About 4 Easy Ways to Unstow Starlink Dish, Among the many amazing features of the Starlink dish is the stow function, which lets you pack your dish when relocating.
The dish also initially arrives in this stow position since it helps minimize the storage space in the box.
Amazingly, when the dish is in this stowed position, it cannot function, so you need to unstow it to use it.
In this guide, I will explain various ways to unstow Starlink dishes and establish satellite communication to enjoy your internet.
When Should You Unstow Starlink Dish?
As I have indicated above, the dish is not operating when in a stowed position. Given that it arrives in this state when you first order it, you need to unstow it to use it.
Also, when the dish is in a stow position, it is stored, and thus, it cannot establish a satellite connection. It, therefore, needs unstowing when mounting it on an elevated position.
Additionally, you may relocate, meaning you must stow the dish to package and unstow it once you arrive at your new location.
Finally, there comes a time when you unmount your dish to do some modification on the mount. As you may already know, once the dish stays more than 60 seconds facing down, it stows automatically.
For this reason, unstowing will be necessary before mounting it again.
Installing Starlink
Why Can’t I Unstow Starlink?
You can’t unstow your dish successfully for several reasons, and I will highlight them briefly here.
First of all, your dish must be mounted on the provided stand, lest it remain in the stowed position.
Secondly, ensure there is no obstruction near your dish in a way that can obstruct its automatic tilting.
Note that the above two points are necessary to launch the unstow functionality. For this reason, if the unstow doesn’t work, look at any tilting obstructions and mount your dish.
Also, ensure your dish is not covered at the top or in the box. While here, your dish should not lie so that its face faces down during unstowing.
The final reason you can’t unstow your Starlink, which is the main one, is because you have no internet connection.
To explain this in detail, the dish connects via WiFi and the internet to the Starlink app. Once you stow it, the internet connection is cut off, but the router WiFi remains.
Therefore, you cannot unstow your antenna via the Starlink app. However, the good news is that you can connect the dish via your internetless WiFi and access its portal to unstow it.
WiFi with no internet
How to Unstow Starlink
Now that you know why you unstow Starlink, let’s discuss how to achieve that. But before you can think of unstowing, ensure you have considered the factors we have discussed above.
Additionally, ensure your dish is powered by either the PoE cable or its power source, in the case of the circular dish.
With that clear, let’s now discuss the four main ways to unstow Starlink:
Unstowing Starlink Through the Admin Panel
As we discussed earlier, it is impossible to unstow your Starlink dish using the app, even if you used it to stow it.
The reason is that your internet connection is gone once you stowed the dish. Therefore, you must connect your dish to your router’s LAN and access the admin panel to facilitate unstowing. To do this, use the following simple procedure:
- First, ensure you can access a laptop connected to your Starlink router WiFi.
- Then, ensure the laptop or the PC to utilize its within your WiFi range
- Alternatively, you can connect your PC via an ethernet cable using the Starlink ethernet adapter.
- Once the laptop is connected to your LAN, run dishy.starlink.com on your web browser.
- Alternatively, you can access the admin portal by running http://192.168.100.1 on your browser search bar.
- When prompted to sign in, use your previously established Starlink account or app login details (username and password).
- While here, you can access your dish setting and click the unstow option and you are done.
Admin Login
Unstow Starlink Via Power Reset
For some reason, you may be unable to access the admin panel. If this is your predicament, the alternative is to use the power reset technique.
The method requires you to unplug the dish from its power and then plug it in again. Doing so refreshes the dish and clears all bugs and static charges.
Once you are done, you can use the admin panel to unstow it f it’s stuck.
Flipping the Dish with the Face Down
The dish’s upside-down flipping position may be an excellent manual way for stowing or unstowing your dish.
To achieve this, you must remove your dish from the mount but ensure its power remains intact.
Then, place it on a smooth, flat surface with its leg facing up to keep it from damage and unstow it.
Once in this position and connected to power, it will start alternating between the stow and unstow positions.
Now, all you need to do is wait until it goes automatically to the unstow position and unplug it from power to retain this position.
Finally, reconnect the power and put it upright and it will remain locked in the unstow position. You can now mount it to its position and continue enjoying your internet.
Unstowing Starlink Using Hands
If you cannot use the above methods or your equipment is defective, you can still use some force.
The technique involves holding the unstowing lever using your hands and unstowing it manually.
To do so, remove the dish from the mount and unplug the power cable. Then, let the Starlink dish lie on a flat, smooth surface to avoid damage.
Once in that position, hold the level and pull it gently until it’s in the unstow position. You should hear some grinding as you force the gears to run manually.
Lastly, connect the power cable to your dish to complete the unstowing.
How to Remotely Unstow Your Starlink
There is no way to unstow your Starlink from a remote position. As I explained earlier, stowing disconnects your setup from the internet.
Hence, you cannot use the app. If you have to unstow remotely, you have to get a person near your router to provide the admin panel access.
As we said, that person has to be within the wifi range to access the panel. However, some users claim the dish stows automatically after some minutes, while others say they have never experienced this.
Conclusion
Now you know how to unstow your dish with the abovementioned methods.
If you face any difficulties after trying them, maybe your equipment is faulty, and you need to contact customer service for assistance.