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261 lines
9.7 KiB
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261 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
# Frequently Asked Questions
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## Table of Contents
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- Using Invidious
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* [Can I use Invidious on my device?](#q-can-i-use-invidious-on-my-device)
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* [Do you plan to make an Android/iOS app?](#q-do-you-plan-to-make-an-androidios-app)
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* [Can I synchronize my account between instances?](
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#q-can-i-synchronize-my-account-between-instances)
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* [What data is collected by Invidious?](#q-what-data-is-collected-by-invidious)
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* [What data is shared with YouTube?](#q-what-data-is-shared-with-youtube)
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- Commonly encountered errors/problems
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* [The media could not be loaded…](#q-the-media-could-not-be-loaded)
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* [Could not check out a connection in 2.0 seconds (DB::PoolTimeout)](
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#q-could-not-check-out-a-connection-in-20-seconds-dbpooltimeout)
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* [`DB::PoolRetryAttemptsExceeded`](#q-dbpoolretryattemptsexceeded)
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* [Subtitles are not working!](#q-subtitles-are-not-working)
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* [Where are the 360p/480p/1080p quality options?](
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#q-where-are-the-360p480p1080p-quality-options)
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- Running your own instance
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* [Do you provide pre-built binaries (`.deb`, `.rpm`, etc..)?](
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#q-do-you-provide-pre-built-binaries-deb-rpm-etc)
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* [How can I configure _[thing]_?](#q-how-can-i-configure-thing)
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* [RSS feeds/links/etc... URLs redirect to `<IP>:3000` but I have a reverse proxy!](
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#q-rss-feedslinksetc-urls-redirect-to-ip3000-but-i-have-a-reverse-proxy)
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* [The "popular" feed/page on my instance is empty!](
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#q-the-popular-feedpage-on-my-instance-is-empty)
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* [I can't log in nor save preferences](#q-i-cant-log-in-nor-save-preferences)
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# Using Invidious
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## **Q:** Can I use Invidious on my device?
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**A:** As long as your device is equipped with a modern web browser,
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sure, of course! A responsive interface is available for mobile/tablets.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** Do you plan to make an Android/iOS app?
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**A:** No. Invidious is and will always be a browser application.
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If you have an Android phone/tablet, you can check the
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[NewPipe](https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe) application.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** Can I synchronize my account between instances?
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**A:** Short answer: manually => Yes, automatically => No.
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**How to do it manually:**
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1. Go to the import/export page while connected to your account (preferences
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page, then click the "Import/export data" link at the bottom of the page)
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2. Click on "Export Invidious data as JSON"
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3. Go to the same import/export page on the other instance
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4. Use "Import Invidious JSON data"
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5. Press import
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Yes, we're aware that it's cumbersome. Please continue to read to understand
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why we don't implement automatic synchronization.
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**Why we don't implement automatic sync:**
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TL;DR: we don't have the time to implement/maintain it.
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To get automatic synchronization, we have 3 options:
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1. Centralized database (like Youtube)
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2. Federation (like Matrix, Mastodon and PeerTube)
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3. An external tool that uses the API
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1. A centralized database goes against our idea of a decentralized web so
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let's ignore that right away (plus, we don't want to risk hosting large
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amounts of user data anyway).
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2. Federation is a good option (it works well for the others), however we
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currently don't have the time nor the resources required to implement it.
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3. An external tool (that runs locally on your PC, or a self-hosted server
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like _Firefox Sync_) is also a valid option. As for federation, we don't
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have the resources to develop such a solution. PRs and external tool
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propositions are welcome!
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Please see the following issues for more details on the subject:
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https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/issues/2515
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<br/>
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## **Q:** What data is collected by Invidious?
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**A:** Invidious by itself does not collect any data about its users, but
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keep in mind that instance owners can log your IP address (like any other
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server on the internet).
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By default, the server logs which URLs were accessed, the associated error
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code (e.g 404 if the URL was not found) and the time it took for the server
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to respond.
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Here is what the server logs look like:
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```
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2021-08-30 18:15:44 UTC [info] 200 GET /watch?v=GIAKHj9uJtM 781.21ms
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2021-08-30 18:15:49 UTC [info] 200 GET /api/v1/search?q=Fly%20away 500.0ms
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2021-08-30 18:15:49 UTC [info] 200 GET /vi/lJcqAzWFWLs/mqdefault.jpg 15.82ms
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2021-08-30 18:15:49 UTC [info] 200 GET /vi/JoP_Tte7z7o/mqdefault.jpg 70.64ms
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```
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When you create an account, your watch history and the list of channels you
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subscribed will be stored in the server's database. You can export, migrate
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or delete these data at any time from your user account page.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** What data is shared with YouTube?
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**A:** By default, the video stream is fetched directly from Google's servers
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(`googlevideo.com`) in order to reduce the bandwidth required by invidious,
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meaning that Google will be able to see your IP address and some other data
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commonly sent by web browsers, like your user-agent string.
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If you don't want that to happen, you can go to the `preferences` page and
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check the `Proxy videos` option. When this option is enabled, the Invidious
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instance will be used as a relay (also known as a "proxy") between you and
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Google's servers, which will hide your IP address and the other information
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sent by your browser.
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<br/>
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# Commonly encountered errors/problems
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## **Q:** The media could not be loaded…
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**A:** This problem can occur in different scenarios:
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* If you're trying to watch a music clip, Youtube is likely blocking the
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video stream. Try enabling `Proxy videos` in the preferences (or add
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`&local=1` in the URL). Switching to another instance is also a good
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alternative, as this type of content is often geo-restricted.
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* Youtube often sends corrupted video data for the `hd720`, `medium` and
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`small` quality settings. Refreshing the page multiple times (5-7) can
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fix the problem. You may also set your `preferred video quality` to
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`dash` (or add `&quality=dash` to the URL).
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* Rarely, it can be due to an internal failure of the instance and the
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video stream can't be fetched. A simple page refresh can solve the issue.
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If none of the solutions listed above fix the problem, try switching
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instances. And if that still doesn't work, you'll have to watch the video
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on YouTube itself (sorry for the inconvenience).
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<br/>
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## **Q:** Could not check out a connection in 2.0 seconds (DB::PoolTimeout)
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**A: Please, do not open a bug report on github, we can't do anything!**
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The instance you are using is having _database issues_. Please use another
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instance from the [list of public instances](https://instances.invidious.io)
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<br/>
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## **Q:** `DB::PoolRetryAttemptsExceeded`
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**A:** The instance you are using is having _database issues_. Please use
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another instance from the [list of public instances](
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https://instances.invidious.io)
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If you're an instance admin, first try restarting Invidious. Then try
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restarting PostgreSQL. If neither fixed the problem, try [increasing the
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maximum number of connections allowed](https://stackoverflow.com/a/32584211).
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Some distributions change the default to a low number.
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## **Q:** Subtitles are not working!
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**A:** Subtitles (also know as "Closed Captions") are generally not working
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on popular Invidious instances. This is due to URL rate limiting coming
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from Google servers.
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To solve that, try using a less popular public instance or host Invidious
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yourself.
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Please take a look at the following issue for more details:
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https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/issues/2567
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<br/>
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## **Q:** Where are the 360p/480p/1080p quality options?
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**A:** These quality options are only available when DASH is enabled.
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In order to enable DASH, go to the preferences and set the preferred
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video quality to "DASH".
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Note that DASH requires Javascript and _can_ be disabled by the instance
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administrator. So if the option is not available to you, try to switch to
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another instance.
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By default, DASH is not enabled to allow videos to be played without
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Javascript and also to save on bandwidth (DASH **must** be proxied in order
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to work properly, which uses a lot of the instance bandwidth).
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<br/>
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# Running your own instance
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## **Q:** Do you provide pre-built binaries (`.deb`, `.rpm`, etc.)?
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**A:** We currently don't provide those, due to the rolling release nature
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of Invidious. Get a fresh `clone` or `pull` the latest commits from `master`
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instead.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** How can I configure _[thing]_?
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**A:** Read the example config file (`config/config.example.yml`).
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All the supported configuration options are documented there.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** RSS feeds/links/etc... URLs redirect to `<IP>:3000` but I have a reverse proxy!
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**A:** Make sure that the following parameters are set according to your environment:
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- `https_only`: if your instance is served over HTTPS
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- `domain`: if you have a domain name that redirects to your instance
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- `external_port`: if your instance is accessed from a different port than
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the listening one (e.g your instance listens on :3000, but is available on
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:443 through a reverse proxy, set `external_port` to `443`)
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<br/>
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## **Q:** The "popular" feed/page on my instance is empty!
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**A:** The "popular" feed is generated from the videos that are popular amongst
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the users registered on your instance. If nobody has created an account on your
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instance (e.g if registration is disabled) the popular feed will be empty.
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<br/>
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## **Q:** I can't log in nor save preferences!
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**A:** Double check your config! The value of the `domain` config option is
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used for the session (`SID`) and preferences (`PREFS`) cookies. If set
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incorrectly, the cookies will be invalid, and your browser will silently
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ignore them.
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**If you access your invidious instance by IP address (like `192.168.1.205`)
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then leave the `domain` config option EMPTY!**
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Common invalid values include:
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- IP addresses (like `192.168.1.205`)
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- Scheme before the domain (`https://example.com`)
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- Port after the domain (`example.com:3000`)
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- Typo in the FQDN (`<domain>.cm` instead of `<domain>.com`)
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