Obtain the zip password for the LinkStation firmware image.dat

'' This article Based on work by moomoo and frontalot. Originally by frontalot. at Linkstationwiki.org '' Mike Tsao’s Method

This method of obtaining the image.dat zip password works best if you already have root access to the LinkStation. You also need the ability to extract ramdisk.image.gz from firmimg.bin. For these reasons this method is most useful if a new zip password is used for image.dat (as was the case for stock 1.4x firmwares).

1. Obtain the desired firmware and extract ramdisk.image from firmimg.bin. See the appropriate flash ROM analysis for instructions on disassembling firmimg.bin.

2. Mount ramdisk.image:

mount ramdisk.image /mnt/ramdisk -o loop

cd /mnt/ramdisk

3. Rename the existing unzip:

cd bin

mv unzip real_unzip

4. Create a new unzip with the following contents

&#035;!/bin/bash

echo “$*” >> /cmdline

`real_unzip $*`

5. Make the new unzip executable:

chmod a+x unzip

6. Unmount the image and gzip it back up:

cd ..

gzip −9 ramdisk.image

7. Use the appropriate toolchain to create a new firmimg.bin containing the original firminfo.txt and vmlinux.gz and new ramdisk.image.gz. For the powerpc-hdhlan LinkStation:

setsum firminfo.txt vmlinux.gz -r ramdisk.image.gz -o firmimg.bin

8. Flash firmimg.bin to the appropriate flash bank. For the powerpc-hdhlan LinkStation:

cat firmimg.bin > /dev/fl1

9. Replace the original firmimg.bin in the firmware update and run the firmware updater.

10. Once the firmware update process is complete, telnet into the LinkStation and cat cmdline:

cat /cmdline

11. You should see the password used to unzip image.dat. For the powerpc-hdhlan LinkStation:

-P NFM_TUPSBHFNFM_TUPSBHF /mnt2/image.zip -d /mnt2

Most of this information courtesy of http://www.sowbug.org/mt/archives/000179.html.

Sec’s Method

There is an alternative method of obtaining the image.dat zip password outlined at the TeraStation Wiki. Although this has not been attempted, the method should also work for the LinkStation.