This guide is going to show you how you can use any old spare wireless router, preferably Linksys Wireless Router (as long as it’s compatible) you have laying around as a wireless bridge. What this does is make it act like a normal PC connecting to your network, wirelessly, so you don’t have to shell out cash for wireless ethernet cards. In my new house I use my Linksys Wireless WRT54G router to connect my Xbox 360 and my main PC to our wireless router in the other room so I can have internet access without dragging wires everywhere or shelling out $150 for a wireless adapter for my Xbox and one for my PC.

What we’re going to be doing is flashing a free, open-source firmware (DD-WRT firmware) onto our Linksys routers that enables many options and configurations for our router, essentially turning it into a super router, then we’re going to configure it to act as a wireless bridge.
It is important that you follow every step to the T, and don’t skip any steps or do anything that is not advised, because this can brick (break and not make work no more) your Linksys router if you don’t follow instructions. Now we’re going to be doing this on the same router model that I used in this guide, because instructions, and restrictions differ between router models and brands, and the Linksys WRT54G Series just happens to be one of the most popular kinds of routers that people have.

How To Flash Your Linksys Wireless Router With DD-WRT Firmware:

  1. Make sure your router is a Linksys WRT54G v5, v5.1, and V6. series. Make sure it is that exact kind, if it is not do not try this, and find the instructions for your router.
  2. Download vxworks_prep_v03.zip, vxworks_killer_g_v06.zip, DD-WRT micro generic, and extract them to a seperate folder.
  3. Download the Linksys FTP Transfer Tool.
  4. Give your network adaptor a manual IP address, because you might lose your automatically assigned IP address and then be unable to connect to anything.
    Go to the properties of your network connection, select ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’, hit ‘Properties’, then enter this:

    1. IP = 192.168.1.99
    2. Subnet mask = 255.255.255.0
    3. Gateway = 192.168.1.1
    4. (optional) set first DNS server to 192.168.1.1

  5. Open up your internet browser and type in 192.168.1.1 to go to the router web-based interface and login. Make sure you do this from a wired connection, because a wireless connection could become unstable while flashing and brick your router.
  7. Click on the ‘Administration’ tab and select ‘Firmware Upgrade’, then choose the vxworks_prep_v03.bin file. Click ‘Upgrade’, and wait for the browser windows to go blank. After that, unplug your router for 30 seconds then plug it back in.
  8. Now go back to 192.168.1.1 in your internet browser, you’ll see a different upgrade screen, this means your router is in management mode and is ready to accept the vxworks_killer_g_v06 firmware upgrade. Click ‘Browse’ and find vxworks_killer_g_v06 vile and then click ‘Apply’. Wait for ‘Success!’ to appear on the screen, then unplug the router and wait 30 seconds and plug it back in.
  9. Now the router is ready to accept the DD-WRT firmware. Open up the Linksys FTP Transfer Tool you downloaded and enter your router’s ip, 192.168.1.1, select dd-wrt.v23_micro_generic.bin, and leave the password field blank and click ‘Upgrade’. Wait for the router to reboot itself after about 3-10 minutes. Do not do anything to router until it has rebooted itself.
  10. Now you can login to the router at 192.168.1.1, but it’s going to show up with the DD-WRT firmware, instead of your other router interface. The default login and password is User: root and Password: admin.

Now that you’ve done that we have to configure it to act as a wireless bridge.

How To Configure Your Router As A Wireless Bridge

  1. Login to your DD-WRT router, and go to the ‘Administration’ tab, and click on the ‘Factory Defaults’ tab. Click on ‘Yes’ then click ‘Save Settings’.
  2. Wait for it to reboot, then log back into the router’s interface, and go to the ‘Setup’ tab and then the ‘Basic Setup’ tab, and change the options to these options:

    Connection Type: Disable
    STP: Disable
    Local IP: 192.168.1.2 (it was initially 192.168.1.1) (Appears that it must/should be a valid IP in your Wireless Subnet)
    Assign WAN Port To Switch: Checked
    DHCP Server: Disable

    Click ‘Save Settings’ and wait for it to reboot again.

  3. Now point your internet browser to 192.168.1.2. This is the router’s new internet address to access the router interface.
  4. Click on the ‘Security Tab’ and then the ‘Firewall’ tab and make sure the SPI Firewall is disabled. Click ‘Save settings’.
  5. Go to the ‘Wireless’ tab, then ‘Basic Settings’ tab and make sure your settings are the same as these:

    Wireless Mode: Client Bridge
    Wireless Network Mode: Match your primary router.
    Wireless Network Name (SSID): Match your primary router. (Exact case)

    Make sure to click ‘Save Settings’. The router is now in Client Bridge mode.

  6. Go back to the ‘Wireless’ tab and then to the ‘Wireless Security’ tab and make sure the ‘Security Mode’, ‘Encryption’, and ‘Key 1′ match your primary router’s settings. Then click ‘Save Settings’.
  7. Once again go back to your ‘Wireless’ tab and then the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab and make sure your ‘Authentication Type’ is ‘Shared Key’ now click ‘Save Settings’.
  8. Almost done! Go to the ‘Status’ tab, then the ‘Wireless’ tab and click on ‘Site Survey’ and join your wireless network. Now it should be working
  9. This step is optional, but it’s always good to do a backup of your current settings. Go to the ‘Administration’ tab, then the ‘Backup’ tab and save the config file to your computer.

Now your wireless router should be acting like the wireless bridge that we configured it to be. Pretty neat, eh?