How to access Root on your Synology NAS

• First log into your Synology NAS using your administrators credentials.
• From the desktop of Disk Station Manager open Control Panel – Terminal & SNMP.
• Locate and select Enable SSH service.
• Click Apply.

Note: SSH or Secure Shell, is a method that allows you to execute commands from a terminal. In Linux, macOS and Windows, you can open a terminal window and remotely access SSH on your NAS.

• If you have enabled the Firewall on your NAS, you will receive a warning message that through SSH, it is possible that unauthorised third party apps or damage to Disk Station Manager may occur.
• After clicking OK we are notified that we will be changing the firewall rules on our NAS.
• Selecting OK again, will open port 22.

Note: As you will only be opening port 22 on your NAS, and not the whole of your home network. Only devices connected directly to your home network will be able to access your NAS via SSH.

• Log out of Disk Station Manager.

• Open a Terminal window (Windows, macOS or Linux)
• At the command prompt type: 

ssh [your NAS administrators name]@[the IP address of your NAS]

• You will be asked to give your computer an ECDSA key fingerprint, type yes and press Enter.
• Next type the password to your NAS.
• You will now be connected to your NAS via SSH, using your system administrators account.
• In order to open root type the following:

sudo -i

• You are now in the root account of your NAS.

Notes: While a terminal session will end when you close a terminal window. We prefer to exit our terminal sessions to make sure that the shutdown process has not been ignored (leaving a service or application running) when we close that window.

• As your System Administrators account opens up into your root account. You will have two terminal sessions running. So in order to close both the system admin and root sessions, at the command prompt type: 

exit

• Then to close your System Administrators session type:

exit

• You can now close your terminal window.

Note: Never leave SSH enable on your NAS if you are not using it. While SSH is a secure way to remotely access your NAS, if left open it can be vulnerable to attacks. 

• Select OK.
• Log into Disk Station Manager using your Administrators credentials.
• Open Control Panel – Terminal and SNMP.
• Untick Enable SSH Service.
• Select Apply.
• From the sidebar choose Security – Firewall – Edit Rules.
• Within the list of your Firewall rules locate Encrypted Terminal Service and untick that option.

• Wikipedia – Secure Shell (SSH).
• Synology Article – How can I sign in to DSM/RSM with root privilege via SSH?
• Mydoodads article – How to enable SSH on a Synology NAS and access it from a Windows Terminal.
• Mydoodads article – How to enable SSH on a Synology NAS and access it from a macOS Terminal.