V7.20.4 [stable] is released!

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62

Its not ridiculous. I have worked with IT for 40+ years, and I can not count as high as I have seen software/firmware failed with a new release just days after the release. That includes big company like HP/IBM/Microsofts/Cisco +++++

Some tips I have posted before, mor even if its a production system.

Do not upgrade .0 version. Wait to at least .1
Do wait some weeks after a new release to upgrade to make sure no surprise are lurking in the shadows.
Read forum and see what other says.
Then upgrade a local router with same config as the remote and test it (if possible)
If all looks fine, do the upgrade, but only if its needed. Why fix some that is not broken.

IE. no auto upgrade…

I can post a list of what has broken the in stable releases from Mikrotik the last 15 years (have a list of all changes) but it may be to long to post here :wink:

From ChatGPT :slight_smile:

:white_check_mark: Major Device/Hardware Failures Caused by Updates (2004–2024)

Clear, concise, chronologically structured.

1. Microsoft-related incidents

2024 – Windows 11 KB5035853 (and related patches)

  • Broke SSD performance on multiple NVMe models

  • Some systems entered boot loops

  • Caused BitLocker recovery prompts on certain TPM firmware versions

2024 – Surface Pro 9 firmware update

  • Destroyed touch/pen functionality on thousands of devices

  • Some units were soft-bricked until Microsoft re-released fixed firmware

2023 – Windows Defender update

  • Quarantined system files on certain Windows Server builds

  • Broke system services and Hyper-V roles

2022 – Windows 11 / TPM bug

  • Some Dell and Lenovo systems became unbootable after TPM firmware sync

  • Caused repeated BitLocker recovery loops

2021 – Printer nightmare patch (KB5004945)

  • Caused:

    • BSOD on systems using Zebra and Kyocera printers

    • Print spooler failures on business networks

2018 – Windows 10 1809 Update

  • Deleted user data on some systems

  • Several laptops became unbootable due to driver conflicts

2016 – Microsoft Surface Pro 4 & Surface Book firmware

  • Broke battery management → devices drained or overheated

  • Touchscreen failures until 2017 patch

  • Sleep mode (“Surface battery drain bug”) effectively bricked some units

2010 – Windows 7 validation update

  • Incorrectly disabled activation on legitimate OEM systems

  • Some HP and Dell systems failed to boot because SLIC table was misread

2007 – Windows Vista nVidia driver release

  • Caused massive GPU failures under load on certain laptop models

  • Affected Dell, HP, and Acer systems

:white_check_mark: 2. Apple-related incidents

2023 – macOS Sonoma + firmware on T2 Macs

  • Bricked several Intel MacBooks using Apple T2 security chip

  • Devices required DFU restore; some needed board replacements

2019 – iOS 13.2 HomePod update

  • Permanently bricked thousands of HomePods

  • Apple pulled the update within hours

2017 – macOS High Sierra security patch

  • Introduced root-password vulnerability -> fixed patch then broke file sharing

  • Forced emergency re-patching causing boot issues on some iMacs

2010 – iOS 4 on iPhone 3G

  • Slowed down devices to the point of unusability

  • Class-action lawsuit in some countries

:white_check_mark: 3. HP, Dell, Lenovo, IBM

2023 – HP UEFI firmware

  • Certain HP EliteBook G8/G9 firmware updates caused:

    • TPM failure

    • Inability to boot (black screen)

    • Loss of BIOS settings

2022 – Dell BIOS 1.14 (and others) for XPS 13/15

  • Bricked laptops ("no boot, no fans, no recovery")

  • Required motherboard replacement in many cases

2021 – Lenovo BIOS update

  • Broke virtualization (Intel VT-x) on ThinkPad X1 series

  • Some units refused to POST until CMOS was physically cleared

2017 – IBM/Lenovo server firmware

  • IMM2 management firmware update caused:

    • Fan controller failures

    • System auto-shutdowns

    • Power supply modules going offline

2010 – HP Smart Array firmware

  • Disks suddenly dropped out of RAID arrays

  • Caused controller lockups and mass RAID failures

:white_check_mark: 4. Cisco, Juniper, Aruba, Network vendors

2023 – Cisco IOS XR

  • Firmware update caused memory leak → routers rebooted in a loop

2020 – Cisco ASA firmware

  • Broke VPN functionality globally

  • Forced emergency out-of-band patching on critical systems

2017 – Juniper ScreenOS update

  • Accidentally disabled certain security-module ASICs

  • Some appliances lost inspection capability until rolled back

:white_check_mark: 5. PlayStation, Xbox, NVIDIA, AMD

2022 – NVIDIA driver 522.xx

  • Bricked some laptops with Optimus (firmware-controlled power rail issue)

2016 – PlayStation 4 firmware

  • Certain models entered “safe mode loop” requiring full reinstall from USB

2009 – Xbox 360 ODD firmware update

  • Addressed piracy but bricked legitimate consoles with specific DVD drive models

:white_check_mark: 6. Android / Google / Samsung

2020 – Google Pixel 4 update

  • Broke face unlock sensors until a later patch

  • Some devices lost camera functionality permanently

2015 – Samsung Galaxy S6 OTA

  • Bricked devices with certain NAND revisions

  • Required motherboard swap

:white_check_mark: 7. Misc notable incidents

2021 – Western Digital MyBook Live

  • Firmware bug + remote exploit → devices factory-reset themselves

  • Tens of thousands of units wiped globally

2014 – Seagate HDD firmware (7200.11)

  • “Drive freeze bug” → drive bricked until patched

  • One of the most infamous firmware failures ever

2006 – Linksys WRT54G firmware

  • Bad update soft-bricked the router; required TFTP recovery

  • Affected millions of units

63

I dont know what all this fuzz is about.

I’m running stable on all my devices and had no hickups so far.

Yes, they are working on the code base. Yes, bug slip QA. Go, get a second partition and call the latest working your long-term. Things will change and bugs will vanish once you start reporting them usefully.

Due to the immense things you can do with ROS, People have the idea every strange little combination of configuration is supported, which it cant be. And sometimes its not even ROS being wrong, but your configuration.

What Mikrotik really can work on is communication to and with the community. Just a little glimpse in what is down the line could avoid lots of frustration on the user side.

cheers

64

We didn't say Mikrotik is bad, but we just think this is the right time for long term releases for v7.

65

RouterOS 7.19.6 was the most stable release within version 7. Mark it as a Long Term release. I feel that the Mikrotik development team often mixes test/beta releases with stable releases. This is unacceptable. RouterOS is a very usable and logical system. Don't ruin it!

66

Please read other articles before posting. Webfig is just broken in 7.20.4, when you require it you need to downgrade. commandline and winbox work fine.

68

I update my home/office setup tu v7.20.4 and Romon doesn't work at all anymore.

69

How to downgrade 7.20.4 to let’s say 7.20.2 on macOS? Not sure if I want to use the beta of WinBox for Mac

70

Using 6.x is not an option for newer devices where the minimum supported version (factory software) is 7.x. Also 6.x is functionally very outdated.

Inspired by a methodology that Cisco introduced a long time ago (with IOS 12 IIRC) my approach would be to have two release trains.

  • The first one is the General Deployment (GD) train. It is intended for production use on all devices (possibly except some very new models, see below). The GD train will not have betas, just a few release candidates.
  • The second one is the Limited Deployment (LD) train. New features and support for new hardware are introduced here. The LD train has both betas and release candidates. Once new functionality has matured in LD it will be merged into the GD train.

This approach (if implemented properly) ensures both stability and new functionality (albeit with some delay) for GD releases. Implementing this will probably require sweeping changes to the software development process, so this cannot be done tomorrow. RouterOS 8 would be a good starting point though.

There is something else however that MikroTik should start doing today: adopt a practice where beta1 is feature complete and subsequent betas, release candidates and patch releases only have bug fixes.

Just my two cents.

71

Get required version from https://mikrotik.com/download/archive

Drop needed files on your device in File section.
Go to System / packages and hit Downgrade.

Or you could have used search and then you found this page which describes CLI approach (basically the same as Winbox/Webfig) ...

72

You're missing the point: you're talking about methodology, but believe me, MikroTik employs incredibly smart people. It's all about management, and forum discussions are irrelevant to management; they rely on completely different data—sales, corporate customer feedback, etc. MikroTik isn't a public company, so you won't be shown all their internals. Therefore, my statement still holds true. Version 6 was stable. The fact that it can't be installed on new hardware—well, think about it, MikroTik isn't the only one; there are other vendors around. However, they have their own, equally serious problems.

73

Updated a RB3011 from 7.20.2 to 7.20.4.

Backup Function is gone away.

If you want to backup config via Winbox File - Backup no File ist generated.

Also the Script system backup save name="$[/system identity get name]-auto.backup" does exactly nothing!!

74

Sorry, was a winbox 3.43 fault. Stopped displaying new files somehow…

75

Downgraded to 7.20.2 successfully. However, to prevent more users from encountering this issue, it might be worth pulling 7.20.4 and marking 7.20.2 as the latest stable version?

76

IMO the quickset page simply needs to go. It never really worked, except maybe on a handful of devices, and even then... It’s more likely to wreck your config than accomplish anything useful.

77

I discovered that it no longer works in the existing configuration. On the main router I had 2 secrets and on the other devices on some one secret and on others the other secret. It worked until now.
Now there must be only one secret on all for it to work.

78

It was a “false alarm” - ISP had a problem somewhere on their network (and obviously my downgrade did not solve the problem). They got it fixed yesterday….

79

I also had a problem with routing after this update (IPv6 ISP). Rolled back to 7.20.1 and everything is working fine again (no any other changes on ISP modem or my router (RB5009)).

80

Imho it's valid to be present after first device boot to create an initial configuration. But once you start customizing your configuration it should become unavailable.

81

Unfortunately it seems to be as unlikely as introduction of confirmation dialogs on removing interfaces and other objects.

82

It has been asked many many times but without any effect. It is like making session/workspace files in winbox human-readable and possible to repair (e.g. JSON format). It is simply ignored.