Pihole update (pihole -up) from 5.18.3 to version 6 failed: "please contact support"

Help
1

Expected Behaviour:

I was using the web interface for pihole and at the bottom there was the usual glowing red indicators for an update. Using putty, I logged in to pi and issued pihole -up command as I normally have. I expected the update to complete successfully as it usually has.

Please note that I am a novice at using Linux and not sure of my way around the OS.

-operating system (the first line after pihole -up command issued)
Linux RaspberryPi 4.19.93-v7l+ #1290 SMP Fri Jan 10 16:45:11 GMT 2020 armv7l

hardware:
Raspberry Pi 4

Actual Behaviour:

After I issued pihole -up command, the update began without errors until it detected unsupported OS:

   Unsupported OS detected: Raspbian 10
   If you are seeing this message and you do have a supported OS, please contact support.

  https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#supported-operating-systems

  If you wish to attempt to continue anyway, you can try one of the following commands to skip this check:

  e.g: If you are seeing this message on a fresh install, you can run:
         curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | sudo PIHOLE_SKIP_OS_CHECK=true bash

       If you are seeing this message after having run pihole -up:
         sudo PIHOLE_SKIP_OS_CHECK=true pihole -r
       (In this case, your previous run of pihole -up will have already updated the local repository)

  It is possible that the installation will still fail at this stage due to an unsupported configuration.
  If that is the case, you can feel free to ask the community on Discourse with the Community Help category:
  https://discourse.pi-hole.net/c/bugs-problems-issues/community-help/

After the update failed, a pihole -v gives this info:

Pi-hole version is v5.18.3 (Latest: v6.0)
web version is v5.21 (Latest: v6.0)
FTL version is v5.25.2 (Latest: v6.0)

Debug Token:

https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/5uJf8lSj/

Thanks for your help!
David

1 Like
2

Debian/RaspberryPi OS 10 (buster) has reached EOL in 2022 and LTS was discontinued by June 2024.

You may try to upgrade to Pi-hole v6 with the steps you've quoted above, but there's no guarantuee that this would succeed, and its OS won't receive security upgrades anymore.

You should upgrade your OS release.
Note that Raspberry Pi OS documentation discourages in-place upgrades to a new OS release, proposing to image a new SD card instead:

Warning

Before attempting a major version upgrade, make a backup.

To update the operating system to a new major release on your Raspberry Pi, image a second SD card with the new release. Use a USB SD card reader or network storage to copy files and configuration from your current installation to the new SD card. Then, swap the new SD card into the slot on your Raspberry Pi, and boot.

With that approach, keeping the old sd card would serve as a backup, allowing you to return to your Pi-hole v5 installaton by swapping the old sd card back in.

You could also try to chance in-place upgrades from 10 (buster) to 11 (bullseye) to 12 (bookworm), but procedures are quite complicated and prone to brick your system. And the time it takes to complete one such upgrade probably would have allowed to download and image the most current RPi OS several times.
I'd only recommend to even consider in-place upgrades if you have additional software installed on your Pi-hole machine that you depend on and that you can't backup by other means.

In any case, you should start on your current system by backing up your Pi-hole v5 configuration via Settings | Teleporter.

You could then shutdown the system and slot in an sd card with a freshly imaged OS from https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/. Currently, that would be based on Debian 12 (bookworm).

After that, install Pi-hole v6 as usual, and then import the Teleporter backup.

1 Like
3

I joined these forums for exactly this reason, and searching the topics led me to this thread! Exactly the same scenario!

So what I'm gathering is I have to image a new SD card with a more current OS version? Is there a way to export my current config and import it to the new version? I still have access via Putty, just no Web interface. The Pihole is still pihole-ing and pingable.

I'm kind of a novice at linux, but can muddle through

4

Thanks for your quick reply. In the hour after I posted the message above, I followed the instruction on RaspberryTips.com for doing an upgrade of the OS.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

There were many downloads and I let it complete overnight. Then I rebooted the Pi, which is where I am now.

I'm looking for the simplest/shortest path to an operational Pihole setup. If I can get back to operational, then I can take the time needed to figure out how to update/upgrade at my leisure rather than attempting to do it urgently now.

My questions are

  1. I believe this is the state my Pi is in now:

    • OS: Debian 10, Buster
    • pihole: failed update to v6 (at the command prompt pihole -v gives this
    • Pi-hole version is v6.0 (Latest: v6.0)
    • web version is v6.0 (Latest: v6.0)
    • FTL version is v5.25.2 (Latest: v6.0)
      Is it possible to downgrade pihole to the previous version I was running, 5.18.3/5.21/5.25.2 ?

  2. Is it possible to create a usable backup after having run sudo apt upgrade -y? Somehow I missed the warning in the RaspberryTips article until rereading it today.

My goal is to get back to a functional state where pihole is running while I figure out how to address the out-of-date software/firmware and I can do this at leisure instead of as an "emergency" where in my hurry I can miss warnings like the one mentioned above. Just for general info, my preference is to run on stable software where possible, rather than betas.

Thanks

5

Note the RaspberryTips article I mention above it here:

6

The simplest path would have been to follow Raspberry Pi OS's instructions and use a fresh OS image (probably on a new sd card), install Pi-hole and import your Teleporter backup as produced by your earlier v5, just as I've explained in detail above.

7

Thank you for your time.

8

Please DO NOT DO THIS because the Debian 10 /boot is too small for newer versions !!!

You can upgrade from Debian 11 to Debian 12 but PLEASE DO NOT UPGRADE from 10 to 11 !!!

I know this because I have been messing around with this stuff like a month ago or so :wink:

9

Thanks for the tip! I appreciate saving me an avoidable problem.

1 Like
10

This does not advance your OS to a later version. It updates the current version only.

If you start out on Bullseye with these commands, you are still on Bullseye. You won't advance to Bookworm.

1 Like
11

Thanks. It's helpful to know that it was a minor OS update and I didn't corrupt the OS by not completing the process outlined in the tips doc above.

My target would have been Bullseye since I read that Bookworm was not considered stable yet. It seemed like a safer approach. But I've got it running for now and I've changed my approach since I have time to do more research.

12

Where did you read that?

Bookworm was released (stable version) more than 1.5 years ago.

1 Like
13

The docs you've linked asked you to switch repositories before as well as after running those apt commands.
If you've done both of that, then you'd already have upgraded packages from Bookworm into your Buster system.
If you haven't run those apt commands after switching repositories, you'd still have a Buster system, but running apt upgrade would then pull Bookworm packages.

So to repeat myself:

1 Like
14

This is not the case. I run Bookworm on three of my six Pi-holes, with zero issues.

1 Like
15

A post was split to a new topic: Updating Pi-hole Docker container on VPS failed

16

Old IT guy lived on the edge and did the pihole -up and crashed. Who needs a back up, it always works. Lesson learned. Trying to get back to zero ads after rattling cobwebs out of my head on the DNS and DHCP configuration. Blowing up the network as I muddle thru lol.

3 Likes
17

sudo PIHOLE_SKIP_OS_CHECK=true pihole -r got my system back up and running, as suggested in this thread. It was mentioned that there's a bug in the v5 update script that didn't run the oscheck before doing the updates.

2 Likes