Reset and recovery

Two ways to put every setting back to the state of a freshly installed image. The firmware itself is not reinstalled or changed by either of them: the installed version, and the packages that came with it, stay exactly as they are.

Afterwards the router is on the default network settings: 192.168.1.1, no root password, and the default Wi-Fi names and keys.

Reinstalling the firmware does not do this

This surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly.

Installation writes the kernel and the root filesystem, and both of them end below 0x600000. The settings live in a separate rootfs_data partition that starts there, and nothing in the installation touches it. On the first boot the system also keeps an existing settings partition on purpose, so that an update does not throw away a working configuration.

The result is that a configuration which locks you out of the router survives reinstalling the same firmware over it. A broken /etc/config/network takes SSH, LuCI and Ethernet away at the same time, and the file comes back from the settings partition on the next boot. Use one of the two methods below instead.

1. The RESET button

The small recessed button on the bottom of the case.

1. With the router running, press and hold RESET.
2. Keep holding until the whole front panel starts flashing.
3. Let go.

The flashing panel means the reset has already been decided. It is not a request to keep holding, and releasing on it does not cancel anything. The router erases its settings and restarts by itself; it is back about 45 seconds later.

A short press does nothing at all, so an accidental tap cannot reset or reboot the router. The button is only read while the system is running: if the router does not boot, use the second method.

2. Over TFTP, from the bootloader

Works when the system does not boot at all, because the bootloader needs nothing but power and a cable.

python tools/flash/reset_openwrt.py --dry-run   # show the plan, send nothing
python tools/flash/reset_openwrt.py             # erase the settings

Connect the router directly to the computer and give the computer an address on 192.168.1.0/24, for example 192.168.1.50/24. Do not run this through another router: the bootloader can only answer hosts on its own subnet, and TFTP replies arrive from a fresh port, which network address translation drops without a helper.

The tool prints its plan before sending anything and stops if the plan would reach outside the settings partition. It writes only rootfs_data:

The section it writes does not restart the board. Power the router off and on when it finishes, without holding any button. The first boot afterwards takes about a minute longer than usual while the settings partition is cleared; that is not a hang, and removing power during it leaves the partition half erased.

--quick writes one sector instead of the whole partition and lets the first boot finish the erase. It takes seconds rather than about two minutes, but it needs a firmware that has that first-boot step, and it has not yet been independently validated on hardware. The default full erase is the path to use if you are recovering a router that does not boot.

Resetting while installing

tools/flash/install_openwrt_lan.py --reset-settings adds the same erase to a normal installation, so the router starts on the defaults of the newly installed firmware rather than keeping the settings that were there before. Without the flag the existing settings survive the installation, which is the behaviour described at the top of this page. This flag has not yet been independently validated on hardware either.

What a reset removes

Everything stored on the router: the root password, the network configuration, Wi-Fi names and keys, installed packages, and any file added after installation. Take a backup first if you want the configuration back:

ssh [email protected] sysupgrade -b /tmp/backup.tar.gz
scp [email protected]:/tmp/backup.tar.gz .