Immich•6d ago

Postgres Password Authentication Failure After Restore

Hello everyone, I just recently wanted to redo my home lab so I could add a reverse proxy and use different hardware so I followed the Backup & Restore steps on the Immich website so I could set it back up later. It just came time to restart my Immich instance and I've been running into a problem where the immich_server container keeps giving me this error:

[Nest] 7  - 04/24/2025, 7:29:15 PM     LOG [Microservices:EventRepository] Initialized websocket server
microservices worker error: PostgresError: password authentication failed for user "postgres", stack: PostgresError: password authentication failed for user "postgres"
    at ErrorResponse (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:790:26)
    at handle (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:476:6)
    at Socket.data (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:315:9)
    at Socket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at addChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:561:12)
    at readableAddChunkPushByteMode (node:internal/streams/readable:512:3)
    at Readable.push (node:internal/streams/readable:392:5)
    at TCP.onStreamRead (node:internal/stream_base_commons:189:23)
microservices worker exited with code 1

[Nest] 7  - 04/24/2025, 7:29:15 PM     LOG [Microservices:EventRepository] Initialized websocket server
microservices worker error: PostgresError: password authentication failed for user "postgres", stack: PostgresError: password authentication failed for user "postgres"
    at ErrorResponse (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:790:26)
    at handle (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:476:6)
    at Socket.data (/usr/src/app/node_modules/postgres/cjs/src/connection.js:315:9)
    at Socket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at addChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:561:12)
    at readableAddChunkPushByteMode (node:internal/streams/readable:512:3)
    at Readable.push (node:internal/streams/readable:392:5)
    at TCP.onStreamRead (node:internal/stream_base_commons:189:23)
microservices worker exited with code 1

The first thing I did was setup a fresh instance with the docker-compose.yaml file and .env file and I kept the password default since I didn't save the password from my last Immich instance (which I hope is okay). I followed the restoration steps by pulling and creating the containers, starting the Postgres database, and restoring it. Once I started all the other containers, this error is on repeat in the server container and keeps restarting. My docker-compose.yaml file and .env file are too long to fit in this post but I got the files straight from the GitHub repo and I only changed my timezone to America/New_York in the environment file.

18 Replies

Immich•6d ago

:wave: Hey @MaskedMatters, Thanks for reaching out to us. Please carefully read this message and follow the recommended actions. This will help us be more effective in our support effort and leave more time for building Immich :immich:. References - Container Logs: docker compose logs docs - Container Status: docker ps -a docs - Reverse Proxy: https://immich.app/docs/administration/reverse-proxy - Code Formatting https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/210298617-Markdown-Text-101-Chat-Formatting-Bold-Italic-Underline#h_01GY0DAKGXDEHE263BCAYEGFJA Checklist I have... 1. :ballot_box_with_check: verified I'm on the latest release(note that mobile app releases may take some time). 2. :ballot_box_with_check: read applicable release notes. 3. :ballot_box_with_check: reviewed the FAQs for known issues. 4. :ballot_box_with_check: reviewed Github for known issues. 5. :ballot_box_with_check: tried accessing Immich via local ip (without a custom reverse proxy). 6. :ballot_box_with_check: uploaded the relevant information (see below). 7. :ballot_box_with_check: tried an incognito window, disabled extensions, cleared mobile app cache, logged out and back in, different browsers, etc. as applicable (an item can be marked as "complete" by reacting with the appropriate number) Information In order to be able to effectively help you, we need you to provide clear information to show what the problem is. The exact details needed vary per case, but here is a list of things to consider: - Your docker-compose.yml and .env files. - Logs from all the containers and their status (see above). - All the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. - Any recent changes you've made to Immich or your system. - Details about your system (both software/OS and hardware). - Details about your storage (filesystems, type of disks, output of commands like fdisk -l and df -h). - The version of the Immich server, mobile app, and other relevant pieces. - Any other information that you think might be relevant. Please paste files and logs with proper code formatting, and especially avoid blurry screenshots. Without the right information we can't work out what the problem is. Help us help you ;) If this ticket can be closed you can use the /close command, and re-open it later if needed.

Zeus•6d ago

The database dump probably contains the password from the last copy You can enter the database at a shell and change the password to whatever you want

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

I did try to enter the immich_postgres container and I connected to, what seems to be the right database, using psql -U postgres and I tried the command ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'postgres' but it didn't seem to do anything or affect the logs. If it's possible to get the old password, I could try that, but I don't know how.

Immich•6d ago

Successfully submitted, a tag has been added to inform contributors. :white_check_mark:

Zeus•6d ago

Post some screenshots compose env etc

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

Okay

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

These are the compose and .env files

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

This is the logs for the Immich server container

Zeus•6d ago

Can you show changing. The password and use WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

Do you want me to use a different password or do you want me to keep using "postgres"

Zeus•6d ago

That’s fine Postgres is fine

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

Okay, let me do that quickly

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

I made a video of me doing it and showing logs

Zeus•6d ago

You didn’t end the command with a semicolon Successful command should return ALTER USER And I would use WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD like in our docs

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

Oh, okay

Immich•6d ago

https://immich.app/docs/guides/database-queries/

MaskedMattersOP•6d ago

Yeah, I was looking through the docs and I didn't think it would be under queries but I'm going to try it now I just finished and it's working, thank you because I've been stuck on this for a while. It outputed "ALTER ROLE" instead but I can now access the dashboard. Thank you!

Zeus•6d ago

Great

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Postgres Password Authentication Failure After Restore

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