How to set up a TP-Link router as an access point?

Setting up a TP-Link router as an access point means disabling its routing functions and using it purely to broadcast Wi-Fi, while your main router (or ISP-provided modem) continues handling the internet connection. You do this when you already have a working router and want to extend Wi-Fi coverage to another part of your home using a spare TP-Link router, instead of buying a dedicated extender.

Here's the core idea before the steps: two routers on the same network can't both act as the DHCP server (the thing that assigns IP addresses to devices) without causing conflicts. Access point mode turns off your second router's DHCP and routing functions, so it just relays the Wi-Fi signal while your primary router keeps managing the network. This is different from using a router as a Wi-Fi extender or repeater, which rebroadcasts a weaker version of the existing signal. Access point mode requires a wired Ethernet connection between the two routers, but delivers full-strength Wi-Fi at the second location instead of a diminished repeated signal.

When access point mode makes sense (and when it doesn't)

This setup works well if you can run an Ethernet cable between your main router and the spare TP-Link router, even if that means running it along a wall or under a door gap. If you have existing Ethernet wiring in your home, this is close to ideal. Coverage from the second unit will be as strong as coverage from your primary router, since it's not relaying a weakened signal the way a wireless repeater does.

It doesn't make sense if you can't run a cable at all. In that case, you're better off using TP-Link's OneMesh feature (if both routers support it) or a proper Wi-Fi extender, which works wirelessly at the cost of some speed loss.

Best for: homes with existing Ethernet wiring or where running a cable is feasible, users with a spare router gathering dust after an upgrade, anyone wanting full-strength Wi-Fi in a second location rather than a weaker repeated signal.
Not for: setups where running a cable is genuinely not possible. Use OneMesh or a wireless extender instead.

How to set up: 

Step 1: Check whether your router supports access point mode

Most modern TP-Link routers (Archer series, Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 models) support a built-in Access Point mode that you can switch to directly in settings, without manual configuration of DHCP and routing. Some older or budget models don't have this toggle and require manual setup instead.

To check, log into your spare router's admin panel (usually by typing 192.168.0.1 or tplinkwifi.net into a browser while connected to it, then entering the admin password set during original setup). Go to Advanced > Operation Mode, or on older interfaces, System Tools > Operation Mode. If you see an option labeled "Access Point" alongside "Router" or "WISP," your device supports the simplified setup in the next section. If there's no such option, skip to the manual method further down.

Step 2: The simplified method (built-in Access Point mode)

If your router has the Access Point mode toggle, this is straightforward:

Select Access Point mode and save. The router will typically reboot. After it restarts, it drops its role as a DHCP server and router, and instead just handles Wi-Fi broadcasting. Reconnect to the router's admin panel (the IP address may change since it will now pick up an address from your main router's DHCP pool, so check your main router's connected devices list, or the label on the spare router, to find its new address).

Set the SSID (Wi-Fi network name) and password. You can either use the same SSID and password as your main router, which lets devices roam between the two without manually reconnecting, or use a different SSID if you want to manually control which access point a device connects to. Using the same SSID works best if both routers support similar Wi-Fi standards. If your main router is Wi-Fi 6 and the spare is Wi-Fi 5, some devices may behave inconsistently when roaming between different standards under one SSID, so using separate SSIDs (like "Home-Main" and "Home-Ext") gives you more predictable control at the cost of some convenience.

Connect the spare router to your main router using an Ethernet cable, plugged into one of the spare router's LAN ports (not the WAN/Internet port, since access point mode doesn't use it). The other end goes into any LAN port on your main router.

That's it. The spare router now extends full-strength Wi-Fi to wherever it's physically placed, using your main router for actual internet routing and IP assignment.

Step 3: The manual method (for routers without built-in AP mode)

If your router doesn't have a dedicated Access Point mode, you can achieve the same result manually. This method works on virtually every TP-Link router regardless of age, but takes a few more steps.

Disable DHCP on the spare router. Log into its admin panel, go to Network > DHCP Server, and turn DHCP off. This is the critical step, since having two active DHCP servers on the same network causes IP address conflicts, devices randomly losing connection, or being assigned addresses that don't work correctly.

Change the spare router's IP address to avoid conflicting with your main router. If your main router's IP is 192.168.0.1, set the spare router to something like 192.168.0.2, under Network > LAN settings. This gives it a fixed address you can access later without hunting for it.

Set the SSID and password under Wireless settings, same as in the simplified method above.

Connect the two routers via Ethernet cable, LAN port to LAN port, exactly as described in Step 2. Do not use the spare router's WAN port for this connection, since that port only functions in routing mode and won't work correctly in this configuration.

Turn off the spare router's wireless routing features if the interface still shows router-specific options like NAT (Network Address Translation, the process that lets multiple devices share one internet connection) since these aren't needed when another device on the network is already handling that function. Not every TP-Link model exposes this as a separate toggle, so if you don't see it, the disabled DHCP setting is usually sufficient.

A mistake that causes most access point setup failures

The single most common error we see in support queries about this setup is connecting the Ethernet cable to the spare router's WAN/Internet port instead of a LAN port. It's an easy mistake because the WAN port is often visually distinct (different color) and people instinctively think "this connects to the network" without realizing that in access point mode, the WAN port is inactive. If your access point isn't broadcasting internet access after setup, this is the first thing to check.

The second most common issue is forgetting to disable DHCP, which causes intermittent connectivity across your entire network, not just on the access point. If devices connected to your main router start losing internet access after you set up the access point, check that DHCP is genuinely off on the spare unit.

Should you use the same password on both networks?

If you used the same SSID and password on both routers, most modern devices will automatically switch to whichever access point has the stronger signal as you move through your home. This is sometimes called seamless roaming, though it's worth being precise about what "seamless" means here: standard access point mode doesn't include the fast-roaming protocols (like 802.11k/v/r) that dedicated mesh systems use, so on some phones you might notice a brief pause of a second or two while switching, rather than a truly invisible handoff. For most households this is unnoticeable in daily use, but if you're on a video call and walking between rooms, you may notice a small hiccup.

If seamless roaming matters a lot to you, and both your routers are TP-Link models that support OneMesh, using OneMesh instead of standalone access point mode gets you closer to true seamless roaming, since OneMesh specifically coordinates handoffs between compatible units. We'll cover OneMesh setup in a separate guide.