New & Improved Update OS Tool
With this latest update, we have made significant improvements to make the Update OS process more user-friendly and efficient. Read more about it here.
Edited Feb. 08, 2024 – Based on feedback for the original release of the new Update OS tool, we've changed how the tool is used in the Unraid webgui. This blog has been updated to reflect these changes.
Edited Feb. 29, 2024 - Added User FAQ section and updated our Privacy Policy.
We are excited to announce a newly improved Update OS flow for Unraid OS! With this latest update, we have made significant improvements to make the Update OS process more user-friendly and efficient.
This is an entirely new experience from the old updater and was designed to streamline the process, better surface release information, and resolve some common issues.
It is available now via the Unraid Connect plugin; to update your plugin, go to the Plugins page on your server.
This new experience is coming soon for all users in an upcoming Unraid OS release.
How the New Update OS Works
When checking for an update, the server's license information, flash information (vendor, model, GUID), and basic server details (like name, description, IP, and version) are used to validate your license and help us provide a better customer experience.
You have a few options for checking for an update.
Option 1 – Open the dropdown in the top-right of the Unraid webgui, click Check for Update
Screenshot from server with Unraid Connect installed, non-Connect servers will see an abbreviated dropdown menu
This will open a modal to display the response of the update check.
If there's an update available, you'll see the following:
Important: Review the changelog – note any potential breaking changes and known issues before continuing with your update.
Click Continue to jump to the update confirmation step.
Click Confirm and start update to start the download process.
Once the download is complete, refresh the Unraid webgui.
Notice the Reboot Required to Update message in the top left header. Click that button once you're ready to reboot.
Then lastly, confirm the reboot
Option 2 – Prereleases / Changing release branch
Many of our users like to run our release candidates (RCs), which are on our "next" branch of releases.
This will be the method for you if you want to test these releases.
Go to Tools → Update OS or click Check for Update in the top-right dropdown, then choose More Options in the modal that appears.
Clicking one of these links will take you to account.unraid.net to look at new OS release options.
- The new updater has an account sign-in requirement for downloading “next” releases. We made this change to ensure that users don’t accidentally swap into the next branch and that everyone running a prerelease has a forum account to provide feedback.
- The new updater now supports multiple releases of a “mainline” branch. For example, we can potentially release a Stable 6.12.x along with a Stable 6.13.x release.
You can view the changelog for each release and continue with the update.
Again, be sure to read the changelog closely for any breaking changes and known issues.
You'll continue and confirm the update as detailed in option 1.
Configure automated checks to be scheduled via Settings → Notification Settings
If configured, when a new version is detected, click the “Updates Available” link in the top left of the header.
Ignoring a specific release
If you use the Check for Update button in the top-right dropdown of the WebGUI and a release is available, you may opt to ignore it.
Toggle the switch in the update check modal, then close the modal.
The release will then be ignored until the next time you reboot your server.
Stop ignoring a release
This is done by using the Check for Update button in the top-right dropdown of the WebGUI; then, if there are no releases available, you'll be presented an option to stop ignoring a release.
Changes to Downgrade OS
We’ve also improved the downgrade feature and moved it to its own page at Tools → Downgrade OS. This new page allows for easier rollbacks to your previously installed release and has a much better interface to walk through the process. Be sure to read the release notes, both current and previous versions, before rolling back, as incompatibilities or manual changes could be needed before downgrading.
FAQs
When the redesigned Update OS tool redirects the user to https://account.unraid.net/server/update-os, a client side application, we provide certain server details to the Unraid.net Account app via a callback parameter. This means that server details on the Account app have not been sent to any external cloud-based server. The data is referenced via the callback initialization from your server but stays within your local browser. Only a subset of the data is transferred to any external server with additional user based actions and this is detailed in follow on FAQs.
Similar callback events are also used for other actions, such as starting a trial, extending a trial, recovering a lost license key, or any other license key-related action. The same mechanism is also used for Unraid Connect plugin user actions like signing in to their server with Unraid Connect and other similar actions.
It's important to note that most of this data is used client-side in the browser and is not transmitted to our servers. This data is used to improve user experience within the account.unraid.net application by providing elements on the page that display your server’s details.
These are all of the events that send server data to Lime Technology's/Unraid's servers:
Start / Extend Trial
- The server’s flash GUID, OS version and Auth token is sent.
Recover License Key
- The server’s flash GUID and Auth token is sent.
Replace License Key
- The server’s flash GUID, encoded license keyfile and Auth token is sent.
Update OS checking for updates uses the following
- The server’s encoded license keyfile, OS version and branch, registration expiration date (if applicable) and Auth token is sent.
Unraid Connect – Sign In/Out
- The server’s server description, USB GUID, encoded license keyfile, server name and connect plugin version is sent.
Troubleshoot Request Form
- The biggest exception to all of the above is the Troubleshooting Request Form. When a user submits this form, the following data is passed by the Unraid server and included with the support ticket created so that our support staff can more quickly and accurately diagnose server issues: apiVersion, caseModel, connectPluginVersion, description, expireTime, flashProduct, flashVendor, guid, inIframe, keyfile, lanIp, name, osVersion, osVersionBranch, registered, regGuid, regExp, regTy, regUpdatesExpired, site, state, wanFQDN
For the majority of these events, the user is required to confirm the action before the data is sent. The only exception is the Update OS page, which sends the data when the user lands on the page.
Note: The “auth token” above refers to a token issued by AWS Cognito (our single-sign-on provider). Any event that contains this token implies that sign-in is necessary.
No.
USB Flash GUIDs are stored alongside your license key, which has your email address, name, and Unraid.net account ID associated with it and are retained unless requested to be deleted.
Unraid Connect Sign In additionally stores the server name & description and is retained until a user signs out/unregisters a server with Connect. At this point, we remove data about your server and user account that is used to facilitate communication with Connect. We currently do not reset your flash backup or your certificate, as those are tied to a unique server ID that is not associated with your user account.
Questions? Comments?
Let us know in the Unraid forums!