I'm migrating to a Mac mini m4 for my Roon server. At first it connected on the Mac mini but now it says a server is already running on the Mac mini and wants me to buy a new license. Now it just flips between 'connecting' and 'ready' but won't open the Roon Home page. I migrated to the Mac mini from another MacBook (copied over my setting so now I have both the MacBook and Mini. My Roon server was running on Windows and that's shutdown now. The Roon app on the Mac mini was crashing a lot so I reinstalled it but it still won't let me connect to to the Mac-mini instance (on the Mac mini or from my MacBook). Something is crossed up, what can I do next?
Step 1. Perform a backup and shutdown all endpoints and your server.
Step 2. Delete Roon
Step 3. Reboot
Step 4. Open the “Go menu” located in your Apple menu (Finder) select the drop-down “Go to folder” and then enter each line below in turn in the field to reach a given directory. Once there delete each parent directory that references the name “Roon”.
Example: When performing this action on my Macbook using “~/Library/Saved Application State” it reveals the hidden directory “com.roon.Roon.savedState”. In my example, you would select this directory for deletion.
~/Library/Application Support
~/Library/Saved Application State
/Library/Caches
~/Library/Caches
Step 5. Reinstall Roon
When reinstalling you should see a prompt requesting that you Allow “Roon” to find devices on local networks. Select “Allow”
Step 6. Power on your server and endpoints. Reinstall your backup
Then you may have to repeat the previous instructions above provided by @Suedkiez once again. Unfortunately Apple needs to respond to elements of this problem.
Thanks all for the suggestions. I was able to get it working by switching the Roon server to run on the MacBook and then switching it back to the Mac Mini (using the ‘unauthorize’). My endpoints could control the server. The Roon interface then failed on the Mac mini yet music was still playing on an endpoint. When I started Roon up again on the Mac mini, it wouldn’t connect to the Roon server.
I didn’t try to @Singleton six step process but will try that later today when I have more time. It seems like it gets confused when both the Roon Server and Roon interface are running on the same box (Mac mini). Previously, I had the Roon Server on an old PC (that was not an endpoint) but support is ending for Win10 and the PC can’t upgrade to Win11.
@Chuck_Nelson, did you use Apple’s Time Machine to do the migration described below:
If so, Roon cannot be restored on a new computer using a Time Machine migration. Basically Roon creates a unique machine ID with each installation, and performing a Time Machine migration to a new computer throws this off. On the new machine, you can install a new copy of Roon and then restore (if this is to be a Roon Server) from a backup of Roon created from within Roon itself.
I don’t remember it saying Time Machine specifically, but it did see my other Mac on the network and copied things over. It does seem to be working better now, but I don’t have Roon running on the MacBook so maybe that’s what causes the failures (both going at the same time).
I will delete and re-install on the Mac Mini. To delete the Roon app can it just be “Move to Trash” from the Finder window (the standard way to delete non-AppStore apps), or do I need to clean up the Roon server or other data separately?
@Chuck_Nelson you will need to remove the application and all supporting files from the mini before reinstalling Roon. The instructions below should be helpful:
However, first you should create a backup of Roon on your old MacBook which you used for your Roon Server. Open Roon on the MacBook and then create a backup from within Roon’s Settings → Backup and use that backup file to restore Roon on the mini so you don’t lose any of your Roon settings and history.
Thanks, I deleted the Roon app and the first two folders listed. The second two folders didn’t appear to be there (or I couldn’t find them). I followed the directions in this article to find the hidden Library files. I also couldn’t find the one @Suedkiez mentioned. But after re-installing things appeared to work much better and Roon is stable with both the Mac mini and MacBook running (Roon server on the Mac mini). However, only a couple audio sources were enabled (one RoonReady and the other a Chromecast TV). I could see my other sources but upon clicking to enable them, it would just say “Enabling” in red text and I couldn’t rename them.
I then tried rebooting the Mac mini. Then those two sources were missing, but the others were present. I could enable the new ones and provide a name for them. But the two that I had before were gone. I’m moving from the old PC-based Roon Server so perhaps there’s an issue there? But why can’t the Roon Server on the Mac mini find these other sources (especially the Roon Ready one)? I’ve tried rebooting again but the Roon Ready and Chromecast sources don’t appear.
As some additional info, the missing sources are under the “Other Network Devices” section and are connected to the same router via ethernet cables (I found another post that said the devices need to be on the same subnet). I do have a mesh system but the missing sources are all connected (hardwired) to the mesh base unit. I’ve tried rebooting the Roon Ready device (a DAC with streamer) but it won’t reappear. Is there a setting in Roon for scanning for other devices that may be missing? There is one device visible under “Other Network Devices” but it’s the Mac mini itself (via Airplay2)
Well, I think the migration might be complete. I found this FAQ https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/fire and while I didn’t have the Firewall on, I turned it on and added the Roon.app as an exception. That didn’t make the other network devices appear immediately, but after a full restart of the Mac mini, all the endpoints did (re)appear in the Roon ‘Audio’ setup. Perhaps the firewall setting didn’t make a difference (it just needed a full restart of the mini not just restarting Roon?), but I’ll leave it in place for now as everything appears to be working. Thanks for the help!
I found this FAQ