How To Easily Update Samsung Smart TV

Smart TVs, on paper, are a beautiful union of old and new technology that should bring the ultimate in-home entertainment convenience.
On paper.
In practice, smart TVs can be a bit hit and miss, with some smart TV offerings being so awkward and unwieldy that they never get used. Of course, not every TV is created equally, and some manufacturers have managed to create a system that is not only useable but useful.

Here is how to quickly update your Samsung smart TV:

  1. Make sure your TV is connected to the Internet
  2. Press the Menu button on your remote
  3. Scroll down to Support
  4. Select Software Update
  5. Click Update Now

Here are the pictures that lead you through every step of the way:

How to update samsung smart tv   How to update samsung s

How to update samsung s

Samsung is one such manufacturer, but even their software isn’t always intuitive in every aspect.

One such aspect is software and firmware updates, which are essential for getting the most out of your Samsung smart TV, as they often enhance or add features, not to mention they can fix bugs.
Fortunately, updating your Samsung TV is not as difficult as it might first seem, so read on, and we’ll explain how to update Samsung smart TV.

How to do a Software Update on Your Samsung Smart TV

We’ll start with the easy one. If your TV is connected to the Internet and it should be if you’re taking full advantage of your smart TV features-the first step is to make sure your connection is up and running.

  • If you do not like having your TV connected to the Internet, but you still want to update your TV, you could connect it temporarily and then disconnect it again when you’re finished. If even that is too much, however, we’ll go over how to update your TV via USB in a moment.
  • For those of you updating via your TV’s Internet connection simply navigate to the system menu of your TV.
  • The exact place you will find this may vary from model to model, but is usually represented by a little cog icon in the corner of your smart hub screen.
  • You may also find a “Settings” button on your remote control that should take you directly to the same place.
  • This menu should present you with a series of submenus, such as “Picture”, “Sound”, “Network”, and more.
  • You are looking for “Support”.
  • Once you have support selected, the menu should include a “Software Update” option.
  • Select that, and then select “Update Now”, and you’re done!

Your TV will carry out the update procedure (it may switch itself off during this process) and once it is finished, you will be running the latest software. There should also be an option to turn automatic updates on along with the option to update now.

How to Update Your Samsung Smart TV via USB

Updating your TV via USB is a little trickier.

  • Firstly, you will need a blank USB drive to put the update onto.
  • Next, on a computer, head over to the Samsung support site and search for the television’s model number.
  • Once you are on the page for your model of the TV, scroll to the “Downloads” section, and there should be a list of upgrade files with names like “Upgrade File(USB type)”.
  • Download the latest one, making sure to remember where on your computer it has been downloaded to.
  • The file you have downloaded may be a compressed archive, meaning it needs extracting before you can use it.
  • The chances are, you should be able just to double-click the file and open it like a folder, but if this doesn’t work, do an Internet search on the file extension of the archived file (usually .ZIP or .RAR) and download an appropriate application for extracting it. If your file ends in.EXE, you don’t need to extract it.
  • Copy the extracted folder or downloaded.EXE onto your USB stick, being sure not to put the extracted folder inside any other folders.
  • Find the.EXE file on your USB and run it, following the onscreen prompts and making sure your USB drive is selected as the destination, and click “Extract”.
  • The software will then prepare the USB drive.

Once it is done, safely eject your USB drive and plug it into your TV. From there, the process is much the same as above, but this time the update will come from the USB drive rather than the Internet.

How to Update the Browser on Your Samsung Smart TV

The browser on Samsung smart TVs is part of the system software. In practical terms, you update the browser by updating the software. By following the steps above, you should update your browser in the process.

How to Update your Samsung non-Smart TV Software

For non-smart Samsung TVs, the process is more or less identical to updating a smart TV via USB. There most likely won’t be an option to update via the Internet for non-smart TVs.

How to Upgrade an Older Samsung TV with Newest Firmware

If your TV happened to be more than 6-7 years old, chances are all the latest Samsung updates are just not going to be compatible with your old TV.  Your best option here is to simply get a streaming box or stick like Amazon firestick, Roku, Chromecast, or Apple TV. They get constant updates and support, so they will serve you much longer than any TV.

Why is my Samsung TV Software Update not Available?

The most obvious reason for software updates not being available is that your TV is already up to date. If you are updating over the Internet, check that your connection is working. If you are updating over USB, make sure nothing on the USB drive has been renamed. You can also try using a different USB drive.

What does a Samsung TV Firmware Update do?

Firmware is a kind of software that deals with much lower-level activities than regular software, such as interfacing between hardware components and the TV’s operating system. A firmware update may fix bugs with the hardware or improve the way the TV runs on a fundamental level.

Conclusions

If you make regular use of the smart TV features on your Samsung television, keeping the software up to date is definitely in your best interests. Software updates don’t just add new features or change the design of the menus. They can often bring performance improvements or fix bugs that have crept up in the past.
For convenience, it is better to have your television connected to the Internet, as it will make updating the software considerably easier. Of course, having your TV connected to the Internet in the first place will give you access to far more functionality through your smart TV than you would otherwise have, so it’s worth being online regardless.