Roon App Triggers "Damaged" Error and Devices Unavailable in Multi-Router Setup (ref#W4TP5Q)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· Roon is slow, freezing or won’t start

Roon is slow, freezing or won’t start

· Roon won’t start up at all

Tell us what's going on

· Issue: AURALiC Vega and Aries (network streamers), plus an Elac powered speaker on a separate router, all show as discovered but greyed out / unavailable in Roon. The Elac was previously working fine with this same Roon setup.

Setup: Roon Core on a Mac Mini (macOS 15.3.1, Sequoia). AURALiC Vega and Aries connect via an ASUS router (Aries direct, Vega via an ethernet switch). Elac is on a separate router entirely, same overall Roon setup, previously functioning normally.

Troubleshooting completed, no change in any case:
- Confirmed all devices on the same broadcast domain/subnet as Roon Core
- Toggled macOS Local Network permission for Roon off/on
- Disabled macOS Firewall entirely and tested - no change
- Confirmed Roon account/sign-in status fully authorized
- Investigated Activity Monitor for duplicate/competing Roon processes
- Attempted reinstall of the Roon app Current state: The Roon app in Applications now triggers a macOS "damaged, move to Bin" message on launch.
Attempted "xattr -cr" in Terminal to clear a possible quarantine flag issue - this returned two pages of "Operation not permitted" errors, suggesting Terminal lacks Full Disk Access permission. Have not proceeded further. App has been left in place, untouched, pending guidance.

Request: Please advise on (1) safely restoring a working Roon installation on this Mac, and (2) why three separate Roon Ready devices across two different routers all became simultaneously unavailable.

Tell us about your home network

· Router is the ASUS BQ16. Roon Server is on MacMini. Mac and Aries directly connected to ASUS main router. Vega connected to powered Netgear ethernet switch which itself is connected to ASUS main router. No extenders, VPNs or anything else I can think would be relevant.

2

Here is an update to this issue:

Urgent addition: possible data loss concern.

While investigating separately, I found: - Live database folder (~/Library/Roon/Database) is only 147KB - seems small for a library with ~500 songs across several playlists

  • A scheduled backup to an external drive (folder “Roon Backup Root”) contains many files, but none from today. The dates 18 July 2026 and 14 July 2026 each recur many times in the list, all timestamped 2:00pm, all showing zero bytes. Files under other dates are also zero size. This looks like a daily scheduled backup job running at 2:00pm but never writing any actual content.

  • No Roon-related folder found in Time Machine snapshots from a few weeks back.

I have not deleted, restored, or modified anything further since finding this. Can you confirm from server diagnostics whether my library/playlists are actually intact, and advise the safest way to verify or back them up given the app is currently unable to launch (see earlier message re: “damaged” error)?

3

Hey @Grahame_Miller, welcome back to the community.

We have two things to untangle here: the macOS launch error, and whether the server database itself is still intact.

First, the “damaged” message on launch usually points to a bad app install or a macOS quarantine issue, so the safest path is to remove the app from Applications, download a fresh copy from your account page, and reinstall it rather than trying to force the existing copy to launch. If the reinstall still reports damaged, we should then focus on macOS security flags and permissions before touching anything else. For the database and backup side, the backup behavior you described is not what we want to see, so please do not delete or overwrite either the database folder or that backup location yet. Our Backup guide covers the expected backup and restore flow, and it will help frame the next step once we know the server can launch again.

To understand what is going on with the library itself, we will need to enable diagnostics on your account, then have you note the exact local time the next backup runs or the app fails to launch, along with what you see at that moment. If you can also tell us whether your Roon Server data is stored only in the default user Library location, that will help us decide whether the 147 KB folder is the active database or just one piece of the picture.

Before you do anything else, please confirm whether the backup folder was created by Roon itself on this Mac, and whether you have any separate manual copy of the database or backup set on another drive. Once we have that, we can tell you the safest way to verify the library without risking the current data.

Thank you!

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Hi Benjamin,

Thank you for your response.

I’ve not done any deletions since I became aware that I had a problem. This includes your request to delete Roon and reinstall. I have a question on this. If I reinstall Roon, and it works, ie sees my Roon Ready devices and permits a connection, will it show my existing playlists, ie will that obviate the need to find backups?

I think I know the answer to this question…if it was that easy you would have said so. So at best this would get Roon back, but I’d be at square 1.

As a separate matter, I should mention that I am close to setting up a NUC that I will use exclusively for Roon in future, ie a NUC with ROCK. Basically, while I like Apple for most things I hate it when it needs to deal with anything foreign to its ecosystem. I’m going with an ASUS NUC 13 Pro as per Roon’s recommendation. Just waiting for the RAM to arrive. I mention this in case it affects your approach.

As regards backups. I had set up Roon to do Roon backups to an external drive. This is the drive that does not look good. I have also been doing Time Machine backups of the Apple Mac mini (on which Roon resides). These are stored on the Mac. I don’t know if they would have captured any needed Roon material. I’ve checked the Time Machine settings and the only exclusions are the Mac backups themselves and the external drive. I’ve had a look at a recent Time Machine backup. In the section titled Applications there is a Roon folder but I cannot look inside. I think I would need to do a backup to see its contents. I’m not doing anything like that before I hear from you.

That’s about everything I can think of at the moment.

Regards

Grahame

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Hey @Grahame_Miller,

Thanks for holding off on any changes, that’s exactly the right instinct here.

To answer your question directly: reinstalling the app and restoring your library are two separate things, and the good news is they don’t interfere with each other. The “damaged” message is a problem with the application in your Applications folder, not with your database. Your database lives separately at ~/Library/Roon, and removing and reinstalling the app does not touch it. So if that database is healthy, getting the app to launch again would bring your playlists and edits back with it, you wouldn’t be starting from square one.

The reason I didn’t simply say “reinstall and you’re done” is the 147 KB database folder and the zero-byte backups you found. Those two things together mean we can’t yet assume the live database is intact, so the sequence matters: before you remove the app, please fully quit Roon Server, then make a manual copy of the entire ~/Library/Roon folder to a safe drive. That copy is your safety net. Once that’s done, reinstalling the app is safe to do, and we can see what the database looks like when it launches.

On the Time Machine backups, I’d gently steer you away from relying on those. Roon actually advises against using Time Machine (and similar tools like Backblaze or CrashPlan) to back up a live Roon database, because the database is constantly being written to in the background and these tools can capture it mid-write, producing a copy that looks complete but is corrupt on restore. That Roon folder you can see inside the Time Machine snapshot may still be worth preserving as a last resort, but we shouldn’t treat it as a dependable backup. Going forward, the reliable path is Roon’s own Scheduled Backup feature pointed at the RoonBackups folder, which is covered in our Backup guide.

Your NUC/ROCK plan doesn’t change any of this, if anything it reinforces it. Moving to the ASUS NUC is done by restoring a valid Roon backup (or a healthy database) onto the new server, so whatever we do now to secure a good copy of your library is the same work that will carry you cleanly onto ROCK later.

So the next steps I’d suggest: quit Roon Server, copy ~/Library/Roon somewhere safe, then let me know once that’s done and whether you have any other copy of that database or backup set anywhere. From there we can look at the reinstall and confirm what’s actually in the database before anything gets overwritten.

Thanks again for being so careful with this.

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OK. I have made two copies of the Roon folder. They are saved to two external drives. Time to delete Roon from Applications and download and re-install? Any special instructions on the deletion?

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Hey @Grahame_Miller,

Excellent! Yes, it’s time to remove the app and reinstall. A few notes on doing it cleanly:

First, fully quit Roon and Roon Server if either is running (check the menu bar and Activity Monitor to be sure nothing Roon-related is still active). Then in Applications, drag Roon to the Bin and empty it. That’s all the removal needs, dragging to the Bin does not touch your database at ~/Library/Roon, so your playlists and edits stay put.

Next, download a fresh copy from our downloads page rather than reusing any installer already on the Mac. Open the downloaded .dmg, drag Roon into Applications, and launch it from there. Because it’s a clean download, macOS should let it open normally. If you still get the “damaged” message on this fresh copy, stop there and let me know — that would tell us the issue is a macOS security/quarantine flag rather than the app itself, and we’ll handle that next (it’s also why the earlier xattr command needs Full Disk Access for Terminal, which we can walk through if it comes to that).

Once it launches, tell me what you see: does it come up pointing at your existing library with your playlists intact, and do the AURALiC and Elac devices reappear? That will confirm whether the live database is healthy and let us tackle the device-availability side.

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OK. Mainly very good news. Reinstalled Roon as per your guidance. Started up and, there were my Playlists :joy: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: . Roon can see my devices however they are “greyed out”. My devices are a Auralic Vega G2 and an Elac Discovery Z3. I can understand why the Vega is grey; since the RAAT 1.1.47 Code Signing change the Vega will always be grey. However, the Elac firmware is up to date. Notwithstanding, I set the Elac as the Roon audio out and can play my playlists OK…I’m listening as I type this. Don’t understand but I’m not complaining. I’m replacing the Auralic gear with a dCS Bartok which is due in 4/6 weeks. I’ll also be setting up a NUC and installing ROCK. I expect the process for migrating my playlists to the NUC are documented on the Roon site somewhere. So, everything is good in the world.

Thank you for all your help.

Regards Grahame

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That is excellent news @Grahame_Miller!

Yes, here is some information around the Roon Server migration process:

The Elac working while greyed out isn’t a contradiction. “Greyed out” in Roon’s device list usually just means the endpoint is enabled but not currently the active zone / not fully configured, once you set it as an audio output and start playing, it works fine. So nothing’s actually wrong there.

The Vega G2 being permanently grey after the RAAT 1.1.47 code-signing change is the expected behavior you already understand. Since the dCS Bartók is replacing it in a few weeks, that resolves itself.

Happy listening! If you run into any issues along the way feel free to reach back out to us. :blush: