Tutorial: SSH into Synology NAS with Useful Examples

[Carlo 4549]

Open DSM as usual in a web browser.  Once logged in Open Control Panel.
Click on the Users & Groups menu on the left.

Most likely the admin account will be deactivated. We are going to activate it for our use as well as change the password (if we do not remember it).
Click on the admin username to highlight it, then click the edit tab.

Click the box above next to "Deactivate this account" if needed so there is not a checkbox.
If you do not remember the admin password, click the Change Password button above to get this:

Type a secured password in both places and click the Save button. Use lower and uppercase letters, a number or two as well as a special character.
Click the Save button on the user screen as well to save our changes and we should now have a valid activated admin account to use for SSH.

Next, we need to enable SSH access to the NAS.
We do this easily by clicking on the left menu "Terminal and SNMP"
Make sure the checkbox is enabled for SSH and set the port to 22 if needed.

Click the Apply button to save this info.

You will need to know the IP address of your NAS. If you're not sure, click the Network menu item, then the Network tab for a similar screen to this:

You might see a "bond" or individual NIC cards which isn't that important as we just need to know the IP address.

We are now ready to SSH into our NAS. You can use a terminal from a Mac or Linux or a command shell on Windows 10 & 11.
In Windows hold with Windows Key while pressing R
Type cmd and click the OK button.
From your shell or terminal type you will launch an SSH session with the following command.  Change 10.69.0.31 to use the IP of your NAS.
SSH admin@10.69.0.31
If this is the first time you have SSHed into your NAS you may be asked to save a secured encryption key or similar so answer by typing yes (3 letters), not just y.
You will now be prompted to type your admin password. Type it and hit enter.

Go Super User
Once logged in type sudo -i

Navigate to Emby Server App Location
We can now navigate to the top level directory of our Emby Server using:
cd /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer
we can view the directory using:
ls -l

Change Directory
If we wanted to change directory to the plugins folder we could do this:
cd plugins
or
cd /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins

List Directory's Files and Subdirectories
To view items we can do ls -l

Deleting/Removing File
If there was a plugin name that is not wanted you could delete it using the rm name followed by the dll name (case matters).
If you had 2 dlls you wanted to remove named helper.dll and EmbyHelper.dll you could remove these using:
rm helper.dll
rm EmbyHelper.dll

If you had a file named EmbyScripterX.xml you wished to remove that was in the config folder you could change directory up to the parent from the plugins directory using:
cd ..
Then to the config directory with:
cd config
You could now view this directory contents with
ls -l
To delete the file mentioned above you would type:
rm EmbyScripterX.xml
If you had a file in the config directory name ReadyState.xml that you wanted to remove you would use:
rm ReadyState.xml
 

Listing the Data Directory and all your Emby Database Files
If you wanted to see how big your database files are you could navigate back up to the parent and then to the data directory with:
cd ..

cd data
or
cd /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/data

ls -lh
(note we added an h to the above command line to give us human readable file sizes)

If you had an Emby Server that starts and immediately stopped and wanted to see what the latest log file contains you could navigate to the logs directory with:
cd ..

cd logs
or
cd /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/logs

ls -lh


View the current Log File while Emby is Running
You can display the whole file quickly using:

tail -f embyserver.txt (ctrl-c to quit)

Copy a File to a New Location
You could also copy the log file to a location you can access easily in a browser using
cp embyserver.txt /volume1/homes/admin

Viewing the Admin Password Reset File
Knowledge Base: https://emby.media/support/articles/Admin-Password-Reset.html

cat /var/lib/emby/passwordreset.txt
or
cat /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/passwordreset.txt

Finishing Up
When you are finished close your SSH connection.
Reverse the first couple steps we did by deactivating the admin account until we need it again.
We can also turn off SSH again until we need it!

I hope you found the tutorial and examples useful,
Carlo
 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Carlo

[ItsDrBob 3]

This was a great help to me because I don't SSH much. Reminder to all, there is a space between cd and  /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer and case matters. Also if copying the log file to a shared directory there is a space between Embyserver.txt and  /volume1/[foldername]. Once I deleted the files identified by the Emby red banner link, and created new Emby passwords, my Emby server stayed running.

Thanks Carlo for stepping this out!

[Carlo 4549]

Glad you found it helpful.

I tried to give both the command in case someone wanted to copy/paste it as well as show screen shots. I think the screen shots show spaces a bit better.

 

[VicSupaNov 6]

My synology emby want working for a few days and I waited until I found a solution,

I followed this process as best as I could execpt the only matching file I found was the Emby.Helper.dll .

I didnt find any of the other files mentioned here (Readystate.xml and EmbyScripterX.xml)  or elsewhere. i saved a copy of the log.

but then I looked again and realized I was supposed to be in /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins/configurations#

to find those 2 files.

I was in /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/config#

which is why i couldnt find them. just posting this in case someone else made this silly mistake.

 

hopefully it works again after this

[jedtrek 4]

12 hours ago, VicSupaNov said:

My synology emby want working for a few days and I waited until I found a solution,

I followed this process as best as I could execpt the only matching file I found was the Emby.Helper.dll .

I didnt find any of the other files mentioned here (Readystate.xml and EmbyScripterX.xml)  or elsewhere. i saved a copy of the log.

but then I looked again and realized I was supposed to be in /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins/configurations#

to find those 2 files.

I was in /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/config#

which is why i couldnt find them. just posting this in case someone else made this silly mistake.

 

hopefully it works again after this

@Carlocan you confirm?  I was having the same issue as above, but everything I've read says those two files should be located in the "EmbyServer/config" folder vs. the "EmbyServer/plugins/configurations" folder.

Also, thank you for the great write up on this.

[Carlo 4549]

It should be as written using config.
But I can say it's fine to remove any files named that regardless of location so feel free to check both locations.

[1095906869 2]

非常感谢。我在 /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins/configurations#找到那两个文件

[1095906869 2]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:38 AM, VicSupaNov said:

我的 synology emby 想工作几天，我一直等到找到解决方案，

我尽可能地遵循了这个过程，我发现唯一匹配的文件是 Emby.Helper.dll 。

我没有找到这里提到的任何其他文件（Readystate.xml 和 EmbyScripterX.xml）或其他地方。我保存了一份日志副本。

但后来我又看了一遍，意识到我应该在 /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins/configurations#

找到那两个文件。

我在 /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/config#

这就是为什么我找不到他们。只是张贴这个以防其他人犯这个愚蠢的错误。

 

希望在此之后它能再次工作

非常感谢。我在 /volume1/@appdata/EmbyServer/plugins/configurations#找到那两个文件

@Carlo

[luundblad 6]

im on a new setup with few movies atm, why do i only have theese folders?  

[Luke 39701]

5 minutes ago, luundblad said:

im on a new setup with few movies atm, why do i only have theese folders?  

HI, what folder specifically are you questioning? 

[luundblad 6]

14 minutes ago, Luke said:

HI, what folder specifically are you questioning? 

Hi! See my question here at the end, trying to find something to do that

O

[Ninko 75]

How do you place a plugin file in the plugins folder? Every time I try it says, access denied.

Thanks

[Luke 39701]

4 hours ago, Ninko said:

How do you place a plugin file in the plugins folder? Every time I try it says, access denied.

Thanks

Hi, what have you tried so far?

[Ninko 75]

I'm using WinSCP, I'm logged in as admin, the plugins folder seems to be owned by the user emby, does that make a difference?

[FrostByte 5219]

9 minutes ago, Ninko said:

I'm using WinSCP, I'm logged in as admin, the plugins folder seems to be owned by the user emby, does that make a difference?

You may have to elevate yourself to SU within WinSCP.  Admin by itself doesn't have permission to write there

[Ninko 75]

4 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

You may have to elevate yourself to SU within WinSCP.  Admin by itself doesn't have permission to write there

I'm not very familiar with ssh, could you explain how I do that please?

[FrostByte 5219]

4 minutes ago, Ninko said:

I'm not very familiar with ssh, could you explain how I do that please?

In a command line utility like Terminal it's "su -i" to elevate your admin account

,but if using WinSCP there is a guide in the tutorial section here:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/103636-how-to-access-synology-nas-as-admin-or-superuser-using-winscp

Basically, you will need to do the parts in blue as you've most likely done the rest already.

[Ninko 75]

Ok, I'll try that shortly, thanks so much for the detailed guide @FrostByte!

[Ninko 75]

Thanks @FrostByte, that appears to have done the trick. 

Can I just check I understand your guide, using the following code: 

cat <<EOF > /etc/sudoers
Defaults syslog=authpriv
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
%administrators ALL=PASSWD: ALL
EOF
chmod ug=r,o= /etc/sudoers

Will reset it back to as it was? I don't like to leave things changed unless there is a reason for it  

Thanks

[FrostByte 5219]

58 minutes ago, Ninko said:

Thanks @FrostByte, that appears to have done the trick. 

Can I just check I understand your guide, using the following code: 

cat <<EOF > /etc/sudoers
Defaults syslog=authpriv
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
%administrators ALL=PASSWD: ALL
EOF
chmod ug=r,o= /etc/sudoers

Will reset it back to as it was? I don't like to leave things changed unless there is a reason for it  

Thanks

Yes, that script will force Admins to have to enter their password again when doing the sudo command which is the default and what WinSCP can't intercept and deal with.  It can only handle the initial logon password request.

If you saved both versions of the scripts, then you could run them before and after needing superuser to put things back to original.

That probably only protects you from the person who walks in behind you and does a su after you've already logged in with Admin though.  Anyone who logs into and knows your Admin password will just use Terminal/Putty and enter the password again when doing su   Always good to be safe though.

Edited May 30, 2024 by FrostByte

[Ninko 75]

7 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

If you saved both versions of the scripts, then you could run them before and after needing superuser to put things back to original.

That's exactly my plan! 

7 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

at probably only protects you from the person who walks in behind you and does a su after you've already logged in with Admin though.  Anyone who logs into and knows your Admin password will just use Terminal/Putty and enter the password again when doing su   Always good to be safe though.

It makes me feel better  

Thank you

Edited May 30, 2024 by Ninko

[Chris300 0]

I dont understand how to get into terminal on a mac sorry

 

[Luke 39701]

16 hours ago, Chris300 said:

I dont understand how to get into terminal on a mac sorry

 

@Chris300there is a mac app under utilities called Terminal that you can launch. Does that help you?

[tvipoli 0]

Can someone help me with the command for the installed plugin.

I`ve come this far, I can`t go any further.

[Carlo 4549]

On 12/4/2024 at 2:22 PM, tvipoli said:

Can someone help me with the command for the installed plugin.

I`ve come this far, I can`t go any further.

What plugin?
What are you trying to do?