ARC cannot connect after August 26, 2026 update on iMac (ref#O1IYSR)

[wibergip]

Is Roon Server running?

· Yes, Roon Server is turned on and running.

What do you see on your screen?

· "Looking for your Roon Server"

Please try to restart your network setup by unplugging, waiting 30 seconds and then replugging in your networking gear.

· No, the issue remains the same

Please select how you've connected your Roon Server to the internet

· Roon Server is connected by *Ethernet*

Have you checked your firewall settings to ensure that Roon is allowed through?

· Roon still won't connect even after checking this aspect

Have you verified that Roon Server is on the same subnet as your Remotes?

· My Remotes and Server are on the same subnet and I still can't connect

Sometimes the issues can be resolved with a reinstall of your Roon Remote app. Let's try to perform a reinstall and see if it helps.

· I've reinstalled the Roon Remote but it did not help

What is the operating system of your Roon Server host machine?

· Roon on a *NAS* (Synology, QNAP, ASUSTOR)

Select any of the following components that are present in your local network setup

· *VPN* installed on RoonServer or Roon Remotes

You mentioned a VPN. Have you tried disabling it?

· I tried disabling my VPN/proxy connection and Roon still won't connect

Describe the issue

After I updated the Roon remote on 26 August 2026, the Roon remote on the iMac can connect to the server but the ARC cannot connect the server.

From the "About " in the setting of Roon Remote in the iMac, the Roon Server cannot be updated and shown the sentence "error during the checking"

Describe your network setup

Same as before

[vadim]

Hello @wibergip

Here is the guide for ARC connectivity, and the section headed Troubleshooting Automatic Configuration is the relevant one:

ARC Port Forwarding

If port forwarding will not work on your network, Tailscale avoids it entirely:

ARC and Tailscale: Connect to RoonServer Without Port Forwarding

One thing in your report is worth following up alongside that. You mention the update check on your server also fails with an error, and you have a VPN on the Roon Server or the remotes. Those two together suggest the server itself is having trouble reaching the internet rather than ARC specifically being misconfigured.

So please also tell us:

• What VPN is installed, and is it on the NAS itself or only on your Mac?
• A screenshot of Settings, then Roon ARC, showing the full status text rather than just the label

If the VPN is running on the NAS, please stop it entirely rather than just disconnecting it, then restart Roon Server and check both ARC and the update check again.

[wibergip]

The VPN is not on the roon server, it is on the iphone. I have diable the VPN on my iphone but it still cannot connect to the server. When I click the roon remote on the iphone, it appears the following message as shown below.

I have tried to stop the NAS and restarted it again but the ARC still cannot connect to the server.

[Helen_Marsh]

One detail worth separating out: the message on your iPhone about notification permission being denied is unrelated to the connection failure - it only affects background playback notifications, so don’t chase that. The more telling symptom is that your server’s own update check fails with an error, because that means Roon Server on the NAS can’t reach the internet properly, and ARC can’t work until that’s fixed. Worth checking on the NAS itself whether its DNS and gateway are set (a static IP with no DNS entered is a very common cause), and whether the NAS package firewall or any security/ad-blocking package on it is filtering outbound traffic. Also try ARC on cellular data with wifi off on the phone - if it works there but not on your home wifi, the problem is your router’s loopback handling rather than ARC. When you turned the VPN off on the iPhone, was it fully removed/disabled in iOS settings rather than just the app closed? Some VPN profiles keep a system-level tunnel active. If the update check starts working again, ARC usually comes back on its own.

[vadim]

Hello @wibergip

The screenshot you sent is from the Roon app, not from Roon ARC. They are two separate apps on the iPhone, and the notification message in that screenshot only affects playback notifications, so it is not connected to what you are reporting.

Please delete Roon ARC from the iPhone, install it again from the App Store, then open it and send us a screenshot of what ARC itself shows. Nothing is lost by reinstalling it.

For the iMac, we would recommend trying the following steps:

1. Open macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network
2. Make sure Roon and Roon Server are both enabled
3. Even if they are already enabled, please toggle them off and back on
4. Fully quit Roon Server from the macOS menu bar / task bar
5. Reboot your Mac
6. After reboot, launch Roon again and check if the devices is avaliable again.

Once these permissions are refreshed and the system restarted, your audio devices should reappear.

Please let us know if the issue persists after these steps, and we’ll continue from there.

[wibergip]

I have delete the Roon ARC from the iPhone and reinstall is again from the App Store.

Please see the following screenshot of Roon ARC after reinstall and open

The steps in the iMac have done but the update check on the server also fails with an error

[vadim]

Hello @wibergip

Thank you for the screenshot and for reinstalling the app.

This mismatch occurs because your freshly downloaded Roon ARC app is on the newest version, while your Roon Server on the LDSFamilyNAS is running an older build. Roon ARC requires the server to be on a matching, up-to-date version to establish a connection.

Could you clarify how Roon Server is currently installed on your QNAP NAS? If you are running the older native QNAP package (.qpkg), please note that this legacy method is no longer supported and will not receive new updates. To get the latest Roon updates, you must migrate to a Docker-based installation using Container Station.

If you are already running Roon via Docker, you can update your server by following these steps:

1. Open your standard Roon Remote app on your Mac, PC, or iPad (while connected to your home network).
2. Navigate to Settings > About.
3. Click the update prompt next to your Roon Server to install the latest build.

Let me know how your NAS is configured, and we can guide you through the next steps if you need to migrate to Docker.

[wibergip]

My roon server is running on Docker-based installation using Container Station as instructed by your team in previous advise under Roon Remote app on iMac unable to connect to QNAP Server after update (ref#8DUEPI)

I have tried to run the Setting > About, but the result is “error” shown as following sreenshot

[benjamin]

Hello @wibergip

Thank you for the screenshot and for confirming the Docker setup, that together with fresh server logs gives us a clear picture, and it changes the direction of this thread.

Two things we can rule out straight away:

Your ARC port forwarding is working. The server’s own connectivity check completed successfully this morning, with the external port test returning a good result and ARC reporting Ready. Nothing needs to change on your router, and you do not need Tailscale.

Your NAS internet access is also fine. The earlier suspicion about DNS or the VPN was not correct, the server reaches our servers without any trouble, checks for the update successfully, and downloads the full update package to 100%.

The update is failing at the very last step, when it tries to unpack itself into the folder on the NAS where the Roon Server program files live:

Untarring new install to /Roon/app/RoonServer/.update.tmp
tar: RoonServer/Server/.roonhost/RoonServer: Cannot change mode to rwxr-xr-x: Bad address
ERROR: failed to tar xf ...RoonServer_linuxx64_207101683.tar.bz2

We can see ten attempts between yesterday and this morning, all failing in exactly this way. The storage that your container’s /Roon folder is mapped to is refusing to let the installer set file permissions, so the new build can never finish installing. Your server stays on 2.70 (build 1671) while ARC on your iPhone is on the current release, and that version gap is the only remaining reason ARC will not connect.

So this is not something you can resolve by clicking the update prompt again. That path will keep returning the same error.

What to do next

1. First, take a backup: Settings → Backups, and run a manual backup to a location outside the container.
2. Then update the container itself rather than using the in-app prompt, in Container Station, pull the latest image for your Roon Server container and recreate the container, keeping your existing data volume attached so your database and settings are preserved.

Before you do that, could you send us two things?

• The image name your Roon Server container is using, as shown in Container Station
• A screenshot of that container’s Storage / Volume settings, showing which folder on the NAS /Roon is mapped to

That second one matters, because the permission error usually points to the /Roon folder living on storage that cannot handle it, an external USB drive, an encrypted shared folder, or a mounted network share. If that turns out to be the case, moving it to a folder on an internal NAS volume will get normal in-app updates working again for you in future.

Once the server is on the current build, ARC should connect on its own.

[wibergip]

I have done the step 1 to backup in the setting of Roon Remote in iMac.

However, I have no idea in step 2 to update the container as the container station doesn’t an option Setting > Backups

As per your instruction, the image of the roon server container and the container’s Storage are attached as following:

[benjamin]

Hello @wibergip

Good news, and an apology for the extra steps. What you are hitting is a known QNAP problem that we have already fixed. It is not something wrong with your setup, and the fix is simpler than what we described earlier.

Some background, briefly. QNAP’s operating system uses an internal function on a number that standard Linux later assigned to a different, newer function. Our Docker image was calling the newer one, QNAP answered with the wrong thing, and the update stopped with the “Bad address” error you saw in the logs. It affected installing and updating alike, on every QNAP.

We released an updated Docker image, version 1.0.8, that works around this. Your container was created on 23 June, before that image existed, so it is still running the older one. Downloading the new image and recreating your container will fix the updates permanently.

Your screenshots confirm everything else is correct, so nothing needs to be moved or changed. Your backup from the last step is already done, and your library and settings are kept.

Steps

1. In Container Station, open the Images tab on the left.
2. Find Package roonserver · GitHub and pull it again to download the newest version. If you do not see a pull option on the row, use the Pull button at the top and enter Package roonserver · GitHub.
3. Open the Applications tab, select roonserver, and choose Recreate. This rebuilds the container using the new image while keeping all of your existing folders and your Roon database.
4. Wait until the container shows Running again. This usually takes a couple of minutes.

Then

1. On your iMac, open Roon and go to Settings, then About. The update should now install successfully. If it does not offer one, check the version number, it may have already updated itself during the restart.
2. Open Roon ARC on your iPhone. Once the server is on the current version, ARC should connect on its own.

You should not need to restore your backup or rescan your music, and once you are on the new image, normal in-app updates will work again from now on.

If anything does not go as described, please send us a screenshot of the container’s Logs tab and we will pick it up from there.

[wibergip]

Thanks for your advise. The ARC connect the server again.