SSH and OpenWRT

What is SSH
Why use SSH
Where to get SSH
Where to connect to
Examples
Warning

What is SSH

In some of our OpenWRT instructions we may ask you to SSH into your router. In short: SSH is a different way of interacting with your router.

A web browser allows you to use the router's web interface.
An SSH client allows you to use the router's command-line interface.

Why use SSH

SSH provides access to all of OpenWRT's features. Many of them which are not (yet) available through the web interface.
SSH allows you to copy&paste commands from our instructions, whereas making the same changes through the web interface can be more cumbersome.

Where to get SSH

If you're using a Mac or Linux computer, SSH is already built-in. Just open a Terminal and type ssh.

If you use Windows on your computer, you'll have to download a 3rd-party SSH client. We recommend you download PuTTY.

Where to connect to

By default your OpenWRT router uses IP address 192.168.1.1.

Mac/Linux users can SSH to their router by typing the following in their Terminal window:

ssh root@192.168.1.1

Windows users can enter 192.168.1.1 in PuTTY's Host Name (or IP address) field and click Open. Then login as root.

Examples

Below are some examples of commands you can use when logged in to your router.

This is what you see after logging in:

BusyBox v1.30.1 () built-in shell (ash)

  _______                     ________        __
 |       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
 |   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
 |_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
 -----------------------------------------------------
 OpenWrt 19.07.2, r10947-65030d81f3
 -----------------------------------------------------
root@OpenWrt:~#

The router is ready to accept your command when it shows the root@OpenWrt:~# command prompt.

Let's get some info about the OpenWRT version running on our router:

**root@OpenWrt:~#** cat /etc/os-release 
NAME="OpenWrt"
VERSION="19.07.2"
ID="openwrt"
ID_LIKE="lede openwrt"
PRETTY_NAME="OpenWrt 19.07.2"
VERSION_ID="19.07.2"
HOME_URL="https://openwrt.org/"
BUG_URL="https://bugs.openwrt.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forum.openwrt.org/"
BUILD_ID="r10947-65030d81f3"
OPENWRT_BOARD="mvebu/cortexa9"
OPENWRT_ARCH="arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3"
OPENWRT_TAINTS=""
OPENWRT_DEVICE_MANUFACTURER="OpenWrt"
OPENWRT_DEVICE_MANUFACTURER_URL="https://openwrt.org/"
OPENWRT_DEVICE_PRODUCT="Generic"
OPENWRT_DEVICE_REVISION="v0"
OPENWRT_RELEASE="OpenWrt 19.07.2 r10947-65030d81f3"
**root@OpenWrt:~#**

Warning

If you're copy&pasting commands into to router, make sure they come from a trusted source.

Just like misconfigurations made in the web interface, issuing the wrong commands on the command-line may render your router unreachable.