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Troubleshooting — RedderOS
// docs

Troubleshooting

For almost any problem, start with the RedderOS status shortcut on the desktop (or redder-status in a terminal): it tells you which protection is not active.

No connection

  • Tor is still connecting. Until Tor has finished connecting there is no network: this is expected. The login screen shows its status in the bottom right-hand corner. Wait a little.
  • The computer's clock is wrong. Tor will not connect if the time is far off, and RedderOS does not use NTP. Correct the time in the BIOS/UEFI.
  • The network blocks Tor. You need bridges: see Network and Tor.
  • There is no network interface. With the virtual-kernel ISO, a real laptop may have no Wi-Fi driver. Try a cable or build the ISO for real hardware (see Building the ISO).
  • A program uses UDP (voice calls, some games, QUIC). That traffic is always dropped: it is not a fault.
  • ping gets no reply. ICMP does not go through Tor, so it is dropped. To test the network, open a page in Tor Browser.

It does not boot or nothing appears

  • Black screen after GRUB. Try Text mode, no desktop. If that fails too, Serial console / debugging shows the kernel messages.
  • It runs out of memory. The normal entry copies the whole system to RAM; with the desktop you should have 3 GB or more. The serial console entry does not use toram.
  • The firmware will not boot the USB stick. The ISO is not yet signed for Secure Boot (that will come with the Redder Labs key, see the roadmap under Transparency). If your computer only boots signed systems, it will not be able to boot it.

Profiles

  • "No se ha podido abrir el perfil." ("The profile could not be opened.") The name does not exist or the passphrase is wrong; the system cannot tell you which. Check that the vault is connected before typing the passphrase, that the name is in lowercase and that the keyboard layout is Spanish.
  • "No hay ningún disco disponible" ("No disk available"). Connect a disk or USB stick of at least 257 MB that is not the boot device. In VirtualBox: Settings → Storage.
  • The profile has disappeared. Someone has created another profile in the same vault slot, or the disk has been prepared as a vault again. There is no way to recover it.
  • "Ese perfil ya existe" ("That profile already exists"). The vault already has a profile with that name and passphrase: open it instead of creating it.

Permissions

  • sudo asks for a password that does not exist. In the normal boot anon deliberately has no sudo. Restart with Temporary administrator (see Boot menu).
  • redder-profile fails without root. It needs root: use the administrator entry for this too. redder-wipe, on the other hand, works in any session.

Tor Browser

  • It takes a long time the first time. It is downloaded over Tor and its signature is verified. In an amnesic session this is repeated on every boot; in a profile it stays saved.

Reporting a problem

Include the output of redder-status and the ISO version. Do not include profile names or passphrases. If boot fails, the output from the Serial console / debugging entry is the most useful.