How to Update RouterOS v6 to v7: The Two-Step Path, Backups, and What the Converter Breaks

If you are searching for how to update RouterOS v6 to v7, the short answer is that the mechanics are the same as any v6 point release, but the path is not. MikroTik’s updater will only offer you 7.12.1 from a v6 box, you have to run check-for-updates a second time to reach a current release, and each hop should be followed by a RouterBOOT upgrade and another reboot. The part that costs people their weekend is not the upload; it is the configuration converter, which rewrites OSPF, BGP, routing filters and PIM-SM into v7’s new menus and does not always get it right. Do it in the order below.

Decide whether this box should move at all

v6 is not dead. 6.49.20 shipped on 3 July 2026 in the long-term channel and its first changelog line is “fixed a service security issue, home user with default config not affected”. On the v7 side, 7.24.1 is the current stable as of 21 August 2026 and 7.21.5 is long-term. MikroTik’s own policy, as endoflife.date puts it, “is not clearly defined”: a long-term release gets critical fixes until the next long-term release exists, and nothing says when 6.49 stops.

Two hard limits before you go further. MikroTik’s Upgrading to v7 page states “We do not recommend running v7 on hardware that does not have at least 64 MB of RAM.” Flash matters as much: the community thread on v6 to v7 upgrades flags 16 MB devices such as the LHG 60G as problem cases, and one long-time poster’s advice for a network that is already working is to “just update the weaker devices to latest 6.x” and leave them there.

Backup twice, in two formats, off the router

A binary backup and a text export answer different questions, so take both. From the Backup docs:

/system backup save name=pre-v7 password=<passphrase>

Default encryption is aes-sha256; since 6.43 a backup saved without a password is stored unencrypted. The same page says “We recommend restoring the backup on the same version of RouterOS”, which means this file is your rollback to v6, not your migration vehicle.

The export is the migration vehicle. From Configuration Management:

/export file=pre-v7 show-sensitive

Note what it leaves out: “The Export command does not export system user passwords, installed certificates, SSH keys, Dude, or a User-manager database.” Copy certificates and the User Manager database separately if you rely on them; the v7 page states plainly that “Direct migration from older User Manager is not possible.” Pull both files off the device with WinBox or SFTP before rebooting. A backup that only exists on the flash you are about to rewrite is not a backup.

The path: latest v6, then 7.12.1, then current

MikroTik’s instruction is to first “upgrade to the latest stable or long-term release in v6”, so start by bringing the box to 6.49.20. Then, per the Upgrade manual: “if running RouterOS v6.x, even when selecting the major release upgrade channel called ‘Upgrade’, you will only see v7.12.1 as the available version. You must first upgrade to that intermediate version, and only then will newer releases be available in the channels.” 7.12.1 dates from 17 November 2023; it is a stepping stone, not a destination.

/system package update set channel=upgrade
/system package update check-for-updates
/system package update install

After the reboot, run the bootloader step the manual calls “strongly recommended”, then reboot again:

/system routerboard upgrade
/system reboot

Switch the channel to stable or long-term, repeat check-for-updates and install, and repeat the RouterBOOT upgrade. Prefer the manual method if the box cannot reach upgrade.mikrotik.com on TCP 443: download the main routeros .npk for your architecture, drop it in the root of Files (“not inside the hotspot folder”, the manual warns) and reboot.

One more speed bump on older v7 builds. A CCR2004 thread documents the error “upgrade failed, free XXX kB disk space for a (null)upgrade” when jumping from a release older than 7.16.2 to 7.20 or later, because the old NAND layout cannot stage the larger image. The path that worked there was 7.16.2, then 7.18.2, then 7.21, with a RouterBOOT upgrade after each. If the install after 7.12.1 fails with that message, step through 7.16.2.

What the converter rewrites

The v7 page says “All known configurations will upgrade from 6.x to 7.x successfully”, and for a default-config home router that holds. Anything with routing protocols needs a line-by-line check:

• OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 merge into /routing ospf, and “to start OSPF you need to create an instance and then add area to the instance”. The forum thread’s verdict: “The OSPF conversion is rather hit or miss as interfaces and networks are replaced with interface templates.”
• BGP is a complete redesign with connection, template and session menus. Peer roles are mandatory.
• Routing filters become script-like if .. then syntax, and “unsupported options create empty entries”, so a filter can vanish silently.
• PIM-SM configuration is not preserved.
• MPLS: “Upgrade MPLS setups with caution, and make sure to backup configuration before the upgrade.”
• One poster reports the DHCP option matcher converting to code 43 instead of 60. Check any vendor-class matching you have.

Packages change shape too. Per the Packages docs, “Most of the features are combined in one routeros package”, with wifi-qcom, wifi-qcom-ac, wireless, container, user-manager, dude, ups, zerotier and a few others as separate installs. The legacy wireless package conflicts with the Qualcomm drivers, so pick one. Bridge VLAN filtering is not on MikroTik’s list of converted areas, but verify PVIDs and tagged membership against our VLAN filtering post rather than assuming.

One documented trap for rollbacks: “If a router was downgraded to ROSv6, the configuration was modified and the router got upgraded back to ROSv7, then the resulting configuration is the one that was present before the downgrade.” Edits you make while parked on v6 will not survive a second trip to v7.

When to Netinstall instead

For a 16 MB device, a box that failed mid-stage, or any router where the converter mangled OSPF, the cleaner route is the one the forum thread recommends: “Make a complete /export… nuke with netinstall, and re-config from scratch using the old export as baseline.” Netinstall “reformats the system drive, erasing all configuration and user files” while preserving the license and RouterBOOT settings, and it can install any version directly with no 7.12.1 stop. Requirements: same L2 segment as the PC, a static IP on the PC’s NIC, other interfaces disabled, and either the reset button held through power-on or /system routerboard settings set boot-device=try-ethernet-once-then-nand before the reboot. On Linux the tool is netinstall-cli, run as root.

Afterwards, import the export on v7 with /import file-name=pre-v7.rsc dry-run=yes first; dry-run “Simulates the import without making any configuration changes” and shows you exactly which v6 lines v7 rejects. Then lock the fresh box down the way our new-router hardening guide describes before it sees the WAN again. If UniFi access points hang off this router, unifiguide’s update strategy covers their side of the same problem.

Things to test before you call it done

/system resource print
/system routerboard print
/routing ospf neighbor print
/routing bgp session print
/ip route print count-only
/interface wifi registration-table print
/ip dhcp-server lease print

Compare the route count against the number you recorded on v6 before the upgrade. Confirm current-firmware matches upgrade-firmware in the routerboard output. Then from a client on each VLAN: ping 1.1.1.1, dig @<gateway> example.com, and mtr -n 1.1.1.1 to prove the default route and DNS survived the conversion. Do the least important site first, and keep the pre-v7 backup until it has run clean for a week.

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