BT - Attach Secondary HUB to Current HUB to use USB as Shared Drive

I have BT [ British Telecommunications ] fibre with a Smart Hub 2 that has a single USB Port. The USB Port is ONLY a charging Port [ridiculous I know] as confirmed by BT themselves and various websites.

I have been told that I can connect a Home Hub 3 to my main Router and use the USB Port on that to insert a USB. This is confirmed by YouTube videos and different websites that I have visited. The USB needs to be formatted as FAT32, NOT NTFS, again confirmed from various sources.

The main objective is to leave the USB connected to the Home Hub 3 so that I can share files etc between my Desktop and Laptop when needed.



So far so good., but here is where my lack of knowledge comes into play, although I have watched YouTube videos.

I left my Wi-Fi connected and left SMB 1.0 unchecked.

I first need to change the settings of the Home Hub 3, easy I hear you say. Well, I powered it up and reset it. I turned it off, plugged a Yellow Ethernet cable in [ Which Port should I be using on the Router ? ] and connected the Router to my Laptop, and powered it up.

I waited for it to completely power up and then entered the Default Gateway Address in Google Chrome. It did NOT recognise it, it just opened the current Router, although it showed up in the connections as . . .



It did NOT show in ipconfig.

I know that once I am able to get into the Settings, that I need to DISABLE DHCP and change the Default Gateway Address as it is the SAME as my current Router. I was going to change it to 255 at the end. I also need to change the Firewall to OFF, the PnP to OFF, and the Configuration to DISABLED.

It is probably the order of events that I am getting wrong !

Has anyone got any ideas please.

Thanks.

You need to know the ip of the main router normally 192.168.0.1 then you need to know it's DHCP range. Next remove new router from the old one, now connect a pc to it via cable you should get an ip from it from CMD prompt type ipconfig /all note default gateway that's the ip of the router.

Login to the second router you need to turn off DHCP or pcs will get wrong gateway now you need to change the ip of the router so it's different to first router and high in the DHCP so the first won't give out the ip.

So if first router is 192.168.0.1 set second to 192.168.0.45 also make sure the WiFi name on second is different to first.

Then you connect both routers via ethernet ports you would access it via 192.168.0.45

Thanks for the reply @Samuria,

The main Router is Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254.
So I need to change this to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.1 ?

The OLD Router is the SAME [ Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254 ] as I had it setup in my house previously.
So I need to change this to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.10 for example ?

So I need to disconnect the CURRENT Router Wi-Fi in settings FIRST, and then connect the OLD Router in settings and enter the Wireless Key?

Then login to the OLD Router with Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254, enter the Admin Password, change the Default Gateway Addreess to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.10 for example, and go from there ?

Paul Black said:

Thanks for the reply @Samuria,

The main Router is Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254.
So I need to change this to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.1 ?

The OLD Router is the SAME [ Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254 ] as I had it setup in my house previously.
So I need to change this to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.10 for example ?

So I need to disconnect the CURRENT Router Wi-Fi in settings FIRST, and then connect the OLD Router in settings and enter the Wireless Key?

Then login to the OLD Router with Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254, enter the Admin Password, change the Default Gateway Addreess to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.10 for example, and go from there ?

You are overcomplicating it.

Leave IP address and gateway on main router alone.

On secondary router, simply change IP address to 192.168.1.x where X is outside DHCP range of primary router (low numbers less than 100 are usually fine). Turn off DHCP on secondary router.

Connect both routers via ethernet lan ports (not wan port - usually yellow).

Optionally, you can set both routers to have same wifi and wifi password, if you like but if do you should use different wifi channels. For 5 ghz channels are not overlapping but for 2.4 ghz, only use 1, 6 or 11 but not same on both 1,6 or 1,11 or 6,11.
This way when you move around, mobile phones (say) will connect to strongest channel. Only needed if routers distant. If routers are very close, turn off wifi for secondary router.

Thanks for the reply @cereberus, it is appreciated.

So I just leave the CURRENT Router as Default Gateway - 192.168.1.254, and on the OLD Router set it to Default Gateway - 192.168.1.100 for example?

The Server Address Range is 192.168.1.64 - 192.168.1.253.

cereberus said:

Optionally, you can set both routers to have same wifi and wifi password, if you like but if do you should use different wifi channels. For 5 ghz channels are not overlapping but for 2.4 ghz, only use 1, 6 or 11 but not same on both 1,6 or 1,11 or 6,11.

This way when you move around, mobile phones (say) will connect to strongest channel. Only needed if routers distant. If routers are very close, turn off wifi for secondary router.

The Routers will be within a couple of feet of each other, but thanks for the detailed information.

I disconnected from the NEW Router.
I logged into the OLD Router Settings.
I changed the OLD Router to 192.168.1.10, turned OFF DHCP, and DISABLED Firewall.
The OLD Router shows a USB being present which is formatted as FAT32 and has a small .mp4 file for testing.
I checked [ Ticked ] the SMB 1.0 entries in Turn Windows Features On or Off.
I Restarted the Laptop.
I plugged a Yellow Ethernet cable between the OLD and NEW Routers.
The Internet was from the NEW Router.
I have tried everything to get it to work but it will NOT.

Does File Sharing need to be on ?

The OLD Router is shown here . . .



I can get into the OLD Router Settings by typing 192.168.1.10 into Google Chrome while connected to the NEW Router.

When I type \\192.168.1.10 into Explorer, I get this . . .



When I click diagnose, it says that Trobleshooting could not identify the problem.

I am quite happy to Reset the OLD Router and start again.

Thanks.

From a CMD prompt type

Tracert adobe.com
Tracert 194.119.131.66

Post results

Hello @Samuria, thanks for the reply,

Samuria said:

From a CMD prompt type

Tracert adobe.com
Tracert 194.119.131.66

Post results

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>Tracert adobe.com

Tracing route to adobe.com [2a00:23a0:1d2:6::d57b:f239]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  2a00:23c7:e590:4201:32b1:b5ff:feb8:b74b
  2     1 ms     2 ms     2 ms  2a00:2302::1102:203:55a
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4     9 ms     8 ms    18 ms  2a00:23a0:1d2:6::d57b:f239

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>Tracert 194.119.131.66

Tracing route to cns1.uk.vianw.net [194.119.131.66]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     3 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.254
  2     9 ms     6 ms     8 ms  172.16.14.125
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4     8 ms    11 ms    18 ms  31.55.187.176
  5    15 ms     9 ms    18 ms  core1-hu0-17-0-1.southbank.ukcore.bt.net [195.99.127.180]
  6     7 ms    11 ms     7 ms  peer8-et-0-1-2.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.178]
  7     9 ms     9 ms    18 ms  ten0-0-0-2-t6-mse1.router.uk.clara.net [195.66.236.66]
  8    13 ms     9 ms    10 ms  tengige0-0-1-0-t6-ar14.router.uk.clara.net [195.157.3.106]
  9    22 ms     9 ms    10 ms  cns1.uk.vianw.net [194.119.131.66]

Trace complete.