ok you wont brick a device unless you use the wrong firmware
Anyways i used tftp before so i am fine with it
...
You can absolutely brick a device when using the wrong method to flash the image. That is why there are instructions as I have repeated multiple times.
And since you used the TFTP why do you keep encouraging somebody to flash a firmware file via the web interface based on what is possible on a device with a different architecture?
That is why I keep replying because misinformation can cause bricks.
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So, the recipe I posted above, i.e.
nmrpflash -i eth2 -f openwrt-24.10.0-rc4-ramips-mt7621-netgear_wax214v2-squashfs-factory.img
is the regular factory image from the firmware selector link isn't it, so are you saying this would not change the bootloader?
When I flashed OpenWrt to the BT HH5a, I believed I was using UART to flash the bootloader and then TFTP to flash to OS, but your post seems to say that I should use TFTP to flash the bootloader and then sysupgrade from there?
No it does not state that you need to update the bootloader. It states that the bootloader can be changed if it is technically possible.
You have to flash the factory image because the partitions are different. Take a look at this commit, linked earlier. It states:
Load addresses (same as Netgear WAX202):
* stock
* 0x80010000: FIT image
* 0x81001000: kernel image -> entry
* OpenWrt
* 0x80010000: FIT image
* 0x82000000: uncompressed kernel+relocate image
* 0x80001000: relocated kernel image -> entry
That is why flashing the factory image is necessary. It changes the partitions.
It does not touch the bootloader, since that is not necessary to flash OpenWRT. On some devices however, it is (apparently on the BT HH5a and also on the device I am currently using, the Zyxel T-56).
After installing OpenWRT you can update it with sysupgrade images.
So in summary: flash the factory image with TFTP with the provided instructions and that is what you need to do to run OpenWRT on the WAX214 v2.
Edit: made my post hopefully more clear.
Thank you for sticking with me! 
In the post above, where you quoted from the page @kirdes linked, it says
So that appears to be saying do flash the bootloader?!?
However, now, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying I don't need to flash the bootloader, presumably because the Netgear bootloader is capable of booting OpenWrt from the newly modified partition(s)?
Ah, I can see how that is confusing.
It means you transfer the OpenWRT factory image via TFTP to the bootloader, which will flash the image to the nand. So the bootloader does that. It does not change however.
Ahh, eureka moment 
So it should say
Isn't language wonderful lol
So, NMRP is a convenient wrapper for TFTP for Netgear devices, the act of using NMRP to TFTP an image file to a Netgear device will have the effect of causing the Netgear bootloader to flash the image automatically?
Once this has completed, the Netgear bootloader will henceforth load OpenWrt which has been newly flashed to the modified partition structure, correct?
Yes
Also, yes 
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The author of the patch appears to have excellent English too !
I guess for someone who is familiar and comfortable with the lower level workings of devices, understanding that sentence would be implied.
However, for a novice, it's misleading 
Thank you for being patient with me.
I shall update this thread when I flash the device.
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I posted at the end of this thread about my experiences installing the 24.10 (rc2) snapshot on the WAX214v2.
TL;DR:
The web GUI doesn't accept the OpenWRT firmware. To install:
- connect your computer to a switch
- set your IP manually to 192.168.1.10
- run nmrpflash e.g.
sudo nmrpflash -i eth0 -a 192.168.1.1 -A 192.168.1.10 -f openwrt-24.10.0-rc2-ramips-mt7621-netgear_wax214v2-squashfs-factory.img - connect and power up the WAX214v2 (i.e. power it through a POE switch or by making the final connection to the power side of a POE injector, so the AP can immediately connect to your computer to download the firmware on boot)
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I finally managed to get round to flashing this AP with 24.10.0
(https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.0/targets/ramips/mt7621/openwrt-24.10.0-ramips-mt7621-netgear_wax214v2-squashfs-factory.img)
I used a Windows 11 PC to run nmrpflash.exe. The prebuilt binary is available from https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash/blob/master/README.md
I also installed npcap as per the instructions in that readme.
I set the IP address on the Windows PC to 192.168.1.10 and connected to a router with IP 192.168.1.254 (in order to leave 192.168.1.1 free for the AP).
The process starts with the AP powered off.
Running nmrpflash -l from a command prompt will enumerate the network adapters on the Windows PC, for me it was net14, so my command was
nmrpflash.exe -i net14 -a 192.168.1.1 -A 192.168.1.10 -f openwrt-24.10.0-ramips-mt7621-netgear_wax214v2-squashfs-factory.img
As soon as this was running, I powered on the AP, but got a fail alert Timeout while waiting for ACK(0)/OACK
According to the readme for nmrpflash, this is caused by either an IP configuration issue, or a firewall issue. The advice is to lower the firewall or make sure port 69 is open. I decided to lower the firewall on the Windows PC temporarily.
This time, running the command again and then powering up the AP resulted in a successful flashing (which was very quick).
nmrpflash then advises to restart the AP and Press any key to exit
The Windows PC had an issue getting its IP back, so I had to disconnect and reconnect the ethernet lead (ipconfig /renew didn't work).
I could then connect to OpenWrt as usual on 192.168.1.1
As my AP is using tagged VLANs to the main router, I had some configuration to do and I messed it up, which resulted in the AP being unreachable 
I tried pushing the reset button on several occasions (I messed up a few times!), but it didn't seem to reset the AP, so I ended up having to reflash the AP 3 or 4 times and each time the process worked perfectly.
It is now deployed running 4 SSIDs over 4 VLANs to the main router.
I disabled dnsmasq, firewall and odhcpd as they're not needed in my scenario.
More information on that is available here https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/wifiextenders/bridgedap
Very happy with the result and it was actually very easy to flash this AP.
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