Mikrotik Router Basic Configuration Using Winbox

MikroTik is one of the most popular routers. MikroTik Router has a lot of networking services that help to build a stable and smooth network so easily. It is said that any ISP Company or any Enterprise Office cannot go a single day without MikroTik Router. So, system administrators who are not using MikroTik Router yet, they will soon start using MikroTik Router, I think. As a system administrator, I am also using MikroTik Router about 5 years in my network and really I have got a very stable and smooth network. MikroTik Router is mainly famous for bandwidth control service and packet filtering functionalities as well as cheap price. MikroTik Router is also favorite to any system administrator because of having graphical user interface (GUI) software named Winbox which helps to manage MikroTik Router so easily. As the usage of MikroTik Router is growing rapidly, this article is designed to show the basic configuration of a MikroTik Router from very beginning using Winbox software so that a new MikroTik Router user can easily configure his/her router from very starting and can operate his network smoothly.

Prerequisites to Configure a MikroTik Router

Before going to start basic configuration of a MikroTik Router you should have below the information.

  1. Basic knowledge on IP Addressing.
  2. A MikroTik RouterBoard or MikroTik RouterOS installed on a PC.
  3. Winbox Software.
  4. PC with windows operating system installed and RJ45 cables.

If you have the above requirements properly, you are now ready to start MikroTik router basic configuration. The rest of this article will show the step by step guide to configure a MikroTik Router from very beginning.

4 Easy Steps to Configure a MikroTik Router

MikroTik Router basic configuration includes assigning IP addresses, configuring default gateway and enabling NAT for accessing internet. MikroTik Router basic configuration can be divided into 4 steps.

  1. Assigning WAN and LAN IP addresses
  2. Gateway configuration
  3. NAT configuration and
  4. DNS configuration

Among the above 4 steps, first three steps are mandatory for accessing internet trough your MikroTik router and step 4 is optional but it must be done for proper MikroTik Router configuration.

To configure a MikroTik Router properly according to the above 4 steps, I am using the following information and a simple office network diagram where three users are connected to MikroTik Router through a network switch and the first interface of the router is connected to internet for accessing internet information.

  1. MikroTik RouterBoard 1100 AHX2
  2. WAN IP: 172.22.3.99/25 (ISP provided)
  3. Gateway: 172.22.3.1 (ISP provided)
  4. Public DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
  5. LAN IP Network: 192.168.10.0/24 (Private IP block chosen by me)
Simple Office Network
Simple Office Network

According to our simple office network diagram, first interface (ether1 port) is connected to ISP internet and this interface is our WAN port. We will set our WAN IP (provided by ISP) in this interface. Second interface (ether2 port) is our LAN interface and we will set our LAN Gateway in this interface. The users of this network will be connected to MikroTik Router trough a switch for accessing internet. In practical, your network will not be so simple like this network diagram. You may have to maintain a large network where there may have hundred or thousand of users. But the basic configuration is same for all networks. However, we will now start our MikroTik Router basic configuration according to the above 4 steps and following our simple office network diagram.

Step 1: Assigning WAN and LAN IP Addresses

The first step to configure a MikroTik Router is to assign WAN and LAN IP addresses in WAN and LAN interface accordingly. The following steps will show how to assign WAN and LAN IP addresses in a new MikroTik Router.

  • Download Winbox or collect Winbox  from any source.
  • Connect your PC with MikroTik Router by a RJ45 cable.
  • Open winbox software in your operating system and click on Neighbors tab. Connected Ethernet’s MAC will appear in this tab. If you don’t find MAC Address, click on Refresh button. MAC address will appear soon. Click on the appeared MAC address and selected MAC address will be appeared in Connect To input box.
  • MikroTik Router default username is admin and password is blank. So, type admin in the login input box and password field left blank and then click on Connect button. MikroTik graphical user interface (GUI) will appear now.
  • Now click on Remove Configuration button if prompted or from Winbox go to System > Reset Configuration and click No Default Configuration and then click on Reset Configuration button to reset RouterOS. Router will be rebooted and login again and then you will find a zero configuration RouterOS.
  • Go to IP > Addresses menu item. Address List window will appear now. Click on PLUS SIGN (+). New Address window will appear. Put your WAN IP address (In this article: 172.22.3.99/25) which is provided by your ISP in Address input box and then select WAN interface (in this article: ether1) from the Interface drop-down menu and click Apply and then OK button.
  • Click PLUS SIGN (+) again and put LAN Gateway IP address (in this article: 192.168.10.1/24) in Address input box and choose LAN interface (in this article: ether2) from Interface drop-down menu and click Apply and OK button.
Assigning WAN and LAN IP Addresses
Assigning WAN and LAN IP Addresses

Assigning WAN and LAN IP addresses has been completed. We will assign MikroTik gateway which is provided by ISP so that MikroTik Router can communicate to internet through this gateway.

Step 2: Gateway Configuration

After completing WAN and LAN IP setup, we will now assign MikroTik default gateway which is provided by ISP. The following steps will show how to assign default gateway in MikroTik Router.

  • From Winbox, go to IP > Routes menu item. Route List window will appear now. You can see two dynamic routes are already added in this Route List. Click on PLUS SIGN (+). New Route window will appear. Now put gateway address (in this article: 172.22.3.1) which is provided by your ISP in Gateway input field.
  • Now click Apply and OK button.
Assigning Default Gateway IP
Assigning Default Gateway IP

MikroTik default gateway configuration has been completed. Now we will create NAT rule so that MikroTik Router can masquerade our LAN user IP to access internet.

Step 3: NAT Configuration

After completing gateway configuration, you have to create a NAT firewall rule to masquerade LAN IPs. Otherwise, LAN user cannot access internet through MikroTik Router. The following steps will show how to create masquerade firewall rule in MikroTik Router.

  • Go to IP > Firewall menu item and click on NAT tab and then click on PLUS SIGN (+) button. New NAT Rule window will appear.
  • From General tab, choose srcnat from Chain drop down menu and put LAN IP Block (in this article: 192.168.10.0/24) in Src. Address input box.
  • From Action tab, choose masquerade from Action drop down menu and then click Apply and OK button.
NAT Configuration in MikroTik RouterOS
NAT Configuration in MikroTik RouterOS

NAT configuration in MikroTik Router has been completed. if you do not create this NAT rule, your LAN user cannot access internet through MikroTik Router.

Three mandatory steps for configuring a new MikroTik RouterOS to access internet has been completed. LAN users are now able to access internet through Mikrotik Router if they use custom DNS server IP. But we will now configure DNS in MikroTik Router so that it can resolve DNS request as well as it can work as a DNS server.

Step 4: MikroTik DNS Configuration

After completing three mandatory configuration, we need to configure DNS in MikroTik Router so that it can resolve DNS request from the LAN user as well as itself. The following steps will show how to configure DNS in MikroTik RouterOS.

  • Go to IP > DNS menu item. DNS Settings window will appear. In this window, put DNS server address that you have got from ISP company or you can put Google public DNS IP (8.8.8.8) in Servers input box. You can put secondary DNS server IP by clicking add new value button (drop down button) located after the Servers input box. Optionally, you can turn MikroTik router as a DNS server. Turning MikroTik router as a DNS server is a better idea, I think. Because if you use public DNS server in your network, every DNS request of your user will consume your paid bandwidth. But if you turn MikroTik router as a DNS sever, your user will get DNS solution from MikroTik Router without consuming paid bandwidth. So, if you want to turn MikroTik into a DNS server, click the Allow Remote Requests check box and click Apply and OK button.
  • If you turn MikroTik Router into a DNS server, all MikroTik IP addresses can be used as a DNS server IP including WAN IP which is a public IP and problem will arise here. If anyone outside of your LAN use WAN IP as a DNS IP, your MikroTik will be happy by serving him/her DNS solution consuming your paid bandwidth. So, you must stop DNS request from outside of your LAN. For stopping DNS request from outside of your LAN, you should apply firewall rules which will drop all DNS requests coming from your WAN interface (in this article: ether1). For this, go to IP > Firewall menu item and click on Filter Rules tab and then click on PLUS SIGN (+). New Firewall Rule window will appear. From General tab, choose input from Chain drop down menu, choose udp from Protocol drop down menu, Put Dst. Port 53 and choose ether1 from In. Interface drop down menu. Now click on Action tab and choose drop from Action drop menu and then click Apply and OK button. You must create another similar rule for TCP connection. For this, click on PLUS SIGN (+) again and choose tcp from Protocol drop down menu, Put Dst. Port 53 and choose ether1 from In. Interface drop down menu and then click on Action tab and choose drop from Action drop menu and click Apply and OK button. Now your MikroTik DNS server is safe from outside of your LAN.
DNS Configuration in MikroTik Router
DNS Configuration in MikroTik Router

DNS configuration in your MikroTik Router has been completed. Now your MikroTik Router is able to resolve DNS request for the LAN user as well as itself.

MikroTik Router is now completely ready if you follow the above 4 steps properly. Connect a switch to MikroTik LAN interface with RJ45 cable and connect all PCs to this switch. Also connect ISP cable to WAN interface. Now assign IP to all your LAN PC according to your LAN IP network series. If you face any problem to set IP address in windows PC, follow my another article about how to assign static IP address in windows operating system which will guide you the proper way to assign IP address in any windows PC. Now browse any website or ping google.com from your LAN PC. If your ISP is OK, you will now be able to browse any website successfully.

You should follow the above 4 steps so carefully to configure your new MikroTik Router successfully. If you miss any step, your configuration will be wrong and your LAN users will not be able to access internet through MikroTik Router. If you face any confusion to do the above 4 steps, watch the following video tutorial on MikroTik Router Basic Configuration using Winbox. I hope, it will help you enough to configure new MikroTik Router.

MikroTik Router basic configuration is not so enough to maintain a real network. If you need to maintain an office network, it will be better to use MikroTik DHCP Server. Managing DHCP Server with Radius Server will provide you more faster and smart solution.

Again, if you want to maintain an ISP network, MikroTik PPPoE Server is a better solution. MikroTik PPPoE Server with Radius Server will provide you a prepaid billing system also.

If you plan to maintain a Hotel, Airport, Railway, Restaurant network or any ISP network with WiFi solution, MikroTik Hotspot Server is your best friend. Using Radius Server with Hotspot, you can manage Bandwidth with Prepaid Billing System as well as Data Limit with Prepaid Billing System.

In addition, if you find bandwidth management solution with MikroTik Router, MikroTik Bandwidth Management with Simple Queue will be enough helpful. But it will be better to Manage ISP Bandwidth with MikroTik PCQ.

Sometimes, you may need load balancing and link redundancy solution. Then, go through MikroTik Load Balancing and Link Redundancy with ECMP.

MikroTik Router Basic Configuration has been explained step by step in this article. I hope, you will now be able to configure a new MikroTik Router successfully from very beginning. However, if you face any confusion to configure your MikroTik Router, feel free to discuss in comment or contact with me from Contact page. I will try my best to stay with you.

Why not a Cup of COFFEE if the solution?

mikrotik-router-basic-configuration-using-winbox

ABU SAYEED

I am a system administrator and like to share knowledge that I am learning from my daily experience. I usually work on MikroTik, Redhat/CentOS Linux, Windows Server, physical server and storage, virtual technology and other system related topics. Follow Me: Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

Your name can also be listed here. Have an IT topic? Submit it here to become a System Zone author.

85 comments

  • Avatar for EDElSON MACUNE EDElSON MACUNE

    I’ve liked the explanation, but I got a problem with my DHCP it is not distributing the ip’s into my network.

    I need your help, please!

  • Avatar for Hosting Fever Hosting Fever

    Hii..I want to configure Router to use to different WAN connections from different ISP and route half traffic to both. Is this possible with Mikrotik Router ?? If yes, how ??

  • Avatar for joseph sayeed joseph sayeed

    Bro how can I setup an hotspot on my mikrotik router Rb2011

    • As far I know, your router support hotspot. Bro, do Google for hotspot configuration or wait until I prepare an article about hotspot configuration. Thanks.

  • Avatar for Jay Navea Jay Navea

    Whenever I reach your firewall step, winbox disconnects and would just DC again after few seconds if I reconnect. I had the router manually reset several times and start from scratch then it just happens again on firewall step.

    • You should connect your PC and MikroTik router with RJ45 cable and disconnect other networking device. If more than one router or winbox is open in your network, sometimes it might happen.

  • Avatar for Hamid Ahmad Hamid Ahmad

    I want to learn mikrotik

  • Avatar for Makara Makara

    I really like you video tutorials.
    I have a wonder for basic mikrotik configuration.
    The first step is to put WAN IP address from ISP and then we put our LAN network address or LAN default gateway?
    Because in your topic of basic configuration you put LAN Gateway address: 192.168.10.1/24 but in the topic PPPOe configuration you put LAN network address: 172.16.0.0/24.
    Can you confirm about that?

    Thanks in advance,

  • Avatar for James James

    Hi Sir,

    Thank you for the guide. I’m new in this product. Do you have an article on how to configure the firewall? I would like to know on how to block/allow certain websites.

  • Avatar for Sapanda Sapanda

    I have a question. This DNS server firewall, that will make your router not to be used as dns request for outisde connections. where excactly will someone place the firewall where you blocked/dropped tcp and udp ports. Will the firewall command come before other firewall rules or after all other firewall rules. I have hotspot running on my lan. How do I go about it.

    Thanks

    • Hi Sapanda,
      This firewall rule only block 53 port tcp or udp request that is coming from your public users. Also the public interface (ether1) has been selected. So, your LAN user will not be affected by this rule because this rule will be applied only those requests which are coming public interface (ether1). You don’t need ordering the firewall rule. You can place this rule any position in your firewall window.

  • Avatar for Jim Jim

    Pls help!!!!!!
    I’ve struggle to force all user traffic through Yandex DNS numbers. Even afer adjusting primary and secondary dns as well as the NAT & Firewall, of my RB950g Mikrotik router, I am still getting no filtering. What exactly may be wrong? I have spent 3 months trying out everything on google, including video tutorials.

    Can I simply mail my mikrotik config bckp file to you to check? My office insists I solve the problem and get the internet filtered off inappropriate contents.

    • Hi Jim,
      Thanks for visiting my web site. It will be better if you mail me your requirements elaborately. Now I am giving you some points about your problem.
      1. DNS is just used for resolving domain name. If you want to force all your user will get DNS solution from a specific DNS server, you should use DHCP server to assign DNS IP dynamically to a client. However, if any user manually put DNS IP, he/she will not get DNS solution from your server.
      2. If you want to filter any unwanted content, you should use firewall rule with Layer7 Protocol.
      3. Why do you want to force all your user to use Yanddex DNS? is it beneficial for you?

  • Avatar for Mukul Mukul

    Dear,

    I wants to configure my Mikrotik 450 Router to use to different WAN connections from different ISP . One ISP-IP for Browsing and other ISP-IP for Youtube. how i configure my router with bandwidth control for LAN.

    Thanks,

    Mukul

    • You have to apply PBR(Policy Based Routing) for youtube. Create a prerouting mangle rule to mark connection for youtube and then create routing for this connection to your desired ISP. Browsing ISP configuration will be normal basic configuration. Check my tutorial to create PBR in MikroTik router.

      • Avatar for Mukul Mukul

        Dear,

        Thanks for your reply. i want to know , example- i took one ip from ISP 5Mbps for browsing and other ip from ISP 30 Mbps for youtube. PBR is 1Mb, 2Mb, 3Mb, 5Mb etc. 1Mb/2Mb/3Mb/5Mb is 128/256/384/640kb for browsing and 872/1744/2616/4360kb for youtube. How i configure the router?

        Thanks,

        Mukul

  • Avatar for Zaxus Nacua Zaxus Nacua

    Greetings!
    sir i was wondering about the mikrotik OS. do i need to install it in every pc its connected to mikrotik or just the pc you are going to use to config the mikrotik?
    you are such a good man sir for sharing this knowledge, practically it may cost me if i would approach someone that could do this, i also wondering if you are an indian sir? Indians really are awesome people, whenever i need help for my school works, indian tutorials in youtube and sites really present always to teach me. ty sir. i would really like to learn more from you sir!

    • Hi Nacua,
      Thanks for visiting my website. You are always welcome to learn from mine and my website. Bro, you don’t need to install Mikrotik OS in every PC but only the which you want to turn into Mikrotik router. If you face any problem about Mikrotik router, don’t be heisted to knock me.

  • Avatar for Srikanth Srikanth

    Hi sayeed,

    while configuring the wan the ip which we give is private or public ip..

    Please revert

    Thanks

    S.Srikanth

    • Normally the WAN IP is provided by your ISP and they will give you public IP. Your ISP provided IP have to be assigned on WAN interface and it can be public or private depended on your ISP policy.

  • Avatar for Faheem Faheem

    Thanks it was great to learn more on mikrotek … i require one help … plz elaborate it how i can do it . I have a mikrotek router board and isp have provided me one Wan IP with 252 subnet like this 111.XXX.XXX.10 , SUbnet : 255.255.255.252 Gateway : 111.XXX.XXX.11 and Lan IP as 111..xxx.xxx.30/29 so i shall be able to have 6 Ips as lan ips . Now i require these Lan Ips to be public IPs as the person which will connect from my mikrotek router requires public ip and ISP have provided me 111..xxx.xxx.30/29 as public ip pool . Please give the setp by setp configuration of configuring this ip pool as public ip in the lan segement of the router so that person have a public ip on his pc and publically ping able .
    Thanks in Advance
    Faheem

    • Hi Faheem,
      Thanks for visiting my website. Your network is too small to make subnet. Without subnetting you cannot use your ISP subnet as your LAN network. If you want, you can provide them direct connection as like you have connected your mikrotik router. Another suggestion, you can increase your subnet from ISP and then make subnet to use as your LAN network.

  • Avatar for Crawley Obara Crawley Obara

    You are awesome. So I have been using Mikrotik for a while but about two weeks ago something broke. My access points all have ip 0.0.0.0 and I cannot winbox into them. I have tried everything including MAC, Telnet, TelMac etc. Nothing seems to work. I could reset the APs but they are too high up and cannot touch the reset button. Is there a way of reseting them to default without touching the AP?

  • Avatar for atiq atiq

    Your are Awesome and your lectures are helpful for me .i have a querry .. i want to block my https sites like facebook ,youtube through mikrotik ,please help me in this issue .

  • Avatar for docaustyne docaustyne

    I configured my mikrotik and had issues, my ISP gives me 10MB, but browsing through my Mikrotik, i can only access 2-3MB max, speed test directly to my ISP shows 9.8MB download and upload but through the Mikrotik, I only get 3MB download and 7.9MB upload. what settings did I miss? Need help

    Thanks

  • Avatar for docaustyne docaustyne

    RouterBoard 1100 (1100Hx2) and 1100AHx2, that is the model of my mikrotik. I just sent you a skype request @docaustyne

    thanks

  • Avatar for Dipu Dipu

    hi, i am new in my office…. I am the IT Officer in here.. I cannot use wifi in my mobile…. it shows connected but no internet…. I know the password correctly ….. but…….???????? pls help

  • Avatar for enoch adablah enoch adablah

    I love your training. Keep it up sir Sayeed Abu. God bless you

  • Avatar for Suresh Suresh

    Hi Md. Abu Sayeed,

    I visit your website and YouTube, I have subscribe you channel, and I am very impress,

    Recently I joined my office as system administrator and here I see MikroTik Router RB49AH, and I am not having any knowledge of MikroTik Router hence please suggest me which your article/video I have to read/watch step by step, and how can I contact for any help.

    Thank & Regard
    Suresh

  • Avatar for Ganesh Ganesh

    Hi Sayeed,

    is it possible to have two different VPN configuration on the same Mikrotik, because I have a situation where already VPN is configured and want to configure another VPN for another?

  • Mikrotik RB941-2nD-TC hAP Lite SOHO Router
    Can I ask you a question sir this router is good for the gaming online?? For 5 computer??
    And it easy to config?
    I don’t have idea how to config..

    Plz answer sir.. Thanks

  • Avatar for Grace Grace

    please how can i configure a port on the mikrotik router as a WAN interface

  • Avatar for Adedayo Adedayo

    Hi,

    Thanks so much for this wonderful article. I followed your instruction on my new mikrotik router. It worked perfectly well except that i can only connect to internet if i enter a static IP and DNS.

    I will like to know how to allow my users to connect to the internet with dynamic IP(assigns IP automatically).

    Thanks

  • Avatar for Juri Juri

    Hey Sayeed,
    this is exactly what i’ve been looking for. awesome guide. mikrotik is not very intuitive in manuals. i’m glad to found this site. thank you very much, and keep the good work on. regards

  • Hi Sayeed, thank you for such easy to follow tutorial. I just bought a 1100AHx4 today and hope to configure it to certain need. I’ll likely need to contact you for more complex setups like load balancing, mangle rules, queues, packet markers, multiple dns servers etc. assuming I can first complete the basic configuration described here. I got your Skype id from one of your reply above, please accept my request from saidul-hassan. Better yet could you share your email address so I could email you details of my setup need. Thank you!

  • Avatar for Jess A. Gorres Jr. Jess A. Gorres Jr.

    Gud pm sir, would you please help me how to limit downloads any extention files using mikrotik router. I’ve seen many videos about limiting downloads but i have no clear views about this.

    Thanks in advance!!!!!

  • after following all the step 1 to 4 configuration, the wan interface is transmitting and receiving in kbps while am on 20mbps ….pls help

  • Avatar for Lutalo Andrew Lutalo Andrew

    Yes sayeed my name is Andrew I’m not that new to mikrotik but I have a challenge I wanted to configure my Grove as accesspoint getting the dhcp from my to Link… But have failed some way some how

  • Avatar for Bill Bill

    I recently bought a Mikrotik Model # RB2011UIAS-IN

    I set it up like you said and double checked it
    still not getting any internet.

    when i try and ping google.com
    it comes back and says cannot get answer from dns servers

    on my routes page it says wan reachable, lan reachable

    any ideas? thanks

    Bill

    • First check whether your gateway is accessible form your router. Then check IP > DNS is set properly. If this two options are OK, there is no reason to get internet.

  • Avatar for MichaelG MichaelG

    Can you assist in setting up VPN.

  • Avatar for benard benard

    hi sir thanks for your article, its simple ,well elaborated and easy to be understood by any new starter in the field. keep up brother.

  • Sir can we use MikroTrik router with OTP for guest WiFi. I am looking OTP WiFi solution for my Parlour please share the solution if you can help.
    Thanks

    • You can manage user and password with time base using mikrotik hotspot. If you use hotspot with radius server, you can apply more control.

  • Avatar for Methun Methun

    Thanks for your video.that is helpful for us.but pls give your another tutorial where i get address blocking..

  • Avatar for Ahmad walid Ahmad walid

    Thank you so much for the video ,
    where should i found the DHCP configuration on Mikrotik router, if you already did it, please let me have the links,

  • Avatar for Ahmad walid Ahmad walid

    Thank you so much for the video ,
    where should i found the DHCP configuration on Mikrotik router, if you already did it, please let me have the links,

    thanks

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