling me file does not exist.
Nevermind. I got it! Thanks for this great tutorial!
I too am stuck on Step 10. I’m on OSX and receive the message “dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin: No such file or directory”
any thoughts?
Chad,
This is what I did. Lets say you have the dd-wrt.v24.. file on your desktop.
Then open terminal and type:
cd /users/your-mac-username/desktop
then you would hit enter, and then type in
tftp -e 192.168….etc etc and just continue with step 10. This just changes the directory (cd stands for Change Directory) that terminal will be communicating with.
That did it, thanks Colin!
Thanks for this tutorial, it helped immensely!! I was having difficulty getting my wrt54g v 8.2 into management mode; however, it eventually loaded.
The TFTP client is still available and works in Windows 7 beta, just fyi.
I followed these instructions to the letter, but now my router is bricked.
Going to 192.168.1.1 brings up the Management Module page, but when I try to load firmware the webserver crashes.
Also when I try to TFTP the dd-wrt.v24 file I get this error:
Error occurred during the file transfer (Error code = 0):
Error in recfrom() call. Please check in the TFTP server is available.
Is it hosed or is there a way to fix this?
Dan,
In terms of getting DD-WRT to work, I’m not sure what steps you could take (the error using tftp isn’t something I’ve seen, but you could try google’ing it). As for recovering your router (resetting it to factory default) - try these steps to recover from a bad flash.
I messed up at one part and it bricked the router but then I searched on google for how to get it back to normal and I found It really helps! Oh yeah, If you want your internet connection to work afterwards, you have to change the IP configuration back to normal.
Buenas. consulta para antes de arrancar. Despues de realizado todo esta tarea, y si corre todo bien, le puedo poner el DD-WRT para vpn, en este modelo. Es que necesito que funcione como servidor vpn. Gracias. “H”
I did the flash everything worked did what was in all the picutres, but now i cannot connect to the internet through the router… i changed all the setting back to how they were, put all my information into the router then i got to the status tab then WAN tab and click connect , but it wont connect. says connection is disable then goes back to the WAN tab screen. its driving me crazy anyone help me out?
edit* says “this type of connection is disabled”. its a PPPoE with a username/pw
if I had found this tutorial before, would not have spent so many problems, my congratulations
I can’t get to http://www.dd-wrt.com, does anyone know where I can get the firmware files? Any help would be appreciated.
its replying but its not open in like web page what can i do
todo bien solo que la hacerlo tuve un poco de problema con tftp en windows XP, pero muy bien, gracias
funciona muy muy bien gracias por el tutorial
عندى جهاز لينك سيس موديله wrt300n المشكله انى حاولت ان الغى باس ورد الادمن من زر ريست ولاكنه لايقبل على الرغم انى حاولت اكثر من مرة هذا الجهاز ليس لى وانماة لاحد العملاء بجاء افيدونى على الاميل وشاكر لكم والله يعطيكم العافية
Ross,
Thanks for the stepwise procedures. All of them seemed to work except the main one. :(.
I managed to flash the router. However, after flashing it, I am able to ping it but not connect to it (192.168.1.1 port 80 never replies). Any ideas what is going on.
(ps: I used tftp without the -e. I have darwin, and when I typed in tftp -e, it kept saying “-e unknown host”. So, I just typed in tftp 192.168.1.1). After the put command, I even received a confirmation that the send file succeeded.
Cheers
(should mention, I have v8)
A few additions. firstly, the power button is not lighting up, even after rebooting the router. Using the following page
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Recover_from_a_Bad_Flash
I tried to follow the reset procedure but it did not seem to work. I then tried to reflash the wrt54g binary file (ensuring that I did it in binary mode this time by typing bin before flashing !!). I am able to flash the router since the put command goes through, the router stops pinging for a minute or so and then resumes its response to pings. However, I am still unable to get the power light or the browser connection to 192.168.1.1.
Any ideas of what is going on, or suggestions on whether anything can be done to revive the router ?
Thx.
I have a WRT54Gv8. I followed all the directions exactly. When I enter the tftp command, the cursor blinks indefinitely and nothing happens…the only way I can get out of the command prompt is by closing the window. I tried it several times…waiting anywhere from 15 min to 30 min with no success. I still get the Management Mode Firmware Upgrade screen when I specify http://192.168.1.1
Managed to get the brick working again.
My first try (comment 46), in which I skipped the -e, probably ended up flashing the binary in ascii mode. After that, I tried reviving the brick by flashing the linksys binaries. The power light was not lighting up indicating that the firmware was not being loaded correctly. As a final try, I flashed the dd-wrt binary in binary mode with a packet timeout set as 1, timeout set as 60. This seemed to fix the problem. When the router rebooted, the power light was back on, and so was the web interface accessable.
Cheers.
Hey ya’ll. Just a quick question. Does this version of DDWRT not support VPN? Can I use VPN on a WRT54G v.8 or is that out of the question since the DDWRT firmware is “Mini”?
Escuse me, not “mini” but “Micro”
Buenas noches amigo, te agradezco de verdad la informacion logre realizar la actualizacion, queria comentarte que en el punto 10. la line para correr el comando y cargar el archivo dd-wrt.v24 . . . . .bin esta errado (esto para el usuario de windows xp), luego de analizar la ayuda del comando tftp pude al fin cargar el archivo. Bueno ahora el router esta funcionando pero tengo problemas con la clave que dices que se debe de coloacr para accesar, sera que me puedes ayudar??? nombre de usuario: raíz password: admin. esto no funciona. te agradeceria mucho la info.. gracias
Usuario: root
Password: admin
Siempre me ha funcionado. Me cuentas si necesitas mas ayuda.
Hi, this worked great. Now, I’m able to connect to the internet through wired connections, but not through wireless. I see the wireless network and enter the WEP key, but I’m only given limited local connectivity. I’ve been through all the wireless settings, and they seem ok, but maybe I’m missing something? Any thoughts? Thanks
Scratch that. I was just a moron… Thanks for the great tutorial.
Buenas quisiera actualizar mi dir-300 de d-link pero me da miedo que muera me puedes ayuda en los pasos.
pd mUY BUENO TU MANUAL
anyone having “Error on server : Access violation”. DO NOT USE FIREFOX TO TRY TO FLASH THE ROUTER IT WON’T WORK USE IE
Doesn’t work. Everytime I try to apply the firmware at step 7, I click on the apply button, and IE then tells me that I am no longer connected to the internet.
Oh well. Back to Newegg you to, worthless router!
Ich habe meinen WRT54G-V8 erfolgreich mit der micro Version geflashed und alles klappt hervorragend, außer dass sich der Router mindestens einmal pro Tag aufhängt und nur mehr ein hardreset (Netzstecker ziehen) ihn wieder zum Leben erweckt. Was könnte die Ursache dafür sein und was kann man dagegen tun?
oops-sorry, I did not know that I am in an English forum - here my problem again: I flashed successfully my WRT54G-V8 with the micro version and everything seems to work perfect except the router stops working at least once a day can’t be accessed through the IP address any more so I have to pull the plug for a hard reset. This sucks. Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong there? Thanks
fijate que el traductor automático que usaste también tradujo los comandos del tftp:
tftp-i 192.168.1.1 poner dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin
tenés q tipear:
tftp-i 192.168.1.1 put dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin
Saludos a tod@s;
Excelente el tutorial me sirvio muchisimo, de verdad gracias!!!
This was very helpfull for me. I did it and everything is fine.
I need to flash a motorola sb 4200.
May you tell me please How I do that.
Thank very much, this is the best tutorial ever.
Love it, worked like a charm on my WRT54G v5
btw: those who think they can skip the step to manually set the local computers IP address (instead of using DHCP), your wrong
I tried originally with Safari, but was getting access denial issues. I tried firefox and the steps worked perfectly. I’m now dd-wrt happy.
Thanks for the great tutorial
Saludos,
He tratado de flash el linksys y no he podido ya que no entiendo muy bien lo del comando para transferir el archivo, el paso numero 10. Si pudieran por favor mandármelo gráficamente a mi correo, soy usuario de Windows vista, gracias de ante manos
Nice tutorial, worked perfect for me. Using the DD-WRT software for a repeater. Makes at $20 used router off ebay work like a $500 …
when I put the tftp it tells me that command does no exist or no such file or directory im using a mac and a program called open terminal here cus i dont know how to open terminal from my download folder can enyone help?
Tenho ligado neste aparelho WRT54G v8 dois PC via cabo e dois not via wireless, devo fazer este procedimento em todos os PC`s e Not`s?
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