I’m not sure it will downgrade StephenB as I did try that and it showed an error, but gave me back the option to install but Plex, but sadly that install just fails too. That said, I did not unzip the 6.10.9 installer to begin with, so I may give that another go as I later went back to installing 6.10.10.
Is it perhaps easier (less risky) to somehow copy the Plex.deb installer to the /apps/plexmediaserver directory and install it? … that’s all I’m hoping to achieve here. If I can get Plex up-to date I will just leave it there, as that’s all I use the NAS for anyway. I have the Plex.deb file in /data/Backup but didn’t want to try installing it from there.
Am I right in thinking too that the ssh command to install the Plex upgrade (having renamed the update installer file to ‘plexmediaserver’ is…
apt install ./plexmediaserver.deb
That’s once I can find the ssh command to copy it to the /apps/plexmediaserver directory.
… or will this not work, thanks to this Netgear OS 6.10.10 update?
I’m a bit ‘miffed’ that Netgear have done this. I did not personally receive any warning that this would happen. However I guess I have to accept it and move on.All I want to do is to get the Plex update to keep things going for as long as I can, until I can replace the NAS, which I realise I’m going to have to do at some point, but can’t really afford to at this moment in time.
Ah sorry🙏 Astra03 that’s my mistake, I renamed the latest Plex update file to plexmediaserver.deb, but moreso I was looking for the ssh instruction that I need to copy that file from /data/Backup to the /apps/plexmediaserver directory/folder?
…and then was just asking if the ssh instruction apt install ./plexmediaserver.deb would then possibly work and install the Plex update? I can navigate to the various folders to carry out the ssh instructions. (I know that much ssh, at least, to move around).
I’m not sure it will downgrade StephenB as I did try that and it showed an error, but gave me back the option to install but Plex, but sadly that install just fails too.
"I renamed the latest Plex update file to plexmediaserver.deb, but moreso I was looking for the ssh instruction that I need to copy that file from /data/Backup to the /apps/plexmediaserver directory/folder?"
To copy the file, (ie leaving a version in the source directory):
cd to the source directory: cd /data/Backup then: cp plexmediaserver.deb /apps/plexmediaserver
OR
To move the file, (ie without leaving a copy in the source directory):
cd to the source directory: cd /data/Backup then: mv plexmediaserver.deb /apps/plexmediaserver
In both cases, note the space between plexmediaserver.deb and /apps/....
"I renamed the latest Plex update file to plexmediaserver.deb, but moreso I was looking for the ssh instruction that I need to copy that file from /data/Backup to the /apps/plexmediaserver directory/folder?"
To copy the file, (ie leaving a version in the source directory):
cd to the source directory: cd /data/Backup then: cp plexmediaserver.deb /apps/plexmediaserver
OR
To move the file, (ie without leaving a copy in the source directory):
cd to the source directory: cd /data/Backup then: mv plexmediaserver.deb /apps/plexmediaserver
In both cases, note the space between plexmediaserver.deb and /apps/....
To be clear, there is no need to move the deb file into the /apps folder. That doesn't upgrade plex, you need to use apt to do that from ssh. For example apt install /data/backup/plexmediaserver.deb
If you try this, make sure you log into ssh as root, using the NAS admin password. Note that if you haven't manually modified the apt configuration, the install will likely fail.
@StephenB & @Astra03 Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, just had a busy day, or two. Just also want to say thank-you 🙏 for your very kind help and replies here.
I think the ssh copy and apt (to install) is the way I prefer to go with this, rather than a downgrade back to 6.10.9 as (I think) I may (hopefully) now know enough ssh to login as root and do the steps mentioned, but ‘no’ I haven’t yet modified the apt configuration. I’m not quite sure what that involves.
Is there one post here in the community that explains the apt modification and gives the ssh commands that I need for that and I will then give everything a try tomorrow (Saturday) as I can then at least spend some time to carefully step through it and get the instructions correct with the spaces.
I guess this is probably easy for many folks here, but I just want to get the instructions together first and then I will happily give it a try… 🤞
I’m definitely okay at enabling ssh on the NAS and the admin user …and logging in as root. I can navigate/move about the directories too, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult once I’ve sorted how to modify the apt configuration.
I have a little bit of experience with making changes to Linux configuration files, but I am always wary of making a mistake that breaks something I can't recover from though.
To minimise the chances of this happening, this is how I did these changes on my ReadyNAS:
1.) Log in as root to the ReadyNAS via ssh
2.) Change directory to /etc/apt using the command cd /etc/apt
3.) Copy sources.list to a directory that you can access via a file manager on the PC. In my case I have one called "software": cp sources.list /data/software
4.) Rename the original version of sources.list to sources.list.old using the command mv sources.list sources.list.old This will now become your backup copy in case something goes wrong.
5.) Using a file manager on your PC, open the version of sources.list that you copied to your /data/ directory using a text editor, make the changes as stated in the page linked to, then save the file - keeping the same sources.list name.
6.) Copy this modified file back to the folder it came from. In my case the command was cp /data/software/sources.list /etc/apt
7.) If you list the files in /etc/apt using the command ls you should now have sources.list (the new modified version) and sources.list.old which is the original unmodified version.
For the second part of the instructions, I did it like this:
1.) Using the file manager on my PC, I created a new "Empty Document" in my /data/software folder, and named it apt.conf
2.) Copy and paste the two lines from that page in to this document and save it.
3.) Back in the ssh command prompt, I enter cp /data/software/apt.conf /etc/apt/ to copy this new file across.
Obviously, if you use a folder called something other than "software", then you will have to modify these commands.
Once you are happy that everything is working as it should, you can remove the redundant files - if you want to, (I didn't bother). The command to remove a file is rm - so to remove sources.list.old you would cd in to /etc/apt if you are not already in that directory and type ls to list all the files, Then type rm sources.list.old and enter. Then if you ls again it should be gone.
***I have no doubt that there are quicker ways to do all this!!!
Complete success - I got up early this morning and followed all instructions to the letter and have got my Plex server fully updated and working with the latest update, all thanks to the great advice here. Thanks also to @Sandshark in the other thread.
I only had the one issue having changed sources.list (backing up the original) and added apt.conf text file, when I went to install the plexmediaserver.deb update I was prompted to also enter this ssh command… ‘apt-get -f install’ (I’m not too sure what that command was for, but ran it anyway)… and then when I tried the install a second time with… ‘apt install ./plexmediaserver.deb’ the Plex server update installed without a problem. So all’s good.👍
I’m just going to tidy up a few things and see how it goes. Anyhow I’ve learnt a lot here in the last couple of days, so thank-you all again. I can at least now ride off into the sunset and remain happy with my OS 6.10.10 NAS/Plex server.
It seems most of us who patched/modified our ReadyNAS systems [to reacquire the capabilities lost via the 6.10.10 update] started by reinstalling 6.10.9. I'm getting the impression you didn't go that route, and instead opted to patch/mod the updated 6.10.10 system directly.
Am I understanding this correctly?
If 'yes', are you able to update apps via the 'Frontview' web interface [or can you only update via SSH]?
Thanks in advance for any reply you're able to give. 🙂👍
I did not downgrade to OS 6.10.9 as you gathered and so I update via SSH, logged in as root.
I currently now have to copy the .deb upgrade file to the Apps respective folder in /Apps/ and simply run the command apt install ./(filename.deb) to perform the upgrade.
The upgrade via the 'Frontview' web interface is not available in my case - I don’t really need it for the occasional upgrade to the Plex server software, which is all I really need to do with my NAS so I’ve not bothered to downgrade.
Thanks for the clarity @Ken_Griffiths ; I'm in a similar boat as you in regard to mostly using my ReadyNAS system(s) for Plex, but I prefer a redundancy of options (just in case one option suddenly & unexpectedly craps out, like SMB did for one of my NAS devices). In any case, I wasn't sure if you even bothered trying to update Plex via Frontview after applying the patch, so I thought I'd ask. In any case, thanks again for the insight. 🙂
I’m actually quite surprised there’s not been more of an outcry about the OS-6 update. It really seems ludicrous to me that users cannot now easily update, or install, apps via what was ‘an easy to use interface’ and that users may have to resort to, what feels to me like, ‘hacking’ - using SSH ‘root’ access and the such-like to keep Apps updated and maybe more secure.
It’s not like these NAS storage devices were ever cheap to buy in the first place either.
I’ve decided to just never ‘knowingly’ buy a Netgear product again. They are not so exclusive, that I can easily go elsewhere for a similar product Netgear now manufacture, but that’s just my own personal way of retribution for this. I doubt that it will ever bother Netgear that much, but I really do want them to know that they have lost me as a potential future customer. It’s just my own way of dealing the issue
Just to clarify too, I’m not advocating others follow my chosen path, that’s entirely a matter for the individual.
I just see the upgrade as rather a poor decision, particularly from a customer-relations perspective.
From a hardware point of view, the Ultra 6 and the RN246 I own are great devices. They run forever without ever going down. From a software point of view it has been lousy for years now. I managed running some newer stuf due to the products I could get on https://rnxtras.com/ . The owner, Stefan, stopped shortly after 6.10.8 was released. On his farewell page he writes
It wasn’t and still isn’t an easy decision but with the latest changes that came with ReadyNAS OS 6.10.8 Netgear made it more than clear that they no longer really care about the ReadyNAS product line.
I installed 6.10.10 and obviously, I looked at the release notes AFTER installing, only to learn that they removed the possibilty to install apps via FrontView... What???
I logged in and noticed indeed that this option is removed, but also that 2 of my apps were gone; SABnzbd and CouchPotato (which I occasionally use).
I decided to dive into the box via SSH to see if I could repair this.
I noticed the firmware update removed Python 2.7, which was the reason both of the apps were gone.
So I spend some time with Google and SSH and I managed to install both of the apps again. Since I did various things, I don't remember the exact stept, but basically this is what I did:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade (It said the repository links were dead)
If you have a real need to install something from a newer distro and you are prepared to do a full factory default if it messes up your system, you should use your browser to go to that distro and download the package and any required dependencies, then install them locally.
Totally agree with @Sandshark that you shouldn't include Stretch in the apt list. Incompatible libraries from Stretch could potentially brick your NAS.
A better path is to first downgrade your firmware back to 6.10.9, and then make the changes described in here:
You can also make your own mirror of the Netgear repo using apt-mirror (as outlined in the link above). If you intend to use these apps for the indefinite future, I strongly recommend creating the mirror, as it wouldn't surprise me if Netgear simply took down their repo with no notice. The Netgear repo includes all the apps in the Netgear store.
