NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

Interface: Settings Part 2

The traditional settings functions are found under the Advanced Settings menu point. There are quite a few, so I’ve split them into two pages. This is the second of them with the administration, USB storage, and advanced settings.

Administration

We’re a good way through the general settings now and the next set is a small one, the administration settings. Here, we can change our password, check and update the firmware, backup and restore all our settings, and reboot the device.

USB Storage

With two high-speed USB 3.0 ports, media server functions are a huge bonus. Use those external storage drives for your media files and share them over the network without the need for a dedicated NAS or system running. With DLNA, Tivo and iTunes support, most users should be covered.

There’s also a great access rights settings, allowing you to allow or block various connection methods individually. Of course, this doesn’t rival a NAS’ feature list, but it doesn’t need to.

ReadyShare lets you use connected storage drives as backup targets for your PCs. This page is more of a how-to with download links and doesn’t contain settings as such.

You can completely disable the use of USB devices too, or just allow specific devices.

Limit it to your own USB storage devices and prevent anyone from connecting their own drives which might contain harmful files.

Advanced Settings

The last group of settings is another large one, the advanced settings. Control your wireless radios, add scheduling to them, and control the transmission power. Those ar ejust some of the functions you’ll find here.

Port forwarding and triggers are needed in any router, and of course, they’re present in the NETGEAR XR500. I couldn’t do without as i run various servers and services that need to be forwarded to the correct systems. And I’m far from the only one with such setups.

Dynamic DNS, or DDNS, is supported in the form of NETGEARs own and No-IP. With DDNS, you don’t need to have a static IP address or domain forwaded to your internet connection to gain easy access from a remote location.

VPN is supported in server and client form. If you’re using a VPN, you’ll know all about this already. If not, then you won’t need these page.

Static routes can also be added to the network configuration.

Remote management is rarely needed and you shouldn’t turn this feature on unless you need it. However, it’s great to have when it is needed, especially when you need help troubleshooting from an outside source.

UPnP can save you from having to do a lot of configuration yourself. If your devices support UPnP too, then they can tell the router themselves what to do.

IPv6 is also supported by the XR500, naturally.

VLANs are the second last page in the settings, wo we’re almost done.

Last but not least, you get some control over the LEDs. You can turn all LEDs off and also just disable blinking of them. Well, all but the power LED. This is a pure software function, there’s also the hardware button on the rear of the router.