First setup of Turris Omnia and Mox without Ethernet LAN⚓︎

These days it is common that laptops do not have Ethernet sockets and that can make initiate configuration of Turris routers pretty complicated. An alternative initial configuration was added in Turris OS 5.2.0. It uses a configuration file on a USB flash drive to set the password for the web configuration interface and to enable the Wi-Fi.

The configuration file is in the JSON file format. You can use the following example as a base for your configuration file.

{
    "foris_password": "ForisPassword_ChangeThis!",
    "wireless": {
        "ssid": "TurrisConfigWifi",
        "key": "WiFiPassword_ChangeThis!"
    }
}

Save your configuration file to a file named medkit-config.json to the root directory of the USB drive. The following file systems are supported: ext4, Btrfs, XFS, and FAT32.

With the prepared USB drive you can connect it to the router and perform either factory reset (Omnia, Mox) or flash via USB (Omnia, Mox). Note that flash via USB is highly suggested as the factory version of Turris OS in your device might not support this feature. It also removes possibility of exploit of old security holes.

The configuration is applied on the first boot of the device (the USB drive with the configuration file has to be connected at that time). You should eventually be able to connect to the Wi-Fi network with the name as you set (ssid) device you plan to use for configuration. The Wi-Fi is protected by the password you set (key). With that you are connected to router’s LAN network and you can continue by accessing the web configuration interface as described in your router’s specific first setup guide.

The USB drive can be safely removed when you access router’s configuration interface.

Don’t forget to remove the configuration file from the USB drive afterward or change all auto-configured passwords to prevent password leakage when you reuse the drive for something else.