First time setup with Voxel firmware - doing this right?

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v84
v84's picture
First time setup with Voxel firmware - doing this right?

Hello!

I'm a complete newbie to the Voxel firmware for the R7800 :)

I haven't installed the firmware just yet as I'm a bit confused...

In looking through the readme, do I have to setup SSH or anything for it? Or can I just install and firmware and leave it be?

 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
You can flash firmware and

You can flash firmware and leave it w/o ssh setup. The last is optional.

Voxel.

v84
v84's picture
Excellent, so I don't have to

Excellent, so I don't have to setup Entware or anything else, it should still function great by simply running the firmware updater via the router web GUI, correct?

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Yes, sure. Voxel.

Yes, sure.

Voxel.

v84
v84's picture
Thanks so much Voxel! Again

Thanks so much Voxel! Again first timer here, I do a factory reset -> install your firmware -> factory reset again -> manually enter all settings, correct?

Voxel
Voxel's picture
In general, not necessary to

In general, not necessary to do any reset. All your settings (set in stock firmware) should be kept.

 

P.S. You are welcome ;-)
Voxel.

Voxel
Voxel's picture
But better use latest FW

But better use latest FW (https://www.voxel-firmware.com/Downloads/Voxel/html/index.html). Current is 1.0.2.39SF.

Voxel.

v84
v84's picture
Yes indeed, I have installed

Yes indeed, I have installed the latest firmware and am good to go. Thanks so much for your patience and help!

Stavi
Stavi's picture
Ello,

Ello,

I am a first time newbie as well and have read through voxles readme several times to make sure I am not missing anything but I must ask before I potential brick my router. 

I am assuming using the Netgear Genie web portal/GUI application we select/upload the R7800-V1.0.2.XX.img file. From there do we need to do anyhting with the NETGEAR_R7800.cfg file? 

Thanks in advance and sorry for asking such a dumb question, but ive made too many dumb decitions before...

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Hello,

Hello,
 

From there do we need to do anyhting with the NETGEAR_R7800.cfg file? 
 

NETGEAR_R7800.cfg is used to backup your current setting and to restore them if you do reset. Without manual reconfiguration. If you flash my firmware above stock firmware all your settings should be kept in principle. So just backup your NETGEAR_R7800.cfg (store it somewhere for any cases) and flash my firmware. That's all. Should be working after this with your settings.

Voxel.

Voxel
Voxel's picture
P.S. My current version is 1

P.S. My current version is 1.0.2.41SF. Could be downloaded from https://www.voxel-firmware.com/

Voxel.

Stavi
Stavi's picture
Thanks VOXEL,

Thanks VOXEL,

I was able to get everything loaded and have been working on SSH capability all afternoon. I folowed the instructions in apendix A but I still cant ssh into the router.. I'm assuming I need to enter the dropbear keys I made on the router some where onto my local sysyem to get access? Or do I simply need to install the dropbear app for mac (http://macappstore.org/dropbear/ seems like I shouldnt habe too).

While router ssh will be nice I'm also wondering if its another issues. I have been trying to SSH into a another system on the network and always get - 

ssh: connect to host 192.168.1.7 port 22: Connection refused

while an ssh to my router gives 

Permission denied (publickey).

I'm assuming I'm doing something stupid somewhere, but apricate all the help.

Maybe you can proatively tell me all I need to do since my goal is to have:

1.) Network drive and Time Machine Back up hard drive (attached to the router)

2.) The abbility to SSH into devices on the network.

3.) Down the road use it as a web-sever for in house numerical weather output

e38BimmerFN
e38BimmerFN's picture
You have to enable telnet for

You have to enable telnet for the router. Enter 192.168.1.1\debug.htm to gain access to this screen. Check mark Enable Telnet. Then your telnet program should access the router. I just tested it on mine. 

Stavi
Stavi's picture
@e38BimmerFN

@e38BimmerFN

Correct, I used telnet  to complete apendix A (how you enable ssh) from Voxel's readme, however from my terminal I can't ssh 192.168.1.1 or ssh into any of my other machines on the network. This ordiginally started here (https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/R7800-firmware-u...), and now it seems that netgear has fixed that particular issue :/

Voxel
Voxel's picture
I'm assuming I need to enter

I'm assuming I need to enter the dropbear keys I made on the router some where onto my local sysyem to get access?
 

I am sorry I do not have Mac. But anyway you are right, you should point to your SSH client (dbclient?) on your local system to use your generated dropbear key. See this:
 

https://linux.die.net/man/1/dbclient

It is Linux man page but dropbear should be dropbear even from Mac. See option "-i". It should be used to connect to your router.

Rest:

Connection refused usually means that your device does not accept connection on port 22. Maybe other port, maybe firewall. You router is listening 22 so you have such message, but not connection refused.

So to access your router by SSH you should somehow point your generated client key by dbclient from your Mac. When I connect from Linux to my router I use the following command:
 

 ssh -y -i /myhomedir/id_dropbear root@nighthawk

Voxel.

nickat1
nickat1's picture
Hi, I've installed the latest

Hi, I've installed the latest Voxel build on my R7800 and now I'm trying get SSH to work. I've followed the instruction in Appendix A to gen the keys and then import the private key in to Putty. When I try to connect to the router I get a "login as:" prompt. I type in "admin" but then I get a message "server has refused our key", followed by a"Putty fatal error "window: Disconnected: No supported authentication methods available (server sent:public key)"

Any help greatfuly received.

Thanks, Nick.

Stavi
Stavi's picture
Nick, I'm assuming you got it

Nick, I'm assuming you got it working but login should be root not admin. If you are loging in to the webpage GUI then your login is admin.

osc
osc's picture
Hello,

Hello,

 

 

I purchased R 7800 on Nov 12 and just now uploaded to Voxel R7800-V1.0.2.61SF.  Its been really smooth and wonderful. Thanks VOXEL.

 

OSC

 

 

RickV
RickV's picture
I am preparing to flash Voxel

I am preparing to flash Voxel's new firmware, R7800-V1.0.2.61SF, over the latest Netgear release, 1.0.2.60.  So far, I only see osc has performed this upgrade.  Obviously, we know Voxel is competent but, I thought I should try to seek other people's eperiences.

RickV
RickV's picture
I initially attempted this

I initially attempted this update with the Netgear Genie utiity but, it claimed I was already running the latest version of the R7800 firmware.  This is correct because, I updted to .60 from .58 a few days ago in the hope this would prevent WiFi from dropping out.  No, we lost WiFi even more and this time 2.4 GHz was involved much more than in .58.

I then used the web-based utiity to flash .61SF.  I extracted Voxel's zipfile to obtain the *.img and initiated the update.  The Netgear utility displays a warning indicating the .61SF is an older version of firmware but, the flash completed successfully so, I see no reason to be concerned.  I just thought it might helps others if they also encounter the warning message as these can shock newbie's!

I did save the *.cfg for the OEM .60 softwre to be safe but, my hope is I just began a long working relationship with Voxel!

 

Rick

e38BimmerFN
e38BimmerFN's picture
IT's recommended to always

IT's recommended to always use a web browser for updating FW and use a wired PC connected to the router. Do not use wireless for doing FW upgrades. You can go directly from NG stock FW to Voxels, and vice versa. 

I recommend doing a factory reset and setup from scratch if you encounter any problems when going back and forth from stock to Voxels. Kind of helps to have a clean plate to start with. Then save of a new router config to file. Other experiences can be found here for 61SF:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/custom-firmware-build-for-r7800-v-1-0-...

 

Enjoy. 

vadr
vadr's picture
Hi there, I'm in Australia so

Hi there, I'm in Australia so you have to buy a VDSL compatible modem. would you be able to tell me if your firmware works with the D7800 as well and maybe a quick install guide? Cheers from down under :)

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Hi there, I'm in Australia so

Hi there, I'm in Australia so you have to buy a VDSL compatible modem. would you be able to tell me if your firmware works with the D7800 as well and maybe a quick install guide? Cheers from down under :)

 

Sorry, I do not support D7800. Unfortunately NG is not interested in cooperation with me and lack of such cooperation is an obstacle to extend the list of supported models...

Voxel.
 

OldSchoolGuy
OldSchoolGuy's picture
I Just installed the latest

I Just installed the latest firmare from your depository for the R7800 router. Flashing the router went really well. I did however elect to reset and reconfigure as a precaution.  I ran into one issue and that is with the "Attached Devices" page.  Whenever I select the Attached Devices from anywhere, the logon display pops up.  When I enter the credentials, and press enter nothing happens.  The screen does not go away. I selected the X on the upper  right corner to try to cancel it, but it does nothing. After several attempts, it ask for me to enter the Serial number to recover the password. After entering the same information I am able to logon to the webgui.  I saw this also when I installed the NG firmware update  1.0.2.62 and 1.0.2.63 beta.  The logon box would display when I selected Attached Devices and would not go away. And end up requesting I enter the serial number to recover the password. 

Everything else is working great.   Could I have done something incorrectly?

OldSchoolGuy
OldSchoolGuy's picture
Voxel replied to clear cache

Voxel replied to clear cache since I am the only reporting this issue.  I elected to go further; turned off password manager, cleared cache, factory reset (not 30-30-30), cleared cache, flashed using Voxel latest firmware (69SF), factory reset again. 
This worked for me, webgui nolonger displaying logon request.

EasyGoing1
EasyGoing1's picture
Instructions for Mac users

(Voxel, I added these instructions into your readme.docx file and formatted it so that it all matches your document. Once I figure out how to enable ftp in my router, you can download the readme if you're interested from this address: ftp://mikesims.ddns.net/readme.docx )

Instructions for MacOS

Copy the id_rsa file (not id_rsa.pub) to your mac. The quickest way to do this:

 cat id_rsa

Select all the text INCLUDING the -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- lines

Open a new terminal window (or tab) and go into a folder under your users folder that you prefer, or simply use the Documents folder

► cd ~/Documents

Next, create a new id_rsa file using pico

► pico id_rsa

Paste the text that you copied into pico, save then close the file like this: 

  1. CMD-V
  2. CTRL-X
  3. y
  4. <enter>

Then all you have to do is SSH into the router specifying the key file like this

► ssh -i ~/Documents/id_rsa root@<router_ip_address>

EasyGoing1
EasyGoing1's picture
Nevermind the ftp link that I

Nevermind the ftp link that I provided, I opted to make the readme file available through the netgear storage cloud so use this link:

https://readycloud.netgear.com/client/dllink.html#t=07mdosq180absu08kudx...

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Thank you, I'll check it.

Thank you, I'll check it.

Voxel.

vmaxhp
vmaxhp's picture
NOOB question - thanks for

NOOB question - thanks for your patience.  I have a NetGear R7800 and want to install Voxel.  When I download the firmware, it comes as a disk image.  I'm using to flashing firmware through the GUI pointing to a .bin or similar file.  Am I missing something here?

Thanks! 

Rick

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Disk image... If you've

Disk image... If you've downloaded the firmware from https://voxel-firmware.com/Downloads/Voxel/html/r7800.html you have ZIP file. It contains the ".img" file in archive. Not ".bin". It could be flashed from WebGUI of stock firmware. 

If you are using now other 3rd party fw? just go back to stock. After this flash my version.

 

Voxel.

vmaxhp
vmaxhp's picture
Thanks!  That did it.  My

Thanks!  That did it.  My intent is to use the R7800 in front of my Linksys Velop Mesh.  The linksys has very few capabilities for monitoring / measuring / shaping traffic

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