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How to upgrade Archer C7 v2

Archer C7 v2 OpenWRT Upgrade Instructions

This is a very quick tutorial on how to upgrade the TP Link Archer C7 v2 to the latest OpenWRT image. The document is mostly for myself to remember how to do it.

Get the firmware

NOTE: In previous versions ar71xx was the target, however it is outdated and the successor of it is the at79 target.

Upgrade firmware

NOTE: "... there is no “keep-configuration” migration path from 19.07 to 21.02 for targets that switched from swconfig to DSA. The affected targets are: ath79 (only TP-Link ..." source: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/dsa/upgrading-to-2102

I did migrate from an even ealier version (18.06.04) to 21.02, so in my case I lost the configuration, see troubleshooting below.

In short:

  1. Backup settings
  2. Perform sysupgrade (you better make sure you have LAN access if you do not keep the settings)
  3. Restore settings

In long: The upgrade process from ar71xx to ath79 is described here. Luckily the Archer C7 v2 is fully supported by the new target.

Before/After Pictures

Before upgrade:

OpenWRT-18.06.04.png

After upgrade:

OpenWRT-21.02.01.png

Troubleshooting

Unable to use LuCI after restore of settings

/usr/lib/lua/luci/dispatcher.lua:427: /etc/config/luci seems to be corrupt, unable to find section 'main'

This happened to me because I did not recognize that there is no keep-configuration option when upgrading from 19.07 -> 21.02

Fix is described here by resetting the Router again:

$ ssh 192.168.1.1
root@corvus:~# firstboot
This will erase all settings and remove any installed packages. Are you sure? [N/y]
y
/dev/mtdblock4 is mounted as /overlay, only erasing files

root@corvus:~# reboot
root@corvus:~# Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed.

Links

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