🗒️ A more explanatory version of these instructions is also available.

1. Format a USB storage drive using the Linux ext3 or ext4 filesystem. (On Windows, use a utility like Rufus or EASEUS Partition Master Free. Assign the label ENTWARE to your new partition once formatting is complete.

2. Insert the USB storage drive into the ASUS router.

3. Install Download Master via the web interface (USB Application menu) of your ASUS router.

4. Enable SSH access via the web interface of your ASUS router (Administration menu → System tab). While there, also enable the "Allow password login" option, and use the same username/password as for the web portal.

5. Use a suitable SSH client (e.g. Putty to login to your ASUS router's root shell.

6. Run the following sequence of commands:

   ipkg update && ipkg install nano
   chmod 0775 /tmp
   mkdir -pv /tmp/opt

7. Use the blkid command to determine the /dev address of your USB drive.

   # blkid
     /dev/sda1: LABEL="ENTWARE" UUID="01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef"
     …

8. Mount your ext3/4 partition at /tmp/opt. The command to do so will follow the pattern: mount -t <filesystem> <dev_address> /tmp/opt, where <filesystem> is either ext3 or ext4 to match the partition created in step 1 and <dev_address> is the first element from the blkid output line that included LABEL="ENTWARE" (/dev/sda1 in the sample output above).

9. Run the following sequence of commands:

   touch /root/.wget-hsts && chmod 0644 /root/.wget-hsts
   chmod 0775 /jffs && mkdir -pv /jffs/scripts
   chmod 0775 /jffs/scripts
   jsmO="/jffs/scripts/mountOpt"
   echo -e '#!/bin/sh\n# Recreate /tmp/opt on boot\nmkdir /tmp/opt\n' >"${jsmO}"
   echo -e 'OPT_PART="$(blkid -t LABEL="ENTWARE" | cut -d: -f1)"' >>"${jsmO}"
   echo -e 'mount "${OPT_PART}" /tmp/opt' >>"${jsmO}"
   chmod 0775 "${jsmO}"
   nvram set script_usbmount="${jsmO}" && nvram commit

10. Paste the script below:

    cat << EOF >/tmp/script_usbmount.tmp
    if [ \ = "/tmp/mnt/MYPART" ]; then
      ln -sf \ /tmp/opt
      /opt/etc/init.d/rc.unslung start
    fi
    EOF
    nvram set script_usbmount="cat /tmp/script_usbmount.tmp"
    
    cat << EOF >/tmp/script_usbumount.tmp
    if [ \ = "/tmp/mnt/MYPART" ]; then
      /opt/etc/init.d/rc.unslung stop
    fi
    EOF
    nvram set script_usbumount="cat /tmp/script_usbumount.tmp" && nvram commit
    reboot

11. Wait until the reboot is finished (the SSH will disconnect).

12. Reconnect to the router using SSH.

13. Select a suitable installation command below for your system:

    • aarch64 4.1:

      wget -O - http://bin.entware.net/aarch64-k3.10/installer/generic.sh | sh

    • armv7 3.2 (RT-AC58U):

      wget -O - http://bin.entware.net/armv7sf-k3.2/installer/generic.sh | sh

    • armv7 2.6 (RT-AC66U B1, RT-AC68U, RT-AC56U, RT-AC87U, RT-AC3200, RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100, RT-AC5300):

      wget -O - http://bin.entware.net/armv7sf-k2.6/installer/generic.sh | sh

    • mipsel (RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, RT-N16):

      wget -O - http://pkg.entware.net/binaries/mipsel/installer/installer.sh | sh

14. opkg update && opkg install nano

15. Entware is ready to use.