6

Nighthawk

X6 AC3000

Tri-Band

WiFi

Router

Recover the admin Password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

View Router Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Display Internet Port Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Check the Internet Connection Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

View and Manage Logs of Router Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Monitor Internet Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Custom Static Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Set Up a Static Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Edit a Static Route. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Delete a Static Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

View Devices Currently on the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Manage the Router Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Back Up Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Restore Configuration Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Erase the Current Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Remote Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Chapter 13

Use VPN to Access Your Network

Set Up a VPN Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Specify VPN Service in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Install OpenVPN Software on Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Use a VPN Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Use VPN to Access the Router’s USB Device and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Use VPN to Access Your Internet Service at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Set Up VPN Client Internet Access in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Block VPN Client Internet Access in the Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Use a VPN Tunnel to Access Your Internet Service at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Chapter 14

Specify Internet Port Settings

Set Up Port Forwarding to a Local Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Add a Custom Port Forwarding Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Edit a Port Forwarding Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Delete a Port Forwarding Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Application Example: Make a Local Web Server Public. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

How the Router Implements the Port Forwarding Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Set Up Port Triggering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Add a Port Triggering Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Enable Port Triggering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Application Example: Port Triggering for Internet Relay Chat . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Chapter 15

Troubleshooting

Quick Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Sequence to Restart Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Check Ethernet Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Wireless Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Network Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

7

Nighthawk

X6 AC3000

Tri-Band

WiFi

Router

Troubleshoot with the LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Standard LED Behavior When the Router Is Powered On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Power LED Is Off or Blinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Power LED Stays Amber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

LEDs Never Turn Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Internet or Ethernet Port LEDs Are Off. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

WiFi LED Is Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Cannot Log In to the Router. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Cannot Access the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Troubleshoot PPPoE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Troubleshoot Internet Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Changes Not Saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Wireless Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Troubleshoot Your Network Using the Ping Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Test the LAN Path to Your Router. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Test the Path from Your Computer to a Remote Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Appendix A

Supplemental Information

Factory Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

8

1

1.

Hardware Setup

The Nighthawk

X6 AC3000

Tri-Band

WiFi

Router with six high-performance antennas and three

network bands—one 2.4 GHz band and two 5 GHz bands delivers combined WiFi connection

speeds of up to 3000 Mbps WiFi:

•

450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band (802.11n)

•

1300 Mbps on 5 GHz band 1 (802.11ac)

•

1300 Mbps on 5 GHz band 2 (802.11ac)

Nighthawk X6 is ideal for homes with a number of WiFi-connected devices and provides double

the bandwidth of typical dual-band routers.

Nighthawk X6 also provides fast central storage, backup, and streaming to every device in your

home with the USB 3.0 port (10 times faster than USB 2.0). Sharing content across your network

is easy, whether you’re accessing stored photos and music or printing wirelessly. Stream your

stored media files anywhere on the network to DLNA screens. Share your music with

AirPlay-compatible devices from a USB hard drive connected to the router. Use the free

NETGEAR ReadySHARE Vault app to back up your Windows computers to a USB hard drive

connected to Nighthawk X6.

This chapter contains the following sections:

•

Unpack Your Router

•

Extend the Antennas

•

Top View

•

Rear Panel

•

Position Your Router

•

Cable Your Router

For more information about the topics covered in this manual, visit the support website at

.

Hardware Setup

9

Nighthawk

X6 AC3000

Tri-Band

WiFi

Router

Unpack Your Router

Your package contains the following items.

AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi Router

Ethernet cable

Power adapter

Figure 1. Package contents

Extend the Antennas

Position the antennas for the best WiFi performance.



To extend the antennas:

Position all of the antennas vertically as shown.