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Troubleshooting

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Luke Horwell edited this page Mar 11, 2026 · 35 revisions

Troubleshooting Guide

The most common issues are listed below. Please check here before opening an issue!

Check device support

To list USB PIDs for your Razer hardware, run this in a Terminal:

lsusb | grep 1532

👉🏼 Check your device ID matches a device on this stable release list.

❌ If it's not listed, does your device appear in this list instead? If so, that would mean support was recently added, so you'll need to install a development build until the next release:

(Be sure to reboot after installing different versions of the driver)

❌ If your device USB PID does not appear on these lists, it is not yet supported. Check for open issues & pull requests and subscribe to them for updates, or try implementing support yourself. For new devices with a different USB PID, please create a new issue.

Do you use a KVM switch or USB hub?

Rarely, KVMs and USB hubs can be the problem, depending on the brand or vendor.

  • Try a different USB port, ideally a port directly connected to the motherboard.
  • If it's a USB 2.0 device, try using USB 2.0 ports or a USB 2.0 hub to rule out any USB 3.0 quirks.
  • If it's a KVM switch, check its documentation for any USB port differences or compatibility features (e.g. passthrough).

If you're using an application, close out and re-open them to refresh the device list.

Is OpenRazer up-to-date?

Some Linux distributions package OpenRazer into their official repositories. Sometimes, this version is for an older version which did not have support for your device. Try installing using the instructions from our website, which is packaged for the latest version.

You can check the daemon and driver version using these commands, but preferably use your distro's package manager.

openrazer-daemon --version

sudo dkms status | grep openrazer

Kernel Modules: Are they built properly?

You can check if the kernel modules build properly with the following command. Replace 3.8.0 with the version you have installed.

sudo dkms install openrazer-driver/3.8.0

✅ If the output is similar to:

Module openrazer-driver/2.5.0 already installed on kernel 5.2.0-arch2-1-ARCH/x86_64

Success! The kernel modules are built properly.

⚠️ If you have multiple kernels installed, make sure the driver is built for the correct kernel version. You may just need to install the DKMS module again.

⛔ If the output is:

Error! Could not find module source directory.
Directory: /usr/src/openrazer-driver-3.3.0 does not exist.

The driver is missing. Install the openrazer-driver-dkms package for your distribution. openrazer-meta normally installs this dependency.

In some cases, after installing this package, you may need to run the dkms install command above again.

⛔ If the output is similar to:

Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/openrazer-driver/2.5.0/source ->
                 /usr/src/openrazer-driver-2.5.0

DKMS: add completed.
Error! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 5.2.0-arch2-1-ARCH cannot be found at
/usr/lib/modules/5.2.0-arch2-1-ARCH/build or /usr/lib/modules/5.2.0-arch2-1-ARCH/source.

The kernel headers for your current kernel are not installed.

  • On Arch Linux (+ derivatives), the kernel headers aren't a hard dependency of the dkms package because you can install different kernel flavors that have separate header packages. On Arch Linux you will probably have to install linux-headers. Manjaro packages their kernel by version so for example, for the 4.19 kernel, install the package linux419-headers.
  • On Fedora, you are likely missing the kernel-devel package.
  • On Ubuntu, this is usually linux-headers-generic or linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04 (HWE).

Kernel Modules: Do they load properly?

You can try loading the kernel module built by DKMS with

sudo modprobe razerkbd

(Possible modules: razerkbd, razermouse, razeraccessory, razerkraken)

✅ No output indicates success.

⛔ If this fails with:

modprobe: FATAL: Module razerkbd not found in directory

The driver is not installed for this kernel. Please go back to the last section to install them.

⛔ If this fails with:

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'razerkbd': Invalid argument

It's likely the driver was not built properly or is outdated. For example, the system was updated to a newer kernel, but the driver is still built with older kernel headers. Reinstalling the driver via DKMS should do the trick:

sudo dkms remove openrazer-driver/3.8.0 --all
sudo dkms install openrazer-driver/3.8.0

(Replace 3.8.0 with the appropriate OpenRazer version)

⛔ If this fails with:

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'razerkbd': Required key not available

or

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'razerkbd': Operation not permitted

or

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'razerkbd': Key was rejected by service

This is probably because Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS/UEFI settings. See Secure Boot page for further information.

In rare circumstances, if you have disabled secure boot and this error appears, there may another security solution present (such as kernel lockdown) which may be prohibiting you from loading an (unsigned) kernel module. If you have a feature like this enabled, make sure those are also configured appropriately.

Daemon: Has your user been added to the plugdev group?

Note

If you use a distro based on Arch Linux: Since November 2025, the packager patched the user group. Use openrazer instead of plugdev.

The OpenRazer daemon will refuse to start, if the current user isn't in the plugdev group which is needed to give your user permissions to access to sysfs files provided by the kernel modules. You will either see this in ~/.local/share/openrazer/logs/razer.log or when you start the daemon with openrazer-daemon -Fv in the terminal.

If you get the message Unable to lock on the pidfile., it means that the daemon is already running.

To fix this error, please run this command and reboot:

sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev

Daemon: Service status

To check the status of the daemon you can also check with systemd using:

systemctl --user status openrazer-daemon.service

Similarly, you can start/stop/restart the daemon using:

systemctl --user restart openrazer-daemon.service

Are you using Bazzite OS (or similar)?

Some Linux distros may support OpenRazer through their own patches or update schedule. Bazzite, for instance, uses this fork. Try seeking help through your distro's support channel first.

Try a hardware reset

Very rarely, sometimes resetting the device can resolve an issue. Check the documentation on Razer's website for any instructions on performing a device reset. This might involve holding a button for a long time, or holding a key while plugging in.

If you have access to a Windows computer with Razer Synapse installed, you could try resetting the device using software as well.

Downgrade to Synapse 3 (if still installed)

If your device was used with Razer Synapse 4 under Windows, there has been reports of buttons or features that stop working (#2507, #2428). Uninstalling Synapse 4 and downgrading to Synapse 3 was a solution for some users to reinitialise the mouse in a way that fixes the problem.

However, Razer no longer supports this version and seems to have blocked its functionality. If you know a way, please let us know.

Where to find logs

  • List currently loaded modules:

    lsmod | grep razer

  • Kernel module log:

    sudo dmesg | grep razer

  • razer_mount log:

    sudo journalctl -b | grep -i razer_mount

  • Daemon log:

    cat ~/.local/share/openrazer/logs/razer.log

  • List sysfs permissions for driver device files:

    ls -al /sys/bus/hid/drivers/razer*/*1532*/

Try searching open & closed issues to see if this is a bug, an external problem affecting your system or a hardware-specific issue.

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