Here is a tutorial on how to flash dd-wrt on to the TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND. Although this guide is meant for a specific type of router it should be fairly similar to any router compatible with dd-wrt.
- First off go to dd-wrt.com.
- Click on Router Database
- Do a search for TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND
- Click the only available version.
- Download both files in the description
- Now do a 30/30/30 reset on your router. Do this by holding the reset button on your router for 30 seconds, now without letting go of the reset button unplug the router. Hold for 30 seconds with it unplugged. Again not letting go of the reset button plug the router back in and hold for another 30 seconds. Once you have done this your router is now restored to default settings. Any customizations will be lost.
- Log into your routers control panel. Do this by connecting your computer to one of the available LAN ports on the back of the router via ethernet cable(Make sure you use an ethernet cable you’ll need to connect this way for later on). To access the control panel for your router type 192.168.1.1 in your computers Internet Browser. The default username AND password is “admin”.
- Now click on “System Tools”. Then click on “Firmware Upgrade”. Now upload the file called “factory-to-ddwrt.bin”. Click upgrade. Don’t touch it during this process. Don’t unplug it, mess with the cables, close your internet browser(Don’t do anything until it says it’s done!)
- Now create a username and password for dd-wrt. Go to Administration Tab.
- Go to the firmware tab and upload the second file and click upgrade.
- After this you should be done. Let me know if there are any errors or if your having any trouble and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
33 Responses to “Flashing DD-WRT on TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND”
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Lucas on June 24, 2012 at 2:56 am
Hello Blake,
That’s a very nice how to and I’m thinking about buying a router like this to flash dd-wrt.
But my idea will be to use this as a server to 2 purposes, using a 1tb external hd:
1. torrent.
2. as media server for my home (playing the videos through the wi-fi/Nintendo Wii).Both things work fine in this router (torrent and using as a media server)? Have you tested?
Thanks a lot in advance – and sorry for the bad english.
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Blake on June 26, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Well I have only used it a little bit with the external hd, but from what I can tell it seems like it would be fine as a media server. I do remember it being a little slow.
Good Luck! -
Marcos on December 15, 2012 at 10:59 am
Yes, it does’nt work media server, problem with ntfs and fat 32 files, no HD is posible. I have 1 tb storage USB connected. Only works div x no up than 700 mb. Sorry my Bad english!
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Jasbir Singh on August 17, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Anyone tried the USB stroage with this router? or do I have to install some package to make USB work?.
Thanks,
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Jasbir Singh on August 20, 2012 at 11:31 pm
YES, I AM TRYING TO MAKE MY TP-LINK INTO DLNA SERVER + file server.
I do see USB tab inside ddwrt but not sure how to make it into DLNA media server without too much configuration.I already tried and BRICKED one of my router with [[[DD-WRT Kong Mod USB/FTP/miniDLNA/Samba3 (WNR3500Lv1) ]]]]
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Blake on August 20, 2012 at 11:41 pm
I’ve never actually done this. I don’t know how stable it would be, it seemed kinda slow for me.
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Jasbir Singh on August 20, 2012 at 11:34 pm
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Ushare_uPnP_media_server
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Rui Ferreira on November 24, 2012 at 8:19 pm
After the step 8 the router asks for a user id and a password and don’t let me do anything, I tried all I know and problem continues
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Blake on November 29, 2012 at 12:13 am
It’s more than likely asking you to setup a password on this step. Just enter a User ID and password of your choice.
Let me know how it goes.
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mik on December 22, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Hey, everytime I try to do the second bin file upload it disconnects from the router, does the same everytime I save as well? ideas?
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Blake on January 28, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Not really. Are you using a ethernet cable instead of a wireless connection?
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Chella on March 13, 2013 at 11:54 am
Try a different browser. I had this problem with Chrome. Then switched to IE – that worked.
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Blake on March 13, 2013 at 6:16 pm
I would try Mozilla Firefox, I it is the one of choice for these tasks. I prefer Chrome for everything else 🙂
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brothergabrielBGM on February 18, 2014 at 12:08 pm
I’m having this trouble, too. I had already set the username and password and could log in just fine, then, in the remote interface I changed the setting in “Administration > Routing” to false and voila! Now it won’t take my password anymore and I am locked out. Any clues?
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brothergabrielBGM on February 18, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Ha ha – I figured out that I entered the password for the username….
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Chella on March 13, 2013 at 12:56 pm
Blake, thanks for the detailed instruction. It was very helpful. However after flashing, the router get no WAN IP from my cable modem. I found this site that explained how to fix. http://nearlydeaf.com/?p=1109
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valent on April 3, 2013 at 3:05 am
Did anybody fix wifi dropout [1] issue with their wr1043nd when running ddwrt or openwrt? I’m still having issue and really pissed off…
I posted to this bug report [2] but still no news from any of the developers.
It looks like same bug [3] is also present in openwrt firware, I can confirm that I had same issues with openwrt.
Is there any workaround?
[1] http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=747935
[2] http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/bugtracker/view.php?id=4388
[3] https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/9654 -
Blake on April 3, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Some of my problems have been due to interference from nearby access points(I live on campus at a university with 20 or so nearby access points). Make sure that there are no nearby access points with similar channels.(If Possible) I go for about a 6 channel separation. For example if a nearby access point is using channel 1, I would use channel 6 or up.
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Bruno on May 6, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Wrong steps..-
You’re supposing the router is already flashed.-
When you download, you must choose one of them. The webflash is for devices already flashed, not for initial flashing. Doing this worng, you’ll brick your router.-Also, the 30-30-30 only works in DD-WRT flashed devices, not in factory’s firmwares.-
Is important to read the full steps in the dd-wrt site for newbies, ’cause once bricked is hard to unbrick (or impossible).-
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Blake on May 6, 2013 at 12:32 pm
These are the correct steps I am not “supposing” anything. The 30-30-30 reset is supported on TP-LINK firmware (This may not be the case with all manufacturers). I am confident that these steps will work for this particular model (Not all models).
It sounds like you didn’t read the steps carefully. Be sure to read them 😉
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Momo on May 10, 2013 at 12:08 am
Does TP-LINK TL-WR940N Wireless N300 Home Router, 300Mpbs, 3 External Antennas, IP QoS, WPS Button work with AT&T DSL and Roku Lt.
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Blake on May 14, 2013 at 6:56 pm
This article is regarding DD-WRT on TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND, no the TP-LINK TL-WR940N.
Yes this router will work with any modem that uses standard DHCP addressing, and a Cat.5 ethernet cable. This is means everything on the consumer market. QoS: yes. Any device that supports IEEE 802.11 wireless standards will work as well(Roku Lt). I am not so sure about the WPS button. But there are ways to get around this usually regardless. -
Boaz on November 23, 2013 at 11:58 pm
Hi, I am trying to flash dd-wrt on 1043ND v2.1. I followed your steps and failed on step #8. The error that I get from my router is 18005 – not recognizing file name or content. I have change factory-to-wrt.bin file to be in the same name format as TP-Link firmware file name yet no such luck.
Have you tried to flash dd-wrt on v2.x? Any tips?
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Boaz on November 24, 2013 at 12:07 am
I am using Fire Fox. Can you use any other browsers if I should 🙂
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Blake on November 24, 2013 at 12:13 am
Nope! Firefox is the one of choice for this task. I’ll have to do a little research. There is a newer edition of the firmware out which could be causing issues. I’ll check into it tomorrow. I’m on the road tonight.
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Tyler Blakeman on January 3, 2014 at 4:44 pm
I was also curious about this, but when I pulled up the DD-WRT page and checked compatibility it appears as though they only support hardware v1 and not v2. I’m hoping someone will prove me wrong, but just wanted to share what I saw. (http://dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database and search TL-WR1043ND)
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Cris on February 26, 2014 at 6:22 am
Dude, DD WRT is not available for v.2.x so try waiting until is available.
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brothergabrielBGM on February 17, 2014 at 11:36 am
Ah, in case anyone has a problem with this – I discovered that although the TP-link’s original settings put the router at 192.168.1.1, the DD-WRT upgrade put the router at 192.168.11.1 Don’t think your router is bricked because you can’t locate it!
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User222 on August 18, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Can I use this method to install dd-wrt from Open-wrt? I’ve found the Open-wrt very unstable on the WiFi.
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Blake on September 30, 2015 at 9:17 pm
Not really sure, I no longer own this particular model so I can’t try it out. Sorry 🙁
