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Troubleshooting Guide

Common Issues and Solutions

Samba shares not visible from Windows

Symptoms: Cannot see shares in Windows Network Solution: Check firewall and enable SMB discovery 

# Check if Samba is listening
ss -tulpn | grep :445

# Restart Samba services
systemctl restart smbd nmbd

# Test local access
smbclient -L localhost -U <username>

NTFS drives not mounting automatically

Symptoms: Drives not available after reboot Solution: Check fstab entries and mount manually 

# Check fstab entries
cat /etc/fstab | grep ntfs

# Test manual mount
mount -a

# Check for errors
dmesg | grep ntfs

SSH connection refused

Symptoms: Cannot connect via SSH Solution: Verify SSH service and firewall 

# Check SSH service status
systemctl status ssh

# Verify SSH is listening
ss -tulpn | grep :22

# Check SSH configuration
sshd -t

Proxmox updates failing

Symptoms: Package update errors Solution: Verify repository configuration 

# Check repository files
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

# Update package lists
apt update

# Check for errors
apt list --upgradable

Low storage space on Proxmox

Symptoms: Insufficient space for VMs Solution: Extend root logical volume 

# Check current space
df -h /

# Check LVM status
pvs
vgs
lvs

# Extend if space available
lvextend -l +100%FREE pve/root
resize2fs /dev/mapper/pve-root

Arch Linux VM won't boot

Symptoms: VM fails to start or boot Solution: Check GRUB and VM settings 

# From Proxmox console, check VM logs
tail /var/log/pve/qemu-server/<vmid>.log

# Boot from rescue media and check GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Network Troubleshooting

Connectivity Issues

# Test network connectivity
ping 8.8.8.8

# Check routing table
ip route show

# Verify DNS resolution
nslookup google.com

# Check network interface status
ip addr show

Service Issues

# Check all listening services
ss -tuln

# Verify service status
systemctl status <service-name>

# Check service logs
journalctl -u <service-name> -f

Firewall Issues

# Check iptables rules
iptables -L -n

# Check ufw status (if installed)
ufw status

# Test port connectivity
telnet <host> <port>

Performance Troubleshooting

High CPU Usage

# Check top processes
top

# Check system load
uptime

# Monitor CPU usage over time
sar -u 1 10

Memory Issues

# Check memory usage
free -h

# Check swap usage
swapon -s

# Find memory-consuming processes
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head

Storage Issues

# Check disk usage
df -h

# Find large files
find / -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; 2>/dev/null

# Check I/O wait
iostat -x 1

Emergency Recovery

Boot Issues

# Boot from rescue media
# Mount root filesystem
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

# Chroot into system
arch-chroot /mnt

# Fix bootloader
grub-install /dev/sda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

File System Corruption

# Check filesystem
fsck /dev/sda2

# Force filesystem check
fsck -f /dev/sda2

# Repair filesystem
fsck -y /dev/sda2

Service Recovery

# Reset failed services
systemctl reset-failed

# Reload systemd configuration
systemctl daemon-reload

# Restart all services
systemctl restart <service-name>