WRT Settings

I am a big fan of WRT routers. Through passage of time I moved from DD-WRT and Tomato to newest AsusWRT and Merlin’s version of the same. While I have different favorite features for each of those firmwares, I was always annoyed by their settings management. You can backup and restore configuration and that is pretty much it.

What WRT Settings allows is to view (and edit) NVRAM configuration files for AsusWRT (including Merlin’s variant), Tomato and DD-WRT. You can even save them as text which allows you to compare and merge different configurations. Comes in especially handy when you want to share settings between two routers without overwriting router-specific variables (e.g., MAC addresses).

Conversion of NVRAM settings between different firmwares is also possible. While I don’t recommend using it blindly, it can help you not start from scratch if upgrade your router to newer model or you move between firmwares (e.g., Asuswrt to Tomato).

Be warned that changing nvram is inherently RISKY. Do it at YOUR OWN risk. If you are not sure whether this utility can help you, it probably cannot. If you go too far, you can brick your router (especially if touch processor/memory frequency).

Supported firmwares include AsusWRT (AC56U, AC66U, AC68U), Tomato and DD-WRT. In addition to those export/import of text files is possible to make merging easier.

FAQ

I get the error: "Cannot save file! Data format requires hardware type to be defined (.HarwareType) when saving as Tomato.

This happens if you are trying to convert settings from other firmware to Tomato format as this additional parameter is not specified elsewhere. But there is an easy way to get that one. Install Tomato on a router and do backup of the initial settings. When you open it in the WRT Settings, you will notice it has a field named .HardwareType. Remember the value it has.

Reopen the original CFG file and (after removing read-only on toolbar) add .HardwareType field at the bottom with the number obtained from Tomato defaults. Now you will be able to save it in Tomato format.

PS: Do make backups of settings before - switching between firmware families can be tricky and backup will help if something goes wrong.