The LinkStation firmware flasher

Originally by frontalot and edited by: nix, jor, flavoie, tklee and moomoo from linkstationwiki.org

Problems? The FAQ covers many common problems.

=Flashing the LinkStation's firmware= Flashing the LinkStation firmware is a straight-forward procedure. However, there is always the possibility that something could go wrong and damage your LinkStation in the process. Flashing your LinkStation with an unofficial firmware will probably void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk!

Do not attempt to flash your LinkStation if you


 * can't afford to lose it
 * don't know how to work on a Unix/Linux command line
 * have difficulties following instructions - e.g. turning off all firewalls
 * just want to be cool
 * can't stay calm and level-headed when things go haywire
 * can't do some systematic troubleshooting
 * Have a Non Flashable HD-HG300

If you think the above is meant as a joke, think again.

Buffalo's Firmware Updater
Buffalo Tech provides a tool to run on Windows that writes new firmware onto a LinkStation. It's called LSupdater.exe and you can get it by downloading a firmware ZIP: it comes in the ZIP along with the other firmware files. The firmware updater only runs under Windows. Users of other operating systems must manually flash the LinkStation or copy Debian manually to the hard drive.

Re-applying the same Firmware using LSUpdater.exe
You can put the Windows firmware updater by adding the section below to the LSUpdater.ini

[SpecialFlags] Debug=1

Restart LSUpdater.exe, rightclick the icon on the top left of the tool bar and select 'Debug'

See this video

The same version of the Firmware can then be applied by ticking 'Do not check version' and 'Force update' in the resulting screen.

OpenLink & FreeLink
This page describes how to install OpenLink and FreeLink software by flashing a LinkStation, using the firmware updater from Buffalo Tech.

1 - Preparation
Read these instructions carefully before doing any changes to your LinkStation. The instructions are organized in a relatively linear fashion, but you should make sure that you understand why things are done in a certain way, rather than following the instructions blindly.

Start by checking the LinkStation firmware version. You can obtain the version number by calling "Maintenance/System Status" in the web interface or by running the IP setup software which comes with the LinkStation. You can also identify the LinkStation firmware version by checking for a small cable selection switch (below the red init button) on the back of the LinkStation. Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations have such a switch; mipsel-hdhlan and powerpc-hdhglan LinkStations do not.

If your LinkStation is new, this is also a good time to make sure that you can connect to the linkstation in all the setups you intend to use - through a direct cable connection, or through a router or hub. You should also make sure that your LinkStation can get an IP address both with and without DHCP - especially if you are installing FreeLink, since it is configured to use DHCP by default.

It is also a good idea to try flashing your LinkStation with the stock firmware. In the case that there is a problem with your device which results in a failed flash process, it is best to know of it before voiding your warranty by flashing the unofficial firmware. Instructions for flashing with the stock firmware are provided at the bottom of this page.

2 - Download
Download the version of OpenLink or FreeLink for your LinkStation. Different firmware versions and architectures are NOT interchangeable; they are for different hardware versions.
 * Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations use powerpc-hdhlan-XXX firmware,
 * mipsel-hdhlan LinkStations use mipsel-hdhlan-XXX firmware, and
 * powerpc-hdhglan LinkStation use powerpc-hdhglan-XXX firmware.

Carefully read the included README file for any specific instructions.

Read these instructions again after reading the README file.

Read the included README file again.

3 - Connect the LinkStation directly to your computer
To reduce the possibility of serious errors, connect the LinkStation directly to your PC and disable any firewall(s), including any built-in Windows firewall. Do not connect the LS and PC via a router or hub. Use a simple direct cable connection. Users with powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations must activate the cable selection switch by moving it down (there is a little "x" icon).

Make sure the LinkStation and your PC are on the same sub-network. This likely requires that you change the IP address (and probably the subnet-mask) of your PC to a different (and static) IP address (see the README file for the subnet).

4 - Flashing your device: The moment of truth
Before doing anything else, check again that you disabled all firewalls. Yes, we mean it. Disable anything which can interfere with the communication. Your linkstation should now be directly connected to your completely unfirewalled PC with a good CAT5 cable. Both should be securely connected to your power outlet.

Run the firmware updater executable (HD-HLAN FWUpdate.exe for the powerpc-hdhlan and mipsel-hdhlan, HD-HGLAN FWUpdate.exe for the powerpc-hdhglan, HS-DGL FWUpdate.exe for the powerpc-hsdgl). Do not disconnect the LinkStation or in any other way interrupt the flash process. Interrupting the flash process can result in serious damage to your LinkStation!

CAUTION! If you experience problems loading the updater (e.g. no dialogue box appears), try creating a shortcut, right click, properties, check the compatibility mode for Windows 2000.

After finding your LinkStation, press the "Renew Firmware" button, and wait. Have patience, and keep your calm. If you think the Firmware updater is acting strange, do not try to disconnect the LinkStation or abort the update in another way.


 * A few users have reported that the flash process hangs at the end. In this situation wait an extended period of time (perhaps an hour or two) to make sure the firmware update is really done, then press the power button to turn off the LinkStation.


 * Some users have reported that when installing FreeLink, the updater finishes flashing, but then displays a "Firmware update failed" message (on a HD-HGLAN300 at least), even if the update actually succeeded. This is most likely because the LinkStation reboots, and FreeLink does not fall back on the default IP when it cannot get a DHCP address. However, there should not be any required steps to perform after the reboot. If you see this message, press the OK button, exit the firmware flasher, and then press the power button to turn off the LinkStation.


 * Some users have suggested that if you do have a stable hub/switch/router on your network, it is in fact OK to flash through the router. This should prevent the "Firmware update failed" message from appearing when installing FreeLink. You could try this approach (at your own risk of course), and report back. In any case, do not flash through a wireless connection, it is much too unstable.

After the flash process has completed, press the power button to turn off the LinkStation before proceeding to the next step.

5 - Communicating with your newly flashed LinkStation
You now need to change the network connection to the setup you intend to use, before communicating with your newly flashed Linkstation.

Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStation users will need to return the crossover switch to its original position. Then reconnect the LinkStation and PC to your Router (device in a network that handles message transfer between computers) or Hub (device used to connect several computers together), and change your PC's settings to the original configuration.

OpenLink(LS1,LS2,HG) and FreeLink-PowerPC(LS1,HG)
Use a Telnet (insecure communications protocol used for remote access to a host) client (we recommend PuTTYtel) to connect to the LinkStation. You will be at the root shell.

Set the terminal emulation in your Telnet and SSH client to VT102, because the OpenLink Busybox vi editor uses hard-coded VT102 escape-sequences. If your client doesn't support VT102, you can instead use a VT100, ANSI, xterm, suncmd, dtterm or e.g. hpterm emulation. Or change to a better terminal emulator.

After establishing communications with your newly flashed LinkStation, you must secure your LinkStation and ensure that it requires a password for login. However, before you do so, it is imperative that you change the root password, since the default root password is known to the LinkStation community. Type the following at the command prompt, and then enter a new password: passwd root

FreeLink-MIPSel(LS2)
The MIPSel version of FreeLink does not have telnet enabled as a default but rather SSH. You will have to use a SSH client (for Windows we reccomend PuTTY).

Open a SSH session to: 192.168.11.150</tt> (it has a static IP)

Then login: login as: root Using keyboard-interactive authentication. Password: freelink

6A - Configuring SSH with OpenLink/Dropbear
If you are installing OpenLink, and if you want to use SSH (SSH provides secure shell for encrypted communications between two hosts) you can use Dropbear, which is installed with OpenLink and is ready for use. There are other SSH daemons available for your LinkStation such as OpenSSH, which you can also use, if you prefer. Again, for a client application, we recommend PuTTY)

To use dropbear, you need to create the appropriate SSH keys, and then start the Dropbear daemon: dropbearkey -t dss -f /etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key dropbearkey -t rsa -f /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key /etc/init.d/dropbear start

Make sure that SSH is fully operational, and that you can use it to login to your LinkStation. Reboot your LinkStation, to make sure that the SSH daemon starts automatically and successfully after the LinkStation is turned on.

Once you've fully tested you can get in via SSH, disable the utelnetd startup link (Make sure you test this properly in case something goes wrong and you have no shell access): chmod 0644 /etc/init.d/utelnetd Note: If that file doesn't exist try this: ln /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/utelnetd

6B - Configuring utelnetd with OpenLink
If you do not want to use SSH, use vi</tt> to adjust the utelnetd startup script, so that the Telnet daemon asks for login details when you connect to the LinkStation (see Vi text editor tutorial if you need help with the vi</tt> editor). At the command prompt write: vi /etc/init.d/utelnetd Change: /sbin/utelnetd -l /bin/bash & to /sbin/utelnetd -l /bin/login &

Before rebooting, create a non-root-account, (i.e. normal user), using the default LinkStation Web Admin pages. Now test your login via Telnet or SSH before you reboot. Even if you leave telnet open, if things have gone wrong you won't be able to log in as root after the reboot.

6C - Configuring SSH with FreeLink/OpenSSH
If you are installing Freelink, the sshd_config</tt> installed by doing an apt-get install ssh has PasswordAuthentication</tt> set to no, meaning you can't log in with a password. Personally I set that to yes. Otherwise, you need to generate some keys. PermitRootLogin</tt> is set to yes, so once done, you can log in directly as root if you insist. Once you're done with all this, restart the sshd service (perhaps using:) kill -HUP sshd and verify you can log in successfully.

There is more information on configuring OpenSSH, and on general Freelink configuration: Freelink - Convert the LinkStation into a Full-fledged Debian Linux Server.

7 - Setting up a connection to the Internet
After making absolutely sure that you will be able to connect (with Telnet or SSH) after your configuration changes, reboot your LinkStation.

Since it is more than likely you will want to download items from the web onto your Linkstation, you should log in again and set up a connection to the Internet.

If you just installed Freelink, your Linkstation should now be configured to use DHCP. For more information, both on DHCP and on static IP configuration, look at the separate articles on installing Freelink(Debian) using flash and on installing Debian through a manual disk-to-disk copy.

If you are using OpenLink, and your LinkStation is connected to a Router then edit: vi /etc/resolv.conf append a line: nameserver <IP> where <IP> is the IP Address of your router - for example: nameserver 192.168.1.1

Stock Firmware
You can revert to the stock firmware using the standard Buffalo firmware updater (available for download from Buffalo). If the version you are reverting to is less than the current "claimed" version in your linkstation, see the FAQ which addresses this.



1 - Check the LinkStation firmware version
You can obtain the version number by calling "Maintenance/System Status" in the web interface or by running the IP setup software which comes with the LinkStation. You also can identify the LinkStation firmware version by checking for a small cable selection switch (below the red init button) on the back of the LinkStation. Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations have such a switch; mipsel-hdhlan and powerpc-hdhglan LinkStations do not. Different firmware versions and architectures are NOT interchangeable; they are for different hardware versions.
 * Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations use 1.x firmware
 * Mipsel-hdhlan LinkStations use 2.x firmware.
 * Powerpc-hdhglan LinkStation also uses 1.x firmware but features gigabit ethernet connectivity.

2 - The firmware updater
only runs under Windows. Users of other operating systems must manually flash the LinkStation.

3 - Reduce the possibility of serious errors
connect the LinkStation directly to your PC and disable any firewall(s), including the Windows XP firewall. Users with powerpc-hdhlan LinkStations must activate the cable selection switch by moving it down (there is a little "x" icon)

4 - Make sure the LinkStation and your PC are on the same sub-network
See Section 3 above (Connect the LinkStation directly to your PC). Your LinkStation's IP address will probably be 192.168.11.150. If so, change your PC's IP address to 192.168.11.1, and default gateway 192.168.1.1. In Windows XP, you may also need to change the NetBios setting (WINS settings in Advanced tab of TCP/IP properties) from 'Default' to 'Enable BIOS'

5 - Run the firmware updater executable
(HD-HLAN FWUpdate.exe</tt> for the powerpc-hdhlan and mipsel-hdhlan, HD-HGLAN FWUpdate.exe</tt> for the powerpc-hdhglan, HS-DGL FWUpdate.exe</tt> for the powerpc-hsdgl). Do not disconnect the LinkStation or in any other way interrupt the flash process. Interrupting the flash process can result in serious damage to your LinkStation!

CAUTION! If you experience problems loading the updater (e.g. no dialogue box appears), try creating a shortcut, right click, properties, check the compatibility mode for Windows 2000.

6 - Crossover Switch and revert to previous settings
Powerpc-hdhlan LinkStation users will need to return the crossover switch to its original position. Then reconnect the LinkStation to your Router (device in a network that handles message transfer between computers) or Hub (device used to connect several computers together), and undo any changes you made to the PC's IP settings before connecting to the LinkStation.