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Frequently Asked Questions

System Issues

Shutdown or Reboot not working? "System requires password" error

Your system requires a password for shutdown/reboot commands. To fix this:

  1. Open the sudoers file (safely):

    sudo visudo

  2. Add this line at the end (replace pi with your username):

    pi ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown

  3. Save and exit (Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter)

Now shutdown and reboot should work without password prompts.

See also: Ubuntu guide on passwordless shutdown

MagicMirror instance isn't restarting

The restart function depends on your process manager setup.

  1. In Desktop mode (with Electron), restart uses app.relaunch() and app.quit()
  2. In Server mode, the process exits cleanly and your process manager (systemd, PM2, Docker, etc.) should restart it
  3. Make sure your process manager is configured to restart on clean exit (exit code 0)

For example, with systemd set Restart=on-success, or with PM2 use the default auto-restart behavior.

See MagicMirror Docs for setup instructions.

Monitor Control

My monitor isn't turning off

  1. Check your display server: echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
  2. Configure the correct commands for your system. See Monitor Control.
  3. Test commands manually in the terminal before adding to config.

Important: If monitorStatusCommand doesn't work correctly, the toggle function won't work!

API Issues

I can't change anything on my mirror!

This is likely because:

  1. No API key set and secureEndpoints: true (default) is blocking dangerous actions
  2. Solution: Either set an apiKey in your config, or set secureEndpoints: false (not recommended)
config: {
    apiKey: 'your-secret-key',
    // or
    secureEndpoints: false,  // Not recommended!
}

Startup Issues

MagicMirror shows black screen or won't start

Usually a syntax error in your config file or custom menu JSON.

  1. Validate your config.js: Copy contents to JSONLint (remove the var config = and trailing ;)
  2. Validate your custom menu JSON at JSON Formatter
  3. Check the terminal for error messages

Installation Issues

The installation does strange things

Make sure you're using the standard MagicMirror installation.

Non-standard installations may have different paths or configurations. If you're having issues, open an issue with details about your setup.

Debugging

How do I see the logs?

If running manually:

cd ~/MagicMirror
npm start

Logs appear in the terminal.

If using PM2:

pm2 logs mm        # or your process name
pm2 logs mm --lines 100   # last 100 lines

Browser console: Press F12 in the MagicMirror window to open DevTools.

Still stuck?

  1. Search existing issues
  2. Check the MagicMirror Forum
  3. Open a new issue with:
    • Your config.js (remove sensitive data)
    • Error messages from logs
    • Steps to reproduce the problem