🌐 The Complete Beginner's Guide to Soft Routing

OpenWrt / ImmortalWrt From Flashing Firmware, Basic Configuration to Whole-Home Proxy Internet Access

I. What Is a Soft Router? Why Use One?

Soft Router (Software Router) = A router device capable of installing “ systems + ” plugins. It can be an x86 industrial mini PC, an ARM development board (such as NanoPi R2S/R4S), a hard router that supports flashing, or even a spare laptop.

💡 Why Use One?
Put proxy traffic splitting, ad blocking, DNS optimization, parental controls, VLAN network segmentation and other capabilities at “ your home network's exit point ”. Your phones, computers, TV boxes, game consoles, VR headsets and other devices don't need individual client installations—just connect to Wi-Fi and enjoy seamless, whole-home unified network acceleration and policies!

Compared to Traditional Hard Routers: Hard routers have fixed functions and weak extensibility; soft routers allow free installation of rich plugins, with easy upgrades, updates, and secondary development.

II. Hardware Selection: x86 / ARM / Flashable Hard Router

1. x86 Multi-NIC Mini PC (Strongly Recommended 🔥)

Advantages: Best compatibility, ample performance headroom, and future All-in-One (PVE/ESXi virtualization) potential.
Recommendation: At least Dual Gigabit / Dual 2.5G Ethernet PortsThe CPU performance can be found on Intel's official website for side-by-side comparison.

2. ARM development board (low power, cost-controlled)

Typical examples: NanoPi R2S / R4S: extremely low power consumption, compact size, and cost-effective dual Ethernet ports.
Note: Some complex plugins only provide x86 compiled packages; ARM has slightly lower expandability, but it is fully adequate for basic routing + proxy usage.

3. Flashable wired routers (choose carefully)

Before flashing, you can first check OpenWrt official supported device list。
Drawbacks: Flashing is high-threshold, Flash flash space is small, and it's easy to brick the device with a wrong flash. Not recommended as a first soft router for beginners.

3. Choosing firmware: ImmortalWrt / OpenWrt

Here we more recommend ImmortalWrt(China-optimized branch based on OpenWrt): retains a clean base while the official software source comes with abundant commonly used plugins and mirror acceleration, making maintenance more hassle-free.

🔗 Official Firmware Generator/Downloader: firmware-selector.immortalwrt.org

⚙️ Firmware Parameters and Format Selection Guide:

System File Format:
- squashfs(Recommended): Supports “ factory reset ” (simply erase the overlay partition in the background to reset).
- ext4: Traditional file system, easy to read, write, and expand, but does not include one-click factory reset.
Motherboard boot mode: For newer x86 motherboards, prioritize versions with efi in the name; for older motherboards, choose legacy / bios。

IV. Flashing: Write the firmware to a USB drive / SD card

🛠 Common flashing and maintenance tools:

Rufus (Win) | Balena Etcher (Win/Mac) | DiskGenius | WePE Toolbox

🚀 Detailed flashing steps (using Rufus / Etcher as an example):

Download the firmware image archive suitable for your device (usually extract it or select directly .img / .img.gz the file).
Insert the prepared USB flash drive or card reader into your computer and open the disk-writing software.
Correctly select the target USB drive letter ➔ choose the downloaded firmware image ➔ click 「Start / Flash!」。
Wait for the write to complete, remove the USB drive, insert it into the soft router, and boot.

⚠️ Warning: The disk-writing operation will completely erase all data on the target USB drive/SD card. Please be sure to verify the target drive letter and back up important files first!

V. First Boot and Cabling: Accessing the Admin Panel

Step 1: Physical Cabling

Insert the USB drive/SD card with the written system into the soft router, then power it on. Use an Ethernet cable to directly connect the computer's network port ➔ to the soft router's LAN port。

Step 2: Check the computer's IP address

Set the computer's network adapter to “ obtain automatically IP (DHCP)”. Under normal circumstances it will receive 192.168.1.x network segment. If it receives 169.254.x.xinstead, it means the wrong WAN port was plugged in; switch to another physical network port and try again (common hardware defaults: eth0=LAN, eth1=WAN).

Step 3: Log in to the LuCI console

Open a browser and visit http://192.168.1.1 to log in to the LuCI backend. The default username is rootand the default password is blank (or root). After logging in please set a strong password immediately。

VI. Basic Network Configuration (LuCI GUI)

1. Clean up and temporarily disable IPv6 (recommended to keep it off initially)

Go to Network ➔ Interfaces, delete WAN6 interfaces; edit br-lanand disable all DHCPv6/RA router advertisements. In Advanced Settings check “ filter IPv6 DNS resolution”(to prevent routing leaks caused by IPv6 when using proxy services later).

2. Change the LAN port network segment (to avoid IP conflicts)

If the upstream ONU's network segment is 192.168.1.1it is recommended to change the soft router's LAN IP to 192.168.2.1save and apply, then log back in to LuCI using the new gateway address.

3. Configure the WAN port Internet access method

• ONU routing mode: Keep the WAN protocol as DHCP client, automatically obtaining IP from the ONU (this results in double NAT).
• ONU bridge mode (recommended): Change the WAN protocol to PPPoE dial-up enter the broadband account and password, and let the soft router directly obtain a public IP, forming a single “ NAT” which is beneficial for port forwarding and gaming experience.

4. Bridge multiple network ports to expand the switch

Go to Network ➔ Devices, click br-lan Configure it by checking all idle physical Ethernet ports except WAN and adding them to the bridge group, and it will become a wired switch.

VII. Complete Wireless Wi-Fi: Turn Your Old Router into a Wired AP

Most soft routers don't come with a Wi-Fi chip, so don't throw away your old retired hard router at home—convert it into a ** pure AP mode ** to transmit Wi-Fi:

• If the old router supports “ AP mode / wired relay ”: Go directly to the wizard and switch to AP mode, then use an Ethernet cable to connect the soft router LAN ➔ to the old router WAN/LAN port.
• If the old router doesn't support it: Log into the old router's admin panel Disable the DHCP service, manually change the management IP to a static IP within the soft router's subnet (e.g. 192.168.2.191), then connect with an Ethernet cable soft router LAN ➔ old router LAN port。
👉 Result: All devices connected to the old router Wi-Fi will automatically receive IP assigned by the soft router and route through the soft router's proxy and traffic splitting!

VIII. Core Application: Install the Full Suite of Proxy Plugins

1. Update Software Sources

Go to "System" ➔ "Software Packages", and click "Update List" to ensure a successful connection with no errors.

2. Essential Management Trio

luci-theme-argon: An extremely beautiful and modern themed dashboard.
luci-app-ttyd: A web-based terminal tool, convenient for running commands without SSH.

3. Common Proxy Plugins (choose one to run):

🔹 Passwall (luci-app-passwall)： A classic veteran, supports node subscription and multiple protocols, simple setup, just flip the main switch and it's ready to use.

🔹 HomeProxy (luci-app-homeproxy)： Based on the Sing-box core, lightweight and efficient with intuitive configuration.

🔹 OpenClash (luci-app-openclash)： A powerful Clash interface that requires downloading the core first. If direct download is slow, switch to the CDN mirror source in the panel settings.

⚠️ Important: Only one proxy plugin can be enabled at a time to prevent port and TUN virtual network card conflicts! If dependency errors appear, reboot the router and try updating again.

IX. Quick Troubleshooting for Common Pitfalls

❓ Can't connect to LuCI admin panel?

Confirm the computer has obtained the correct DHCP IP; if obtained 169.254.x.x indicates the wrong network port was used; switch to another port or reset the network adapter.

❓ external network not working?

Check whether the WAN protocol (PPPoE password or DHCP) is correct, and confirm whether the soft router LAN port IP conflicts with the ONU network segment.

❓ proxy node unable to bypass the firewall or slow?

Check if multiple proxy plugins are enabled simultaneously; check whether the node subscription has expired; check whether IPv6 was not turned off, causing DNS leakage.

📝 one-page quick recap

1. Pick a device (preferably a x86 dual-NIC mini PC or NanoPi R2S/R4S)
2. Download the corresponding firmware from the official website (efi + squashfs）
3. Use Rufus / Etcher to burn the image to a USB drive / /SD card
4. Connect computer to soft router LAN ➔ and log in 192.168.1.1 ➔ set a strong password
5. Turn off IPv6 ➔ and change LAN network segment (e.g. 192.168.2.1) ➔ configure WAN internet access method
6. Convert old router to AP (turn off DHCP ➔, set static IP ➔, connect network cable to LAN)
7. Update software sources ➔ install Passwall/HomeProxy/OpenClash ➔ import subscription ➔ whole family sails out seamlessly!