Configuring Netis WF2419 as 300Mbps N Wireless Bridge

The Netis WF2419 is a miraculously low cost (only about $13) excellent value wireless bridge/repeater/router. It can be used as wireless client, and includes a 4-port switch. This is great for connecting up to four Linux machines to a wireless router. It avoids the pain of installing drivers for a specific USB wireless adapters.

A downside of this unit is security flaws such as an RCE vulnerability, and a buffer overflow vulnerability. However, when used as a wireless bridge, the interface is in most use-cases not accessible.

The user interface is not as user friendly as it could be. It is easy to mess up your configuration. If you already did, or need to change the configuration, scroll down to the section on how to factory-reset these units, and then continue from here.

The following procedure was tested on seven new units purchased in December 2017, sharing the same wireless band (because connection bandwidth was not an issue).

Setup as wireless bridge

Connect the router via a LAN port to a laptop or PC with an Ethernet cable. Enable automatic DHCP on the laptop (or setup an address manually, such as 192.168.1.2, net mask 255.255.255.0, and gateway 192.168.1.1). The factory-default IP address is 192.168.1.1, and if you point a browser to http://netis.cc it should display the configuration interface. If that does not work, just use http://192.168.1.1. It may be loading slowly initially.

[ ] Configure PC interface for automatic DHCP
[ ] Connect PC to LAN port via Ethernet cable
[ ] Open new browser and point to http://192.168.1.1 or http://netis.cc

Next we configure it as a wireless repeater/bridge. I was not able to disable the wireless repeating function so we keep it enabled but give the repeater a SSID ID different from the SSID of the wireless router we are connecting to. This avoids confusion when operating multiple wireless bridges.

For the following to work without modification, your wireless router you are connecting to must be running a DHCP server, or you need to have another DHCP server on the same subnet.

Perform the following, in this order. (For instance a different order may result in incorrect repeater SSID – which is forgiven, for the very low cost of this unit.)

[ ] Click "Advanced" button in the browser
[ ] From left-hand menu select "Wireless"
[ ] Enter an SSID for the repeater, different from the SSID of the wireless router used above
[ ] Enter a password to protect this SSID
[ ] Select "Save"

[ ] From left-hand menu select "Network" menu
[ ] Change WAN type to "Wireless"
[ ] Select "AP Scan" to find the wireless router SSID you want to connect to.
[ ] Select on the SSID's "Connect" selector
[ ] Click "Connect" button
[ ] Set password (the one you would use to connect as a client) and make sure the Encryption type and Key mode are correct.
[ ] Keep the WAN connection setting as DHCP
[ ] Select "Save"

[ ] From the left-hand menu select "Network" and then "Operation Mode"
[ ] Select Mode "Bridge"
[ ] Select Connection Type "DHCP"
[ ] Select "Save" and "OK" to restart the router

After restart, you should obtain an IP address from the DHCP server of the subnet the bridge is connecting to.

Factory Reset

During regular operation, the “SYS” light will be blinking every 2-3 seconds. Even without anything attached to the LAN ports.

After a power reset the SYS indicator blinks, WPS turns on, followed by both WPS and SYS indicators. Next SYS stays on and WPS turns off. After completion of reboot, the SYS indicator will again blink every 2-3 seconds.

To reset the unit to factory condition, while the unit is turned on, simply keep the “default” button depressed (through the small hole next to the WAN port, for at least about 10 seconds. The SYS light will start blinking on and off periodically at a faster pace than the usual 2-3 second interval. Release, and the behavior should be the same as after a power reset but the configuration should be reset to factory conditions.

There should be no need to disconnect the LAN cable at any time.

updated: 20171211; 20180430
photo: none

1 thought on “Configuring Netis WF2419 as 300Mbps N Wireless Bridge

  1. Qmpzal Reply

    Excelent guide,
    Solved a very urgent problem for me today.
    Thank you very much

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