Update firmware for Balluff IO-Link devices and network modules

May 22, 2026 | 924 words | 5 min reading time

Note

You can only update the firmware for Balluff network modules.

Please note that only network modules of the newer generations support this feature. These network modules support JSON for IO-Link interface. An update is also possible with the new generation of USB masters.

You can update the firmware of the devices in two ways:

• Via the Topology > Firmware tab to update the firmware of all network modules of the topology in one step, see Update firmware for all devices in the topology.

• Via the FIRMWARE UPDATE tab in the device details of a device to update only the firmware of this device, see Updating the firmware of a device via device settings.

You can download the firmware from the cloud so that it is available locally in the BET database. Or you can import the firmware files manually into the BET database, see Import firmware file.

Note

The update for the following network modules can only be carried out under certain conditions.

• BNI00HL

• BNI00K4

• BNI006A

• BNI008M

• BNI00HM

• BNI00HW

• BNI00H4

• BNI00K5

You can find more information on this in the “Firmware update” chapter at Known Issues.

Update firmware for all devices in the topology

1. Click on the topology name in the topology overview.

2. Then click on Firmware. All

  The following window opens:

  The currently installed firmware versions and the available firmware versions are displayed for all devices in the topology, provided that firmware updates are available. If a product is present more than once in the topology, the firmware update is always carried out for all devices of this product.

Note

You may need a password to update some devices. Please ask your manufacturer if the default password does not work.

Note

If no connection to the Balluff infrastructure for firmware update is possible, you will receive an error message.

4. Click on Download file to download the firmware versions with which the devices are to be updated.

5. Once the new firmware files have been downloaded, you can mark the desired devices for updating.

6. Click on Update devices to start the update. The following warning message appears:

  The following warning message appears:

7. Read the notice carefully and click Accept.

   If your selected devices require authentication, the following dialog appears.

8. Select your devices and enter the appropriate data for an update.

9. Click UPDATE DEVICES.

  The following warning message appears:

9. Read the note carefully and click * UNDERSTAND AND START UPDATE*.

  The firmware update is started for all devices in the topology. The progress is displayed. The current parameters of the devices are saved temporarily in an intermediate step.

The BET automatically restores the parameters for all devices whose parameter set is not changed by the update to the new firmware.

10. If no recovery is necessary, you will be informed:

11. In the event that the structure of the parameters of an IO-Link device has changed due to a firmware update, you will be informed of the differences with the following information:

12. Click Display differences to display all differences in the writeable parameters of the IO-Link device before and after the update. You can then adjust them individually.

Note

If it is not necessary to restore parameters, steps 11 and 12 are skipped.

  As soon as all devices have been updated or the parameters have been restored, the following dialog appears:

Note

If a firmware update for a device fails, you will be informed. In addition, firmware updates are saved in the activity log (LOG), see Perform troubleshooting with activity log (LOG).

12. Click Repeat to repeat the update.

Updating the firmware of a device via device settings

1. Select the desired device in the topology and click DevICES-DETAILS in the function bar.

  The detail view appears in the workspace.

2. Select the FIRMWARE UPDATE tab.

  The following tab is displayed:

FIRMWARE UPDATE tab

The currently installed firmware version and the available firmware versions are displayed for the selected device.

Note

If no connection to the Balluff infrastructure for firmware update is possible, you will receive an error message.

3. Select the desired firmware version with which the device is to be updated.

4. Click UPDATE DEVICES.

  The following warning message appears:

5. Read the notice carefully and click Accept.

   If your selected devices require authentication, the following dialog appears.

6. Mark your devices and enter the appropriate authentication data for an update.

7. Click UPDATE DEVICES.

  The following warning message appears:

8. Read the note carefully and click * UNDERSTAND AND START UPDATE*.

  The firmware update for the device is started. The progress is displayed. The current settings of the device are temporarily saved in an intermediate step and the settings are restored once the firmware update has been completed:

Once the IO-Link network modules have been updated, the following dialog appears:

Note

If a firmware update for a device fails, you will be informed. If you click on the question mark icon, you will be shown details of the failed update. In addition, firmware updates are saved in the activity log (LOG), see Perform troubleshooting with activity log (LOG).

9. Click Main View to return to the main view.

Show information about firmware

You can view detailed information about available firmware, such as the release date, compatibility information, and a change history.

1. Open the firmware update either for all devices in the topology (see Update firmware for all devices in the topology) or for an individual device (see Updating the firmware of a device via device settings).

2. Click the question mark icon () for an available firmware.

  A dialog with information about the firmware appears:

Export firmware file

You can export available firmware from the cloud or the BET database as a file and then make it available on offline systems, for example.

1. Open the additional information about the firmware, see Show information about firmware.

2. Click EXPORT COMPANY VERSION AS FILE.

  You will be prompted to save the file to the file system.

3. Choose a location, assign a file name, and click Save.

  The export is complete and you can now import the file into offline systems.

Import firmware file

1. Open the firmware update either for all IO-Link devices (see Update firmware for all devices in the topology) or for a single IO-Link device (see Updating the firmware of a device via device settings).

2. Click Import firmware file from file system.   The following dialog appears:

   

3. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the desired firmware file within the dotted frame and release the mouse button to upload it. Alternatively, you can also click within the frame area to select the file in the file system.   The firmware file is imported. The progress is displayed:

   

   Note

   If you import ZIP files that are not suitable for a firmware update, a corresponding message is displayed:

   

4. When the firmware file has been imported, click DONE.

     The import is complete and you can now update the IO-Link devices.