# Unable to install unbound

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [June 3, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835 "2022-06-03T12:45:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![worriedlemon222](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@worriedlemon222](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/worriedlemon222)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/1 "2022-06-03T12:45:55Z")

</div>

Following the official documentation on how to install unbound. After running command

```auto
sudo service unbound restart 
dig pi-hole.net @127.0.0.1 -p 5335

```

I get the error:

```auto
Job for unbound.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status unbound.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

```

systemctl status unbound.service returns

```auto
● unbound.service - Unbound DNS server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/unbound.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2022-06-03 12:49:53 BST; 1min 19s ago
     Docs: man:unbound(8)
  Process: 10389 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/unbound/package-helper chroot_setup (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 10392 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/unbound/package-helper root_trust_anchor_update (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 10395 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/unbound -d $DAEMON_OPTS (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 10395 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Service RestartSec=100ms expired, scheduling restart.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Stopped Unbound DNS server.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start Unbound DNS server.

```

and journalctl -xe

```auto
-- the configured Restart= setting for the unit.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Stopped Unbound DNS server.
-- Subject: A stop job for unit unbound.service has finished
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- A stop job for unit unbound.service has finished.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 312457 and the job result is done.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
-- Subject: Unit failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- The unit unbound.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start Unbound DNS server.
-- Subject: A start job for unit unbound.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- A start job for unit unbound.service has finished with a failure.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 312457 and the job result is failed.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound-resolvconf.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: unbound-resolvconf.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
-- Subject: Unit failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- The unit unbound-resolvconf.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 03 12:49:53 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start Unbound DNS server via resolvconf.
-- Subject: A start job for unit unbound-resolvconf.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- A start job for unit unbound-resolvconf.service has finished with a failure.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 312515 and the job result is failed.
Jun 03 12:50:01 raspberrypi CRON[10404]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jun 03 12:50:01 raspberrypi CRON[10405]: (root) CMD ( PATH="$PATH:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin/" pihole updatechecker local)
Jun 03 12:50:02 raspberrypi CRON[10404]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
lines 3600-3641/3641 (END)

```

I tried to install unbound previously and couldn't connect to any site (which may be my next issue) so I tried to troubleshoot. I couldn't get it to work so I then uninstalled unbound to try again. My technical skills are extremely limited to when I was troubleshooting I messed something up as I didn't get this error the first time.

If needed, output on sudo grep -v ‘#|^$’ -R /etc/unbound/unbound.conf\*

```auto
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:server:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # If no logfile is specified, syslog is used
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # logfile: "/var/log/unbound/unbound.log"
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: verbosity: 0
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: interface: 127.0.0.1
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: port: 5335
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: do-ip4: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: do-udp: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: do-tcp: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # May be set to yes if you have IPv6 connectivity
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: do-ip6: no
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # You want to leave this to no unless you have *native* IPv6. With 6to4 and
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Terredo tunnels your web browser should favor IPv4 for the same reasons
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: prefer-ip6: no
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Use this only when you downloaded the list of primary root servers!
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # If you use the default dns-root-data package, unbound will find it automatically
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: #root-hints: "/var/lib/unbound/root.hints"
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Trust glue only if it is within the server's authority
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: harden-glue: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Require DNSSEC data for trust-anchored zones, if such data is absent, the zone becomes BOGUS
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: harden-dnssec-stripped: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Don't use Capitalization randomization as it known to cause DNSSEC issues sometimes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # see https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unbound-stubby-or-dnscrypt-proxy/9378 for further details
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: use-caps-for-id: no
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Reduce EDNS reassembly buffer size.
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # IP fragmentation is unreliable on the Internet today, and can cause
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # transmission failures when large DNS messages are sent via UDP. Even
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # when fragmentation does work, it may not be secure; it is theoretically
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # possible to spoof parts of a fragmented DNS message, without easy
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # detection at the receiving end. Recently, there was an excellent study
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # >>> Defragmenting DNS - Determining the optimal maximum UDP response size for DNS <<<
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # by Axel Koolhaas, and Tjeerd Slokker (https://indico.dns-oarc.net/event/36/contributions/776/)
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # in collaboration with NLnet Labs explored DNS using real world data from the
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # the RIPE Atlas probes and the researchers suggested different values for
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # IPv4 and IPv6 and in different scenarios. They advise that servers should
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # be configured to limit DNS messages sent over UDP to a size that will not
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # trigger fragmentation on typical network links. DNS servers can switch
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # from UDP to TCP when a DNS response is too big to fit in this limited
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # buffer size. This value has also been suggested in DNS Flag Day 2020.
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: edns-buffer-size: 1232
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Perform prefetching of close to expired message cache entries
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # This only applies to domains that have been frequently queried
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: prefetch: yes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # One thread should be sufficient, can be increased on beefy machines. In reality for most users running on small networks or on a single machine, it should be unnecessary to seek performance enhancement by increasing num-threads above 1.
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: num-threads: 1
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Ensure kernel buffer is large enough to not lose messages in traffic spikes
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: so-rcvbuf: 1m
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: # Ensure privacy of local IP ranges
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: 192.168.0.0/16
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: 169.254.0.0/16
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: 172.16.0.0/12
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: 10.0.0.0/8
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: fd00::/8
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf: private-address: fe80::/10
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/pi-hole.conf:

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpgpi250](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/jpgpi250/32/286_2.png) [@jpgpi250](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/jpgpi250)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/2 "2022-06-03T19:30:46Z")

</div>

check your configuration files for typos, using **unbound-checkconf** , man [here](https://unbound.docs.nlnetlabs.nl/en/latest/manpages/unbound-checkconf.html).

depending on the version you have installed (and the platform), you might get "command not found". In that case, run " **which unbound-checkconf**", and use the complete output, including path to repeat the command (example /usr/sbin/unbound-checkconf).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jfb](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/jfb/32/4332_2.png) [@jfb](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/jfb)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/3 "2022-06-03T22:58:01Z")

</div>

You appear to missing the unbound configuration file that tells unbound to read the pihole configuration file.

`/etc/unbound/unbound.conf:include-toplevel: "/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/*.conf"`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![worriedlemon222](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@worriedlemon222](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/worriedlemon222)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/4 "2022-06-03T23:54:06Z")

</div>

Thank you. I created the file which resolved the error and unbound is now active. Was this okay?

```auto
sudo nano /etc/unbound/unbound.conf

```

And within the file

```auto
include: "/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/*.conf"

```

However, I now have the issue where most sites don't load. My browser says "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site. We can’t connect to the server at [website].com". This may be an issue for another post

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![worriedlemon222](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@worriedlemon222](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/worriedlemon222)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/5 "2022-06-04T00:11:27Z")

</div>

I see this solution: [Unbound starts failing when I set pi.hole to use it? - #3 by Norlig](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unbound-starts-failing-when-i-set-pi-hole-to-use-it/52684/3)

However, within `/etc/resolvconf.conf`

`unbound_conf=/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/resolvconf_resolvers.conf` does not exist.

The final line within my file is: `unbound_conf=/var/cache/unbound/resolvconf_resolvers.conf`

I commented that out and removed the file, but it did not fix the issue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![deHakkelaar](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dehakkelaar/32/674_2.png) [@deHakkelaar](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/deHakkelaar)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/6 "2022-06-04T13:06:06Z")

</div>

> [@worriedlemon222](#):
>
> `include: "/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/*.conf"`

Almost:

```auto
pi@ph5b:~ $ cat /etc/unbound/unbound.conf
[..]
include-toplevel: "/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/*.conf"

```

> [@worriedlemon222](#):
>
> I see this solution: [Unbound starts failing when I set pi.hole to use it? - #3 by Norlig](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unbound-starts-failing-when-i-set-pi-hole-to-use-it/52684/3)

From your `grep` output, your distro seems not affected by above linked issue you posted.  
If so, you would have had lines similar like below:

```auto
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/resolvconf_resolvers.conf:forward-zone:
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/resolvconf_resolvers.conf: name: "."
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/resolvconf_resolvers.conf: forward-addr: 8.8.8.8
/etc/unbound/unbound.conf.d/resolvconf_resolvers.conf: forward-addr: 8.8.4.4

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/7/c/7c8792f649eeb921c5d2b4c41564ffa873d9a2b8.png) [@system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/unable-to-install-unbound/55835/8 "2022-06-25T17:52:44Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 21 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.