Clean Install Fails - UI Shows "Apps Service Running" but k3s.service is Not Found

TrueNAS General
1

Hi Community, first time user here. And first time dabling into Linux…

I have been trying for the last week to successfully install TrueNAS community edition and I am failing.
Presenting problem: after I log-in to the WebInterface and follow the guide to create the pool and my first data sets, I am trying to install a simple app (like Immich or nginx) Both are failing (not running / “green” but remaining in the yellow “Deploying” state).

I’ve tried multiple clean installs but keep running into what seems to be a fundamental initialization problem. I’m hoping to get some insight from the community on what I might be doing wrong or what to troubleshoot next.

I think my problem is related to the k3s services… let me explain in detail what I tried:

First, the hardware:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: ASRock B550M Steel Legend (BIOS Version: P3.40)
RAM: 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR4-3200
Boot Drive: Lexar NM620 256GB NVMe SSD
Storage Drives: 4x 18TB Seagate Enterprise HDDs (configured into a mirrored pool 2x2)

Problem Description & Chronology

The issue has been consistent across multiple installation attempts. Here is the sequence of events:

  1. Initial Installation Attempts (25.04.1): My first attempts were with a clean install of TrueNAS SCALE 25.04.1. The installation from the USB (created with Rufus in DD mode) would complete successfully. However, on the first boot, the system would never fully initialize (the presenting problem above).
    1.b) during my numerouse restarts (while trying to debug) I noticed that during the loading after a restart, during the fast moving text, something was not finishing with the green [OK]. That “thing” is the middlewared.service intitialisation. I took a picture - but it seems I can’t link it nor can I post it so I have no idea how to share it.

But basically every time this line does not have the green OK but the 3 red dots.

1.c) every time thought I can still log in to the web interface but I can’t install any app.

If I run in Shell systemctl status k3s.service, I still get the same response: Unit k3s.service could not be found.

  1. I then tried a “Scorched Earth” Reinstall (24.10.2.2): Assuming a bad install, I performed a complete “scorched earth” reinstall with the previous stable version, TrueNAS SCALE 24.10.2.2. This included wiping the USB stick and the NVMe boot drive.

but 24.10.2.2 behaves exactly exactly the same. Which makes me suspect a BIOS issue or a HARDWARE issue?

What can I do? Any idea would be super appreciated.

2

The last version of TrueNAS to use Kubernetes was 24.04. Beginning with 24.10, iX threw out Kubernetes and moved to Docker instead.

3

alright. But then what’s going on with the install? Why can’t I install any application?

4

Nothing at all; by all indications your installation worked just fine.

No clue; you’ve given literally no information to help understand what’s going on–though I’ll note that Immich is about the farthest thing from a simple app, and Nginx Proxy Manager (there’s no app for Nginx, and they’re very different things) isn’t much more so. Checking the container logs might help.

5

Why can’t you install it? Presumably something is stopping you, explain what you see and maybe we can assist.

systemctl status k3s.service is not going to do anything useful in the current version of TrueNAS.

I would say the more common reasons for failing apps in TrueNAS are:

  • Invalid network configuration
  • Wrong system time/date
  • Host path storage with the wrong permissions

But what, if any of the above, is causing your issues is impossible to say without more details other than that it’s not working.