LEDE with extroot for TP-LINK MR-3420 v2

Good day, I have a TP-LINK MR3420 V2 with Attitude Adjustment 12.09-Rc1 installed for more than a year. I was wondering if there is a minimal LEDE firmware version with extroot that I can use to upgrade my old openwrt firmware to the latest one. I've read about the image builder but I'm no expert when it comes to Linux. Hoping you could help me with this. Thank you.

The v 17.04.5 firmware pre-compiled for your device can be located here: https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/17.01.5/targets/ar71xx/generic/

If you desire custom firmware, you have to build it yourself. If your extroot setup was just a matter of configuration, then you may be OK. If you compiled Attitude Adjustment too, then you will have to compile Reboot.

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I'm not sure if it would fit but, if you want to try building it yourself then I have made a guide here: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/beginners-build-guide

This lists the packages that can safely be removed if you don't need them: https://openwrt.org/faq/before_installation#which_packages_can_i_safely_remove_to_save_space

If it still doesn't fit you can save some space by removing features from busybox and including the config files in the image. First make an image that fits and set it up, and then make a new image which includes the config files and extroot.

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Be aware that "removing" packages from a pre-built image does not save any space.

Since you're going to effectively "move" the packages to the USB file system, you might be able to remove more from the ROM image than one would if they didn't have another file system for them later in the boot sequence.

See also the very recent thread in the same subject in relation to "extroot" and MR-3420

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Here is the stripped down firmware from LEDE 17.01.5. It contains both factory and upgrade images. It has minimal LuCI along with USB support for ext4 file-system. I had to remove ppp and related packages and also removed iptables, ipv6 and DHCP server to be able to get LuCI and USB support working on it. If you need any of the removed packages you cannot add LuCI support.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fNoE-TF9hEyTaIFw6Y8tuxFcZ-aMGWms

[Edit] In my opinion, the best way to setup extroot for this device is to use a custom built image with only USB support and then after setting up extroot through SSH, install LuCI and other packages as you need them.

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Thank you for your response, I will try to compile it myself and hopefully it will run. The only problem is that my computer's specifications doesn't fit the minimum requirements to run the virtual server.

Yes that is what I'm actually planning to do. I also have a TP-Link MR3020 with LEDE and extroot installed. The firmware was uploaded on this topic Tl-mr3020 + lede + extroot?.

Okay Sir thank you for your precaution

Thank you Sir, I'll try to follow your guide.

thanks pro its helpful to me