Installation of Gargoyle on selected TP-Link routers is straight-forward:

1. Download the correct firmware image.
2. Upload the firmware image to your router and apply.
3. Login to your router and configure Gargoyle

If you run into trouble, then ask a question at the forum or read failsafe_mode_recovery

Gargoyle is built on top of OpenWRT but the wealth of technical information and alternatives are generally not required to use Gargoyle.

The TP-Link TL-WR1043ND¹⁾ is a very popular Gargoyle router due price and the hardware feature set.

TP-WR1043ND-V1.X

TP-WR1043ND-V2.X

TP-WDR3600-V1.X

Go to the Download page and select
Download: Firmware images
Architecture: Atheros AR71XX
Branch: 1.6 (stable)
Version: 1.6.2

To replace the original TP-LINK firmware select the factory.bin download.

To upgrade Gargoyle or OpenWRT firmware select the sysupgrade.bin download.

Do not unplug the power supply during upgrade.

Open TP-Link config
Select System Tools Select Firmware Upgrade
Browse firmware-image Click upgrade

If you get the error message “please choose a file to upgrade”, then rename the firmware file to something shorter (i.e. “gargoyle.bin”) and upload it again.

• Wait about 5 minutes then you should be able to connect to 192.168.1.1
• If after 5 minutes 192.168.1.1 is unresponsive first reboot your PC and try again.
• If after 20 minutes 192.168.1.1 is unresponsive you may reboot both PC and router.

The hardest part to reverting back to the original firmware is finding a suitable file. You can not use the firmware from TP-Link without a file modification.

Luckily somebody has done the work for us

wr1043nv1_en_3_9_17-sysupgrade.zip