Background

Infrant (recently purchased by Netgear) makes a number of Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances that are well suited for home or small business use.  These appliances run a variant of Linux and so are easily enhanced or altered beyond their original configurations.  While the web interface provides a great deal of functionality, there may be a desire for deeper levels of customization than the web interface can provide.  Enabling root access to the system is the first step in exploring these customization opportunities.

Special Note

With root access, it is possible to cause serious damage to both the appliance’s operating system as well as any data stored on the appliance.  Be extra careful when making any changes.  If root access is enabled, Netgear holds the right to deny support!

Setup

There are several types of NAS appliances made by Infrant, but these general guidelines should be applicable to all of them.  They have been tested only on the ReadyNAS NV+ appliance, so other systems may have slight variations.

The ReadyNAS support pages have a list of all available add-on downloads (including some contributed by the community).  As there are several different architectures and operating system versions, please pick the appropriate configuration when downloading the patch.

1. Download the appropriate version of the EnableRootSSH shell access patch.
2. Navigate to your ReadyNAS administrative page and login as administrator.
3. Click the “System” link (in the left-hand navigation area).
4. Click on the “Update” link (under the “System” heading).
5. Click on the “Local” tab to be presented with the option of uploading a locally available patch.
6. Click on the “Browse” button and select the EnableRootSSH file.  It is probably named something along the lines of EnableRootSSH_1.0.bin.
7. Click on the “Upload and Verify” button.
8. After the patch has been uploaded successfully, a dialog should be presented with the option to actually apply the patch.  Click on the “Perform System Update” button to apply the patch.
9. Upon successful application, the system should present a dialog requesting to reboot the system in order to activate the patch.  Reboot the system as directed.
10. When the system has rebooted, root SSH access should be enabled.  The password will initially be the same as that used for the administrative web interface.