How To Find The IP Address Of A Router

You’ll need to find the IP address of your router to login and configure it. Maybe you want to change the default WiFi password or the router’s admin password for better security?

Or a tech support call may requires you to login to your router to get help with a broadband fault.

In each case, you’ll need to find your router IP address first. It’s easy to find, read on to see how – this article applies equally to wired, wireless, cable and ADSL routers.

What Is A Router IP Address?

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is simply a set of 4 numbers – a numerical label. Every network connected device in your home has its own unique IP address to identify it and the router is no exception.

However, the router is also a special case. It’s known as the Default Gateway because it connects all other devices on your home network through to the Internet – a ‘gateway’ to the web.

You’ll need to know its IP address in order to login to the router’s configuration page in your web browser (like a mini website).

So, instead of typing the name of an external website like www.google.com you would instead type the IP address of your router.

How To Find The IP Address of a Router

It may be listed in the user manual – the most common IP addresses of routers found in homes are 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254

But it’s very easy to find out for yourself. Make sure you are connected to your router via a cable or via WiFi and then use either of these 2 simple methods:

Method 1 – Control Panel

Click on the Start button and type ‘Control Panel’ into the Search box – then click on the Control Panel program/desktop app in the search results:

open control panel

In Control Panel, under the ‘Network and Internet’ category, click on the ‘View network status and tasks’ link:

open network status

In the right section of ‘Network and Sharing Center’, click on the type of your network connection (e.g. Ethernet / Local Area Connection if using a cable)

choose connection

In the connection ‘Status’ window, click on the ‘Details’ button:

connection status

In the ‘Network Connection Details’ window, you’ll now see your router IP address – listed as ‘IPv4 Default Gateway‘. In the example below it is therefore 192.168.1.254

default gateway router IP address
Router IP address (the IPv4 Default Gateway)

That’s it. Now that you have found your router IP address you can use it to login to its configuration page.

Method 2 – Command Prompt

Press the Windows key (bottom left) on your keyboard (or click on the Start button) and type CMD into the Search box.

Click on the ‘cmd.exe’ or ‘Command Prompt’ program in the search results to open a Command Prompt window.

Now type the single word ipconfig and press ENTER to display the details of the connection(s) to your router, similar to that shown below:

IPv4 default gateway router IP address
Using ipconfig to find router IP address

If you are currently connected to the router by a cable, under the ‘Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection’ heading you will see the IP address of your router shown opposite Default Gateway. In the example above, the IP address of the router is therefore 192.168.0.100

If you are currently connected to the router by WiFi, under the ‘Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection’ heading you will see the IP address of the router shown opposite Default Gateway.

Note that the router always has the same IP address, regardless of whether you connect to it via WiFi or cable. So, in the example above, the router IP address is once again 192.168.0.100

Now that you have found your router IP address you can use it to login to its configuration page.

1 thought on “How To Find The IP Address Of A Router”

  1. thanks for this – needed it to get into my router as some idiot changed the normal ip address to something else

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