I purchased a Deco BE63 3 pack a few days ago.  Part of my decision to purchase this product was its support for Apple Time Machine.  However, it appears the support of Time Machine has a major issue.  Below is a detailed description of the problem and the cause of the problem.  This post is to let others who may be having the same problem know what I have found.  I have entered a support request with TP-Link, but purhapes the community can assist with getting TP-Link's help with this problem along with a commitment and timeframe for correcting the problem.  If TP-Link support responds to this post it will help get the information to a wider group.

 

 

TP-Link Deco BE63 Time Machine Compatibility Problem

 

Subject

 

Deco BE63 Time Machine implementation advertises AFP transport instead of SMB,

preventing creation of new Time Machine backups on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1

 

Product Information

 

Router: TP-Link Deco BE63

 

Firmware: 1.3.2 Build 26040912 Rel. 40631

 

USB Drive Format: APFS

 

Client Computer: Apple Mac

 

Operating System: macOS Tahoe 26.3.1

 

Problem Summary

 

I am attempting to use the Deco BE63 USB Time Machine feature with an APFS-formatted USB

drive.

 

The Mac successfully discovers the Time Machine destination and mounts the USB share.

 

However, Time Machine refuses to create a new backup and displays:

"BackupTM can only be used if it contains existing Time Machine backups for this Mac."

followed by:

"The next major version of macOS will no longer support AFP network disks for Time Machine

backups."

The USB drive is new and contains no existing Time Machine backup.

Steps to Reproduce

 

1. Connect an APFS-formatted USB drive to the Deco BE63.

2. Enable the Time Machine feature.

3. From a Mac running macOS Tahoe 26.3.1, select the Deco USB disk as a Time Machine

destination.

4. Attempt to start the initial backup.

 

Expected Result

 

The USB disk should be accepted as a new Time Machine destination and the initial backup

should begin.

 

Actual Result

 

Time Machine refuses to use the disk because it identifies the destination as an AFP network

disk.

 

Diagnostic Results

 

1. Time Machine discovers the destination

The disk is visible and selectable in Time Machine.

The advertised volume name is:

BackupTM

 

2. Mounted filesystem

 

Command:

mount | grep BackupTM

 

Result:

//admin@BackupDisk._afpovertcp._tcp.local/BackupTM on /Volumes/BackupTM (afpfs, nodev,

nosuid, mounted by )

 

Observation:

The destination is mounted using AFP (afpfs) rather than SMB (smbfs).

 

3. Bonjour advertisements

 

Command:

dns-sd -B _afpovertcp._tcp local

 

Result:

BackupDisk

 

Observation:

The Deco advertises an AFP server.

 

Command:

dns-sd -B _smb._tcp local

 

Result:

No SMB service is discovered.

 

Observation:

The Deco does not advertise an SMB file-sharing service for the Time Machine destination.

 

Command:

dns-sd -B _adisk._tcp local

 

Result:

 

BackupDisk

 

Observation:

The Deco correctly advertises a Time Machine destination using Apple's _adisk._tcp service.

 

4. Time Machine advertisement details

 

Command:

dns-sd -L BackupDisk _adisk._tcp local

 

Result:BackupDisk._adisk._tcp.local. can be reached at BackupDisk.local.:9

dk0=adVN=BackupTM,adVF=0x81

 

Observation:

The Time Machine volume is correctly advertised as BackupTM and includes Apple's Time

Machine capability flags.

 

Technical Summary

 

The Deco BE63 correctly advertises a Time Machine destination using Apple's _adisk._tcp

service.

 

However, the destination is exposed only through AFP.

The Mac mounts the destination using:

afpfs

 

No SMB service is advertised via Bonjour.

 

Because current versions of macOS no longer permit creation of new Time Machine backups on

AFP network destinations, Time Machine refuses to initialize a new backup.

 

Request for Engineering

 

Could the firmware engineering team please review this behavior?

Specifically:

 

1. Can engineering confirm whether the current BE63 firmware intentionally exposes the

Time Machine service only through AFP?

2. Does the current firmware support SMB-based Time Machine, or is SMB support

planned for a future firmware release?

3. Is there a beta firmware available that advertises the Time Machine service using SMB

rather than AFP so that it is compatible with macOS Tahoe and newer versions of

macOS?

4. If this is a known compatibility issue, is there an estimated firmware release schedule for

a fix?