How to install Synology Drive NAS in Linux

Download Center next Desktop Utilities next select Synology Drive Client click download next Select Document Version https://www.synology.com/en-global/su...

Got you. On Debian 12/13 the Synology Drive Client often “does nothing” after install because of either (a) missing Qt/X11 libraries, or (b) it starts to the system tray (which GNOME hides unless you enable the app-indicator extension). Here’s a fast way to fix and verify.

Quick fix (do these first)

Open a terminal and run:

# 1) Make sure common deps are present (Qt/X11, Wayland, SSL, secret storage)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends \
  libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 \
  libxcb-xkb1 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libqt5gui5 libqt5dbus5 qtwayland5 \
  libglib2.0-0 libnss3 libsecret-1-0 ca-certificates

# 2) If you use GNOME, enable tray icons so the window is visible
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-appindicator libayatana-appindicator3-1
# log out and back in (or reboot) so the extension loads

Now try launching it from a terminal so you can see errors:

synology-drive

If the UI appears or a small tray icon shows up, you’re good. If nothing still shows, keep going.

If it still won’t open, check these

1. It’s running but only in tray:

   • On GNOME without the app-indicator extension you won’t see the icon. After installing the extension above, log out/in and launch again.

2. Missing “xcb” plugin error (typical message: “Could not load the Qt platform plugin ‘xcb’…”):
   Install the rest of the xcb bits:

   sudo apt install libx11-xcb1 libxcb1 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shm0 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-shape0
   

3. Wayland session quirks:
   If you’re on Wayland and it still won’t show, either install the Wayland plugin (already done above via qtwayland5) or log in to an X11 session once to test.

4. Wrong architecture package:
   Make sure your .deb matches your CPU:

   dpkg --print-architecture
   # should be amd64 on most PCs
   dpkg-deb -I /path/to/synology-drive-client*.deb | grep -i Architecture
   

5. Broken install / deps not resolved:
   Reinstall cleanly:

   sudo apt -f install
   sudo apt install ./synology-drive-client*.deb
   

6. See logs for clues:

   ls -1 ~/.SynologyDrive/logs/
   tail -n +1 -F ~/.SynologyDrive/logs/*.log
   

   Then launch synology-drive in another terminal and watch for errors.

Common messages & fixes

• “qt.qpa.plugin: Could not load the Qt platform plugin ‘xcb’…” → install xcb/qt packages above.

• No window but process exists (pgrep synology-drive) → it’s in the tray; enable app-indicator extension.

• SSL / certificate errors when adding the server → ensure ca-certificates and libnss3 are installed, system time is correct.

If you paste the output of synology-drive when run from a terminal (or any log lines from ~/.SynologyDrive/logs/), I’ll pinpoint the exact missing piece and give you the one-line fix.