How to install Tomato on Asus RT-AC66U router
We recently upgraded our internet to fibre (fibre to the cabinet) and we thought it was about time to upgrade our faithful Linksys WRT54G. As you probably already know, the WRT54G was one of the most popular router that allowed alternative firmware such as OpenWrt, DD-Wrt, Tomato and others to be installed on it.
The technology has seen moved on and we can now get faster routers with better WiFi speed and better security with newer routers. We decided to buy an Asus RT-AC66U. This is far from being a “new” router but it fits our purpose.
We ordered one from one of the major computer part suppliers and it arrived a couple of days later.
The Asus default firmware is OK, not great and does not give us the flexiblity we need such as OpenVPN. So we decided to install Tomato on it. There are different Tomato distribution out there but most of them are outdated. Shibby is a very polish guy who dedicate his spare time writing good Tomato distribution for various router.
Here is a tutorial on how we installed Tomato from Shibby on our router.
Download the ASUS RT-AC66U Firmware Restoration
- Navigate to: http://www.asus.com/Networking/RTAC66U/HelpDesk_Download/
- Download the Restoration software and install it.
Download Shibby RT-AC66U firmware:
- Navigate to: http://tomato.groov.pl/download/K26RT-AC/
- Locate the latest build, in our case it was 136-EN.
- Download the file for the AC66U. Either the VPN only version or the AIO (all in one)
Flashing the Router
- Open the Asus Firmware restoration software
- Select the Tomato firmware you recently downloaded.
- Power Off the router.
- Connect an Ethernet cable between LAN port 1 and your PC.
- While holding down the Reset button on the router and power On the router
- Keep holding the reset button until the power led starts to blink. When the power led starts blinking, release the reset button.
- Click Upload on the Asus firmware recovery software and wait for the process to finish.
- The router will reboot after the upgrade. In some cases, you may need to reboot it yourself manually.
That’s it. You have now successfully installed Tomato on your Asus router. 🙂
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behindthesciences
We are two engineers who work in the Electronic and Telecommunication industry. We regularly blog in our spare time.
Hey, does the updated Tomato firmware support TR-69 administration?
I like to experiment with such stuffs.
A sad fact that the default ASUS firmware doesn’t support either SNMP or TR-69!
I believe that Tomato does.
I just purchased a Asus RT-N53 and I would like to know which would be the best to use as I desire to have VPN capability.
tomato-K26-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-140-Max
tomato-K26-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-140-Mini
tomato-K26-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-140-MiniVPN
tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-140-AIO
I will also be going through the forums to research what I would like to do.
The miniVPN will have OpenVPN capability but it’s a cut-down version that has some other features removed. The AIO has everything you need and the Asus RT-N53 has enough space for it.
Hope this helps.
Hi, could you do us a favor?
we have moved to the last step according to your instructions, but we can not log on our router, after at least 10 mins waiting.
is there any video how to flash tomato on asus rt-ac66u? we have checked in youtube too, also fail at the last step.
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Power Off the router.
Connect an Ethernet cable between LAN port 1 and your PC.
While holding down the Reset button on the router and power On the router
Keep holding the reset button until the power led starts to blink. When the power led starts blinking, release the reset button.
Click Upload on the Asus firmware recovery software and wait for the process to finish.
The router will reboot after the upgrade. In some cases, you may need to reboot it yourself manually.
The steps are pretty straightforward. Provided that you have pick the correct firmware for your router, it should boot. 10 mins waiting suggest that it was not flash properly. Try flashing it again.
I have had the same issue not being able to login to the router after the flashing. done it several times. when I flash the router with its original firmware, everything works fine.
Hi there,
Once flashed, with the router connected to your PC via LAN, can you check what the Default Gateway is for your connection?