Synology NAS Setup: A Short and Troubleshooting Guide

Synology NAS setup: a short and troubleshooting guide

Setting up a Synology NAS isn’t brain surgery, but it can trip you up if you rush it. This guide is short, messy, and practical — the stuff you actually need to get it running. No jargon, no sugarcoating, just real steps and quick fixes when things go sideways.

Physical Setup

• Unbox it. Plug it in. Pop in the drives. Doesn’t matter if you’re doing SHR, RAID 1, RAID 5—just know what you want ahead of time.
• Connect it to your router. LAN cable, not Wi-Fi, don’t be cute.
• Power it up. Wait. It’ll beep when it’s ready.

Access DSM (DiskStation Manager)

• Open a browser. Go to find.synology.com.
• Your NAS should pop up. Click it.
• Follow the on-screen instructions. Basically, install DSM, set admin user, pick storage type.

Storage & Shares

• Go to Storage Manager.
• Create a volume. Pick your RAID type (SHR is dumb easy if you’re not picky).
• Make a shared folder. Permissions—set them now or you’ll hate yourself later.

Quick Wins

• Update DSM immediately. Don’t skip this. Security patches are real.
• Enable QuickConnect if you want remote access. It’s hit or miss but better than wrestling with port forwarding.
• Enable SMB & AFP if you want Macs and PCs to play nice.

Troubleshooting Stuff That Always Trips People Up

1. NAS Not Showing on find.synology.com

• Check your LAN cable. Swap it if in doubt.
• Make sure your PC is on the same network.
• If still nothing, hit the reset button (not full reset, just network reset).

2. Drives Not Detected

• Re-seat them.
• Make sure they’re supported drives (Synology has a list).
• If you swapped drives in a RAID, don’t panic. DSM will usually rebuild.

3. DSM Won’t Install / Update Fails

• Manual update. Download .pat file from Synology site, upload it.
• If that fails, check firewall / antivirus. Sometimes they block the installer.

4. Slow Transfer Speeds

• LAN, not Wi-Fi. Seriously.
• Jumbo frames can help if your switch/router supports it.
• Check RAID rebuilds or background indexing; that kills speed.

5. Permissions Nightmare

• Synology defaults are weird.
• Set permissions at the shared folder level, then fine-tune per user.
• If it’s a Windows network, enable “Enable Windows ACL” in advanced folder permissions.



Conclusion 

So yeah, that’s the gist. NAS up and running, shares mapped, backups maybe working. If stuff breaks, don’t panic — check cables, IP, permissions, and DSM updates first. Synology isn’t magic, it’s finicky. Once it clicks, though? Sweet, painless storage everywhere. Keep poking, it’ll work.