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Alright I've got a headscratcher. I cannot access 192.168.1.1 (or routerlogin.net as it's a NETGEAR product) from my Windows PC, but I can access it from my Macbook Air. When I try from the Windows PC, I just get "ERR_Connection_Refused."

Both are connected wirelessly (on the same network and same freq band), both have IP and DNS assigned by the router courtesy of the DHCP service, and both devices list 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway from the command line. On the Windows PC, ipconfig shows the default gateway as 192.168.1.1, and on the Mac, netstat -nr|grep default shows the same. I can ping the router from the Mac but not from the Win device, and most confusingly of all, both devices connect flawlessly to the internet.

Both devices have NordVPN and Proton Bridge installed and running, though I have tried quitting those services on both devices to see if there was a change, to no avail. Any ideas? It's not restrictive as I can access the router from one of the devices, but I'm curious as to why the router doesn't let the Windows device in but is fine with the Mac.

Both computers see 192.168.1.1 as having the same MAC address. I have tried Brave and Edge on the Windows computer, and only Brave on the Mac since it's working. VPN is not configured to full tunnel mode.

The output of ipconfig /all shows the DNS server for the WiFi adapter as 192.168.1.1 and the standard gateway and DHCP server as the same. The only other activated adapters from ipconfig /all are the VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter, which has its own IPv4 address and doesn't list a standard gateway, and NordLynx Tunnel, which comes from the VPN service, which also has its own IPv4 address and doesn't list a standard gateway.

ArchAngel2190
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3 Answers3

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As one of the comments mentioned it can be a silent redirection to HTTPS from HTTP on Windows machine. But since most modern Netgear routers do support HTTPS for user interface it shall not be a problem.

To troubleshoot the issue you can try connecting to the router by specifying the usual HTTP port 80.

192.168.1.1:80

But maybe the opposite is happening. Your Windows device is trying to log in to the router using an HTTP connection but the router refuses it because it only allows HTTPS protocol for security reasons. To troubleshoot that specify the https protocol and the HTTPS port 443.

https://192.168.1.1:443

But those things won't explain why you can't ping the router UI from Windows while Mac allows it. Resetting the router might be the best option to see if the problem clears away.

Jacob Miller
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My router (different brand) requires connection on 192.168.1.1:81, attempts to connect on ~:80 fail.

AJD
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I found it. In NordVPN, I had apparently enabled "Stay invisible on LAN" on the Windows PC and not the Mac. Apparently, this prevents LAN connections even when the app is completely closed. Settings>Connection>"Stay Invisible on LAN", disabled that, now I can connect.

ArchAngel2190
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