What should I do if my NAS device doesn’t work properly with a TP-Link Router or Switch?

Some customers may encounter problems when trying to make a NAS device work with a TP-Link router or switch. Below we list some common problems you may encounter and offer some guidance to troubleshoot.

1. The corresponding port led is not lit up with NAS connected to the TP-Link router/ switch.

a. Confirm the physical connection between the NAS and TP-Link router/switch.

b. Change another Ethernet cable (CAT5e or above), and try another port on the router/switch.

c. Set the port negotiation strategy of your NAS device to auto if you have the NAS configured for high-speed Ethernet. (if you have used your NAS on a previous LAN network and have changed these settings on your NAS settings, you will need to access your NAS through that previous network to change those settings, or else maybe perform a factory reset to reconfigure your NAS within the tp-link network). You may contact the NAS support for help if needed.

d. Contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model the NAS.

2. Cannot access the NAS when it’s connected to LAN port of a TP-Link Router/Switch. (The corresponding port led is lit up)

Case 1

a. Disable firewall on both NAS and PC.

b. Click here to change public network to private network on your computer.

c. Check if there is any advanced setting like access control or MAC filtering on the NAS device.

d. Contact TP-Link support with the results above and let us know the model number of the NAS.

Case 2

a. Check if the NAS device is in the same subnet with your PC.

b. Make sure the PC is connected to the host network instead of the guest network of the router.

c. Contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model number of the NAS.

Case 3 (Device access NAS via WAN IP and port number)

a. The NAS cannot be accessed from either WAN or LAN, click here to verify the port forwarding settings on the router.

Note: Please make sure that the port is not occupied by other services.

b. The NAS can be accessed from LAN but not WAN, please ensure that the WAN IP is a public IP address; otherwise please open port for TP-Link router on front-end device or contact ISP.

c. The NAS can be accessed from WAN but not LAN, please contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model number of the NAS.

Case 4 (Device access NAS via domain name and port number)

a. The NAS cannot be accessed from either WAN or LAN, please ping the domain name to ensure the DDNS has been configured correctly and also click here to check the port forwarding settings on router.

Note: Please make sure that the port is not occupied by other services.

b. The NAS can be accessed from LAN but not WAN, please ensure that the WAN IP is a public IP address; otherwise please open port for TP-Link router on front-end device or contact ISP.

c. The NAS can be accessed from WAN but not LAN, please contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model number of the NAS.

3. The speed is slow when device access NAS via domain name from LAN.

a. Contact NAS support and check the bandwidth supported by the NAS vendor.

b. Click here to open the ports for the specific services on the router. Please contact NAS Technical Support for information about port forwarding if needed.

c. Contact TP-Link support with the results above and let us know the domain name and model number of your NAS.

4. When a NAS device is connected to a TP-Link Router, the file Transfer speed is slow via wireless connection， while the wired speed is normal.

a. Connect your computer or smart phone to your router’s Wi-Fi, then run the Speedtest^®（www.speedtest.net）without doing any high traffic behaviors and also click here to check the wireless link speed on computer.

b. Click here to change the channel and channel width on the router.

c. Contact TP-Link support with the screenshots of the speed results and the model of the NAS.

5. Router starts dropping connection or slowing down speed after connecting to a NAS.

a. Turn off the NAS for a while and see if the problem persists.

b. Adjust the orientation of NAS and router and the distance between them.

3. Click on here to change the channel and channel width on the router.

4. Contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model number of the NAS.

6. The NAS cannot be detected or the files cannot be read with NAS connected to the USB port of TP-Link router.

In this case, the NAS device can be regarded as a normal hard drive. You could refer to the FAQs below to do troubleshooting.

What should I do if TP-Link router cannot read files on my hard drive.

What should I do if TP-Link router cannot detect my USB flash drive or hard drive.

If there is no luck, please contact TP-Link support with the results above and the model number of the NAS.