There have been a few other posts with instructions on how to install Synology DSM on a pc however they are mostly outdate or simply didn’t work for me. While I cannot take credit for creating these steps I will list what was successful in getting Synology DSM running correctly on a older Dell Optiplex 3010 PC. I must also state that I would not recommend running this in a production environment as any future updates may cause issues with the software.
What is Synology DSM?
From Synology.com: Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) is the intuitive operating system that powers every Synology NAS.
There are many versions of DSM available depending on your NAS model from the Synology Download center. I will link to the version I used below.
Steps to Get DSM running on a PC
Step1 – Download Tinycore-redpill
Download tinycore-redpill
https://github.com/pocopico/tinycore-redpill
The version I used was tinycore-redpill.v0.8.0.0.img.gz . There is also a good chart on the below page that lists what versions should work with which hardware.
https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/61634-dsm-7x-loaders-and-platforms/
Step2 – Burn Image
Burn IMG file to USB stick using Rufus. Rufus is a very good utility that will burn img or iso files to disks. You can download Rufus using this link https://rufus.ie/
Note to burn the correct file you must unzip the tinycore-redpill.v0.8.0.0.img.gz to get to the img file. I used 7Zip to unzip the file first.
Step3 – Boot the pc using the USB stick
Next it to boot the pc you will use as your NAS from the USB stick created with Rufus. Depending on the pc hardware you may need to change a setting your bios to allow the device to boot from a USB device. After successfully booting you can login with the username: tc and password: P@ssw0rd
If all worked well so far you should see the GUI for TinyCore. You can then click the terminal icon in the task bar area to open up a terminal session. You will need to run a few commands in the terminal window.
Step4 – Run terminal commands
Next step is to run some terminal commands to update and upgrade the TinyCore installation. To do so please run these commands from the terminal window.
./rploader.sh update
./rploader.sh fullupgradeAfter a few moments it will finish the upgrade. Next are commands that Configure System-Specific Parameters for the devices. In the same terminal windows run the below commands.
./rploader.sh identifyusb
./rploader.sh serialgen DS3622xs+ realmacAnswer Y to any questions asked during the process. I also need the IP address of the pc in order to connect to it later. To get the IP address run the below command in the terminal window.
ifconfigThe next step to get Synology DSM installed is to build the loader. To build the loader run the below commands in the terminal window. When done with build command run the second command to reboot the device. It should boot to a point where you now find the Synology NAS device using the Synology Assistant.
./rploader.sh build broadwellnk-7.1.0-42661
exitcheck.sh rebootStep5 – Download the Synology PAT file
You must now download the .pat file from Synology.
The file I used was (DSM_DS3622xs+_42661.pat). This file should be just over 350MB in size. The link I use was https://global.download.synology.com/download/DSM/release/7.1/42661-1/DSM_DS3622xs%2B_42661.pat
Step6 – Find your NAS on the network
The next step is to find the Synology NAS on the network. This can be done with the Synology Assistant software that is available to download from the Synology website.
Open the software and click the search button. At this point it should find the PC on the network waiting for you to install the DSM software.
If your device is not listed check to make sure it is power on and connected to your network. If found click on the device to bring up the initial screen to install the DSM software you download from the previous step.
When asked if you would like to have the software auto update you must choose the option of notify only as it is very possible that an auto update will break the install.
I have noticed that if it fails it will be around the 55-56% mark. If this is the case then you either have the wrong loader or wrong .pat file for your hardware. See the link above to confirm if you are using the correct versions.
When done you should now be able to open a web browser and using the IP address you found above open up the login screen as shown below.
Synology DSM install on a PC Summary
In summary for production environments I have been recommending and using Synology hardware with with official DSM software. The above process I am using in a lab environment for testing new or unfamiliar Synology apps without disturbing my production unit. That being said if you have an old pc around it may be worth some small effort to get a NAS built on it.
This was not exactly the easiest process however after some minor troubleshooting and testing a few different versions I was able to get the Synology DSM software installed on an older DELL pc. Again I would not recommend using this type of install in a production environment. As always make sure you have a good backup of any data or configurations you may have installed on this device.
This may not be the only way to get Synology DSM working on a pc but “ITFIXED it for Me”. For more “ItFixed it for Me” articles please click here.
What version pat file did you use? This would be interesting to play with.