How to Flash Open-WRT or Return to Stock Firmware On NETGEAR R7500 Wi-Fi Router

This article describes the steps required for firmware upgrade in Netgear R7500.
Flashing Open-WRT Firmware from Stock Firmware: Here I use OEM firmware downloaded from the NETGEAR support site and OPEN-WRT firmware downloaded from here.

Step1:

Log in to the router web interface i.e. 192.168.1.1 and navigate to the Advanced -> Administration ->Backup Settings as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1

Step2:

Click the “Erase” button under “Revert to factory default settings” section as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2

Step 3:

Click the “Yes” button as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3

The router will reboot and you will be able to see a page same as figure 4. Wait for the reboot process to complete.

Figure 4

Step 4:

Log in to the router web interface i.e. 192.168.1.1 and navigate to the Advanced ->Administration->Router Update as shown in figure 5.

Figure 5

Step 5:

Click “Browse”, select the path for the Open-WRT firmware that you downloaded and click on the “Upload” button as shown in the figure 6.

Figure 6

Step 6:

Then click on the “OK” button as shown in figure 7.

Figure 7

Step 7:

Then click on the “Yes” button as shown in figure 8.

Figure 8

The router will reboot and you will be able to see a page same as figure 9. Wait for the reboot process to complete.

Figure 9

Step 8:

It is always recommended to reset the router to factory defaults after successful firmware upgrade. This can be done by pressing the reset button for say 30secs. You will need to use something pointed to press the reset button, I use a pen for the same.

Step 9:

Now, you will be able to log on to the Open-WRT web page by typing 192.168.1.1 in your browser as shown in figure 10.

Figure 10

Step 10:

Click on “Login” button as shown in figure 11. It is recommended to clear the cache of your web browser before using it.

Figure 11

Step 11:

Then you can see the status page of your router and the firmware version as shown in figure 12.

Figure 12

Flashing Stock Firmware from Open-WRT Firmware

Log in to the router web interface i.e. 192.168.1.1 and navigate to System -> Backup / Flash Firmware -> “Browse” under “Flash new firmware image”. Select the path for the Stock firmware (with .bin extension) that you downloaded from myopenrouter.com and click on the “Flash image” button as shown in the figure 13.

Figure 13

Step 2:

Then click on the “Proceed” button as shown in figure 14. Wait for the reboot process to complete as shown in figure 15.

Figure 14

After you click on the proceed button you will see a page as in figure 3

Figure 15

Step 3:

It is always recommended to reset the router to factory defaults after successful firmware upgrade. This can be done by pressing the reset button for say 30secs. You will need to use something pointed to press the reset button, I use a pen for the same.

Step 4:

After reboot is complete Log in to the router web interface i.e. 192.168.1.1. Enter the username and password for the same. (Default username = admin and password = password for Netgear Stock Firmwares) and then click on the “Ok” button. It is recommended to clear the cache of your web browser before using it.

Step 5:

Now upgrade your R7500 to latest OEM firmware available at NETGEAR support site.