To everyone wondering about installing Debian (OMV) on MCH.
I tried it and it works .
@ahmedespo to reinstall a clean version on Debian:
Turn off your MCH device and remove the power cord.
Plug the USB containing the extracted files from wd-mycloud-home-debian.7z (link in the first post) in the MCH port.
While holding the Reset button, plug in the power cord. (Don’t release the reset button, yet)
The MCH light indicator will rapidly flash and than it will dim to a steady light. (This might take around 20 seconds maybe)
Now you can release the reset button.
The process might take 3 to 5 minutes. The device will reboot after installation.
Don’t remove the USB until your device is discoverable on the network under “wdnas”.
I’m new dealing with WD, but I have experience with Linux. I’m not sure about this, and I hope you can resolve my doubts:
Could I use this on my WD Home Duo?
Does the Debian OS remove all the WD previous OS?
Could I access to the device from a different network after installing?
Could I install a different cloud, as Nextcloud, in this Debian distribution?
Will this NextCloud accessible from a different network of my local?
If someone could guide me in this objective it will be more than welcome.
My Cloud Home and My Cloud Home Duo are 2 different devices.
Since you are able to swap HDD on the Duo device, this may change the whole process of Installing Debian.
Hello, you cannot use this on the Home Duo, they are different devices, Home Duo has a 4GB eMMC, that´s where the OS resides, I manage to make a rescue usb that boots into minimal linux (for rooting or make changes on the OS), the info is on one of my post, and right now i manage to install OMV but have limitations and is not an easy process. Right now i manage to repartition the eMMC and install debian 10, but i have an error trying to install OMV5, I working with someone from 4pda forum to try to make an script to make easier the installation process. By the way in this case if you want to install debian, you lose the original firmware, but you alway can recover it if you make a full backup of the eMMC
Recently I recover an old pogoplug V4 with a 16GB USB, with an Arch Linux and Nextcloud, but it is very very slow. That’s why I’m thinking about a similar process over the WD HDD.
If I can help you in this project, I will be glad to add my effort
Hello, you can make a clean root base with debootstrap. Right now debian 10 works very well, but have some problems installing things like docker. I manage to even edit the emmc to have more space, and even running the os from 1 of the sata disks, but the method that i publish is messy and dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Right know the original author of omv for the cloud home bought an home duo, and is working on it; (unlike me) he knows what he is doing and i’m confident that he can managed to make an easier and safer method to install debian
Thank you very much for you answer. For the guide I’ll take a closer look later, because it’s the first time for me with this “unusual” installation. For restoring I didn’t get how to manage the backup I’ve made some months ago. I would be grateful if you could write a guide on how to restore the backup, also to help others because there is still no guide on how to do it.
Right now I’ve only a folder with this content:
01-fwtable.backup
04-rootfs_b.backup
06-ftd_b.backup
08-kernel_b.backup
11-afw_b.backup
bootConfig
data.backup.tar
system_b.backup.tar
and idk how to use dd (sorry for bothering you, but I didn’t found anything about this procedure, and now I’ve found someone who knows how to). Will this erase all my data?
Sorry, I think that you were talking about the duo. For restoring your firmware look in to the files from fox_exe (Clean OS (Debian), OpenMediaVault and other "firmwares") there you have instructions on how to restore your original firmware (the installer makes an automated backup, the files that you have with a backup extension are what you need), and if you use the installer of omv, you automatically get debian + omv, if you only want debian enter with ssh and remove omv with apt command. I don’t know if you are going to loose any data, I only have the cloud home duo and works in a different way (mine has 4 gb emmc where the OS resides, and the cloud home with one disk has the OS on the sata disk)
is not an installer, is a image. the installer is what forth32 make for installing omv on the home cloud (the files I think you use, and create that backup files). the method that I was talking about (debootstrap) is to make a clean image and maybe works on yours, you just need to tar the “var”, “usr” and “root”, and then untar it on the respective partitions (because you can not modified the partitions on the disk, unless you know how to edit the fwtable file), please be careful with all that i tell you, because i dont understand very much about this myself, if you want to know exactly what the installer do, and how you can revert or modify the OS, I recommend you decompress the rescue.root.sata.cpio.gz_pad.img (is a gz file) and view the rc file on the etc folder
This is very interesting. As I understood I can use debootstrap from the USB with rescue files which gives me a ssh. At that point we have to use the debootstrap to download the files into the right place. Another thing that I didn’t understand is bootloader (grub) and the kernel. It seems that we don’t have grub and the kernel is the prebuilt one taken (maybe modified) from android. I suppose that because while russing apt update I never saw any kernel update in 5/6 months.
is easier using debootstrap on and image on a pc, the usb rescue linux doesn’t have the necessary files to run debootstrap. you dont need to create boot partitions, change the kernel or install grub. in fact you can not (unless you understand about embedded systems and how to change the sources) I used that guide only to make the root filesystem, nothing more, with a working ssh to access the system. You can change only the base system (all the folders and config files on the root “/”) and adapt it to the partitions that you had (unless you know how to edit fwtable, or how to change your bootloader). The kernel, has to stay the same, and you can not use grub. in the cloud home the bases system i’m talking about is the “root” “var” and “usr” tar files that are inside debian installer, they are divided like that because of space and to maintain the partitions
So what all we have to do (just to know, in case in the future devs will leave development) is just create system folder using debootstrap (root, var, urs) and put them into usb with rescue files. Using ssh, delete those folder inside the MCH and than move files from usb folders to MCH partitions (which were just wiped)?
Maybe we should write a github page with details and how-to (step by step) for everyone interested in modding their MCH (single and duo). This will hopefully help users to solv problem themselves and help devs in future.
something like that, but not exactly. Just look at the script that i tell you before, you just need to recreate the commands of the script depending of what you want, if you don’t know what a command do, just search on the web, all are basic linux commands from busybox
I have to say that I’m much impressed by this conversation and the whole thread. It helped me transform the user-adverse WD My Cloud Home device into a neat useful NAS.
The only thing I don’t quite understand is why there’s so much Android stuff on the /DATA directory - do I need all that? Does it serve any purpose? Would be great to de-clutter the directory.
Thanks to all above!
