To start off with, I was trying to access port forwarding settings on my MikroTik hAP ac^3 router (one of the newest models). Of course to do that, one needs to access either the WebFig by entering the gateway IP in a browser (in my case it is 192.162.88.1) or by using WinBox.
Long story short, I cannot connect to my router settings. When connecting using the neighbors function and with the IP4 address in WinBox, the application displays “ERROR: Router refused to connect”. I cannot login using the MAC address as I do not know the username and password. I used the default admin with no password, and password as the admin, none of them worked. I tried to use Telnet to login, but it is similar to using the MAC address. It connects but I do not know the username and password.
I have also tried directly connecting to the router by ethernet cable and use Netinstall to install a fresh copy of the RouterOS. However, the application doesn’t display anything (I disabled antivirus, firewall, and changed my IP to 192.168.88.2 and subgates, like the wiki suggested).
If you didn’t configure your router yet (i.e. it’s new out of the box), then you have to connect your management PC to WAN port. Later, when it’s configured, you have to use any other interface (other ethernet ports, wireless). It is very unwise to leave router without password set, your device might have been hacked already in which case you’ll have to netinstall it (reset to factory defaults might not remove all malware).
It’s not clear from the OP whether the router has been set up and connected to the internet for some time, or whether it’s straight out of the box & the OP is setting up for first time.
If the latter, you can just reset the router to factory defaults and log in using 192.168.88.1, admin/no password as per the initial setup instructions.
If the former, then as mkx suggests, it could be that the router has been hacked and services / access disabled etc. Things like passwords and logins don’t tend to just change themselves once set up properly, so I’d work on the assumption that something dodgy has happened, in which case I’d look at wiping and setting up from scratch. You could do a net install and then restore your config from a backup (if you have it).
I’m sorry I forgot to mention this, but the router has been connected to the internet for about a month or so. Also, I did not setup this router either, my ISP did.
Also, I cannot seem to connect to the router via Netinstall. I configured my PC correctly on Windows (gateway, subgates, set network to Private, disable firewall and antivirus, etc.) but the router is still not showing up on Netinstall. I even ran Netinstall in administrative mode too to see if that changed anything. It just seems to me the router refuses access to me other than the internet.
Since the router was setup by your provider, just give them a call asking for the login credentials.
Or if you have the backup, you can use the reset button to reset the device after which you will upload the backup to your router.
Ah, misteriously you omit than the device is configured (or property of) your ISP…
If your ISP has configured (it’s own) router probably also has set the protected-routerboot,
and if you do not know the timing value of that parameter,
yon can not easily netinstall it…