I have a TP-Link router and I want to try OpenWrt on it. Have other people tried this? How did it go? Is it difficult to revert if it doesn’t work? I’m nervous because it’s my main router.
I’ve been running it for about 8 years now. Never going back.
It’s brilliant but you do need to know what you’re doing.
It’s brilliant but you do need to know what you’re doing.
I feel like that’s only a little more true for OpenWRT than it is for stock proprietary firmware. You need a bit of competence to get it installed, but once you’re using it LuCI is more-or-less just as easy to use for normal, basic tasks. It can do other fancy stuff that stock firmwares can’t do at all, but that shouldn’t count against it since you don’t have to do those advanced things.
You’re right. Ignore me, OP.
I use OpenWRT on a TP-Link router (an Archer C7, circa 2013). I can’t say if it’s difficult to revert because I’ve never wanted to (which should tell you all you need to know).
If you’re nervous, get a second router as a backup device. OpenWRT runs on all sorts of things, including some which are extremely cheap. If finding some old used router is too much of a hassle, this thing is $30 brand new and runs OpenWRT from the factory.
I’m running it on an OpenWrt One and loving it. Not the best perf-per-dollar hardware but it does what I need at the moment, is completely open, and supports the project.
There’s a learning curve for sure. You might consider buying the cheapest possible router that supports it and experimenting with that on the side before overhauling your main network. $30-40 (or cheaper used) for the peace of mind of knowing you aren’t completely up the creek if something goes wrong.
OpenWRT is great and the built-in web interface, LUCI, makes it as easy to configure as any serious network kit. What I will say, though, is that OpenWRT is a real network OS, more akin to enterprise grade tools like Cisco or SonicWall than anything sold in a big box store. Again, LUCI makes it easy and hides a lot of complexity so there’s nothing to fear, but you quickly come to realise the power of OpenWRT isn’t that it turns your Wifi Thing into a better WiFi Thing, but that it turns your Wifi Thing into a WiFi, routing, firewalls, bridging, VLAN, mesh, PPP, VPN, and a thousand other things Thing.
I would like to think I’m a pretty smart guy, but you need to be intimately familiar with networking before you go down the OpenWRT rabbit hole. I decided to switch to UniFi equipment instead.
Read the page for your specific model, they offer instructions and any issues/risks you should be aware of: https://openwrt.org/toh/start
i assume if my router isn’t there i shouldn’t be installing openwrt on it?
I wouldn’t
