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How do I upgrade my Apple Time Capsule firmware?

I've become a big fan of my Apple Time Capsule. WIth the Time Machine backup software, it lets me keep all of my computers backed up without ever having to think about it, which is awesome! I just read about a firmware upgrade, however, and am baffled: how do I upgrade the device?


Dave's Answer:

As with many network devices, it can indeed be puzzling to figure out how to upgrade the firmware / software on the Apple Time Capsule, and your first guess, either the Time Machine software or Time Machine control panel, is not where you need to go. Neither seems to have much clue about the Time Capsule, per se.

(for those of you that aren't sure which is which, the Time Capsule is a physical device, a network-accessible hard drive that serves as the target for computer backups done with the Time Machine software)

Turns out that the key piece of software for updating the Time Capsule is (ready for this?) Apple's Airport Utility. Why? Because the Time Capsule is also a wireless Airport base station. Ah, so that makes some sense after all.

If there's an update available, when you start up this utility, which you can find in Applications --> Utilities --> Airport Utility, you'll see this:

apple time capsule airport utility 1

Since you want to update your Time Capsule device, click "Update".

Shortly you'll find that you've switched over to "Software Update", which will check for new software for everything Apple on your Mac:

apple time capsule airport utility 2
A tip: I recommend that you quit every other running program before you apply any software updates. It ensures that you don't get into any problems with an update trying to change a file that's in use and otherwise locked. It's just a good habit.

Sure enough, there is an update for the Airport system:

apple time capsule airport utility 3

Proceed and Software Update will dutifully download everything it needs:

apple time capsule airport utility 4

When it's done downloading - and probably rebooting your computer - you need to relaunch Airport Utility. This time it'll show up a bit differently:

apple time capsule airport utility 5

Since you'll be changing your network connection, it'll warn you that you'll go offline once the process starts:

apple time capsule airport utility 6

That's okay. Go for it...

apple time capsule airport utility 7

Once it's updated, the Time Capsule needs to reboot:

apple time capsule airport utility 8

and in a short while:

apple time capsule airport utility 9

Success. Now you know how to update your Apple Time Capsule! :-)









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Comments

Thanks for posting this! Very straight forward instructions. Helped a lot more then the Apple website. :-)
I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out why the yellow light was flashing on my Time Capsule.

Posted by: Derek at December 30, 2010 3:30 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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