@RHAERSER 

What is the exact reason your ISP does not allow a router to work in router mode?

Users commonly attach routers or Deco units to their ISP modem/gateway or even another router so I am not sure why you were told this?

Setting the C7 to router mode would be the first step to take.

Tony wrote

@RHAERSER 

 

What is the exact reason your ISP does not allow a router to work in router mode?

 

Users commonly attach routers or Deco units to their ISP modem/gateway or even another router so I am not sure why you were told this?

 

Setting the C7 to router mode would be the first step to take.

@Tony They have policies against allowing non-ISP equipment to be used, explicitly refuse to help me set up the ISP modem as bridge, and there are zero resources or help on the internet.

I could set it up as a router regardless, but that would create a double NAT situation which would actually hinder my internet access. I will not set my unit to router mode in those conditions.

@ArcherC8 

ArcherC8 wrote

Does your ISP allow you to replace the gateway with your own modem? My ISP (Comcast/Xfinity) does with select brands and models which in the long run is cheaper than renting from the ISP.

No. They have a strict policy of only allowing equipment they provide themselves, explicitly denied me any help to do it myself, and there are zero resources online (tutorials, guides, videos, instructions, forums posts, etc).

@RHAERSER 

Who is your ISP? Are you in the US?

I have Spectrum/Charter and they too have an 'approved' list of modems and modem/routers you can attach to thier network. All you need do is call them and they configure it for you.

I've got my own router and once the installed as a replacement a modem/router for the modem. Simple, I just told the tech I've got a router (which he could see) and he said it will NOT enable wireless as my account doesn't allow it. Could you be paying your ISP for wireless? If so, you'd have to have cancelled probably, but in any case, just ask them ti BRIDGE the modem/router. Have you asked them to do that? If they refuse, are you the actual owner of the account? I mean is some other organization providing your Internet service?

IrvSp wrote

@RHAERSER 

 

Who is your ISP? Are you in the US?

 

I have Spectrum/Charter and they too have an 'approved' list of modems and modem/routers you can attach to thier network. All you need do is call them and they configure it for you.

 

I've got my own router and once the installed as a replacement a modem/router for the modem. Simple, I just told the tech I've got a router (which he could see) and he said it will NOT enable wireless as my account doesn't allow it. Could you be paying your ISP for wireless? If so, you'd have to have cancelled probably, but in any case, just ask them ti BRIDGE the modem/router. Have you asked them to do that? If they refuse, are you the actual owner of the account? I mean is some other organization providing your Internet service?

@IrvSp I asked the technician when he came to my house, he refused. I called several times to customer support about every option I could come up with, they flatly denied to help me in any way and shut down every one of my suggestions. I've talked with my neighbors about it, no luck. I've spoken with other company technicians and asked them to "help me set this up myself, call people you know in the NOC to get actual help and knowledge to help me out, I will be very grateful and make sure it's worth everyone's time" and they've all said it's impossible. I've scourged the internet, I've asked on Facebook groups... I know that setting this unit in router mode would be the best, but it's just not possible, and believe me, I've done all I can within my limited means.

I know other people have more approachable, empathetic and consumer-friendly ISPs, but mine is not and is the only option in my location apart from satellite internet.

Please, let's focus on the questions.

• HFS+ support: What can I do? I'm drawing a blank here.
• LED control only in router mode: Obviously a mistake that passed thru QA, as it makes no sense to bind this to router mode only. Is there a workaround? Can TP-Link fix this in a subsequent firmware release?
• No devices shown: I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking this is dependent on the DHCP server, which would be nuts and must be fixed if true. In this case, the router should at least show the MAC address, or try and query the routers ARP table in an attempt to get the hostname, but it can't just shrug and show a big fat zero.

ArcherC8 wrote

You never said who your ISP is and where you are located. This forum is a US based so most of the subjects relate to US products and subjects. Even if you are outside of the US, we still may be able to help but you may have quicker and better answer at https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/32 (Note the "en" vs "us" difference in the link). Oh, as far as LED control, a piece of tape works. On the USB drive, what type of compter are you using (windows xp, 7 10, apple, linux or something else)? How large is the drive? Have you tried different drives and memory sticks?

@ArcherC8 The ISP and location are not important, as is the choice of router mode and AP mode in relation to the questions I posted.

Taping the LEDs with piece of tape is crass and out of the question, since software control exists. If that's the only option while we wait for TP-Link to fix this, I'll live with it in the meantime.

The type of computer is also not important. The disk is 2 TB and divided in two partitions of 1 TB each. I said the disk is GPT-partitioned and HFS+ formatted, and that the FAT32 EFI partition is recognized, so the problem is clearly the two HFS+ volumes. The only constraints outlined in the manual I linked to in my original post are 1) supported filesystems are FAT32, exFAT, NTFS and HFS+ (check) and 2) when using a hub make sure that no more than 4 devices are connected (also check).

There are no mentions of: total disk size, number of volumes, size of volumes, or even if all volumes in the same disk have to have the same format. Without knowing this, I cannot even consider doing a full backup, repartition/reformat, and restore. Can anyone answer these questions?

ArcherC8 wrote

I agree that if there is an option, it should work. Tape was just a work around. Interesting that the user guide for Archer C7 lists only FAT32 and NTFS. So which is correct? The guide or the specs. Also as far as type of machine, the user guide says "for Windows users...." several places. Also other have reported issues with linux. With windows you use command r to get to the drive and with apple you use your browser. One other thing to check is some drives pull more power than the router can handle so you may need to use a powered hub.

@ArcherC8 Thank you very much! That's an interesting find. Could you please share the link to the user guide? The one I linked to doesn't say that, so I guess support for exFAT and HFS+ could've been surreptitiously pulled at some time. It would be good if TP-Link Tony could categorically confirm this.

Since the computer is not going to access the disk itself, it only needs to have matching file protocol support. I did see that the guide says the protocol prefix for connections to the server in Apple machines to be "smb://" so I assume it's the only one it supports. There's no mention if it's version 1, 2, or 3 or if the Archer C7 supports other file protocols like AFS or NFS, but I wouldn't hold my breath. It would be good if TP-Link Tony could categorically confirm which file protocols are supported, and which SMB versions.

My devices talk SMB up to v3.0.2 but the stability of the C7's file server feature remains to be seen. I hope I don't have a problem with it.