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    Wireguard fails after reboot (2.8.0)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S Online
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Hmm, when it stops and fails to start when you try to start it manually do you see anything logged then?

      I can't replicate that on anything I have here.

      Try running pkg upgrade and see if it offers any upgrades. Something may not have upgraded.

      B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • B Offline
        Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
        last edited by Buffalo0207

        @stephenw10 When it stops and fails to start and then I try to start it manually there are no new pkg_log files. The WG pkg_log file remains on the date 13/08/25. Even when I reinstall the WG package, the log remains the same.

        I did, however, get the following error...

        check_upgrade: "Updating repositories metadata" returned error code 1 @ 2025-08-16 00:22:12

        BTW - yesterday, I reinstalled all 10 packages, in case something hadn't installed correctly.

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        • stephenw10S Online
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Yes you won't see anything in the pkg_log, that only covers the pkg install, but I'd expect to see something logged in the main log. For example when I restart it I see in the main log:

          Aug 16 02:15:46 	php-fpm 	77985 	/status_services.php: The command '/usr/local/etc/rc.d/wireguardd stop' returned exit code '1', the output was ''
          Aug 16 02:15:47 	kernel 		wg0: changing name to 'tun_wg0'
          Aug 16 02:15:47 	kernel 		tun_wg0: link state changed to UP
          Aug 16 02:15:47 	php_wg 	19350 	/usr/local/pkg/wireguard/includes/wg_service.inc: Gateway, none 'available' for inet6, use the first one configured. 'GIF0_TUNNELV6' 
          

          If any of those things failed with an error I'd expect to see that there too.

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          • M Offline
            Misterb @Buffalo0207
            last edited by

            @Buffalo0207 The problem seems to be remarkably similar to one discussed in 2023 Wireguard Site-to-Site Gateways disabled after reboot - service not starting

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            • B Offline
              Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 Can you tell me exactly where the main log is and I will download it for you. I also have WinSCP, so can access it from there if this is easier.

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              • B Offline
                Buffalo0207 @Misterb
                last edited by

                @Misterb Thanks for this. I will add a cron job to automatically install the WG package.

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                • stephenw10S Online
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  It should appear in the main system log in Status > System Logs > System > General. For example:
                  Screenshot from 2025-08-17 15-58-07.png

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                  • B Offline
                    Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10 This is immediately after I rebooted without reinstalling WG. Let me know if you need another one after WG has been reinstalled.

                    EaseUS_2025_08_18_01_32_52.png

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                    • stephenw10S Online
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      So what new logs appear there if you try to start WG when it fails?

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                      • B Offline
                        Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                        last edited by Buffalo0207

                        @stephenw10 This is immediately after I tried restarting WG (and fails) from the UI Service Status page, without restarting dpinger.

                        EaseUS_2025_08_18_02_00_48.png

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                        • stephenw10S Online
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Hmm, that was some time it booted?

                          It's triggering a bunch of rc.bootup events which seems odd. Perhaps you have something preventing it ever reaching 'bootup complete'.

                          Do you see 'bootup complete' in the system logs after booting?

                          Do you see /var/run/booting still present?

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                          • B Offline
                            Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10 Can you tell me exactly where I can see this information?

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                            • stephenw10S Online
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Bootup Complete should appear in the main system log like:
                              Screenshot from 2025-08-20 15-17-33.png

                              You can check the boot file from the CLI like:

                              [2.8.0-RELEASE][admin@t70.stevew.lan]/root: ls /var/run
                              charon.ctl                                      ld-elf.so.hints
                              charon.pid                                      ld-elf32.so.hints
                              charon.vici                                     log
                              charon.wlst                                     logpriv
                              check_reload_status                             miniupnpd.pid
                              cron.pid                                        nginx-webConfigurator.pid
                              daemon-charon.pid                               ntpd.pid
                              daemon_sshguard.pid                             openvpn_server1.pid
                              devd.pid                                        pfSense_version
                              devd.pipe                                       pfSense_version.rc
                              devd.seqpacket.pipe                             php-fpm.pid
                              dhclient.igb0.pid                               php-fpm.socket
                              dmesg.boot                                      ping_hosts.pid
                              dnsbl.pid                                       powerd.pid
                              dnsmasq.pid                                     sshd.pid
                              dpinger_VTI0_VTIV4~10.66.11.1~10.66.11.2.pid    sshguard.pid
                              dpinger_VTI0_VTIV4~10.66.11.1~10.66.11.2.sock   suricata-ctrl-socket-60565
                              dpinger_WAN_DHCP~172.21.16.239~172.21.16.1.pid  suricata_igb160565.pid
                              dpinger_WAN_DHCP~172.21.16.239~172.21.16.1.sock syslog.pid
                              expire_accounts.pid                             unbound.pid
                              filter_reload_status                            update_alias_url_data.pid
                              filterdns.pid                                   updaterrd.sh.pid
                              filterlog.pid                                   utmp
                              ipsec_keepalive.pid                             utx.active
                              
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                              • B Offline
                                Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10 Sorry for the delayed reply - I have just got back from a business trip. Anyway, this is the output from the CLI

                                [2.8.1-RC][root@pfSense.mymain.local]/root: ls /var/run
                                check_reload_status
                                cron.pid
                                daemon_sshguard.pid
                                devd.pid
                                devd.pipe
                                devd.seqpacket.pipe
                                dhclient.igb0.pid
                                dmesg.boot
                                dnsbl.pid
                                dpinger_VPNUNLIMITED_L2TP~10.240.0.2~10.240.0.1.pid
                                dpinger_VPNUNLIMITED_L2TP~10.240.0.2~10.240.0.1.sock
                                dpinger_WANV6_TUNNELV6~2001:470:1f08:84a::2~2001:470:1f08:84a::1.pid
                                dpinger_WANV6_TUNNELV6~2001:470:1f08:84a::2~2001:470:1f08:84a::1.sock
                                dpinger_WAN_DHCP~82.13.203.142~82.13.202.1.pid
                                dpinger_WAN_DHCP~82.13.203.142~82.13.202.1.sock
                                dpinger_wg1GW~10.102.1.114~10.102.1.114.pid
                                dpinger_wg1GW~10.102.1.114~10.102.1.114.sock
                                dpinger_wg2GW~10.102.100.206~10.102.100.206.pid
                                dpinger_wg2GW~10.102.100.206~10.102.100.206.sock
                                expire_accounts.pid
                                filter_reload_status
                                filterlog.pid
                                ipsec_keepalive.pid
                                kea
                                kea2fib6.cache
                                kea4-ctrl-socket
                                kea4-ctrl-socket.lock
                                kea6-ctrl-socket
                                kea6-ctrl-socket.lock
                                l2tp_opt9.pid
                                ld-elf.so.hints
                                ld-elf32.so.hints
                                log
                                logpriv
                                mdns-bridge.pid
                                miniupnpd.pid
                                nginx-webConfigurator.pid
                                ntpd.pid
                                pfSense_version
                                pfSense_version.rc
                                php-fpm.pid
                                php-fpm.socket
                                ping_hosts.pid
                                radvd.pid
                                sshd.pid
                                sshguard.pid
                                syslog.pid
                                unbound.pid
                                update_alias_url_data.pid
                                updaterrd.sh.pid
                                utmp
                                utx.active
                                wireguardd.pid
                                [2.8.1-RC][root@pfSense.mymain.local]/root: [2.8.1-RC][root@pfSense.mymain.local]/root: ls /var/run
                                kea4-ctrl-socket.lock
                                kea6-ctrl-socket
                                kea6-ctrl-socket.lock
                                l2tp_opt9.pid
                                [2.8.1-RC][root@pfSense.mymain.local]/root:: Too many arguments.
                                [2.8.1-RC][root@pfSense.mymain.local]/root: check_reload_status
                                ld-elf.so.hints
                                ld-elf32.so.hints
                                log
                                logpriv
                                mdns-bridge.pid
                                miniupnpd.pid
                                nginx-webConfigurator.pid
                                ntpd.pid
                                pfSense_version
                                pfSense_version.rc
                                php-fpm.pid
                                php-fpm.socket
                                ping_hosts.pid
                                radvd.pid
                                sshd.pid
                                sshguard.pid
                                syslog.pid
                                unbound.pid
                                update_alias_url_data.pid
                                updaterrd.sh.pid
                                utmp
                                utx.active
                                wireguardd.pid

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                                • stephenw10S Online
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  OK so the file is not present which indicates it has completed boot.

                                  Do you see the 'bootup complete' line in the system logs?

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                                  • B Offline
                                    Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10 EaseUS_2025_09_ 4_14_59_20.png

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                                    • B Offline
                                      Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                                      last edited by Buffalo0207

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                                      • B Offline
                                        Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10 I decided to do a fresh install of pfsense 2.8.1, and restored my original config.xml. The PHP_errors have now completely disappeared. However, the wireguard package still does not start at bootup.

                                        I installed the shellcmd package and noticed that wireguard has an earlyshellcmd at bootup. I think it starts, but then immediately stops as I noticed that both my wireguard gateways that I have setup on tun_wg1 and tun_wg2 in System>Routing are 'stopped' (greyed out) after a reboot - I have to manually start them both and then start Wireguard on the opening GUI page.

                                        I have uninstalled wireguard and reinstalled it, but the issue still persists.

                                        Could there be an issue in my config.xml file? I am happy to send you the relevant parts of the xml file if you tell me what to send.

                                        Otherwise, in the meantime, would you know the line of code that i can use in shellcmd to autommatically restart the two wireguard gateway interfaces so I don't have to manually start them on every reboot?

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                                        • stephenw10S Online
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          It feels more like some sort of race condition at boot. Like Wireguard tries to start on an interface that hasn't been setup yet, maybe a VPN or other tunnel type. That GIF tunnel perhaps? Can you try disabling that as a test?

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                                          • B Offline
                                            Buffalo0207 @stephenw10
                                            last edited by

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