Can I load MyCloud by FIRST attaching to my computer and then later attach to router?

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
4

Ok, this worked, both using static IP and dynamic IP.

I have my MyCloud device set up to prevent scanning and other services, since, at the moment, I’m not using it to stream music/video or backup Mac devices. This is to make sure I don’t get stuck waiting for a scan to complete.

  1. With MyCloud device attached at the router, and you sitting at your desktop, point your browser to the IP address of your MyCloud device. Log in.
  2. Choose ‘Shares’ → Public and turn Media Serving off
  3. Choose ‘Shares’ → SmartWare and turn Media Serving off
  4. Choose ‘Shares’ → TimeMachineBackup and turn Media Serving off
  5. Chosse ‘Shares’ → and turn Media Serving off

Static IP approach for local backup:

  1. With MyCloud device attached at the router, and you sitting at your desktop, point your browser to the IP address of your MyCloud device. Log in.
  2. Choose: Settings → Network → Network Services : Network Mode : click ‘Static’; choose an IP address on your local network that is not currently being used by anything else, for sure. For me this was 192.168.1.125. Choose a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
  3. Choose: Person Icon in Upper Right → Shutdown. When the front light on the device goes off, unplug from Power and from the Router.
  4. Move the MyCloud device near your computer, taking the Ethernet cable and Power cord with you.
  5. Disconnect your desktop computer from your LAN. For me, this meant merely unplugging the WiFi dongle plugged into one of my USB ports.
  6. Plug the MyCloud device into power and wait for the light to turn to blinking yellow.
  7. Connect the Ethernet cable from the back of MyCloud to the Ethernet port on your desktop computer. Wait for the light on the front on the MyCloud to turn blue.
  8. On your desktop computer go to Control Panel → Network and Sharing Center
  9. Click ‘Change Adapter Settings’
  10. Rt-Click ‘Local Area Connection’ and choose ‘Properties’
  11. On the ‘Network’ tab, choose ‘Internet protocol Version 4’ with your mouse and then click on ‘Properties’
  12. Choose , in the top section ‘Use the following IP address’ and enter the following in the boxes:
    IP address 192.168.1.2
    subnet mask 255.255.255.0
    Default gateway 192.168.1.1
    Click ‘Ok’
  13. Go to Windows File Explorer and click on ‘Network’ and wait. The MyCloud device should show up as a device in your Network (which, for now is only a network between your desktop and the MyCloud device). My MyCloud device is named “WDMYCLOUD”. To make sure it’s properly working, log in and look around to see if you can see the sharing folders.
  14. Proceed to do Windows Backup as you normally would. Windows backup “sees” the device the same way whether locally connected via the Ethernet cable or connected through the LAN normally at the Router.
  15. When Windows Backup completes, reverse the steps as follows.
  16. Point your browser to the MyCloud Device. For me, it is 192.168.1.125 (for now).
  17. Choose: Person Icon in Upper Right → Shutdown. When the front light on the device goes off, unplug from Power and remove the Ethernet connector from the back of the desktop computer.
  18. Move the MyCloud device back to the location near your Router. First plug it into Power and wait for the blinking yellow light to appear on the front of the MyCloud device. Now plug the Ethernet cable back into your Router and wait for the blue light on the front of the MyCloud device.
  19. Back at your desktop computer, you want to switch back to Dynamic IP, so go to Control Panel → Network and Sharing Center
  20. Click ‘Change Adapter Settings’
  21. Rt-Click ‘Local Area Connection’ and choose ‘Properties’
  22. On the ‘Network’ tab, choose ‘Internet protocol Version 4’ with your mouse and then click on ‘Properties’
  23. Choose ‘Obtain an IP address automatically’ and click ‘Ok’
  24. Re-connect to your network via WiFi. For me, this meant merely plugging my WiFi dongle back into the USB port on my computer.
  25. Go to Windows File Explorer → Network and look to see if you can see your MyCloud device on the network. For me it is named ‘WDMYCLOUD’.
  26. Point your browser to the device (it’s still using static IP, so, for me, it is still 198.168.1.125) and log in.
  27. Choose Settings → Network : Network Services : Network Mode and click ‘DHCP’. It took a couple of tries to get this to stick. It kept flipping back to Static. When you think about it, your browser is now pointing to the wrong IP address now, so you’ll get error messages as you click about on the screen and that’s ok. Now do this…
  28. In Windows File Explorer, click on Network and refresh the screen. Wait until the MyCloud device shows up in the ‘Storage’ area at the bottom of the display. Double click it (for me, it is name WDMYCLOUD) and in the login prompt window, note the IP address of the MyCloud device.
    29 In your browser, point to this new IP address. For me, it is 192.168.1.. You should be able to log in as usual and click around the normal control panel and see your stuff.
  29. When you are ready to run Windows Backup, it will behave normally to do a backup update since the device is still named the same on the network, but now the data is going through the WiFi network.

Dynamic IP approach for local backup:

  1. With MyCloud device attached at the router, and you sitting at your desktop, point your browser to the IP address of your MyCloud device. Log in.
  2. Choose: Person Icon in Upper Right → Shutdown. When the front light on the device goes off, unplug from Power and from the Router.
  3. Move the MyCloud device near your computer, taking the Ethernet cable and Power cord with you.
  4. Disconnect your desktop computer from your LAN. For me, this meant merely unplugging the WiFi dongle plugged into one of my USB ports.
  5. Plug the MyCloud device into power and wait for the light to turn to blinking yellow.
  6. Connect the Ethernet cable from the back of MyCloud to the Ethernet port on your desktop computer. Wait for the light on the front on the MyCloud to turn blue.
  7. Go to Windows File Explorer and click on ‘Network’ and refresh.
    You’ll see a prompt at the top of the screen: ‘Network discovery is turned off, click to change’. So click.
    Choose: Turn on network discovery.
    Prompt: ‘Do you want to turn on network discovery for all public networks’.
    Choose: ‘No, make the network … a private net’
    wait… The MyCloud device should show up as a device in your Network (which, for now is only a network between your desktop and the MyCloud device). My MyCloud device is named “WDMYCLOUD”. To make sure it’s properly working, log in and look around to see if you can see the sharing folders.
  8. Proceed to do Windows Backup as you normally would. Windows backup “sees” the device the same way whether locally connected via the Ethernet cable or connected through the LAN normally at the Router.
  9. When Windows Backup completes, reverse the steps as follows.
  10. Find out the IP address of the MyCloud device by using Windows File Explorer, go to the Storage section at the bottom and dbl-click the device (for me, WDMYCLOUD) and note the IP address in the login prompt window (but don’t log in)
  11. Point your browser to the MyCloud Device at this IP address.
  12. Choose: Person Icon in Upper Right → Shutdown. When the front light on the device goes off, unplug from Power and remove the Ethernet connector from the back of the desktop computer.
  13. Move the MyCloud device back to the location near your Router. First plug it into Power and wait for the blinking yellow light to appear on the front of the MyCloud device. Now plug the Ethernet cable back into your Router and wait for the blue light on the front of the MyCloud device.
  14. Back at your desktop computer, re-connect to your network via WiFi. For me, this meant merely plugging my WiFi dongle back into the USB port on my computer.
  15. Go to Windows File Explorer → Network and look to see if you can see your MyCloud device on the network. For me it is named ‘WDMYCLOUD’.
    16.Find out the NEW IP address of the MyCloud device by using Windows File Explorer, go to the Storage section at the bottom and dbl-click the device (for me, WDMYCLOUD) and note the IP address in the login prompt window (but don’t log in).
  16. Point your browser to the device at this new IP address and log in. You should be able to log click around the normal control panel and see your stuff.
  17. When you are ready to run Windows Backup from your desktop, it will behave normally to do a backup update since the device is still named the same on the network, but now the data is going through the WiFi network.