How to change language of Fritz!Box from German to International

Question

I have a Fritz!Box 7390 I bought while living in Berlin and would like to switch it to English. I've tried using the Recovery Tool, but it rejects updating the device. How can I update the device to the latest International firmware?

ruKernelTool

You'll need a Windows image for the process, but ruKernelTool allows you to do what you want. The tool and website is in german, but the process is pretty straightforward:

1. Start the tool and agree to everything.
2. Click the download tab and allow it to update its links to the AVM servers
3. Select the firmware you want, in this case 7390 International 84.06.20. Click Download.
4. Switch to the Network-tab (Netzwerk) and click the Media-Sense item to turn it off. Windows will reboot.
5. Go back to the Downloads-tab and select you downloaded firmware and click the kernel source button. (als Kernel-Quelle verwenden)
6. You should switch to the Upload-parameter-tab and enter your WLAN key from the bottom label on the box.
7. On Upload-tab click the Validate button and it will list out if your choices check out. It will provide warnings in German so you might want translate.google.com handy. (Uberprufen)
8. Finally start the upload to the device. (Upload starten)

If all goes well your router should reboot, Windows will reactivate Media-Sense and reboot, and your router should have a language selection option. Your router should be accessible via http://fritz.box

Comments

[Cameron Lowell Palmer]

This question has been viewed over 10000 times, but only a score of 2?!

[Andrea Sciamanna]

In my case, the reason it that it doesn't work. I've tried many approaches: wifi, ethernet cable (both to the Powerline and the router), but I always end up getting "Adam2-IP-Adresse setzen... fehlgeschlagen!" after I plug the Powerline back. It might be because I'm using W7 on Virtualbox, but I really can't get a "real" Windows machine.

[Andrea Sciamanna]

Here's the full output (I've only changed MAC addresses and hashes, just in case), provided it's useful: gist.github.com/sciamannikoo/2a7bc54ebe676ee2cbeea628b7f06a7‌​d

[Cameron Lowell Palmer]

If you're still using a Fritz!Box ask yourself, why? I highly recommend you look at the modern world of mesh WiFi devices from Linksys, Netgear, Google and the like or on the focused networking devices from companies like Ubiquiti. The single all-in-one device model of Fritz!Box has not shown itself to work well in today's challenging RF environments.

[Thalys]

Apparently the ruKernel Tool site and others are down, due to personal issues and GDPR compliance being difficult.