The router handed my DS920+ the address 192.168.1.147 for about six months, then one afternoon it quietly became 192.168.1.203 after a power blip. Every bookmark broke. Every backup job pointed at nothing.
That single afternoon is why I stopped typing numbers into the address bar for good.
A name never changes when the number does. Once your Synology answers to something like diskstation or nas, you can move it to a new router, change subnets, or reboot the whole house and it still shows up. This guide walks through the three ways that actually work, in the order I try them.
Why the IP keeps moving in the first place
Most home routers hand out addresses using DHCP, which loans an address for a set time and can reassign it later. Your NAS has no say in the matter. When the lease expires or the router reboots, a new number can land on your machine.
Names solve this by sitting one layer above the number. You type the name, something translates it to whatever the current address is, and the connection goes through. That translation is the whole game here.
Step 1: Turn on Bonjour and SMB so the name broadcasts
Before any device can find your NAS by name, the NAS has to announce itself. On DSM this happens through two services: Bonjour (Apple's version of mDNS) and the Windows-friendly SMB service.
- Open Control Panel, then File Services.
- Under the SMB tab, make sure SMB service is enabled, then open Advanced Settings and confirm Enable Bonjour service discovery is ticked.
- Switch to the Advanced tab and turn on Enable Windows network discovery to allow file server browsing.
- Click Apply and give it thirty seconds to restart the services.
That covers the broadcast side. Now the trick is getting each device to actually listen, and that depends on the operating system.
Step 2: Reach it by name from a Mac or iPhone
Apple devices are the easy win. They speak mDNS natively through Bonjour, and no setup is needed on the client at all.
Open Finder, press Command plus K, and type smb://diskstation.local. That .local suffix is the mDNS magic word. It tells macOS to ask the local network directly instead of going out to a DNS server.
On an iPhone or iPad, the Files app does the same thing. Tap the three-dot menu, choose Connect to Server, and enter smb://diskstation.local. If your machine name has a space or capital letters, mDNS does not care about the case, so lowercase always works.
Step 3: Reach it by name from Windows
Windows is where people get stuck, and it is worth understanding why. Modern Windows 10 and 11 do support mDNS, but resolution can be flaky depending on your version and whether the older NetBIOS name service is running.
Start with the simplest test. Open File Explorer and type DiskStation in the address bar, backslashes and all. On many home networks that single name resolves through NetBIOS over the local subnet and connects straight away.
If that fails, try the mDNS form instead: DiskStation.local. One of those two almost always works. When neither does, the culprit is usually that network discovery is off in Windows, so open Settings, then Network, then Advanced network settings, then Advanced sharing settings, and switch on Network discovery for your private profile.
When Windows still refuses the name
I have seen a stubborn Windows 11 laptop throw Windows cannot access DiskStation with error code 0x80070035 even with discovery on. Nine times out of ten the fix is enabling the SMB feature or restarting the Function Discovery services, but there is a faster escape hatch coming in Step 4.
Step 4: Pin the name yourself with a hosts file
When broadcasting fails or you just want a guaranteed name that never depends on discovery, edit the hosts file. This is a plain text file on each computer that maps a name straight to an address, no network chatter involved.
The catch is that a hosts entry uses a fixed IP, so you should first make that IP stop moving. In your router, find the DHCP reservation or static lease section and bind your NAS to a permanent address like 192.168.1.10. Now the number is stable and the name can point at it forever.
On Windows, open Notepad as Administrator and open C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts. On a Mac or Linux box, edit /etc/hosts with sudo. Add one line:
192.168.1.10 nas- Save the file with no extension.
From that moment, typing nas or http://nas:5000 in a browser opens DSM instantly on that machine. The downside is that you repeat this on every device, which is fine for two or three computers and tedious beyond that.
Step 5: Do it once for the whole house with router DNS
The cleanest long-term answer is to teach your router to resolve the name, because then every phone, tablet, and laptop inherits it automatically. No per-device edits.
Many routers let you name a DHCP reservation, and that name becomes resolvable on the local network. Combine a static lease at 192.168.1.10 with a hostname of nas, and most home routers will answer when any device asks for nas.
If your router firmware is limited, Synology itself can run the job. The DNS Server package, installed free from the Package Center, lets you create a local zone and a single A record pointing your chosen name at the NAS. Point your router's DNS setting at the Synology and the whole network resolves the name.
Which method fits which situation
Each approach trades effort for reach. Here is how I decide.
| Method | Setup effort | Works across whole network | Survives IP change |
|---|---|---|---|
| mDNS (.local) | None on Apple, some on Windows | Yes, per device support varies | Yes |
| NetBIOS (Name) | Low, Windows only | Same subnet only | Yes |
| Hosts file | Low but repeated per device | No, one device at a time | Only with a static lease |
| Router or Synology DNS | Moderate, one time | Yes, all devices | Yes |
For a two-laptop household, the .local name plus a hosts backup covers you in ten minutes. For a busy home with phones, a media box, and guest devices, spend the extra twenty minutes on router DNS and never touch it again.
A quick sanity check before you blame the NAS
If a name will not resolve, open a command prompt and run ping diskstation.local. A reply proves the name maps to an address and the problem is elsewhere, likely a firewall or an SMB setting rather than name resolution.
No reply at all points back to discovery being off or the wrong Server name. For a deeper reference on how these local names actually travel the network, Synology's own network settings documentation covers the server name and hostname fields in detail, and the general concept is explained well on the multicast DNS overview.
Setting it and forgetting it
Names beat numbers because they hold still while the network shifts underneath them. Give your Synology a real name, reserve its address so it stops wandering, and pick whichever resolution method matches how many devices you own.
Do that once and you will never squint at a router admin page hunting for the current IP again. Type nas, hit enter, and it just answers.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Synology IP address keep changing?
Home routers assign addresses through DHCP, which leases them for a limited time and can reassign a different number after a reboot or lease expiry. The fix is a DHCP reservation or static lease that binds your NAS to one permanent address. After that, both the IP and any name pointing to it stay stable.
What is the difference between DiskStation and DiskStation.local?
DiskStation on its own resolves through NetBIOS or DNS and works mainly on the same local subnet. DiskStation.local uses mDNS, the .local suffix telling the device to ask the network directly. Apple devices prefer the .local form, while Windows often accepts the plain name.
Do I need to install anything on my Mac to use the name?
No. macOS and iOS speak mDNS through Bonjour out of the box, so smb://diskstation.local works with no client setup. You only need to confirm Bonjour discovery is enabled on the Synology side under File Services.
Why does Windows show error 0x80070035 when I type the name?
That error means Windows found no path to the shared name, usually because network discovery is off or the SMB feature is disabled. Turn on Network discovery for your private network profile, confirm SMB is enabled on the NAS, and try both \DiskStation and \DiskStation.local. A hosts file entry is a reliable fallback.
Is it safe to run the Synology DNS Server package?
Yes, but set a public backup DNS such as 1.1.1.1 as the secondary server. If the NAS is powered off and it is the only DNS source, name resolution for the whole network can stall. With a backup in place, browsing keeps working during a NAS reboot.
