Upgrading OpenWrt firmware using LuCI and CLI (2024)

• Related pages:

  • Flash Layout: provides background on how OpenWrt uses device storage space

  • Upgrading OpenWrt firmware using CLI

  • Upgrading OpenWrt firmware using LuCI

  • Keep Settings and Upgrade Compatibility

An OpenWrt sysupgrade will replace the entire current OpenWrt installation with a new version.This includes the Linux kernel and SquashFS/ext4/ubifs/JFFS2/other OS partition/s. This is NOT the same as a first time installation (factory).

Sysupgrade via LuCI or CLI works by optionally saving specified configuration files, wiping the entire file system, installing the new version of OpenWrt and then restoring back the saved configuration files.This means that any parts of the file system that are not specifically saved will be lost.

In particular, any manually installed software packages you may have installed after the initial OpenWrt installation have to be reinstalled after an OpenWrt upgrade.That way everything will match, e.g. the updated Linux kernel and any installed kernel modules.

Any configuration files or data files placed in locations not specifically listed as being preserved below will also be lost in an OpenWrt upgrade.Be sure to check any files you have added or customized from a default OpenWrt install to back up these items before an upgrade.

See this howto about extroot procedure.

For Dual Firmware Devices please consult your device page for additional information

The first part of the upgrade process is to prepare for the upgrade.

1. Setup for data migration ( keep settings ) and additional sysupgrade.conf entries

2. Export / save installed package list / manifest

3. Obtain / verify new installation sysupgrade image (and current / known good one to revert to)

This includes documenting programs and settings that will need to be re-installed or restored after the upgrade, locating and downloading the correct OpenWrt upgrade image for your hardware.

When it is possible to 'keep settings' sysupgrade will automatically preserve much of the OpenWrt OS configuration by saving and then restoring configuration files in specific common locations (including /etc/config). This will preserve things like OpenWrt network settings, Wi-Fi settings, the device hostname, and so on. Some data files and directories for additional services will need to be configured manually.

Next is the actual upgrade. The two common upgrade methods to perform the upgrade are;

• LuCI web interface System → Backup / Flash Firmware → “Flash new firmware image”

• Command-line using sysupgrade command over console or ssh

Both use the same '…sysupgrade.bin/img.gz' file (more below).

After the OS upgrade, there are usually some additional configuration steps required to;

• re-install additional packages not part of the base OpenWrt install

• configure new OpenWrt functionality or to

• update configuration files to reflect new settings or updated packages

Please see the section below with more details.

NOTE: By compiling your own custom image with an OpenWrt buildroot or generating with the imagebuilder, it is possible to remove the need to perform many of the steps above.

Most of the time you can, jumping several versions, downgrading, if the release notes or upgrade message informs you it's not possible, then you will need to plan ahead of time and factor in the time and information required to re-apply some or most of your previous configuration manually.

1. It is worthwhile not keeping settings once every 12-16 months

2. Trying to get around the advice to start with new settings when needed can result in odd issues that can be difficult to troubleshoot

See: Upgrade Compatibility for more information

A time may come when you attempt an upgrade and for whatever reason it is unsuccessful. Contingency planning is a good skill for anything in IT.

1. Have you made a backup of your current settings? (for restoration to same or earlier OS versions)

2. Do you have a copy of your current (pre-upgrade) OS version if you need to re-install? (both factory and sysupgrade or even vendor firmware may be required)

3. Do you have a spare device in case things go pear shaped or you need much more time than expected?

Set up Opkg extras and Hotplug extras to be able to use the following features:

• Automatically identify user-removed and user-installed packages.

• Save the resulting Opkg profile to /etc/config/opkg, which you can back up as usual.

• Automatically restore the profile if you keep settings, or you can restore it manually.

# Before upgradeopkg save# After upgradeopkg restore

This is an alternative to opkgextras above.Copy opkgscript to your router.Ideally in a directory which will be preserved after flashing so you don't have to copy it again.Make it executable:

chmod +x /path/to/the/opkgscript.sh

Create a snapshot of the installed packages:

/path/to/the/opkgscript.sh -v write

By default the script will save the list in /etc/config/opkg.installed, which is preserved over flashing.When you log back in after the upgrade configure the internet connectivity, run and wait until it finished with the installation:

/path/to/the/opkgscript.sh -v install

For more examples see: Additional Package Export or Restore Methods

Follow: Backup and restore

Based on the list of user-installed packages customize your backup configuration to save the files not included in the default list.Verify your backup configuration and ensure that all OpenWrt configurations and user data are going to be preserved.

In most cases, platforms that support sysupgrade, have a downloadable image labelled “…-sysupgrade.bin” …

• Images labelled “factory” or otherwise are generally not intended to be installed via an existing OpenWrt web interface.

  • FIRMWARE SELECTOR https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/

  • SEARCH USING MODEL: Table of Hardware: Firmware downloads

  • OFFICIAL DOWNLOAD PAGE: https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/

For x86 use the same image you used to install OpenWrt as a sysupgrade image as well. So if you installed OpenWrt x86-64 openwrt-version-number-x86-64-combined-ext4.img.gz you need to choose same image to do a sysupgrade if you installed Openwrt with openwrt-version-number-x86-64-combined-squashfs.img.gz you need that image to do a firmware upgrade.

WARNING: Double check you have the exact model number and in some cases country…If in any doubt about compatibility, read instructions on your device page thoroughly.If your are still unsure ask on the Forum.

NOTE: Keep a copy of images you use, you never know if you may need them again and that may be difficult if your internet is down!

See also full guide:

• Upgrading OpenWrt firmware using LuCI

• Download the desired upgrade file to your PC using a web browser

• Proceed to the LuCI upgrade procedure, below

1. Navigate to LuCI → System → Backup / Flash Firmware → Actions: Flash new firmware image.

2. Click Choose File button to select firmware image.

3. Click Flash image… to upload firmware image.

4. Verify firmware image checksum and proceed.

5. Wait until the router comes back online.

OpenWrt provides sysupgrade utility for firmware upgrade procedure.

• See CLI instructions page below:

  • Upgrading OpenWrt firmware using CLI

• Download the desired upgrade file to the local /tmp RAM drive on your OpenWrt system. The /tmp directory is stored in RAM (using tmpfs), not in the permanent flash storage.

# example downloading the OpenWrt 15.05 upgrade image for a TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND ver. 1.x routercd /tmpwget http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-15.05-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr1043nd-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin# check the integrity of the image file via md5sums (older images)wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/md5sumsmd5sum -c md5sums 2> /dev/null | grep OK# check the integrity of the image file via sha256sumswget http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/sha256sumssha256sum -c sha256sums 2> /dev/null | grep OK# the desired result is that the downloaded firmware filename is listed with "OK" afterwards##################################################### Initiate sysupgrade with your desired options# by default ( no -n ) settings are kept####################################################sysupgrade -v /tmp/openwrt-15.05-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr1043nd-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

NOTE: see extras at end of page for low memory device workarounds

• In LuCI, go to Status > Overview to verify you are running the new OpenWrt release

• In SSH, the login banner has the release information

Read the package upgrade warning and follow Opkg extras to upgrade installed packages.

The new package installations will have installed new, default versions of package configuration files.If existing configuration files are in place, opkg displays a warning about this and saves the new configuration file versions under /etc/config/*-opkg filenames.

The new package-provided config files should be compared with your older customized files to merge in any new options or changes of syntax.The diff tool is helpful for this.

• See CLI - Comparing New Package Config Options

In some cases it is not possible to 'keep settings' due to incompatibilities

See: Upgrade Compatibility

LuCI has a separate set of settings for configuration files to be preserved, however it appears to be obsolete since OpenWrt 14.07 and should be ignored.

uci show luci.flash_keep

• See CLI - Low Memory Workarounds

Default packages attitude 12.09rc2 tplink 1043nd

# Save the scriptcat << "EOF" > /tmp/listuserpackages.shecho >&2 User-installed packages are the following:sed -ne '/^Package:[[:blank:]]*/ { s/// h}/user installed/ { g p}' /usr/lib/opkg/statusEOF# Run the scriptchmod +x /tmp/listuserpackages.sh/tmp/listuserpackages.sh

Note that the script may list several packages that are part of the default OpenWrt install and will have their changed configuration files automatically backed up and restored.In addition, packages installed as dependencies of other packages may show here.It is only important to note the names of packages that you directly installed manually.Any dependencies of these packages will automatically be reinstalled when the primary package is reinstalled.

# Save the scriptcat << "EOF" > /tmp/listuserpackages.awk#!/usr/bin/awk -f/^Package:/{PKG= $2}/^Status: .*user installed/{print PKG}EOF# Run the scriptchmod +x /tmp/listuserpackages.awk/tmp/listuserpackages.awk /usr/lib/opkg/status

This script will only output a list of user (and default) installed packages.

Shows every package installed after the rom was build (flash_time), if no packages are depending on it.Packages, that are manually installed may be omitted, since one of the listed packages must depends of such a package, all manually installed packages will be installed, if the listed packages are installed:

cat << "EOF" > /tmp/listuserpackages.awk#!/usr/bin/awk -fBEGIN { ARGV[ARGC++] = "/usr/lib/opkg/status" cmd="opkg info busybox | grep '^Installed-Time: '" cmd | getline FLASH_TIME close(cmd) FLASH_TIME=substr(FLASH_TIME,17)}/^Package:/{PKG= $2}/^Installed-Time:/{ INSTALLED_TIME= $2 # Find all packages installed after FLASH_TIME if ( INSTALLED_TIME > FLASH_TIME ) { cmd="opkg whatdepends " PKG " | wc -l" cmd | getline WHATDEPENDS close(cmd) # If nothing depends on the package, it is installed by user if ( WHATDEPENDS == 3 ) print PKG }}EOF# Run the scriptchmod +x /tmp/listuserpackages.awk/tmp/listuserpackages.awk

Identify packages to be re-installed after system upgradeInformation herein that pertains to 17 or older releases and/or no longer generally advised.

This is an alternative to the script above.This command will list all packages related to any file in the whole file system that has changed from the default OpenWrt default version.

Note that the script may list several packages that are part of the default OpenWrt install and will have their changed configuration files automatically backed up and restored.In addition, packages installed as dependences of other packages may show here.It is only important to note the names of packages that you directly installed manually. Any dependencies of these packages will automatically be reinstalled when the primary package is reinstalled.

# OpenWrt 14.07 "Barrier Breaker" or earlierfind /overlay/ | while read -r FILE; do opkg search "${FILE#/overlay}"; done | sed -n -e "s/\s.*//p" | sort -u# OpenWrt 15.05 or laterfind /overlay/upper/ | while read -r FILE; do opkg search "${FILE#/overlay/upper}"; done | sed -n -e "s/\s.*//p" | sort -u