Netgear’s current lineup of products includes everything from affordable Wi-Fi routers to high-end gaming routers and mesh Wi-Fi systems.

Depending on which product you’re using, you can access the router’s web management interface, or use desktop/smartphone apps to update the router firmware.

Users generally prefer auto-updating thanks to its convenience. But if you’re looking to flash a specific firmware version, we’ve covered the manual update process as well.

Table of Contents

Ways to Update Netgear Router Firmware

Please note that updating the firmware using an Ethernet connection over wireless, and with power backup, is recommended to ensure the firmware update doesn’t get interrupted. An interrupted firmware update can permanently brick your device.

Web Interface (Auto-Update)

Here’s how you can auto-update the firmware via the web interface:

1. Launch a web browser and enter routerlogin.net or routerlogin.com. Alternatively, you can also enter the router’s IP address.
2. Enter the router’s credentials to log in.
3. Select Advanced or Settings and click on the Administration tab.
4. Select Firmware Update / Router Update.
   
5. Press Check. If a new one is available, press Yes to download and install the update.

Firmware updates won’t always be stable. Sometimes the latest update will lead to problems, and you might need to revert to an older firmware version. In such cases, you can manually flash the firmware with the following steps:

1. Go to the Netgear support site and search for your router model.
   
2. Click on Downloads. In the Firmware and Software Downloads section, press the Previous versions button to expand it.
   
3. Download the firmware version you want and extract it.
4. Follow Steps 1-4 from the earlier section to get to the Firmware Update page.
5. Click on Choose File / Browse and select the extracted file (.img or .chk).
   
6. Press Upload to start the firmware update. The process should complete in a few mins.
   

Netgear Genie App

The Netgear Genie App is available for both desktops and smartphones and allows you to manage your router without needing a browser (mostly). To update the firmware with this tool,

1. Launch the app and click on Router Settings.
   
2. Enter your router’s credentials and use the arrows to cycle to the Router Update tab.
3. Press Next to check for firmware updates.
   
4. If an update is available, click on Next. This will open a browser window.
5. Login to the router dashboard here and click on the A router firmware update is available message.
6. Press Yes to proceed with the update. After the upgrade completes, your router will restart automatically.

If you’re using a Nighthawk router, you can also use the Nighthawk app to update its firmware. To do this,

1. Launch the Nighthawk app and enter your router’s credentials.
2. Tap the router image. 
   
3. Scroll down and select Check for updates.
4. If an update is available, tap Update.
   

Orbi System Firmware Update

The Orbi App is generally the recommended way to update the firmware on Orbi systems. Here are the steps for this:

1. Launch the Orbi app while connected to the Orbi router’s Wi-Fi network.
2. Input your router’s credentials and tap Sign In.
3. Tap the Menu icon from the top-left and select Settings > Router Settings.
   
4. Scroll down and tap Check for Updates. 
   
5. If a firmware update is available for your router, follow the on-screen instructions to install the update.

Download firmware files for satellites and router > Update satellite firmware > Update router firmware.

Updating router firmware before the satellites is not recommended. Additionally, you must ensure that the same firmware version is installed on both the satellites and the router.

1. Go to the Netgear Download Center and download the firmware file for the router and satellites. Extract them if required.
2. Enter orbilogin.com into the URL bar.
3. Enter your router’s credentials to log in.
4. In the router dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Administration > Firmware Update > Manual Update.
5. Select the check box next to the satellite and click on Update.
6. Enter your router’s password if prompted.
7. Click on Browse and select the extracted satellite firmware file (.img or .chk) from Step 1.
8. Press Upload to begin the update. The process should complete in a few minutes. After that, return to orbilogin.com.
9. Go back to the Manual Firmware Update tab.
10. Without enabling the checkbox for satellites, click on Browse.
11. Select the router’s firmware file this time and click on Upload.
12. Press Yes to proceed with the update.

Even if you bricked your router while updating, you can still restore it if you can at least power it on. To do this, Netgear recommends using a TFTP client to upload the firmware remotely.

Here’s how you can do this on Windows:

1. First, download and install the Tftpd64 app.
2. Connect your PC to the router using an Ethernet cable.
3. Press Win + R, type ncpa.cpl, and press Enter.
4. Select the Ethernet connection and click on Properties.
   
5. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
6. Select Use the following IP address and enter the following values to set a static IP for your device:
   • IP address: 192.168.1.10
   • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
   • Default gateway: 192.168.1.1
     
7. Press Ok > Ok to save the changes.
8. Launch Tftpd64 and click on Tftp client. Select your PC’s LAN adapter from the Server interfaces list.
   
9. Fill in the Host (192.168.1.1 – default router IP address) and Port (69 – default TFTP port number).
   
10. Press the … button adjacent to Local File.
11. Browse the router’s firmware file but don’t upload it yet.
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12. Unplug all Ethernet connections except your PCs from the router.
13. Power off your router for 10 seconds and turn it back on.
14. Once the Power LED lights orange and starts flashing, press Put in the Tftpd64 client on your PC.
    
15. The upload will take a few minutes. If it’s successful, you’ll see an MD5 checksum. After a few minutes, the power LED will turn solid white.
16. If the upload was not successful, repeat Steps 12-14.
17. After the firmware is restored, revert your IPv4 configurations to default by following Steps 3-6 and selecting the auto-obtain options.

The process is mostly the same on macOS as well. Here are the necessary steps:

1. Connect your Mac to the router using an Ethernet cable.
2. Click on the Apple logo and select System Preferences > Network.
3. Select the Ethernet adapter from the left pane. Choose Configure IPv4 Manually and use the following values:
   • IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.10
   • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   • Router: 192.168.1.1
     
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4. Press Apply to save the changes.
5. Navigate to the folder containing the firmware file. Right-click it and select New Terminal at Folder.
   
6. Execute the following commands:
   • tftp 192.168.1.1
   • binary
7. Type put <full firmware file name> but don’t press Enter yet.
   
8. Remove all Ethernet connections except your Macs from the router.
9. Power off the router for 10 seconds and turn it back on.
10. Once the Power LED lights orange and starts flashing, press Enter to execute the put command in the terminal.
11. The firmware upload will take a few minutes to complete. If successful, you’ll see a message about bytes sent and time elapsed in the terminal. 
12. After a few minutes, the Power LED will turn solid white indicating that the firmware storage is complete. Feel free to restore your network settings to default (Steps 2-4) at this point.
13. But if the firmware upload fails, repeat Steps 9-11.

David