Fix for DSM 5.0 and 5.1 updates failing on Synology NAS

For the past several months I have been receiving regular e-mail notifications from my DS213+ that a system update is ready to be applied, I’d proceed to open Control Panel > Update & Restore with an Administrator level User account and hit Update. Nothing would happen…

Here’s the fix straight from Synology Support which is not mentioned on any well ranked forums or posts when searching for this error. I’ve pasted the original from Synology Support as well as an English-friendly version.

If you have updated your NAS to DSM 5.0 and above there is no security/malware concern to be worried about. If you are receiving e-mail notifications that a new system update is available but it does not appear on the Update & Restore screen please do the following:

  1. Open Control Panel > Network as an Administrator level User account
  2. Under the DNS options on this screen set the following primary and secondary DNS entriesPrimary: 8.8.8.8
    Secondary: 8.8.4.4
  3. Click Save Changes
  4. Open Control > Update & Restore and click Update Now

Original response from Synology Support:

If you have managed to update system to DSM 5.0 there has security concern that needs to be worried. On the other hand regarding e-mail you received has a new software for update but no update was available on system, please apply Google DNS 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4. for your DiskStation under Control Panel > Network > General (Preferred DNS Server) for changes to take effect. Then, check if the issue resolves then. – Technical Support, Synology

Update: This post seems relevant for DSM 5.1 users too…

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Michael Visser

I'm a WordPress Plugin developer, UAV & Raspberry Pi enthusiast and general tinkerer. This visser.io domain serves as my development playground for non-WordPress Plugin projects.

24 thoughts on “Fix for DSM 5.0 and 5.1 updates failing on Synology NAS”

  1. Still relevant today 3/6/2017. Changed to google’s name servers, performed update, switched names servers back.

  2. You Rock! This worked perfectly.
    I wasted hours on other sites trying fixes that didn’t work, then fortunately stumbled across your site.
    Thanks!!!!

  3. I just had the same problem on my DS213 and found out that even if my LAN2 connection was not in use and was set as Disconnected in Network it messed up the routing.

    I managed to get my system updated by logging in via SSH and taking down the network interface manually by issuing the command “ifconfig eth1 down”

    Hope this helps
    @lfa

  4. the supposed fix does not work on mine… i have 3 synology devices but for the DS213 does not work.. maybe it’s time to start using QNAS if you guys cannot have this fixed!!

  5. Thanks! This also resolves my problem that download station does not display any torrents, because of DNS. In my setting diskstation has a static ip.

  6. I am able to update fine with the default setting of “Newest DSM and all updates”, but when I choose “Important updates only” it starts to download but fails after a few seconds. I have tried the DNS fix but there’s no difference.. My Internet works fine so not sure what the problem could be.

  7. Also thanks!
    Worked for DS413 on DSM 5.0-4528 to 5.1-5004
    This was a top hit for “dsm 5.1 update failed”. There seem to be multiple official threads about the dns settings breaking the internet for 5.1, which is strange that something goes wrong for 5.0.

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