When something fails

At a glance

A profile does not start

A profile never goes around its proxy: if the proxy fails, nothing loads, and the Profiles window says why.

• “…” loads no pages: the profile started; its proxy does not work. The sheet shows the failed step and what to do. Fix the proxy, click Check Proxy, and at “The proxy works now” reload the page.
• “…” was not started: the same, when Settings → Proxies → A proxy that does not work is Do not start the profile.
• Error “The proxy at ‘…’ requires a user name and password…” or “The profile's proxy is misconfigured…”: correct the proxy in the profile’s ⋯ → Edit….
• “The file … was saved by a newer version of Lumen…”: install that version.

More: Proxies: setup, and when one fails.

A profile crashed or hangs

If a profile in its own process (with its own Dock icon) ends unexpectedly, Lumen brings the Profiles window forward: “Profile ‘…’ ended unexpectedly. Its data is encrypted…” Its next launch keeps sign-ins and cookies, not open tabs. The profile is not restarted: click Launch. Other profiles keep running.

Lumen does not watch for hangs, only for a process that ended. Click Stop: the profile is asked to close, and if its own process has not closed within 30 seconds, it is ended.

In a Lumen window a page whose process crashed reloads by itself.

Lumen itself quit

Profiles in Lumen’s windows go with it; those in their own processes quit too. After the next unlock Lumen encrypts whatever was left unencrypted, or says “Could not encrypt the data of profile ‘…’ again: …”.

The vault comes back as it was: its files are written as a new copy, then swapped in - never half-written. Website data that was on disk, cookies included, comes back too; a crashed profile loses at most the last 3 seconds of history. Profiles that were running do not start again: And the profiles open at quit is recorded only when you quit. A crash never installs an update.

The vault does not open

• Error “Wrong master password”. The lock screen then shows the folder and creation date of the vault it opened: another build of the app keeps its own.
• Right password, damaged file: the vault stays locked, and Error gives the error’s own text, such as “Authentication failed (wrong key or data was modified)”. Lumen does not repair vaults: send us that text and diagnostics (they work while it is locked). A damaged vault header can also look like a wrong password.
• A lost password cannot be recovered. Forgot password… sets the vault aside, deleting nothing, and starts a new one: The vault and the master password.

Sync failed

Sync runs only while no profile does: until then Sync Now in ⋯ → Sync… is off, with “Stop all profiles first.”

A failed sync shows Error “Sync failed: …” and Last sync failed in the sidebar; click it, and the sheet gives the reason. Fix it and sync again. “…holds a different vault”: the folder belongs to another vault - use one folder per vault.

The status also counts conflicts - the same thing changed on two Macs: newer settings win, and for passwords the other Mac’s copy; the losing version stays on this Mac, encrypted, and is not offered back.

An update was not installed

An update installs only at a quit that encrypted every profile. Otherwise the next launch says “The update was not installed at the last quit: …”; it waits for a later quit. A failed check shows in Settings → Updates: “The last check failed: …” - click Check Now later. More: Updates.

Reporting a problem

1. Press ⌘, and open Diagnostics.
2. Click Collect Diagnostics… and save the ZIP. Nothing is sent by itself: attach it to an email to [email protected].
3. Or click Copy Short Report - versions and the app’s self-checks, shown on screen first - and paste it.

Lumen keeps no log files: it writes to the macOS system log. The ZIP holds the short report, the settings, the profiles by number - running or not, their connection and settings - and this run’s log. A build without the App Sandbox (Settings → About → Build) adds the system log of the last 30 minutes: after a crash, collect the ZIP within that time. A sandboxed build gives a Terminal command for it instead.

What Lumen puts in it leaves out profiles’ names, tags and notes, proxies’ addresses and credentials, passwords, cookies, history and addresses visited; in its own log lines your data shows as <private>. On every CI build check_log_privacy.py fails if Lumen’s code logs in clear anything but an id, a count, a status or a name from the code; the self-test searches a ZIP’s bytes for a profile’s name, notes and proxy password.