TryQuiet
Windows users with non-ASCII characters in the username can't use Quiet
Hey.
It is stuck at "Connecting process started" at all times, first run, second run, etc..
Is it a bug, or is there anything to do about it?
I am using Windows 11 (64-bit).
Version of Quiet is 5.1.2
Does it have anything to do with username (HOME directory, etc.) containing non-ASCII letters, or what is the issue? Why is not Tor starting up through Quiet? Is there a way to get debug logs?
Sorry you're having this problem!
So you're creating an invite on some other device, or a friend is creating one, and then you're trying to join? What is the other device running Quiet on. (If iOS, there will be issues because it doesn't run in the background at all.)
There would also be issues if the other device was on a laptop that was asleep e.g. lid closed or offline. (We're adding an optional server now to help in this case.) Can you confirm that the other device is running?
Sorry you're having this problem!
So you're creating an invite on some other device, or a friend is creating one, and then you're trying to join? What is the other device running Quiet on. (If iOS, there will be issues because it doesn't run in the background at all.)
There would also be issues if the other device was on a laptop that was asleep e.g. lid closed or offline. (We're adding an optional server now to help in this case.) Can you confirm that the other device is running?
I did not try to do anything much in particular (since I cannot), I only tried to run Quiet for the first time on Windows 11, and it is stuck at "Connecting process started". I have yet to try Linux. So I just simply installed Quiet, and I tried to run it for the first time and then it got stuck.
Thanks for this! Is there any more information about your system you could provide so that we can reproduce this?
Was TorBrowser running at the time by any chance?
@Ccocconut could you provide us with logs? A folder with logs and errors is automatically created to help us in these situations. If you need instructions on where to find them, let me know.
I'm using a computer with Windows 11 Pro to test Quiet, and I didn't encounter this issue. In the past, we had a problem with Windows accounts containing non-ASCII characters, but we have since resolved it. I'll definitely check if there is no regression.
@holmesworcester I was able to reproduce it on a Windows user with non-ASCII letters. I found out the old issue (https://github.com/TryQuiet/quiet/issues/1966) that solved a similar problem - for a user with a space in a username.
I created several new users on Windows and issue with Quiet happened only when the user had non-ASCII letters. I didn't find any error in logs similar to the one that we see in the issue above; most errors mention tor. I've included the logs and errors from one of the users below.
So it seems like the issue is indeed with non-ASCII characters in the username? I ran into this issue in a couple of projects before. :/
@Ccocconut it looks like it. We ran into it in the past and had it resolved, but unfortunately, regression happens. Thanks for pointing that out! I'm going to rename this issue, and we will treat it as a bug with non-ASCII characters.
@Ccocconut it looks like it. We ran into it in the past and had it resolved, but unfortunately, regression happens. Thanks for pointing that out! I'm going to rename this issue, and we will treat it as a bug with non-ASCII characters.
Thank you, much appreciated.
Note: I confirmed that the issue is with Tor. It's a known problem (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/10416), and since it hasn't been fixed since 2013, I don't expect it to change. There are several ways to make it work in a project (in the past, we used one of them, but something must have changed, as it's no longer working). I'll be checking other possible solutions.
There was a PR for it in Tor but it was closed. :/ Maybe someone should push the issue at Tor's end. As someone pointed out, it affects people in countries where Tor is not a luxury but a necessity.
